And then people who have epilepsy, which is a type of disease which gives
them seizures, are almost always found on some minor drug that prevents them from getting these—they call them petit mal seizures. Thats epilepsy. I dont care how they call it. Sometimes they really seize and sometimes its just slight. One of those, if an epileptic ever took you by the hand and so forth, he’s liable to break every bone in your hand, if he suddenly had a seizure. But the doctors keep them on something to prevent this. Its just a tranquilizer and they keep them on that one year, year in and year out. And then you come along as an auditor and you try to audit the PC [pre-clear] and you tell the PC that he’ll have to go off that drug. And then all of a sudden, why something will happen from someplace or another that the PC will tell the doctor that they have been taken off the drug by the auditor. And the doctor will call up plaintively asking you to please put her back on the drug because she needs this. And you get into a collision between medical treatment and so on. Now I’ve been using a lot of medical words here or chemical words really. Just don’t pay any attention to them because they’re mostly gobbledygook, and there’s an awful lot of gobbledygook words. Gobbledygook just means nonsense chatter, you see. There’s an awful lot of them. 

Tory Christman, a former Scientologist who is now one of the most vocal critics of the “Church”, struggled for years to keep taking her epilepsy medication. In 1971, she joined Scientology’s “elite” upper echelon the Sea Organization and was ordered to stop taking her anti-seizure medication and start taking vitamin pills instead. Inevitably, she started having seizures which increased in number and in magnitude. She states in an affadavit written in 2001:

This went on for I think 3 months. I was losing my memory due to all of the seizures. I would wake up in the morning and try to dash into the refrigerator. Daily I would have a petit mal (small seizure), and come to with all of the vitamins spread out all over the kitchen floor. The lady I was renting a room from had two children. Constantly they would come in and find me on the floor, and yell “Mommy, Tory dropped her vitamins again”. This woman was one of the kindest people to me, and I will never forget her. Her name is Mary Jessup, and she was married previously to Nate Jessup. All during this time the Scientologists were very evaluative to me, and many treated me like a leper, but not Mary. She was always very compassionate. She had left Scientology some time earlier.

Finally one morning in the shower I knocked my front teeth out during a Grand Mal seizure. All during this time my mother was begging me to go back on all of my medication. Being new in Scientology, I assured her Dianetics and Scientology would handle this. Finally, after so many seizures and so much trauma, I realized no matter what these people thought, I wasn’t going to live if I kept doing this. At that point I decided to go back on my medication in full, no matter what.

She eventually was allowed to take her anti-seizure medicine again, after stubborn persistence, and at the cost of a career in the Sea Org.

It was earlier reported that Jett Travolta was on the anti-seizure medication Depakote, but was taken off it because it supposedly caused health problems. This could be a plausible explanation, given that Depakote can cause liver damage. But was Jett Travolta taken off Depakote cold turkey, without being prescribed another anti-seizure medication? There is a list of other anti-seizure medication with fewer side-effects than Depakote, but there is nothing to suggest that Jett was on another medication.

Did the “Church” of Scientology persuade the John Travolta and Kelly Preston to give up on conventional medicine and instead treat their son with Scientology’s “alternative” therapy?

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In the wake of Jett Travolta’s death from a seizure, it is timely to present this audio recording of L. Ron Hubbard speaking about epilepsy:

And then people who have epilepsy, which is a type of disease which gives
them seizures, are almost always found on some minor drug that prevents them from getting these—they call them petit mal seizures. Thats epilepsy. I dont care how they call it. Sometimes they really seize and sometimes its just slight. One of those, if an epileptic ever took you by the hand and so forth, he’s liable to break every bone in your hand, if he suddenly had a seizure. But the doctors keep them on something to prevent this. Its just a tranquilizer and they keep them on that one year, year in and year out. And then you come along as an auditor and you try to audit the PC [pre-clear] and you tell the PC that he’ll have to go off that drug. And then all of a sudden, why something will happen from someplace or another that the PC will tell the doctor that they have been taken off the drug by the auditor. And the doctor will call up plaintively asking you to please put her back on the drug because she needs this. And you get into a collision between medical treatment and so on. Now I’ve been using a lot of medical words here or chemical words really. Just don’t pay any attention to them because they’re mostly gobbledygook, and there’s an awful lot of gobbledygook words. Gobbledygook just means nonsense chatter, you see. There’s an awful lot of them. 

Tory Christman, a former Scientologist who is now one of the most vocal critics of the “Church”, struggled for years to keep taking her epilepsy medication. In 1971, she joined Scientology’s “elite” upper echelon the Sea Organization and was ordered to stop taking her anti-seizure medication and start taking vitamin pills instead. Inevitably, she started having seizures which increased in number and in magnitude. She states in an affadavit written in 2001:

This went on for I think 3 months. I was losing my memory due to all of the seizures. I would wake up in the morning and try to dash into the refrigerator. Daily I would have a petit mal (small seizure), and come to with all of the vitamins spread out all over the kitchen floor. The lady I was renting a room from had two children. Constantly they would come in and find me on the floor, and yell “Mommy, Tory dropped her vitamins again”. This woman was one of the kindest people to me, and I will never forget her. Her name is Mary Jessup, and she was married previously to Nate Jessup. All during this time the Scientologists were very evaluative to me, and many treated me like a leper, but not Mary. She was always very compassionate. She had left Scientology some time earlier.

Finally one morning in the shower I knocked my front teeth out during a Grand Mal seizure. All during this time my mother was begging me to go back on all of my medication. Being new in Scientology, I assured her Dianetics and Scientology would handle this. Finally, after so many seizures and so much trauma, I realized no matter what these people thought, I wasn’t going to live if I kept doing this. At that point I decided to go back on my medication in full, no matter what.

She eventually was allowed to take her anti-seizure medicine again, after stubborn persistence, and at the cost of a career in the Sea Org.

It was earlier reported that Jett Travolta was on the anti-seizure medication Depakote, but was taken off it because it supposedly caused health problems. This could be a plausible explanation, given that Depakote can cause liver damage. But was Jett Travolta taken off Depakote cold turkey, without being prescribed another anti-seizure medication? There is a list of other anti-seizure medication with fewer side-effects than Depakote, but there is nothing to suggest that Jett was on another medication.

Did the “Church” of Scientology persuade the John Travolta and Kelly Preston to give up on conventional medicine and instead treat their son with Scientology’s “alternative” therapy?

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Jett Travolta (Picture: AP)

This week, we learned that 16-year-old Jett Travolta died after hitting his head during a seizure. His parents have always denied his autism, claiming instead that he suffered from an obscure condition known as Kawasaki syndrome, contracted from “carpet-cleaning chemicals”.

According to For Great Justice:

John Travolta and Kelly Preston have only publicly spoken of their son’s having had Kawasaki Syndrome, an unlikely source of seizures, for which they treated him with Scientology’s vitamin, sauna, and running therapy known as the Purification Rundown. There has also been considerable speculation on whether Jett was autistic or had Asperberger’s Syndrome. While a confirmed diagnosis has not been made public, reports of Jett’s behavior make such a diagnosis more likely than not. At the very least, he suffered some sort of neurological impairment that contributed to his fatal seizure.

In truth, Jett Travolta’s autism has been known about for years. In 2007, Hollywood Interrupted reported:

Tim and Patricia Kenny are the proud parents of a 4 year-old autistic girl, believe that it might be time for Child Protective Services to look into John Travolta and wife Kelly’s negligence in acknowledging their son Jett’s reported autism.

