All of them, those in power, and those who want the power, would pamper us, if we agreed to overlook their crookedness by wilfully restricting our activities.
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Kristi Wachter: Source Magazine Statistics - Analysis Summary
As part of my ongoing project of compiling and analyzing
Scientology's statistics, I am collecting statistics from
Source magazine, the magazine of the Church of Scientology's
Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, Florida.
The data show that Flag's stats peaked in the late 80s and have never recovered since. The following analysis was done in September, 2004. An updated version, including complete statistics for 2004, is available at the Source 2004 Analysis page. [...] Scientologists online: Changes between Dec. 2002 and Jan. 2007
In July of 1998, a letter from
Flag was sent
to scientologists asking them to join the "Scientologist
On-Line Crusade," which purpose was to "to have 100,000
Scientologists On-line by New Years 1999." Scientologists
were to provide a personal success story on how Dianetics
and Scientology helped them. It has been
reported
that this project was to actually improve the ranking of
Scientology-owned web sites in Google search engine.
In 1998, Scientology spokespersons claimed membership of 8 millions. It is thus surprising that their goal for their "Scientologist On-Line Crusade" would be a mere 100,000, or 1.25% of their claimed membership. What is even more surprising — keeping in mind the claimed membership of 8 million — is that only around 16,000 scientologists actually ended up being a "Scientologist On-Line"... And this number has been declining as can be seen below, despite the spokesperson claims that Scientology is "the fastest-growing religion." (see Rolling Stone (2006): "Inside Scientology" by Janet Reitman) Following is a list of added/removed "Scientologist On-Line" between Dec. 2002 and Jan. 2007: [...] Robert V. Young: How Scientology "Grew" to 8 Million Members
Then what came into play was the LRH order that Scientology
is always growing. He wrote it in a policy letter, to never
admit to anything but growth. That meant the "one million"
had to grow. Again, no calculations were made. No organizations
were asked to submit figures. Perhaps six months later,
we were "1.1 million" and then later "1.25 million" and
so the membership figure began to grow. Occasionally it
would produce some humor, as when a reporter would call
the US office and along the way ask for the membership figure
and he/she would be put on hold while someone asked what
the latest one was. "1.5" someone shouted. "No, we used
that one last month, make it 1.6," suggested another. "Why
not 1.75," someone else asked. "Too many digits," someone
would call back, "make it 1.8." "Hey," the original PR would
ask, "I've got a reporter here on hold, gimme a figure!"
"Racquel Welch," came a fast reply from someone coming down
the stairs.
Okay, so it wasn't "Saturday Night Live" but that was pretty much how we treated it. I think we stayed with the 1.5 that time. But it soon moved up to 2 million and it has climbed ever since. [...] |
Hartley Patterson: "Millions of members?"
Quick reality check for journalists
If a CoS spokesperson says "millions of members" to you, ask to see his IAS membership card. Membership of the International Association of Scientologists is required for services to be taken in the CoS. It costs $450 a year or $3,000 for Lifetime membership, the card is issued to Lifetime members. The rightmost eight digits are a cumulative member number (see picture below). That number will not be more than 150,000. People who have died or left the CoS since 1984 are still part of that total, so the actual number of Lifetime members must be smaller. Now rephrase that question. "How many IAS members are there?" [...] Arnaldo Lerma: How many Scientologists are there?
In the Scientologists Online[tm] effort to create web sites
that point at Scientology to raise google ratings, there
are only about 16,000 names - and this is after a massive
campaign to get as many scientologists as possible to have
their own Scientology Online websites -- even people who
don't have computers or email -- to maximize the apparent
number of people who are willing to publicly say they are
proudly a Scientologist. As I said, that effort only managed
to find about 16,000 people.
Of the 16,000, about 8500 are in the US and of those, 3700 in California, 1500 in Florida, and the rest scattered. Affidavit of Mary Tabayoyon (5 March 1994)
26. Another oddity was I would sometimes note how
poorly many of the lower Sea Org Organizations were doing
and some of the lower Class IV Organizations. Despite
this, Miscavige would portray the International Scientology
Scene as doing fantastically well and booming, at all the
major Scientology events where he and all his immediate
juniors called IG's (Inspector Generals) would talk.
Each portraying their area of responsibility as doing fabulously
well!
