In the United States there are those who enter churches to pray, and those who do so to “complete a challenge”. It also happens in the headquarters of the Church of Scientology, ended up at the center of a curious viral phenomenon on TikTok: young users who enter the organization’s buildings with the aim of filming as much as possible, in the shortest time possible, before being removed.
The raids, documented especially in Los Angeles but also replicated in other US cities, they follow the logic of the so-called “speedrun”, a term borrowed from the world of video games, where it indicates the completion of an action in the shortest possible time. In this case, the “challenge” consists of entering Scientology headquarters, filming environments, materials and interactions with staff, and quickly exiting by sharing the video online.
The contents, often edited with an ironic or provocative tone, collect thousands of views. Some show the initial welcome reserved for visitors, complete with security overcome by people often in carnival costumes, others document the moment in which the employees ask to stop filming or to leave the premises. The result is a fragmented narrative, constructed more to entertain than to inform, which nevertheless helps to rekindle attention on an organization that has been the subject of controversy for years.
Founded in the 1950s by writer L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology is present in numerous countries and has often sparked investigations, documentaries and debates due to its practices, internal management and relationship with former members. In the United States it enjoys the status of a religious organization, but continues to be viewed with suspicion by public opinion and the media.
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However, the phenomenon of “viral incursions” raises broader questions. On the one hand, there is the issue of freedom of documentation and of the right to talk about realities perceived as opaque; on the other hand, a dynamic typical of the digital ecosystem emerges, in which places and institutions, including religious ones, become scenarios for performative contentdesigned to attract attention and generate engagement.
It’s not just about Scientology. The logic of challenge and spectacularization is progressively transforming the way in which many young people relate to public and symbolic spaces. Churches, museums, places of memory risk being reduced to simple “sets” for rapid and often superficial contents.
A fundamental question then remains: what happens when the experience of the sacred, or more generally of the religious, is filtered through the dynamics of social media? If on the one hand visibility can encourage transparency and debate, on the other the risk is that of trivialisationin which the boundary between information, entertainment and provocation becomes increasingly thin.
