Ok, I know this must sound ASB as hell, but bear with me here.
Anyone who reads old-school sci-fi, particularly any L. Ron Hubbard, has heard the apocryphal story that Hubbard once told a colleague that "anyone who wanted to make money would create his own religion." While Hubbard dabbled in self-help with Dianetics, he of course never went so far as to try and build a religion around it. But what if he had? Can anyone see "Hubbardism" getting off the ground, maybe attracting some celebrities latching onto the novelty factor?
Personally I think this is the wrong way to look at it. Its not that some third rate author looks at his bank account and says, you know what I should create a religion for tax evasion. Nobody is going to join such an uncharismatic hack. What you need is a bona fide crazy charismatic leading figure that is willing to work together with Hubbard to pull it off.
Thankfully for us Hubbard knew exactly the right man.
“While his formal education was limited, Parsons demonstrated tremendous scientific aptitude and genius, particularly in chemistry. His rocket research was some of the earliest in the United States, and his pioneering work in the development of solid fuel. Specifically Parsons made the crucial breakthrough in the development of rocket solid fuel. Following intuition, Parsons switched from black powder to asphalt and potassium perchlorate. Compared with Peenemünde, the contemporary German army research facility, America was finally in the race for rocket propulsion with solid fuel for the space age.
Parson had just the right amount of functional crazy, dabbled into several occult religions and was also a science fiction fan who read the fantasy pulp magazine
Unknown the 1940.
In 1946, Parsons and Hubbard (whose works Fear and Typewriter in the Sky, among others, had actually appeared in Unknown) participated in a work of ceremonial magic known as the Babalon Working.
This ritual was essentially designed to manifest an individual incarnation of the archetypal divine feminine called Babalon. During the ceremony author and fellow magician L. Ron Hubbard, acted as a scribe noting the results of the magical workings. When Parsons declared that the first of the series of rituals was complete and successful, he almost immediately met Marjorie Cameron in his own home, and regarded her as the elemental that he called through the ritual. Soon Parsons began the next stage of the series, an attempt to conceive a child through sexual magick workings. Although no child was conceived, this did not affect the result of the ritual to that point. Parsons and Cameron soon married. The rituals performed drew largely upon rituals and sex magic described by English author and occult teacher Aleister Crowley. Crowley was in correspondence with Parsons during the course of the Babalon Working, and warned Parsons of his potential overreactions to the magick he was performing, while simultaneously deriding Parson's work to others, he also warned Parsons that Hubbard was a con artist.
In January 1946, Parsons, Sarah Northrup, and Hubbard began a boat dealing company named Allied Enterprises. Parsons put in the sum of approximately $21,000 of which Hubbard contributed $1,200. Just as Crowley had predicted, Hubbard eventually abandoned Parsons and their business plans, leaving for a port in Florida with the boat and with Sarah. Parsons retreated to his hotel room and attempted to summon a typhoon in retribution (viz., with an evocation of Bartzabel—an intelligence presiding over the astrological forces associated with the planet Mars). A squall developed at sea and ripped the sails from the boat, forcing the ship back to port where Hubbard and Sarah were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard. A Florida court later dissolved the poorly-contracted business, ordered repayment of debts to Parsons, and awarded ownership of the boat to Hubbard. Parsons resigned his leadership of the Agapé Lodge and sold The Parsonage in 1946.
So if you manage to prevent Hubbard from betraying Parsons (which might be ASB) than the two could certainly create their own little cult. I could totally see Parsons being able to inspire others while Hubbard does the bookkeeping.
All hail Bartzabel, destroyer of Con Artist!
PS: Bonus points if Parsons invents LSD, he was talented chemist after all. Maybe they use their boat to make it in international waters and smuggle the new self made drug into the US or something. Possibilities are endless.
OCC:
Yes this is basically OTL without Scientology but it would still make for an interesting timeline.