The Kennys also claim that Kelly and John “let Jett sit in front of video games all day eating junk food, while they eat the best organic food money can buy. They exclude Jett from all social events because they are embarrassed.”

“Once,” reports Kenny, “when Kelly took him to the movies, Jett started to have a meltdown and Kelly pointed at the nanny and ordered, ‘Take care of it.’”

“Jett does not speak at all,” confirms Kenny. “He has not even been taught how to communicate. We struggle every week to pay for our daughter’s therapy. How dare he [Travolta] ruin his own son’s chances of recovering! We want to get the word out on this.”

The Travolta family are prominent Scientologists. Scientology doesn’t “believe in” autism, and eschews conventional medicine – including anti-convulsive and anti-seizure medication – in favour of a cocktail of quackery with no basis in medical science. Jett is not the first person to suffer as a result of this kind of “therapy”.

Amid the concomitant tabloid circus, it is easy to forget that this was a real human being: a child suffering from autism. And Jett Travolta did not get the treatment his condition required because his parents subscribe to a cult that recommends pseudo-scientific remedies for serious and debilitating medical conditions.

This morning, a commenter on Damian Thompson’s Holy Smoke blog wrote:

Kelly Preston, Jett’s mother, was on the board of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights which is virulently anti-psychiatry and anti-medication. How many children’s lives have been negatively interfered with by the influence of this Citizens Commission on Human Rights, which is part of Scientology, we shall never know. There is, therefore, a kind of justice that the mother, who demonstrated against psychiatric and medical treatment and who would have been involved in the threatening of psychiatry, has lost a son as a result of this anti-medicine belief that has distressed other parents all over the world.

How true that is. And how easy it is for us to laugh at Scientology – at the ridiculous space opera stories, the E-meters, and the obviously bogus science.

But a child has just died. Whether or not his death was accelerated by the tenets of Scientology, it seems certain that while he was alive, his quality of life was severely impaired by parents who hid him because they were ashamed of him, who were unaware of his death for several hours (his body was discovered by a caretaker), and who denied him the treatment he needed, all as a result of their faithfulness to the principles of Scientology.

It is time that the authorities took the Church of Scientology’s quackery seriously.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

This week, we learned that 16-year-old Jett Travolta died after hitting his head during a seizure. His parents have always denied his autism, claiming instead that he suffered from an obscure condition known as Kawasaki syndrome, contracted from “carpet-cleaning chemicals”.

According to For Great Justice:

John Travolta and Kelly Preston have only publicly spoken of their son’s having had Kawasaki Syndrome, an unlikely source of seizures, for which they treated him with Scientology’s vitamin, sauna, and running therapy known as the Purification Rundown. There has also been considerable speculation on whether Jett was autistic or had Asperberger’s Syndrome. While a confirmed diagnosis has not been made public, reports of Jett’s behavior make such a diagnosis more likely than not. At the very least, he suffered some sort of neurological impairment that contributed to his fatal seizure.

In truth, Jett Travolta’s autism has been known about for years. In 2007, Hollywood Interrupted reported:

Tim and Patricia Kenny are the proud parents of a 4 year-old autistic girl, believe that it might be time for Child Protective Services to look into John Travolta and wife Kelly’s negligence in acknowledging their son Jett’s reported autism.

The Kennys also claim that Kelly and John “let Jett sit in front of video games all day eating junk food, while they eat the best organic food money can buy. They exclude Jett from all social events because they are embarrassed.”

“Once,” reports Kenny, “when Kelly took him to the movies, Jett started to have a meltdown and Kelly pointed at the nanny and ordered, ‘Take care of it.’”

“Jett does not speak at all,” confirms Kenny. “He has not even been taught how to communicate. We struggle every week to pay for our daughter’s therapy. How dare he [Travolta] ruin his own son’s chances of recovering! We want to get the word out on this.”

The Travolta family are prominent Scientologists. Scientology doesn’t “believe in” autism, and eschews conventional medicine – including anti-convulsive and anti-seizure medication – in favour of a cocktail of quackery with no basis in medical science. Jett is not the first person to suffer as a result of this kind of “therapy”.

Amid the concomitant tabloid circus, it is easy to forget that this was a real human being: a child suffering from autism. And Jett Travolta did not get the treatment his condition required because his parents subscribe to a cult that recommends pseudo-scientific remedies for serious and debilitating medical conditions.

This morning, a commenter on Damian Thompson’s Holy Smoke blog wrote:

Kelly Preston, Jett’s mother, was on the board of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights which is virulently anti-psychiatry and anti-medication. How many children’s lives have been negatively interfered with by the influence of this Citizens Commission on Human Rights, which is part of Scientology, we shall never know. There is, therefore, a kind of justice that the mother, who demonstrated against psychiatric and medical treatment and who would have been involved in the threatening of psychiatry, has lost a son as a result of this anti-medicine belief that has distressed other parents all over the world.

How true that is. And how easy it is for us to laugh at Scientology – at the ridiculous space opera stories, the E-meters, and the obviously bogus science.

But a child has just died. Whether or not his death was accelerated by the tenets of Scientology, it seems certain that while he was alive, his quality of life was severely impaired by parents who hid him because they were ashamed of him, who were unaware of his death for several hours (his body was discovered by a caretaker), and who denied him the treatment he needed, all as a result of their faithfulness to the principles of Scientology.

It is time that the authorities took the Church of Scientology’s quackery seriously.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Clearly, this is a violation of California and even Federal law. But the lawyers for Diskeeper argued that the lawsuit ought to be dismissed in a “motion to strike” filed in December. The motion alleges Godelman and Le Shay “seek to have the Court dismantle Mr. Jensen’s and defendent’s entire way of doing business, as these methods, the Hubbard Management Technology and the Hubbard Study Technology, are supposedly religious”. In a word, yes: they are definitely religious. Study Technology is supposedly a “secular” off-shoot of the “spiritual technology” of the “Church” of Scientology. Yet, in an executive directive issued in 1972, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote “Study Tech is our primary bridge to Society”. The Study Tech manuals often bear striking similarities to the “Church” of Scientology’s “religious” literature. You can find examples of that in this essay written by Columbia University professor Dr. David Touretzky.

For a time, the insurance company AllState trained it’s managment using Hubbard Management Technology. Scientology concepts such as the “tone scale” and the concept of “up stats” were taught to upper level management from 1988 to 1992. The whole “up stat” concept is what also drives the “religious” aspect of Scientology: in this Hubbard Policy Letter, L. Ron Hubbard wrote:

We are not in the business of being good boys and girls. We’re in the business of going free and getting the org production roaring. Nothing else is of any interest then to Ethics but (a) getting tech in, getting it run and getting it run right and (b) getting production up and the org roaring along. Therefore if a staff member is getting production up by having his own statistic excellent. Ethics sure isn’t interested. But if a staff member isn’t producing, shown by his bad statistic for his post, Ethics is fascinated with his smallest misdemeanor.

A “stat” in Scientology is an individual new recruit to Scientology, so if a Scientology staff member brings in a lot of new recruits, they are considered “up stat” and “[i]n short a staff member can get away with murder so long as his statistic is up and can’t sneeze without a chop if it’s down”.

With enough proof, plaintiffs Godelman and Le Shay can prove that Diskeeper, which is a major supplier of software to Microsoft, improperly forced “religious” indoctrination on them, violating their First Amendment rights.

