Scientologists

I surrender, dear-- but only to the cosmic mystery, and only when the time comes. I want no truck with the burgeoning number of psyche suckers who would rob us of our minds while we are still walking around. Zombie life is inhuman, man. Put that in your mantra and meditate on it, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Pass the word to Sun Myung and his Moonies. Tell L. Ron Hubbard and the unscientific Scientologists. Get the word out to the Werner Erhard groupies at the est establishment, the Krishnas everywhere, the know-it-all ayatollahs, and whisper it into the ears of the born-again preachers eternally smiling from TV sets.

Estimates vary widely on worldwide membership; cynics put numbers as low as 70,000, while Scientologists claim membership is more like 15 million.

The Scientologists you will read about in these pages are members, or former members, of a wealthy and mysterious organization whose goal, like that of most religions, is to improve human society.