William S. Burroughs was briefly a
Scientologist, and even became a "
clear" in
1967 when he was living in
London. The Scientologists actively advertised this fact for a time, but one wonders exactly what they thought that their association with
the world’s most famous junkie would do for their
public relations. He was facinated by some of their ideas and techniques, mentioned and employed them in his work, and was obsessed with the movement for a brief time. He was kicked out for, among other things, experimenting with
Scientology techniques on himself instead of having them done by (and presumably under the tight control of) a Scientology
auditor. Burroughs ended up publically attacking Scientology in a series of articles in
Mayfair magazine.
"Scientology was useful to me until it became a religion, and I have no use for religion. It’s just another one of those control-addict trips and we can all do without those."