But what if Diskeeper is successful in getting the lawsuit dismissed? This could pave the way for an evangelical Christian to require all employees to attend church on Sunday. Or for a Muslim to require all female employees to wear the hijab, regardless of their faith.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Two ex-employees of Diskeeper Corporation have filed a lawsuit against their former employer after they were wrongfully dismissed for refusing to undergo compulsory “religious” indoctrination. Alexander Godelman, the former CIO, and Marc Le Shay allege that the owner of Diskeeper, Craig Jensen, forced them to “study, learn, and apply the fundamental principles of the Scientology religion”. Their refusal to comply with this company requirement (Godelman and Le Shay are both Jewish) led to the termination of their employment on October 16th, 2006. The two plaintiffs allege that the firing was unlawful according to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, which is supposed to prevent discrimination because of age, race, sex, disability, and religion, among other things.

Clearly, this is a violation of California and even Federal law. But the lawyers for Diskeeper argued that the lawsuit ought to be dismissed in a “motion to strike” filed in December. The motion alleges Godelman and Le Shay “seek to have the Court dismantle Mr. Jensen’s and defendent’s entire way of doing business, as these methods, the Hubbard Management Technology and the Hubbard Study Technology, are supposedly religious”. In a word, yes: they are definitely religious. Study Technology is supposedly a “secular” off-shoot of the “spiritual technology” of the “Church” of Scientology. Yet, in an executive directive issued in 1972, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote “Study Tech is our primary bridge to Society”. The Study Tech manuals often bear striking similarities to the “Church” of Scientology’s “religious” literature. You can find examples of that in this essay written by Columbia University professor Dr. David Touretzky.

For a time, the insurance company AllState trained it’s managment using Hubbard Management Technology. Scientology concepts such as the “tone scale” and the concept of “up stats” were taught to upper level management from 1988 to 1992. The whole “up stat” concept is what also drives the “religious” aspect of Scientology: in this Hubbard Policy Letter, L. Ron Hubbard wrote:

We are not in the business of being good boys and girls. We’re in the business of going free and getting the org production roaring. Nothing else is of any interest then to Ethics but (a) getting tech in, getting it run and getting it run right and (b) getting production up and the org roaring along. Therefore if a staff member is getting production up by having his own statistic excellent. Ethics sure isn’t interested. But if a staff member isn’t producing, shown by his bad statistic for his post, Ethics is fascinated with his smallest misdemeanor.

A “stat” in Scientology is an individual new recruit to Scientology, so if a Scientology staff member brings in a lot of new recruits, they are considered “up stat” and “[i]n short a staff member can get away with murder so long as his statistic is up and can’t sneeze without a chop if it’s down”.

With enough proof, plaintiffs Godelman and Le Shay can prove that Diskeeper, which is a major supplier of software to Microsoft, improperly forced “religious” indoctrination on them, violating their First Amendment rights.

But what if Diskeeper is successful in getting the lawsuit dismissed? This could pave the way for an evangelical Christian to require all employees to attend church on Sunday. Or for a Muslim to require all female employees to wear the hijab, regardless of their faith.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
— Charles Baudelaire 

The video above is a Public Service Announcement from “Youth For Human Rights International”. Youth For Human Rights certainly seems like a laudable initiative at first glance, doesn’t it? In an age where young people are more apathetic than ever, it’s encouraging to see them standing up for human rights. The PSA has a catchy beat and a positive message. Why then am I including this video as an example of the devil’s age-old trick?

Because this organisation is a front group for the Church of Scientology. Its founder, Mary Shuttleworth, is a Scientologist and the organization is mostly staffed by Scientologists.

Many young people unwittingly join YHRI, not realising it is a front group for Scientology. Their good intentions to make the world a better place are misused by people who intend to push L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology”. YHRI was been established with the sole purpose of drawing young people into Scientology.

Why the furore over Will Smith’s new private school?

Many people must be wondering about the controversy surrounding the New Village Academy, a school set up by actor Will Smith and his wife Jada. The New Village Academy intends to employ a lot of educational approaches in this new type of school. But one stands out the most: the employment of “Scientology Study Technology”. Since this revelation came out in the media, Jacqueline Olivier, the principal of New Village Academy, and Will Smith have both strongly insisted the new school is not a Scientology school. But why is Study Tech controversial?

Study tech is founded on 3 principles: Using visual images to teach concepts, breaking down complex concepts, and using the dictionaries to find the meanings for unfamiliar words. Seems reasonable enough, given that’s how children are taught in the first few grades of elementary school. But Study Tech is unavoidably tainted with Scientology related teachings. There have been numerous attempts to slip Study Tech into public schools as well, which is much worse than Will Smith’s private school employing Study Tech. Study Tech in itself is just a concept, not a front group. The relevant front group that pushes it in public schools is Applied Scholastics, which is a misnomer.

Drug pushers of another kind: Narconon

In an age of widespread drug use and abuse, there is a desperate need for rehabilitation clinics all over the world. The “Church” of Scientology has recognised this need, and sought to capitalise on it. The Church started Narconon in 1966 and it was run by the Guardian’s Office, the “Church” of Scientology’s intelligence and public relations wing, until 1980. To this day, Narconon denies its ties with the “Church” but this document shows that Narconon is indeed a front group of the “Church”. If you want more recent proof, here is an interview Tom Cruise gave to Der Spiegel in 2005:

Cruise: I’m a helper. For instance, I myself have helped hundreds of people get off drugs. In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It’s called Narconon.

SPIEGEL: That’s not correct. Yours is never mentioned among the recognized detox programs. Independent experts warn against it because it is rooted in pseudo science.

Cruise: You don’t understand what I am saying. It’s a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period.

SPIEGEL: With all due respect, we doubt that.

While developing his drug “therapy”, L. Ron Hubbard observed that giving a large dose of niacin to a person causes the skin to looked flushed: blood vessels dilate and release histamine, which is the same physiological reaction that occurs when someone suffers from a rash or an allergy. Flushing of the skin is also a sign of toxicity, and the levels of niacin that Narconon gives to clients is very high. The tolerable upper intake level for adults is 35 mg, but Narconon gives their clients up to 500 mg/day, increasing each dose by 3mg daily.

Hubbard theorized, wrongly, that drugs, including water-soluble ones, can be stored in fat cells, and that niacin works to release fat from adipose tissue into the bloodstream, thereby “flushing out” drug residue from the body. This idea has been conclusively discredited. Hubbard also theorized that large doses of niacin can flush out radiation. But niacin can do nothing to the free radicals in the body caused by radiation. There are many examples of L. Ron Hubbard’s poor grasp of nuclear physics, and science in general – they are too numerous to list here. Despite this, Narconon is being used to “bridge masses of people into Scientology”.

CCHR: An Industry of Fear and Paranoia

Another misnomer for a front group name is the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights. The CCHR was established in 1969 by the “Church” of Scientology and non-Scientologist psychiatry critic Thomas Szasz. Since then, it has been spreading lies and misinformation about psychiatry and psychology. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote of psychiatrists:

“Crimes of extortion, mayhem and murder are done daily by these men in the name of ‘practice’ and ‘treatment’. There is not one institutional psychiatrist alive who, by ordinary criminal law, could not be arraigned and convicted of extortion, mayhem and murder. Our files are full of evidence on them.” [SOURCE]

The CCHR formed a website called PsychCrime, which tracks down crimes committed by individual mental health professionals. Granted, crimes are committed by individual psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health professionals, but the CCHR takes individual crimes as evidence that the whole professions is “evil”. In 2005, the CCHR debuted its notorious “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” museum exhibit, which blames psychiatry for everything from Hitler and the Holocaust to Kurt Cobain’s suicide.

The CCHR is one of the worst Scientology front groups because it uses lies and half-truths to instill paranoia not only into Scientologists, but also into the general public. It is this paranoia that led to the death of Elli Perkins by her schizophrenic son Jeremy. It also eventually killed Lisa McPherson, who died in the care of Scientologists.

