Can Scientology Raise the Dead?
Scientology has made many wild claims throughout it's history. But perhaps this one is the most amazing. In about 1953 the Scientology Newsletter Issue 3-G, published by HASI, has this top headline on the front page: "Source of Life Energy Found; Scientology enters third echelon far ahead of schedule, revival of dead or near-dead may become possible." The article gives a lot of pseudo scientific sounding gobbledygook.
In 1968 a Scientology booklet quotes L. Ron Hubbard: "A child had died, was dead, had been pronounced dead by a doctor, and the auditor, by calling the thetan [i.e. the soul] back and ordering him to take over the body again brought the child to life." [Magazine Articles on Level 0 Checksheet 1968, "Dissemination of Material" p.75]
In I believe 1972, Hubbard wrote this HCOB (Hubbard Communication Office Bulletin),
reissued here in 1988:
And here's Hubbard himself from 1972 talking about how to raise the dead:
So 1953, 1968, 1972, and 1988. Pretty consistent with this claim, they are. Scientology can raise the dead!
Now, for us skeptics, any names?