Created: 8/11/2007 5:11:21 PM 
TAMPA, FL (AP) -- The Glorious Church of God in Christ in Tampa is among a number of houses of worship across the United States that have begun to embrace some of the Church of Scientology's programs. Scientologists say their interfaith partnerships show people of all faiths clamor for solutions to real-world problems.
Detractors say they amount to a cloaked effort to burnish the oft-maligned church's image and attract new members by appearing less clandestine and more diverse. And the clergy who have adopted aspects of the Scientologists' outreach say they're simply making use of programs that work.
Scientology was founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer. It teaches followers they are immortal spiritual beings, or thetans, who live on after death. The church says there is a supreme being but its practices do not include the worship of a god.
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