More focus needed

There are lots of other front groups not mentioned here, but a quick Google search will bring up complete listings of Scientology front groups. So far, the monthly Anonymous protests have dealt with the Church of Scientology’s tax-exempt status, the disconnection policy, the fair game policy, and the Church of Scientology’s elite Sea Organization. The upcoming protest on July 12th deals with the subversive activities of OSA. Scientology’s front groups deserve focus because they are the “secular” fronts of Scientology. Their ties with Scientology are not always obvious. More public scrutiny is needed.

[Author's note: a version of this article originally appeared on Glosslip in July 2008.]

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“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
— Charles Baudelaire 

The video above is a Public Service Announcement from “Youth For Human Rights International”. Youth For Human Rights certainly seems like a laudable initiative at first glance, doesn’t it? In an age where young people are more apathetic than ever, it’s encouraging to see them standing up for human rights. The PSA has a catchy beat and a positive message. Why then am I including this video as an example of the devil’s age-old trick?

Because this organisation is a front group for the Church of Scientology. Its founder, Mary Shuttleworth, is a Scientologist and the organization is mostly staffed by Scientologists.

Many young people unwittingly join YHRI, not realising it is a front group for Scientology. Their good intentions to make the world a better place are misused by people who intend to push L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology”. YHRI was been established with the sole purpose of drawing young people into Scientology.

Why the furore over Will Smith’s new private school?

Many people must be wondering about the controversy surrounding the New Village Academy, a school set up by actor Will Smith and his wife Jada. The New Village Academy intends to employ a lot of educational approaches in this new type of school. But one stands out the most: the employment of “Scientology Study Technology”. Since this revelation came out in the media, Jacqueline Olivier, the principal of New Village Academy, and Will Smith have both strongly insisted the new school is not a Scientology school. But why is Study Tech controversial?

Study tech is founded on 3 principles: Using visual images to teach concepts, breaking down complex concepts, and using the dictionaries to find the meanings for unfamiliar words. Seems reasonable enough, given that’s how children are taught in the first few grades of elementary school. But Study Tech is unavoidably tainted with Scientology related teachings. There have been numerous attempts to slip Study Tech into public schools as well, which is much worse than Will Smith’s private school employing Study Tech. Study Tech in itself is just a concept, not a front group. The relevant front group that pushes it in public schools is Applied Scholastics, which is a misnomer.

Drug pushers of another kind: Narconon

In an age of widespread drug use and abuse, there is a desperate need for rehabilitation clinics all over the world. The “Church” of Scientology has recognised this need, and sought to capitalise on it. The Church started Narconon in 1966 and it was run by the Guardian’s Office, the “Church” of Scientology’s intelligence and public relations wing, until 1980. To this day, Narconon denies its ties with the “Church” but this document shows that Narconon is indeed a front group of the “Church”. If you want more recent proof, here is an interview Tom Cruise gave to Der Spiegel in 2005:

Cruise: I’m a helper. For instance, I myself have helped hundreds of people get off drugs. In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It’s called Narconon.

SPIEGEL: That’s not correct. Yours is never mentioned among the recognized detox programs. Independent experts warn against it because it is rooted in pseudo science.

Cruise: You don’t understand what I am saying. It’s a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period.

SPIEGEL: With all due respect, we doubt that.

While developing his drug “therapy”, L. Ron Hubbard observed that giving a large dose of niacin to a person causes the skin to looked flushed: blood vessels dilate and release histamine, which is the same physiological reaction that occurs when someone suffers from a rash or an allergy. Flushing of the skin is also a sign of toxicity, and the levels of niacin that Narconon gives to clients is very high. The tolerable upper intake level for adults is 35 mg, but Narconon gives their clients up to 500 mg/day, increasing each dose by 3mg daily.

Hubbard theorized, wrongly, that drugs, including water-soluble ones, can be stored in fat cells, and that niacin works to release fat from adipose tissue into the bloodstream, thereby “flushing out” drug residue from the body. This idea has been conclusively discredited. Hubbard also theorized that large doses of niacin can flush out radiation. But niacin can do nothing to the free radicals in the body caused by radiation. There are many examples of L. Ron Hubbard’s poor grasp of nuclear physics, and science in general – they are too numerous to list here. Despite this, Narconon is being used to “bridge masses of people into Scientology”.

CCHR: An Industry of Fear and Paranoia

Another misnomer for a front group name is the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights. The CCHR was established in 1969 by the “Church” of Scientology and non-Scientologist psychiatry critic Thomas Szasz. Since then, it has been spreading lies and misinformation about psychiatry and psychology. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote of psychiatrists:

“Crimes of extortion, mayhem and murder are done daily by these men in the name of ‘practice’ and ‘treatment’. There is not one institutional psychiatrist alive who, by ordinary criminal law, could not be arraigned and convicted of extortion, mayhem and murder. Our files are full of evidence on them.” [SOURCE]

The CCHR formed a website called PsychCrime, which tracks down crimes committed by individual mental health professionals. Granted, crimes are committed by individual psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health professionals, but the CCHR takes individual crimes as evidence that the whole professions is “evil”. In 2005, the CCHR debuted its notorious “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” museum exhibit, which blames psychiatry for everything from Hitler and the Holocaust to Kurt Cobain’s suicide.

The CCHR is one of the worst Scientology front groups because it uses lies and half-truths to instill paranoia not only into Scientologists, but also into the general public. It is this paranoia that led to the death of Elli Perkins by her schizophrenic son Jeremy. It also eventually killed Lisa McPherson, who died in the care of Scientologists.

More focus needed

There are lots of other front groups not mentioned here, but a quick Google search will bring up complete listings of Scientology front groups. So far, the monthly Anonymous protests have dealt with the Church of Scientology’s tax-exempt status, the disconnection policy, the fair game policy, and the Church of Scientology’s elite Sea Organization. The upcoming protest on July 12th deals with the subversive activities of OSA. Scientology’s front groups deserve focus because they are the “secular” fronts of Scientology. Their ties with Scientology are not always obvious. More public scrutiny is needed.

[Author's note: a version of this article originally appeared on Glosslip in July 2008.]

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The Sklars’ main argument was that section 170(f)(8) and 6115 of the IRS code authorized deductions for donations made to religious institutions if they provided “intangible religious benefits”. Scientologists can claim deductions for “religious” services provided by the “Church”, and the Sklars argued that they too should be allowed to utilize this benefit. If the “Church” of Scientology is allowed to violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, then they should be able to do the same thing in the name of consistency. The Ninth Circuit Court rejected this argument because “[t]o conclude otherwise would be tantamount to rewriting the Tax Code, disregarding Supreme Court precedent, only to reach a conclusion directly at odds with the Establishment Clause — all in the name of the Establishment Clause.”.

The court ruled wisely in favor of not violating the First Amendment, which unequivocally states that no religion should have an advantage over the other. But what to say about the “Church” of Scientology’s special privilege, which they allegedly obtained by shady means. Three years after the “Church” was established by L. Ron Hubbard in 1953, the IRS gave it tax-exempt status. However, in 1967, their tax-exempt status was stripped away because it was determined that the activities of the “Church” were commercial, and several US courts agreed. This meant war between the IRS and the “Church”, which continued for 25 years.

