The Church of Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1953 in Camden, New Jersey. The church has been at the center of much controversy for many years. L. Ron Hubbard founded the Church as an outgrowth of his popular self-help book, “Dianetics.” The church has grown exponentially in membership over the years and is very popular with celebrities and wealthy people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essay L. Ron Hubbard founded the church in 1953 after many attempts at becoming a comic book artist. Hubbard always had a passion for science fiction and wrote many original comic book series, many of which were not successful and a few of which gained popularity after Hubbard became famous for the Scientology religion . Hubbard was always looking for success and after being told that the best way to make money was to start a religion, Scientology was founded. Although Hubbard would most likely deny the assertion that Scientology is primarily about money, the lack of spiritual history and emphasis on collecting money from its members might suggest otherwise. Scientology has been very vocal and aggressive in response to its critics. Scientology has a principle called "Fair Game," which basically says that any member of Scientology has the power to silence someone they consider to be a member of the Church using any means necessary. (Urban) Hubbard later rescinded the "Fair Game" policy due to the large public outcry over the use of the policy. However, to this day, Scientology continues to be very aggressive and litigious towards those it considers its enemies. Operation Freakout is one of the most famous examples of Scientology's extreme response to criticism. Operation Freakout was a secret mission that took place in the 1970s. Scientology intended to end the mission with outspoken Scientology critic Paulette Cooper, author of The Scientology Scandal, being arrested or committed to a psychiatric asylum. The group harassed Cooper for several years, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts to discredit or have Cooper arrested. Scientologists even went so far as to send a threatening letter to an Arab consulate, forging Cooper's signature at the bottom of the letter. Eventually, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, another enemy of Scientology, found evidence of the plot and Cooper settled out of court with the Church. (Rawitch & Gillette, 1978) While Operation Freakout seems like a crazy plot that would only happen in the movies, Freakout was not the only deranged plot that Scientology attempted to carry out. Operation Snow White was a mission to purge unfavorable material about the Church and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, from various government agencies. It was the largest infiltration of the US government in history, with up to 5,000 Scientologists acting as agents of the mission. (Ortega, 1999) The most valuable target of the infiltration was the Internal Revenue Service, which had a long-standing vitriolic relationship with Scientology; the IRS had long attempted to remove the Church's tax-exempt status and these actions had not gone unnoticed by Church leaders. Scientology used tactics such as document theft and wiretapping to obtain the informationsought from these government agencies. As previously mentioned, the Church of Scientology has long had a contentious relationship with the Internal Revenue Service. The Church of Scientology is very protective of its status as a religious institution, as churches in the United States are not required to pay taxes to the government. However, due to the exorbitant dues that members are required to pay to the church in order to rise through the ranks, or even remain a member, the church has come under close scrutiny by the Intern Revenue Service, which wanted to tax Scientology as a business. After several months of investigation and disputes, it was rumored that the Church of Scientology obtained compromising documents regarding the IRS Commissioner and blackmailed the IRS into granting the Church of Scientology the non-profit and tax-exempt status. (Frantz, 1997) It is not conjecture or anti-Scientology rhetoric that the prices for joining and progressing in Scientology are ridiculously high. In 2006, it took between $365,000 and $380,000 for a person to reach the current highest rank in Scientology, OT8, with preparation for OT9. All figures are taken from xenu.net, a site dedicated to exposing Scientology. A conference (of many conferences) can cost more than two hundred dollars, and once a Scientology member begins taking higher-level courses, he or she can pay more than a thousand dollars for classes and tests. If a member wants to take the courses to be able to self-verify, they will have to pay more than $33,000. The majority of Scientology's incoming cash flow is spent on "OT spending", and the details of these spending are classified except to senior Church officials, so it is impossible to prove that Scientology's claims that it is a non-profit organization are true or false. (Operation Clambake) It is well known that lower level Scientologists are, for the most part, exposed to aspects of Scientology that do not make it appear to be a cult with alleged mystical properties. Low-level Scientologists mostly limit themselves to auditing sessions and conferences. While most opponents of Scientology would tell you that these auditing sessions are nothing more than an exploited person sitting in a room with a sociopath and exposing all of their secrets for possible blackmail later, aspects of hearing are not that different from visiting a psychologist or therapist. . However, it is important to note that comparing an audit session to a therapy session is only accurate in a vacuum. Scientology staff are supposed to help auditees talk about and overcome past problems, and some staff may even think they are doing a good thing and not taking advantage of the auditee; but staff are required to take notes on what the auditees reveal, and if the member threatens to leave the church, they can be gently reminded that they may not want their dirty laundry aired in plain sight of all. One of the most popular theories. Behind Scientology's popularity among celebrities is the fact that these celebrities have revealed potentially career-ruining information to Scientology that is happening in the public eye. Tom Cruise and John Travolta are two of the most famous Scientologists. Many have speculated that these two celebrities may be closeted homosexuals and that Scientology's threat to expose them is what keeps them in the Church. Many celebrities are dedicated members, such as Nancy Cartwright (Bart.