Madrid, Spain, Oct 26, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The Scientology sect, which boasts of such members as Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta, has set up a recruitment site in the Spanish city of Castello, offering a free stress test to those passing by in an attempt to gain new members.
With a large sign reading, “Do you want to know if you suffer from stress?”, two members of the sect offered passersby a copy of Dianetics—the foundation of Scientology’s doctrine—and a stress test for $12.
The “E meter,” the machine used for the test, indicates whether the stress is a result of work, health or relationships. For greater comfort during the test, members provide volunteers a futuristic looking couch on which to lie down.
“This is not a machine that measures tension, like others, but rather is based on complex mathematical operations too long to explain right now,” said Enrique, a local recruitment leader.