In 1973, L. Ron Hubbard initiated Operation Snow White against the governments of several countries, including the United States. The main target of “Project Hunter”, the American branch of Snow White was the IRS. Operation Snow White called for the infiltration of the IRS and other US government agencies in order to steal documents related to L. Ron Hubbard and the “Church” of Scientology. Eventually, several Scientologists, including L. Ron Hubbard’s wife Mary Sue, were caught, and the FBI invaded Scientology offices in Los Angeles and Washington DC. In 1979, eleven Scientologists, including Mary Sue Hubbard, were sentenced to five years in prison. That did not stop the war against the IRS. Private investigators were hired by the cult to dig up dirt on various IRS officials, and in many cases, they found enough damning evidence to blackmail these officials.

Finally, in 1993, then IRS Comissioner Fred Goldberg met with current “Church” leader David Miscavige and reached an agreement that would end all lawsuits against the IRS by the “Church” of Scientology: the war was finally over. Attempts by various IRS watchdogs to get the IRS to disclose this agreement were unsuccessful, even though by law the IRS has to release it.

The question to ask is: why is a pseudo-religion started by a charlatan solely to make money allowed these special privileges, while legitimate religions are not? This IRS agreement violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by making it a de facto “established” religion. It was wise on the part of the Ninth Circuit Court to reject Michael and Marla Sklar’s argument, but the “Church” of Scientology must be called out for this circumvention of the US Constitution.

Let me leave you with a quote from L. Ron Hubbard:

“Somebody some day will say ‘this is illegal’. By then be sure the orgs say what is legal or not.”

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An American court ruled this week that an Orthodox Jewish couple could not use tax deductions that Scientologists can use (deductions they obtained by way of a secret 1993 agreement with the Internal Revenue Service). In the case Sklar v. Commissioner of the IRS, Michael and Marla Sklar tried to claim their childrens’ tuition for their Jewish day school as a tax deduction but their argument was rejected by the US Ninth Circuit Court because it violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which states in the first sentence that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”.

The Sklars’ main argument was that section 170(f)(8) and 6115 of the IRS code authorized deductions for donations made to religious institutions if they provided “intangible religious benefits”. Scientologists can claim deductions for “religious” services provided by the “Church”, and the Sklars argued that they too should be allowed to utilize this benefit. If the “Church” of Scientology is allowed to violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, then they should be able to do the same thing in the name of consistency. The Ninth Circuit Court rejected this argument because “[t]o conclude otherwise would be tantamount to rewriting the Tax Code, disregarding Supreme Court precedent, only to reach a conclusion directly at odds with the Establishment Clause — all in the name of the Establishment Clause.”.

The court ruled wisely in favor of not violating the First Amendment, which unequivocally states that no religion should have an advantage over the other. But what to say about the “Church” of Scientology’s special privilege, which they allegedly obtained by shady means. Three years after the “Church” was established by L. Ron Hubbard in 1953, the IRS gave it tax-exempt status. However, in 1967, their tax-exempt status was stripped away because it was determined that the activities of the “Church” were commercial, and several US courts agreed. This meant war between the IRS and the “Church”, which continued for 25 years.

In 1973, L. Ron Hubbard initiated Operation Snow White against the governments of several countries, including the United States. The main target of “Project Hunter”, the American branch of Snow White was the IRS. Operation Snow White called for the infiltration of the IRS and other US government agencies in order to steal documents related to L. Ron Hubbard and the “Church” of Scientology. Eventually, several Scientologists, including L. Ron Hubbard’s wife Mary Sue, were caught, and the FBI invaded Scientology offices in Los Angeles and Washington DC. In 1979, eleven Scientologists, including Mary Sue Hubbard, were sentenced to five years in prison. That did not stop the war against the IRS. Private investigators were hired by the cult to dig up dirt on various IRS officials, and in many cases, they found enough damning evidence to blackmail these officials.

Finally, in 1993, then IRS Comissioner Fred Goldberg met with current “Church” leader David Miscavige and reached an agreement that would end all lawsuits against the IRS by the “Church” of Scientology: the war was finally over. Attempts by various IRS watchdogs to get the IRS to disclose this agreement were unsuccessful, even though by law the IRS has to release it.

The question to ask is: why is a pseudo-religion started by a charlatan solely to make money allowed these special privileges, while legitimate religions are not? This IRS agreement violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by making it a de facto “established” religion. It was wise on the part of the Ninth Circuit Court to reject Michael and Marla Sklar’s argument, but the “Church” of Scientology must be called out for this circumvention of the US Constitution.

Let me leave you with a quote from L. Ron Hubbard:

“Somebody some day will say ‘this is illegal’. By then be sure the orgs say what is legal or not.”

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

[Note: if you're using Internet Explorer, er, don't. But seriously – you might need to click here to see the video]

In the post 9/11 era, new terms and new ideas to describe how war is being fought today have emerged in the media. One such term is “lawfare”. On page 55 of the book Unrestricted Warfare, authors Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui call for the use of “international law warfare” (seizing the earliest opportunity to set up regulations) along with a set of other types of warfare that an enemy with more firepower cannot withstand for long. Since 2001, the term has been used to describe how individual supporters of terrorism have tried to silence those who expose them. Take the case of Khalid bin Mahfouz, the Saudi Arabian billionaire who sued American author Rachel Ehrenfeld for libel in the UK because in her book Funding Evil she named him as a major financial contributor to terrorist organisations. British libel laws place the burden of proof on the defendant, and given Dr. Ehrenfeld’s limited resources – even with government documents as proof – she lost. By contrast, in 2008, Governor George Pataki of New York signed Rachel’s Law, which grants protection to American citizens being sued by ”libel tourists”. The laws of the USA and the UK differ radically when it comes to freedom of speech.

“Lawfare” is the use of a country’s legal system by an individual or corporation to utterly crush their adversaries. The term is currently used in the context of the War on Terror, but the definition can be broadened to include any other individual or group who tries to ruin an adversary in court – including the “Church” of Scientology.

“We are going to sue your ass… and your balls!”

Earlier this year, the Canadian magazine Maisonneuve published an article on long-time Scientology critic Gerry Armstrong, detailing the sustained harassment campaign against him. The author of the article goes so far as to call him Scientology’s Salman Rushdie because of the severity of the Church’s harassment. Armstrong was once in the inner circle of Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and was asked to help author Omar Garrison to compile a biography of Hubbard. When he found out the innumerable “discrepancies” in the official version of Hubbard’s life story, Armstrong declined to continue work on the project.

When he left the cult in 1981, Armstrong did so in possession of “boxes of material” on L. Ron Hubbard. In 1986, he signed a gag agreement with the Church of Scientology, but couldn’t remain silent. Since he has broken that agreement, the Church has sued him many times in the state of California. He fled to his hometown of Chilliwack, Canada but, even there, Gerry Armstrong gets no rest.

“To get PC incarcerated in a mental institution or jail, or at least to hit her so hard that she drops her attacks”

In 1968, a young author from New York wrote an expose about Scientology, which later was expanded into her 1971 release The Scandal of Scientology. At the time, Paulette Cooper could not have known that this would bring about a campaign to destroy her. The Church of Scientology even went so far as to frame her for bomb threats the Church is thought to have itself with stationary stolen from Cooper’s apartment. Forensic evidence cleared her of any crime, but then, in the 1970s, the Scientologists did a pretty good job in framing her for another crime she did not commit: this time, she faced 15 years in prison. (In 1977, the FBI raided Scientology offices around the country, and discovered Operation Freak Out, a plan that expanded on their success with the previous forged bomb threat. After that discovery, Cooper was finally exonerated of all charges.)

