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Hugh Bayard Urban is a professor of religious studies at Ohio State University's Department of Comparative Studies and author of eight books and several academic articles, including a history of the Church of Scientology, published by Princeton University Press in 2012. He received his PhD in history of religions from the University of Chicago.
The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion is a 2011 book about the history of the Church of Scientology by Hugh Urban, a professor of religious studies in the Department of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University. Urban discusses the history and teachings of the group and how they relate to broader trends in American society. [1]
The scholar and historian of Scientology Hugh Urban observes that: [116] A great many aspects of Scientology are shrouded in layers of secrecy, concealment, obfuscation, and/or dissimulation. In Scientology Hubbard's work is regarded as perfect, and no elaboration or alteration is permitted. [117]
Scientology has had a written program governing celebrity recruitment since at least 1955, when L. Ron Hubbard created "Project Celebrity", offering rewards to Scientologists who recruited targeted celebrities, and another church document pointed to the importance of "using Scientology celebrities to mold the opinions of their publics."
Hugh B. Urban, a scholar on religion who has written much about Scientology, writes that while some writers – such as Jon Atack – assert that Crowley's ideas on magic are at the core of Scientology, others – including Roy Wallis and J. Gordon Melton – have dismissed the connection between occultism and the Church.
Church of Scientology was incorporated in California on February 18, 1954. Two years later it was officially renamed to Church of Scientology of California on June 19, 1956. That corporation was restated in August 1982, dissolved on December 30, 2002, and terminated with the California Secretary of State on November 18, 2004.
From 1953 to 1967, L. Ron Hubbard was the official leader of the Church of Scientology. In 1954 L. Ron Hubbard gained tax-exempt status in the United States for his Scientology organizations, and lost it in 1958 when the IRS determined Hubbard and his family were profiting unreasonably from Scientology.
An example of Scientology being "America's most secretive religion" is the documentary The Secrets of Scientology. Urban states, "However, while these popular accounts are often sensational and not particularly balanced, they do highlight the fact that secrecy has in fact been a pervasive aspect of the church from its inception." [323]: 279