New Jersey Charters Scientology as Church
New Jersey Charters Scientology as Church
A copy of the charter given the Church of American Science, mother church of Scientology, is reproduced below:
CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION
of
THE CHURCH OF AMERICAN SCIENCE
These presents are to certify that we, L. Ron Hubbard, Sr., of the Borough of Medford Lakes, County of Burlington and State of New Jersey, L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., and Henrietta Hubbard, of the City and County of Camden and State of New Jersey; John Galusha, R. R. #1, Box 394, of the City and County of Pueblo and State of Colorado; Verna Greenough of Bellmawr Park, in the County of Camden and State of New Jersey, and Barbara Bryan, of the City and County of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, do hereby associate ourselves into a corporation under and by virtue of an Act of the Legislature of the State of New Jersey entitled "The Corporation and Association Not for Profit Act." (Title 15 of the Revised Statutes of 1937, N.J.S.A.) and the various amendments thereto and supplements thereof for the lawful purpose other than pecuniary profit as hereinafter stated and to that end we do by this instrument certify that:
FIRST: The name by which the corporation shall be known in law is "The Church of American Science"
SECOND: The purpose for which this corporation is formed is to act as the Mother Church for the propagation of a religious faith known as "Scientology". Believing that Man's best Evidence of God is the God he finds within himself, and trusting with Enduring Faith that the Author of this Universe intended Life to thrive within it, the Church of American Science is founded to espouse such evidence of the Supreme Being and Spirit as may be knowable to Man and by their use the Church of American Science hopes to bring a greater tranquility to the State and better order and survival to Man upon this planet.
The Church of American Science exists upon this Creed:
1. That God works within Man his wonders to perform.
2. That Man is his own soul, basically free and immortal, but deluded by the flesh.
3. That Man has a God-given right to his own life.
4. That Man has a God-given right to his own reason.
5. That Man has a God-given right to free and open communications.
6. That the human spirit is the only truly effective therapeutic agent available to Man.
7. That a civilization can endure only so long as both spiritual and material needs find place within its structure and that a civilization is lost when God and the Spirit are forgotten by its leaders and its people.
8. That Man and the Nations of Man carry with them their own Salvation and that teachings exist sufficient to effect it.
The Church of American Science exists to assist the strong and the weak, to suppress the wrong-doer and to champion the right and Godly. Its mission is to carry to Man revelations and teachings and practices of the present and the ages past and to assist him, his family and communities to live in greater peace and harmony.
The Holy Book of this church consists of a collection of the works of and about the Great Teachers, including the work, St. Luke.
The Saints of this Church are the great messiahs and religious philosophers.
The specific teachings of this church concern its Holy Book and those contributions on the Mind and Spirit made in more recent times as a result of scientific investigations concerning the human spirit and the physical universe.
