The biggest problem with Scientology is that it speaks to our politicians pockets. It’s definitely and sickeningly on its way to becoming Yet Another Religion, and it does so under the cover for legislation that still allows exceptions from the law for cults even when their “fair game” policy is well-documented. It speaks volumes about why certain religious regimes are allowed to do what they do.
Scientology targets the mental health industry because that’s the target base of their most ardent supporters, they are built on targeting the mentally ill and telling them “no, this isn’t an illness you suffer that will require time and effort to treat and will always weigh on you, it’s that you are special and channeling all of these thetans, which is just another name for spirit that makes it sound less recycled” and it gets intentionally crazier as you get to the higher tiers, which requires considerable wealth, so that only the most mentally ill reach it or the most manipulative do so, with the relatively normal people on the bottom trained to win intense staredown contests to make them seem imposing for the PR when they are just empty inside and suffering from a cultural and economical form of sunk cost fallacy.