While there is some debate in the study of religion concerning  the definition of religion, all of the definitions would include without debate the Church of Scientology, its beliefs and practices, as a religion.  The debates in the field center on the utility of applying the term religion to groups holding to meaning systems that do not have a clearly specified meaning system which is anchored in and articulated around a basic commitment to a supranatural being, principle or entity.  Since Scientology's credo clearly centers on  and flows from such a commitment there would be no doubt among   sociologists of religion that in Scientology they are dealing with a religion.

        Emile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of the Sociology of Religions, defined religion as "a unified system of beliefs and  practices relative to sacred things...which unite into one, single  moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them."