The reason Unitology seems like Scientology is because Scientology is a parody of ALL religious and faith based organizations. Seriously, to those griping about how scientology steals your money, look up "plenary indulgences". The Scientology system isn't some weird aberration, it's simply too new and hasn't had all the rough edges smoothed off by time and tradition.
More importantly, unlike Scientology, which is entirely and CLEARLY made up, Unitology derives its belief from a mysterious and inexplicable but quite real object. Just as most religions/cults are essentially attempts to make sense of the inexplicable so is Unitology.