6.4 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Church of Scientology | 2/8 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:18:03.439690+00:00 | kb-cron |
Missions of Scientology Missions are the smallest service organizations, and they operate as independent franchises. They are owned by a "mission holder" and licensed to operate by Scientology Missions International which receives 10% tithes and supervises them. Missions offer beginning services to newcomers to Scientology, then push their clients to higher level service orgs, for which they earn a commission. Missions are not financially supported by the central organization, and must purchase a Mission Starter Package, which in 2011 cost $35,000 (equivalent to $63,600 in 2025), and purchase all subsequent material from the main organization. Scientology Life Improvement Centers and Dianetics Centers These centers are operated by a local Church of Scientology and are small "store front" locations with the purpose of selling books and offering very basic services to get people interested in Scientology.
Central org, Class V org This organization is what most people think of as "a Church of Scientology". It offers a full range of auditing and auditor training services up to the level of Clear on The Bridge to Total Freedom. They were called Class V orgs because the auditor training level up to Clear was called the "Class V auditor course". Ideal org An Ideal Org is a special class of Class V org where a new large building has been acquired, renovated, and outfitted to David Miscavige's "ideal org" standards.
Saint Hill org and Advanced org A Saint Hill org is a type of service org which trains up through the Class VI course—the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course. Named after Saint Hill Manor. An Advanced org offers the advanced levels above Clear, including the OT levels I through V. Several organizations operate the function of a Saint Hill org coupled with an Advanced org in a single corporation, such as: East Grinstead, United Kingdom; Copenhagen, Denmark; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Sydney, Australia. Los Angeles, California has a separate Saint Hill org and an Advanced org. Flag Service Org (FSO) Also known as "Flag". Located in the Clearwater, Florida campus, audits specialty rundowns such as the Super Power Rundown and the L's rundowns. It is also the chief training organization for Class V org staff to train for their posts (these students are called "outer org trainees"). FSO also operates an Advanced org which offers the OT levels VI and VII, and trains Sea Org staff for the confidential upper levels to audit and supervise others on OT levels V-VIII.
Flag Ship Service Org (FSSO) The name of the service org that operates aboard the Freewinds ship in the Caribbean. It offers the OT level VIII.
== Management organizations ==
All Scientology management organizations are controlled exclusively by members of the Sea Org — which is not a corporation — consisting of the most dedicated core of Scientologists. David Miscavige is described as the highest-ranking Sea Org officer. The Church of Scientology International (CSI) is officially the "mother church", and is responsible for guiding the other Scientology centers. The Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) is the organization that owns all the copyrights of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard. There are numerous other management organizations, including the Commodore's Messenger Organization, Watchdog Committee, Continental Liaison Offices, and the organizations that manage the dissemination and outreach activities. In the 1950s and 1960s, management was operated from the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International (HASI), and from 1966 until the 1980s it was the Church of Scientology of California (CSC).
=== Sea Org ===
=== Religious Technology Center (RTC) ===
The highest authority in the Church of Scientology network is Religious Technology Center (RTC). The RTC claims to only be the "holder of Scientology and Dianetics trademarks", but is in fact the main Scientology executive organization. RTC chairman David Miscavige is widely seen as the effective head of Scientology. Religious Technology Center is the organization at the top of the Scientology hierarchy. RTC was established in 1982, and controls the Dianetics and Scientology trademarks. In 1987, David Miscavige took over control of RTC and is the head of RTC; officially Chairman of the Board, or COB. RTC employs lawyers and has pursued individuals and groups who have legally attacked Scientology or who are deemed to be a legal threat to Scientology. This has included breakaway Scientologists who practice Scientology outside the central organization, and critics, as well as numerous government and media organizations.
=== Scientology Missions International ===
Scientology Missions International is the management organization over the mission network. Missions are small Scientology organizations which recruit new people and deliver basic services and auditing. These were the feeder organizations which sent people into the main Scientology orgs. Previously called franchises and running semi-autonomously under the wing of the Guardian's Office, they were considered "Scientology's life blood" until David Miscavige and his International Finance Police gutted the network in the early 1980s. Missions were operated by a mission holder who paid 10% license fees to the Church of Scientology but kept the bulk of their income to themselves. The new policy was that missions paid a higher percentage to the new Scientology Missions International (SMI), established 1981, and anyone who objected was declared suppressive and their bank accounts seized. Hundreds of mission holders lost or closed their missions and in 1983 there were just forty missions left in the US. Until the 1990s, few people opened new missions and the push was directed towards celebrities to open missions: Kirstie Alley opened a mission in Wichita, Kansas in 1995, Isaac Hayes and Lisa Marie Presley opened one in Memphis in 1997, and Jenna Elfman opened one in San Francisco in 2001. According to the Church of Scientology, by 2002 there were 197 missions in the US, and by 2008 there were internationally 3,200 missions across 129 countries. (Note: A Sea Org missionaire is a person with a job completely unrelated to the mission network.)
== Publishing and media organizations ==
=== Golden Era Productions ===