ABC News (1992): Excerpts of "A conversation with David Miscavige" |
Comparative membership from different sources
| Church of Scientology PR sources | Other sources | |||
| 2007-Jan |
Evening Standard, UK (Jan. 12): "Labour takes cash from cult
charity", p. 2 «The Church of Scientology is one of the world's fastest-growing religions, claiming to have more than eight million members, with more than 100,000 in the UK.» |
8 million 100,000 (U.K.) |
||
| 2006-Apr |
David Miscavige keynote speaker at 35th anniversary Gala (10
April 2006) «Church officials say that the church's popularity in the arts mirrors its overall growth, with nearly 9 million members in over 150 countries.» |
9 million | ||
| 2006-Feb |
Rolling Stone: "Inside Scientology" by Janet Reitman «Born in 1954, the group now claims 10 million members in 159 countries and more than 6,000 Scientology churches, missions and outreach groups across the globe.» |
10 million | ||
| 2005-Nov | The Today
Show (3 November 2005) «Well, yeah, there's about 10 million around the world spread among 156 countries with churches, missions and groups now totalling about 4200 internationally.» |
10 million | ||
| 2004-Sep |
Deseret News: "Scientology: Church now claims more than 8 million
members" «According to Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles, the church now claims more than 8 million members in 159 countries.» |
8 million | ||
| 2001 | 55,000 (U.S.) | American Religious Identification Survey (2001) | ||
| 1999-07 |
The Express: "How I was reduced to black despair by 'caring'
church's personality test" «The cult now claims to have about 100,000 members in Britain and eight million worldwide.» |
8 million 100,000 (U.K.) |
||
| 1995-Oct | The
Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia): "Inside the cult" «It boasts a worldwide membership of more than 4 million people and one of the biggest computer databases of personal information in existence.» |
4 million | ||
| 1994-Mar |
Evening Argus
(28 March 1994): "Secrets of Saint Hill" «Today Scientology claims a membership of millions worldwide and more than 300,000 in Britain.» |
300,000 (U.K.) | ||
| 1993-Oct-22 |
New York Times: "Scientologists Report Assets of $400 Million" «Scientology officials say the church has eight million members, a figure that is disputed by many who have left the church and other critics.» |
8 million | ||
| 1993-Oct-08 | 100,000 |
David Miscavige's IAS speech (8 October 1993) Chris Owen: «The IAS is essentially a fund-raising body for the Church of Scientology; it gives awards to those who donate large sums. As its rolls contain only active Scientologists, its membership roster (about 100,000) is probably the most accurate record of the size of the Church of Scientology's membership.» |
||
| 1993-Jun |
The National
Law Journal (Jun. 1993): "Church's litany of lawsuits" "Church leaders say Scientology is the world's fastest growing religion . . . It claims 8 million members; 4.5 million to 5 million in the United States." |
8 million 4.5 - 5 million (U.S.) |
||
| 1992-Feb |
Nightline,
ABC News - A Conversation with David Miscavige, Part 1 (14 February
1992) «The church says it now has centers in over 70 countries [...] The church says these men and women are only the most dedicated of eight million members worldwide. Church of Scientology president Heber Jentzsch. [interviewing] How do you get to call them members? «HEBER JENTZSCH, President, Church of Scientology: Because they joined and they came in and they studied Scientology. «SAWYER: They took one course, maybe. |
8 million | ||
| 1992-Jan |
AFP: 30 arrested in Paris crackdown on Scientologists «The Scientology Church, founded in 1954 by the mysterious Hubbard, who died in 1986, claims six million members worldwide.» |
6 million | ||
| 1990-Oct | <= 125,000 |
Affidavit of Martin Ottmann (19 April 1996) «The "Central Files-Section" consisted of 125,000 folders of FSO-publics and prospects, who had bought courses or auditing or who had had at least filled out a questionnaire one time in the past. The personnel of that section had to administrate the filing of the folders, which were used in other departments of the FSO too.» |
||
| 1990-Jun |
The Scientology Story by Joel Sappell and Robert W. Welkos (24
June 1990) «Scientology executives estimate the church's membership to be more than 6.5 million, although some former members believe the actual number is smaller.» |
6.5 million | ||
| 1990 | 45,000 (U.S.) |
American Religious Identification Survey (1990)
«The 20 Nov. 93 Newsweek (p.80) reports on a statistical study of religion in the USA. As studies go, pretty big: they questioned 113,000 people. They report that there are 45,000 Scientologists in the USA.» |
||
| 1987 | 40,000 | Jon Atack: "The Total Freedom Trap: Scientology, Dianetics And L. Ron Hubbard" | ||
| 1986-Oct | Forbes:
"The prophet and profits of Scientology" by Richard Behar «The church claims more than 6 million active members, a figure it has used for 15 years.» |
6 million | ||
| 1984-Oct |
Sunday Times: "Sinking the Master Mariner" «By the mid-Seventies, Scientology's aggressive proselytizing had attracted, by its own count, more than 6 million followers around the world.» |
6 million | ||
| 1983 | 45,000 |
Mark Plummer: SO
ED 68 US (1983) «45,000 had completed a "major service" (training and/or auditing)» |
||
| 1983-Jun |
Penthouse: "Inside The Church of Scientology: An Exclusive Interview
