The Church of Empiricology is a fairly recent religious movement (~20 years of prominence), known to attract powerful professionals and celebrities. It is based in the Los Angeles area. While often in the news, it is not clear it has a substantial following in terms of numbers. Dollars are another matter.
Unlike some of the flaky 'New-Age' circles common to Los Angeles, Empiricology has a reputation of highly educated and articulate, outspoken members. Empiricology lies somewhere between a religion, an exclusive club, and a political action committee. Particularly now that it has divested itself of some of its more corporate holdings.
In Year-5, the Church of Empiricology "spun off" two of its major corporate operations - the Kindred Health Network (which operated a number of hospitals, halfway houses, etc.) and Ascension Sciences (now a private research firm that also does technical consulting, training, and security systems).
Its celebrity membership includes action film hearthrob and talk show oddity Tom Svoboda.