Cooper later wrote: “As for me, I often wish I had never ever heard the word ‘Scientology’. But given the same situation, I would still do it all over again. I would not have been capable of remaining quiet, because I learned too many scary things and talked to too many people who were being hurt.” Cooper paid a huge price to expose Scientology, not just through her book but also through what happened in her life for more than a decade. That is lawfare. For the entire decade, they did not let her go on with her career or her life, and she paid a price for it.

The wolves in watchmens’ clothing

Where previously Scientologists who wanted to leave the Church could call the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) hotline to get help, since 1996 the Church of Scientology has operated CAN as another of its “front groups”. The Church of Scientology launched a massive lawsuit against CAN and its former director Cynthia Kisser, and in 1996 the CAN declared bankruptcy. As part of the ruling against the CAN, it had to turn over boxes of confidential files on all the cults it tracked, including Scientology. Nowadays if one visits the website for the new CAN, one can see how different it is from the old CAN: there is no section on Scientology, and all the sections on other cults blame psychiatry for the actions of those cults. The scapegoating of psychiatry should be a dead give-away for those familiar with the Church of Scientology.

This is lawfare: crippling an adversary through lawsuits and then administering a hostile takeover.

Pleading the First in court

The Church of Scientology is well known for relying on the “religious freedom” defence; specifically, the right to practice a religion other than Christianity. They claim this is covered by the First Amendment. In 1989, the Church of Scientology appealed the initial ruling for the Wollersheim vs. Church of Scientology of California case, saying the practice of “fair game” against critics and former Scientologists is “a core practice of Scientology and therefore protected as religious expression”.

Think what a heinous precedent that would set. Other groups and individuals that wage lawfare on their opponents could easily argue that it’s a “religious practice”. Lawfare would become more prevalent in American - and other countries’ - courtrooms than ever.

[Author's note: An earlier version of this article on a celebrity gossip blog called Glosslip but this article is still relevant today. In this article, I wrote mainly about how the "Church" used the American legal system to their advantage, but the same can be said of the UK's legal system as well, especially in light of the suppression of the book The Complex by John Duignan. Additional comments made in this article are in italics]

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

[Note: if you're using Internet Explorer, er, don't. But seriously – you might need to click here to see the video]

In the post 9/11 era, new terms and new ideas to describe how war is being fought today have emerged in the media. One such term is “lawfare”. On page 55 of the book Unrestricted Warfare, authors Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui call for the use of “international law warfare” (seizing the earliest opportunity to set up regulations) along with a set of other types of warfare that an enemy with more firepower cannot withstand for long. Since 2001, the term has been used to describe how individual supporters of terrorism have tried to silence those who expose them. Take the case of Khalid bin Mahfouz, the Saudi Arabian billionaire who sued American author Rachel Ehrenfeld for libel in the UK because in her book Funding Evil she named him as a major financial contributor to terrorist organisations. British libel laws place the burden of proof on the defendant, and given Dr. Ehrenfeld’s limited resources – even with government documents as proof – she lost. By contrast, in 2008, Governor George Pataki of New York signed Rachel’s Law, which grants protection to American citizens being sued by ”libel tourists”. The laws of the USA and the UK differ radically when it comes to freedom of speech.

“Lawfare” is the use of a country’s legal system by an individual or corporation to utterly crush their adversaries. The term is currently used in the context of the War on Terror, but the definition can be broadened to include any other individual or group who tries to ruin an adversary in court – including the “Church” of Scientology.

“We are going to sue your ass… and your balls!”

Earlier this year, the Canadian magazine Maisonneuve published an article on long-time Scientology critic Gerry Armstrong, detailing the sustained harassment campaign against him. The author of the article goes so far as to call him Scientology’s Salman Rushdie because of the severity of the Church’s harassment. Armstrong was once in the inner circle of Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and was asked to help author Omar Garrison to compile a biography of Hubbard. When he found out the innumerable “discrepancies” in the official version of Hubbard’s life story, Armstrong declined to continue work on the project.

When he left the cult in 1981, Armstrong did so in possession of “boxes of material” on L. Ron Hubbard. In 1986, he signed a gag agreement with the Church of Scientology, but couldn’t remain silent. Since he has broken that agreement, the Church has sued him many times in the state of California. He fled to his hometown of Chilliwack, Canada but, even there, Gerry Armstrong gets no rest.

“To get PC incarcerated in a mental institution or jail, or at least to hit her so hard that she drops her attacks”

In 1968, a young author from New York wrote an expose about Scientology, which later was expanded into her 1971 release The Scandal of Scientology. At the time, Paulette Cooper could not have known that this would bring about a campaign to destroy her. The Church of Scientology even went so far as to frame her for bomb threats the Church is thought to have itself with stationary stolen from Cooper’s apartment. Forensic evidence cleared her of any crime, but then, in the 1970s, the Scientologists did a pretty good job in framing her for another crime she did not commit: this time, she faced 15 years in prison. (In 1977, the FBI raided Scientology offices around the country, and discovered Operation Freak Out, a plan that expanded on their success with the previous forged bomb threat. After that discovery, Cooper was finally exonerated of all charges.)

Cooper later wrote: “As for me, I often wish I had never ever heard the word ‘Scientology’. But given the same situation, I would still do it all over again. I would not have been capable of remaining quiet, because I learned too many scary things and talked to too many people who were being hurt.” Cooper paid a huge price to expose Scientology, not just through her book but also through what happened in her life for more than a decade. That is lawfare. For the entire decade, they did not let her go on with her career or her life, and she paid a price for it.

The wolves in watchmens’ clothing

Where previously Scientologists who wanted to leave the Church could call the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) hotline to get help, since 1996 the Church of Scientology has operated CAN as another of its “front groups”. The Church of Scientology launched a massive lawsuit against CAN and its former director Cynthia Kisser, and in 1996 the CAN declared bankruptcy. As part of the ruling against the CAN, it had to turn over boxes of confidential files on all the cults it tracked, including Scientology. Nowadays if one visits the website for the new CAN, one can see how different it is from the old CAN: there is no section on Scientology, and all the sections on other cults blame psychiatry for the actions of those cults. The scapegoating of psychiatry should be a dead give-away for those familiar with the Church of Scientology.

This is lawfare: crippling an adversary through lawsuits and then administering a hostile takeover.

Pleading the First in court

The Church of Scientology is well known for relying on the “religious freedom” defence; specifically, the right to practice a religion other than Christianity. They claim this is covered by the First Amendment. In 1989, the Church of Scientology appealed the initial ruling for the Wollersheim vs. Church of Scientology of California case, saying the practice of “fair game” against critics and former Scientologists is “a core practice of Scientology and therefore protected as religious expression”.

Think what a heinous precedent that would set. Other groups and individuals that wage lawfare on their opponents could easily argue that it’s a “religious practice”. Lawfare would become more prevalent in American - and other countries’ - courtrooms than ever.

[Author's note: An earlier version of this article on a celebrity gossip blog called Glosslip but this article is still relevant today. In this article, I wrote mainly about how the "Church" used the American legal system to their advantage, but the same can be said of the UK's legal system as well, especially in light of the suppression of the book The Complex by John Duignan. Additional comments made in this article are in italics]

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The ordinance pushed by the “Church” would restrict picketers by prohibiting them from protesting within 300 feet of Gold Base. The “Church” and their friend inside Riverside County, Supervisor Jeff Stone, argued that Gold Base is a residential area, and there is already a law that prohibits picketers from picketing a person’s home. During the hearings, proponents tried to argue that Anonymous is a hate group by pulling images from imageboard 4chan, which is regarded as the “birthplace” of Anonymous. (4chan is an image board which has spawned many internet inside jokes and memes such as the Rick Roll. Its humour is often explicit, and, admittedly, sometimes offensive.)