with L. Ron Hubbard, Jr." «Jentzsch: ... Six and a half million people who are living good lives, with a tremendous capability...» |
6.5 million | ||
| 1980-Jan |
Toronto Globe
and Mail: "Secret Ontario documents found in U.S. cult's files" «Mr. Whitman said there are 298 separate units with a membership of five million.» |
5 million | ||
| 1978-Oct | The Chronicle Telegram: "Scientology: Another
pop psychology?" «The church claims 4 million members belonging to missions and churches in every free country on earth.» |
4 million | ||
| 1978-Aug |
Los Angeles
Times: "Scientology: A Long Trail of Controversy" by Robert
Gillette and Robert Rawitch «When pressed for the number of people consistently involved in Scientology in the United States, spokesmen have — for the past two years — put forward the figure of 600,000.» |
600,000 (U.S.) | ||
| 1978 |
The Reader Digest:
"Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult" by Eugene H. Methvin «By 1978 the organization claimed 79 churches, 172 “missions” and 5,437,000 members worldwide.» |
5.437 million | ||
| 1977-Oct | Colombus Telegram: "Scientologists wage
war on the giants" by Ray Kipp «With more than 1.5 million followers in the United States and four million worldwide» |
4 million 1.5 million (U.S.) |
||
| 1977-Aug |
Valley News: "The
Church of Scientology - Religion or traveling medicine show?" «Spokesmen say it is the fastest growing religion in the world, with 4.2 million members in the U.S. and 5.5 million worldwide.» |
5.5 million 4.2 million (U.S.) |
||
|
Robert V. Young: "How
Scientology 'Grew' to 8 Million Members" «[...] At that time, we were in a massive anti-FDA campaign, stemming from the raid on the Washington, DC, organization, over the role/function of the E-Meter so there was media interest. Inevitably, we were asked how many members we had and while the local PR might come up with a number for his/her area, we didn't have a figure for national, let alone international, and this was noticed at the US office. PRs were giving random figures and so we had to come up with a stable figure. Nothing was used to calculate the figure. It was dreamed up as "over one million" because anything less wouldn't sound good. There was no count of students or anything. It was simply dreamed up and the figure sent to the PRs to use when asked. (We also needed it for the publications we were putting out.) «Then what came into play was the LRH order that Scientology is always growing. He wrote it in a policy letter, to never admit to anything but growth. That meant the "one million" had to grow. Again, no calculations were made. No organizations were asked to submit figures. Perhaps six months later, we were "1.1 million" and then later "1.25 million" and so the membership figure began to grow. [...]» |
||||
| 1976 |
Las Vegas Sun: "Scientology
student death probe" by Sharon Spigelmyer «The church, which has about 600,000 active members, emphasizes "great personal awareness, happiness, self-respect and awareness of the world affairs," Maren said.» |
600,000 | ||
| 1974-Jan | Winnipeg Free Press: "The Church of Scientology:
communication and mental health" by B. R. Warren «Presently the organization claims churches in 31 countries, 9 million world members and 100,000 Canadian members.» |
9 million 100,000 (Canada) |
||
| 1972 | Los Angeles Times (May 1973): "Scientologists
making impact on West Side" «Worldwide, according to a 1972 census, Scientology has 5.5 million followers, and membership is doubling annually every years» |
5.5 million | ||
| 1971-Jun |
Valley
Morning Star (Jun. 1971): "Unconventional Modern Religion Hitting
Snags" by George W. Cornell «Incorporated just 16 years ago, under direction of its founder the iconoclastic American scientist-thinker L. Ron Hubbard, the church now claims three million participants in this country, 10 million worldwide.» |
10 million 3 million (U.S.) |
||
| 1970-Oct | "Final Blackout", Leisure Books paperback
edition, October 1970 «[L. Ron Hubbard] IS ALSO renowned as the founder of Scientology and the creator of "Dianetics," with an estimated 15 million adherents around the world.» [ref] |
15 million | ||
| 1970 | Press-Telegram: "Action Line" «The controversial religion claims to have five million followers in the United Stales.» |
5 million (U.S.) | ||
| 1969-Dec |
Valley News (Dec. 1969): "Scientology Leader Denies Manson 'Family'
Connection" by Randi Mettetal «Rev. Mustain noted there are about 15,000,000 members of the Church of Scientology throughout the world. About 5,000,000 are in the United States and of those, 250,000 are in Southern California, he said.» |
15 million 5 million (U.S.) |
||
| 1969-Mar |
Pacific
Stars And Stripes: "Scientology — Help? Hindrance?" by Tom A.
Cullen «The weird religion now has over three million followers in America, I was told by the cult's official spokesman» |
3 million (U.S.) | ||
| 1968-Sep |
Iowa City
Press-Citizen (Sep. 1968): "'Largest Mental Health Institution'
Becomes Storm Center in Britain" by David Lancashire «Caiman said Scientology has more than 100,000 members in Britain.» |
100,000 (U.K.) | ||
| 1966-Feb | Daily Mail (Feb. 1966): "Attention the Minister of Health: This man is bogus" | 5,000-10,000 (U.K.) | ||
| 1964-March | Saturday Evening Post (March 1964): "Have You Ever Been A Boo-Hoo?" | "several million" | ||
Source not attributed:
1984/05/16: six million devotees worldwide [Clearwater
Sun - Witness: Hubbard used Black Magic]
1966/08/22: 100,000 in the whole world [MacLean's:
"Is this the happiest man in the world?"]