Like mormonism, masons, eckenkar, etc, scientology has levels to it. I am guessing you were in the first crash zone so to speak. At the lowest levels they operate like a club. If you begin to read accounts of people that were in deeply and got out, the stories have a theme and it's quite bizarre.
I know someone personally that was in and some of the tales were bizarre to say the least.
As I said though, never throw out the baby with the bathwater. If it wasn't for the dangerous aspects, they actually have some beneficial aspects. Detoxification is one of the great things they brought to the table. They don't own the idea though, they just borrowed it ans slapped it on to their overall belief system. They also have a healthy skeptisism of the PTB.