Free speech has not quite won this battle yet: the Riverside County board of supervisors still think this ordinance is worth “massaging and tweaking” so that a compromise can be reached. But, for now, this is a temporary victory for Anonymous, and a temporary loss for the tyrannical “Church” of Scientology.

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Recently, the “Church” of Scientology pushed an ordinance in Riverside County, California, to keep “members” of the group Anonymous away from their fortress-like Gold Base, and it was passed almost unanimously by Riverside County supervisors. But today, Riverside County decided to back away from that decision, at least for now because of the inevitable fall-out from such a restrictive ordinance.

The ordinance pushed by the “Church” would restrict picketers by prohibiting them from protesting within 300 feet of Gold Base. The “Church” and their friend inside Riverside County, Supervisor Jeff Stone, argued that Gold Base is a residential area, and there is already a law that prohibits picketers from picketing a person’s home. During the hearings, proponents tried to argue that Anonymous is a hate group by pulling images from imageboard 4chan, which is regarded as the “birthplace” of Anonymous. (4chan is an image board which has spawned many internet inside jokes and memes such as the Rick Roll. Its humour is often explicit, and, admittedly, sometimes offensive.)

Free speech has not quite won this battle yet: the Riverside County board of supervisors still think this ordinance is worth “massaging and tweaking” so that a compromise can be reached. But, for now, this is a temporary victory for Anonymous, and a temporary loss for the tyrannical “Church” of Scientology.

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First of all: yes, the RPF is real. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard created it in 1974 for “delinquent” members of Scientology’s elite Sea Organization so that they could have a chance to “redeem” themselves and not get kicked out of the Sea Organization. Sea Org members are taught that they are the only people that can save this planet from destruction so to be in the bad graces of the Sea Org hierarchy is a serious matter. The RPF is said to be voluntary, but many ex-Sea Org members were dragged into the RPF involuntarily. Hana Eltringham Whitfield, who was once in L. Ron Hubbard’s inner circle, was reportedly taken to the RPF in Clearwater, Florida “escorted [by] heavy men, both well over 6′ tall”.

Per her statement, RPF inmates have to perform hard labor from sunrise to sunset, with little rest in between. They are served leftovers from what regular Sea Org members eat, and they have to run everywhere. Those who aren’t sufficiently ”rehabilitated” are sent to “the RPF’s RPF”. Hana Whitfield states:

One of my buddies was assigned to the RPF’s RPF for two months for refusing to divulge confidential information for which she had been bonded in the Guardian’s Office. She was kept in that space excommunicado for the entire time, with limited bathing and toilet privileges, all the time being threatened and verbally harassed by RPF superiors. She finally emerged a broken, silent, sullen person who soon after managed to escape from the RPF and the Fort Harrison Hotel. Her name was Lynn Froyland. I have never seen her since she left.

So what are the heinous “crimes” that a Sea Org member can be interned for? Not bringing in enough revenue for their franchise, bringing bad publicity to the Church, questioning their superiors’ orders, and “having negative thoughts about L. Ron Hubbard” (or about the current leader of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige).

Along with days of back-breaking labour, RPF inmates have to go through auditing, which normally is used as therapy. But when auditing is performed on RPF inmates, it mirrors the brainwashing techniques used on American prisoners of war during the Korean War. Dr. Stephen Kent, an expert on new-age religions and cults writes “People confessed to all manner of crimes, including ones allegedly from past lives (Nefertiti, 1997: 12). In essence, Scientology’s supposedly “religious” tool – the e-meter [a machine with two steel cans which pick up electrical signals-Ed.] – became the functional equivalent of a secular lie detector”.

High-ranking Scientology leaders assume inmates have committed crimes or are working for their enemies (guilty until proven innocent). Former Scientologist Monica Pignotti details how an auditing session would go:

They had prepared lists that they called security checks where they would ask you all kinds of questions on every possible thing a person could have done wrong–any possible thing you could think of in your life or… against the organization. ‘Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever had any unkind thoughts about L. Ron Hubbard? About Mary Sue Hubbard? About Scientology?…. Have you ever committed murder?’ Just a whole list where anything [might] read on the e-meter. And the auditor would say, ‘What are you thinking of right now?’ and you would have to answer the question until… the meter didn’t read anymore…

When inmates are deemed “rehabilitated”, they have to write “success stories”. The normal formula of an RPF success story is to acknowledge their past crimes, tell of how their RPF experience improved them, and to glorify L. Ron Hubbard and his perfect spiritual “technology”. See an example of such a success story here.

The average RPF sentence can be served quickly depending on satisfactory completion, but, in many cases, inmates stayed on for longer than a year. Former Scientologist Chuck Beatty served the longest term on the RPF: 7 years. Sent to the RPF in 1995 for wanting to blow the whistle on the “Church’s” upper management, he initially wanted to spend just six months. But after expressing a desire to leave, or “route out” of the Sea Org, he was talked into staying on the RPF so that he could redeem himself among his Sea Org colleagues. Finally in 2002, he regained his freedom and left the RPF – and the “Church”. Asked why it took 7 years for him to leave the RPF, he writes in an email:

It’s a lot of rubber bands that one has attached very tightly to oneself, when one gets into the Sea Org and stays in for a couple decades. Walking out is not easy. It’s not made to be easy just to walk out, not unless they don’t want you. If they want you, they want you to stay.

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Reading our recent review of The Complex by John Duignan, you may have come across the term Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), which Duignan describes as “a dark prison complex”. You may have been skeptical about the nature of the RPF. I was, too, when I first heard about it. But sometimes, as the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction.

First of all: yes, the RPF is real. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard created it in 1974 for “delinquent” members of Scientology’s elite Sea Organization so that they could have a chance to “redeem” themselves and not get kicked out of the Sea Organization. Sea Org members are taught that they are the only people that can save this planet from destruction so to be in the bad graces of the Sea Org hierarchy is a serious matter. The RPF is said to be voluntary, but many ex-Sea Org members were dragged into the RPF involuntarily. Hana Eltringham Whitfield, who was once in L. Ron Hubbard’s inner circle, was reportedly taken to the RPF in Clearwater, Florida “escorted [by] heavy men, both well over 6′ tall”.

Per her statement, RPF inmates have to perform hard labor from sunrise to sunset, with little rest in between. They are served leftovers from what regular Sea Org members eat, and they have to run everywhere. Those who aren’t sufficiently ”rehabilitated” are sent to “the RPF’s RPF”. Hana Whitfield states:

One of my buddies was assigned to the RPF’s RPF for two months for refusing to divulge confidential information for which she had been bonded in the Guardian’s Office. She was kept in that space excommunicado for the entire time, with limited bathing and toilet privileges, all the time being threatened and verbally harassed by RPF superiors. She finally emerged a broken, silent, sullen person who soon after managed to escape from the RPF and the Fort Harrison Hotel. Her name was Lynn Froyland. I have never seen her since she left.

So what are the heinous “crimes” that a Sea Org member can be interned for? Not bringing in enough revenue for their franchise, bringing bad publicity to the Church, questioning their superiors’ orders, and “having negative thoughts about L. Ron Hubbard” (or about the current leader of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige).

Along with days of back-breaking labour, RPF inmates have to go through auditing, which normally is used as therapy. But when auditing is performed on RPF inmates, it mirrors the brainwashing techniques used on American prisoners of war during the Korean War. Dr. Stephen Kent, an expert on new-age religions and cults writes “People confessed to all manner of crimes, including ones allegedly from past lives (Nefertiti, 1997: 12). In essence, Scientology’s supposedly “religious” tool – the e-meter [a machine with two steel cans which pick up electrical signals-Ed.] – became the functional equivalent of a secular lie detector”.

