AboutLaurie Hamilton Expertise I am able to answer questions regarding Scientology practices and procedures, belief system, donations, religious rites, management, administrative and staff matters.
Experience I am a second generation Scientologist whose parents began in Dianetics in 1950 and studied directly with L. Ron Hubbard. I have been personally active in the church for 40 years, have eleven years former staff experience in both technical and administrative areas, and extensive technical and administative training and counseling. I am "clear" and "OT." I come from an extended family of many religions, but my spouse and children are Scientologists, as are my siblings and their spouses, several cousins, nieces, nephews, an aunt, and an uncle. Between us we have had every good and bad experience one might go through in the church at every level.
I visited this website www.xenu.net
It is dedicated to supressing the tech.
What got me interested was a posted quote by Ron.
I copied and pasted it here ..
L. Ron Hubbard quote:
"Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion"
Reader's Digest reprint, May 1980, p.1
Hubbard later created the Church of Scientology...
Can you help me find out if this quote is valid, and if so point me to where I can see what context Ron would have ment it to be taken in.
I am asking so I can better answer people who question me about such data they see.
Thankyou
Steve
Answer The rumor you quote has cropped up a number of times, always with Ron supposedly saying that writing for a penny a word was silly, or stupid, or ridiculous, and the way to make a million bucks would be to start a religion.
Each time, he is supposed to have said it to someone else (same wording, different time and place, different audience) on a different date under different circumstances.
When George Orwell actually wrote that exact phrase in a letter to a colleague in 1938, Ron was not yet well-known, so it would have been a bit off-the-wall to claim Ron said it to a crowd of writers in '38. So, instead, he is accused of making the statement when he WAS well-known, variously in 1947, 48, and 49 (always before Dianetics was published, you see). He is variously supposed to have said it to another writer over lunch, to a pair of writers in a hotel room, to a convention of writers during a speech, to a different convention of writers while hob-nobbing on the floor, to a book editor, to a roommate with whom he stayed shortly after getting out of the Navy, or to have said it in the context of a bar-bet made with Robert Heinlein (with whom he was well-acqainted, being his colleague and frequent house guest). One of those who claims he said it (in '47, mind you, before the word 'cult' was in common use), said that he used the word 'cult,' not 'religion.' - a transparent attempt to brand Scientology a 'cult.'
So far, Heinlein denies the bet, two writers who were at one of the conventions said he never said it, two German publications have been sued for publishing the "quote" and lost, etc. etc.
Detractors use the fact that the rumor is present in so many versions to mean that something of the kind MUST be true. More likely the rumor was planted sometime around 1954 when the AMA, APA, FDA, WFMH, FBI and IRS were working overtime, in concert, to make up stuff and plant it in the media and in investigative files to discredit Ron and Dianetics. (in 1993, the IRS wrote a letter and attached a thick sheaf of documents, sending it to foreign governments, outlining the above multi-prong attack, apologizing for their part in it, and asking them to correct their Scientology files) Somebody had likely caught wind of the Orwell quote, which IS in writing, and HAS been proven, and thought it would be effective black PR to attribute it to Ron. If so, the ploy seems to have worked at least to some degree. The rumor hangs on and on, doesn't it? The fact that it seems to come from so many different sources, each with slightly different facts, is most likely because Ron never said it, and so it is not possible to nail down the context in which he DID say it, since it would never entirely fit the facts of an actual event that did transpire.
Consider: Scientology and Dianetics work or they don't. If they do, then any off-the-cuff remark Ron did or did not make in 1947 or 48 or 49 is irrelevant to that issue, isn't it? If they don't, then that is ample reason to ignore them without having to attack their founder. One need only look at the materials, try the techniques, and decide for himself.
Consider: That Orwell is proven to have written the exact remark with which Ron is credited is a bit coincidental, don't you think? Either Ron is a shameless plagiarist, or me mentioned the Orwell remark in the company of others, or he never said it.
Consider: Ron initially wrote all Dianetics materials from a strictly non-religious, therapeutic viewpoint. If he were out to start a religion, wouldn't he have done that straightaway? It was not until 1952, when people running Dianetics were hitting past lives all the time, that he had to admit there was a spiritual element to all this, and not until 1954 that he was forced to incorporate as a church in recognition of the fact that Scientology was turning out to be not a mental pursuit, but a spiritual one. People "start a religion" pretty much on a daily basis. This is not how they do it. First, they hold up something to worship, claim a revelation from God, and then they order everyone to bow down. Ron and Scientology never did that.
All in all, the quote is completely irrelevant to Scientolgoy, whether true or not. Most likely, it was never said by Ron.
