L. Ron Hubbard bet Poul Anderson at a science fiction convention that he could write a book of complete garbage that in 6 months would make him a millionair. This was based on his total disdaine for the average mentality and wanna beleive gulibility of a science fiction fan.
Scientology was born.
I tried it for one session. It is based on the bait and switch method of con artistry. Two types of people try it. One type leaves during the first session. True beleivers who need scientology to be real stay. Hubbard knew this and designed the syntactical structure of the original book to feed their need. At the highest levels the members are making millions and know they are foisting a con. But like the ACLU they have an army of lawyers to ruin anyone who publicly trys to reveil the hoax.