High-ranking Scientology leaders assume inmates have committed crimes or are working for their enemies (guilty until proven innocent). Former Scientologist Monica Pignotti details how an auditing session would go:

They had prepared lists that they called security checks where they would ask you all kinds of questions on every possible thing a person could have done wrong–any possible thing you could think of in your life or… against the organization. ‘Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever had any unkind thoughts about L. Ron Hubbard? About Mary Sue Hubbard? About Scientology?…. Have you ever committed murder?’ Just a whole list where anything [might] read on the e-meter. And the auditor would say, ‘What are you thinking of right now?’ and you would have to answer the question until… the meter didn’t read anymore…

When inmates are deemed “rehabilitated”, they have to write “success stories”. The normal formula of an RPF success story is to acknowledge their past crimes, tell of how their RPF experience improved them, and to glorify L. Ron Hubbard and his perfect spiritual “technology”. See an example of such a success story here.

The average RPF sentence can be served quickly depending on satisfactory completion, but, in many cases, inmates stayed on for longer than a year. Former Scientologist Chuck Beatty served the longest term on the RPF: 7 years. Sent to the RPF in 1995 for wanting to blow the whistle on the “Church’s” upper management, he initially wanted to spend just six months. But after expressing a desire to leave, or “route out” of the Sea Org, he was talked into staying on the RPF so that he could redeem himself among his Sea Org colleagues. Finally in 2002, he regained his freedom and left the RPF – and the “Church”. Asked why it took 7 years for him to leave the RPF, he writes in an email:

It’s a lot of rubber bands that one has attached very tightly to oneself, when one gets into the Sea Org and stays in for a couple decades. Walking out is not easy. It’s not made to be easy just to walk out, not unless they don’t want you. If they want you, they want you to stay.

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The Church of Scientology’s “Celebrity Centre” 

On Sunday, November 23 in Los Angeles, California, a former Scientologist wielding two samurai swords was shot dead by a security guard as he approached the Church of Scientology’s Celebrity Centre. Police initially detained the security guard for questioning, but later released him after watching a surveillance tape that backed up the guard’s version of events. LAPD detective Wendi Brendt is quoted in the L.A. Times as saying the man had a previous relationship with the Church of Scientology, but it was unclear to what degree.

In the hours after his death, journalists and members of the internet collective known as “Anonymous” scoured the internet for details about the man, identified as Mario Majorski, of Florence, Oregon. According to this AP newstory, featured on a local Oregon news channel website, Majorski was not of entirely sound mind. In October, he had been arrested for threatening an auto club member. He also threatened the police. He had a prior arrest for unlawful possession of a weapon, and, in 2006, a medical facility that was taking care of Majorski’s mother sought a restraining order against him.

In 1993, while he was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Church of Scientology used Majorski as a plaintiff to sue psychiatrist Dr. Louis J. West. The lawsuit claimed that West interfered with Majorski’s Scientology practises, but it was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Mario Majorski may already have been unstable when he got into Scientology, but did Scientology make his mental illness more manageable, or did Scientology make it worse?

This is not the first time the “Church” has aggravated mental illness in its adherents: in 2003, Scientologist Elli Perkins was stabbed 77 times by her schizophrenic son Jeremy. Jeremy’s schizophrenia could have been controlled with medication, but following advice from the “Church”, Jeremy did not get the treatment he needed. While the security guard did what he was trained to do to protect the safety of his client, the Church of Scientology is surely – at least in part – responsible for Majorski’s breakdown and tragic death.

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On Sunday, November 23 in Los Angeles, California, a former Scientologist wielding two samurai swords was shot dead by a security guard as he approached the Church of Scientology’s Celebrity Centre. Police initially detained the security guard for questioning, but later released him after watching a surveillance tape that backed up the guard’s version of events. LAPD detective Wendi Brendt is quoted in the L.A. Times as saying the man had a previous relationship with the Church of Scientology, but it was unclear to what degree.

In the hours after his death, journalists and members of the internet collective known as “Anonymous” scoured the internet for details about the man, identified as Mario Majorski, of Florence, Oregon. According to this AP newstory, featured on a local Oregon news channel website, Majorski was not of entirely sound mind. In October, he had been arrested for threatening an auto club member. He also threatened the police. He had a prior arrest for unlawful possession of a weapon, and, in 2006, a medical facility that was taking care of Majorski’s mother sought a restraining order against him.

In 1993, while he was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Church of Scientology used Majorski as a plaintiff to sue psychiatrist Dr. Louis J. West. The lawsuit claimed that West interfered with Majorski’s Scientology practises, but it was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Mario Majorski may already have been unstable when he got into Scientology, but did Scientology make his mental illness more manageable, or did Scientology make it worse?

This is not the first time the “Church” has aggravated mental illness in its adherents: in 2003, Scientologist Elli Perkins was stabbed 77 times by her schizophrenic son Jeremy. Jeremy’s schizophrenia could have been controlled with medication, but following advice from the “Church”, Jeremy did not get the treatment he needed. While the security guard did what he was trained to do to protect the safety of his client, the Church of Scientology is surely – at least in part – responsible for Majorski’s breakdown and tragic death.

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Further to our earlier coverage here and here, this morning I received an e-mail from Aoife Barrett, editorial director of Merlin Publishing, the brave Irish publisher who is resisting the Church of Scientology’s attempts to silence John Duignan. She supplied me with the following statement for publication on Counterknowledge.com:

Merlin Publishing has received a solicitor’s letter from a member of the Church of Scientology alleging that he has been defamed in our publication ‘The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology’  by John Duignan and Nicola Tallant, which we have emphatically denied.

We understand that the solicitors copied their originating letter to Amazon.co.uk who have removed the book from their website. We have had no communication from Amazon.co.uk at all and they have not notified us of their dealings with regards to the book. ‘The Complex’ is still widely available in bookshops around Ireland and we have no intention of withdrawing it. Irish booksellers have also told us they will continue to stock the book.

We would like to sell international rights to The Complex particularly in the US and the UK and are in negotiations with publishers in both countries. At the moment the book is available to buy directly from ourselves from all countries except the UK.

We believe that the claim been made is vexatious and is another example of the Church of Scientology trying to prevent any criticism of their organisation being published.

Update: We have now published a review of The Complex.

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Further to our earlier coverage here and here, this morning I received an e-mail from Aoife Barrett, editorial director of Merlin Publishing, the brave Irish publisher who is resisting the Church of Scientology’s attempts to silence John Duignan. She supplied me with the following statement for publication on Counterknowledge.com:

Merlin Publishing has received a solicitor’s letter from a member of the Church of Scientology alleging that he has been defamed in our publication ‘The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology’  by John Duignan and Nicola Tallant, which we have emphatically denied.

We understand that the solicitors copied their originating letter to Amazon.co.uk who have removed the book from their website. We have had no communication from Amazon.co.uk at all and they have not notified us of their dealings with regards to the book. ‘The Complex’ is still widely available in bookshops around Ireland and we have no intention of withdrawing it. Irish booksellers have also told us they will continue to stock the book.

We would like to sell international rights to The Complex particularly in the US and the UK and are in negotiations with publishers in both countries. At the moment the book is available to buy directly from ourselves from all countries except the UK.

We believe that the claim been made is vexatious and is another example of the Church of Scientology trying to prevent any criticism of their organisation being published.

Update: We have now published a review of The Complex.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!