tologist Carlos Covarrubias took a course that required him to talk to inanimate objects like ashtrays (Mallia. "Sacred." 1). "He was instructed to tell objects to "Stand up" and "Sit down", ending each command with a polite "Thank you" afterwards" (Mallia. "Sacred." 2). Scientology officials object when critics highlight some of Hubbard's more bizarre teachings declaring that "It's like mocking the Christian view of Jesus' virgin birth" (Mallia. "Inside." 2). However it has been proven that Hubbard incorporated brainwashing techniques into Scientology. Hubbard even wrote a "brainwashing manual" which is still in existence today (Corydon 107). Hubbard claimed that the purpose of the manual was to discredit psychiatry, which he did by "presenting psychiatry as a tool of a communist conspiracy to take over the West" (Corydon 109). Once the final stage of Scientology has been completed, "The Bridge to Total Freedom" has been achieved (Mallia. "Inside." 4). However very few ever make it this far due to the years of teachings and the $300, 000 price tag (Mallia. "Inside." 4). Costing up to $520 an hour, Scientology auditing creates "a feeling of well-being" that can even become addictive (Mallia. "Inside." 5). For these ridiculously high prices Scientologists are promised extraordinary powers like "Controlling the weather and flying without their bodies" (Mallia. "Judge." 5).6.Many people claim that Scientology isolates and alienates its people from normal society, and that it is nothing more than a "money-grabbing machine" (Mallia. "Inside." 1). Critics speculate that Scientology is guilty of everything from illegally prescribing medicine, to murder (Devlin 8). In 1995, Scientologist Lisa McPherson of Dallas, Texas died during a church retreat in Florida. (Devlin 6). The county medical examiner found that she "died of a blood clot due to dehydration," and that she had been "denied water for the last five to ten days of her life" (Mallia. "I...
