The Globalization of Scientology
From Operation Translation
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'Influence, Control, and Opposition in Transnational Markets'
In regards to an internal Scientology document entitled “Japan Eval”, written by a Vinay Agarwala.
by Stephen A. Kent
Department of Sociology
University of Alberta
Edmonton , Alberta
May 3, 1998 [corrected November 13, 2001 ].
Revised Version of a Paper Presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, November, 1991; Subsequent version published in Religion 29 (1999): 147-169.
By no means is it certain how Scientology represents itself to countries that might be receptive to its administrative or other teachings, since an emphasis on its supposedly religious nature well might jeopardize its ability to market other aspects of Hubbard's "technology." When entering Japan , for example, a Scientology Sea Org official wondered in a memo:
1. Do we go religious or Dianetics [i.e., secular]?
2. Corporate identity of org[anization to be established].
3. Finance system the org will operate on.
4. Key buttons to use [words, phrases, or ideas that elicit a strong response or reaction].
5. Key PR moves to make (who to ally, who to help/avoid).
6. The exact dissemination pattern (Agarwala 1981, p.7).
Central, therefore, to Scientology's entry efforts would be a decision about whether it should represent itself as a religion or a mental health science (i.e., as Dianetics, the supposedly modern science of mental health).
Indeed, when discussing how to handle the issue of materials translation from English to Japanese, the evaluation indicated that "[e]ven the point of whether to go religious or non-religious has to be covered as it will determine whether the books mention the Church or not and whether they have Church symbols, etc." (Agarwala 1981, p.7). In sum, Scientology was willing to compromise its "demanded designation" of religion (Kent 1990, p.402) that it uses almost universally in Western countries when attempting to enter a country whose culture might not respond favourably to a foreign religious incursion. Indeed, when the group announced the formation of the Tokyo org in 1985, it revealed the compromise to its religious designation that it had settled upon: "[a] group of Scientologists is opening up Japan to Scientology philosophy!" (International Association of Scientologists 1985).
