Scientology , founded in the early 1950s in the United States by L. Ron Hubbard and today claiming to be represented in 150 countries , has been a very controversial new religious movement . Its stated utopian aim is to " clear the planet " , to bring about an enlightened age in which every individual has overcome their psychological limitations . Scientology teaches that the source of people 's unhappiness lies in " engrams " , psychological burdens acquired in the course of painful experiences , which can be cleared through a type of counselling called " auditing " made available by the Church of Scientology .