Thanks to the BBC's "The Net" and "Newsnight", The
Observer(twice!), New Scientist, CNN, The Times, the BBC World Service,
the Daily Planet e-zine, Internet and Comms Today,
Digitale Burgerbeweging Nederland and Hype
Webzine
for mentioning this page. Thanks to Meridian Television's "Cyber.cafe"
for interviewing me and to the .net directory for reviewing this
page and quoting from it extensively.
Scientology Webring:
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The last major change to this site was on 7th November
1997. The UK Focus area is updated more frequently.
Why are there so many anti-Scientology Web pages?
The Internet is striking back against Scientology. The cult has been
raiding the homes of its Internet opponents, including Dennis
Erlich, Arnie
Lerma, FACTNet and Zenon
Panoussis. The cult is also responsible for the close of the
Penet anonymous remailer in Finland and the raid on the XS4ALL Internet provider
in the Netherlands.
In response, netizens are doing what
Scientology fears most- spreading the information that the cult wants
to suppress.
What is Scientology really about?
Scientology is the
pseudo-scientific belief
system created by American writer L. Ron Hubbard. It has built
up a huge multinational network of corporations, including the
Office of Special Affairs -the world's largest private intelligence
agency. Based in California, it has a presence in most major cities
in the UK, as well as other countries.
It recruits through its
free personality tests, via the book "Dianetics" and
via more subtle schemes such as management courses and drug rehabilitation centres.
Initiates are presented with some scientific-sounding courses
and principles to help them deal with life, but after years of
commitment and tens of thousands of pounds, they may find themselves
paying to have alien spirits exorcised from their body or signing
a billion-year contract to save this "dying world".
Critics of Scientology object mainly to the activities of the
organisations, rather than the beliefs of individual members.
Scientology's eventual aim is to seize control
of media and government and so to run the world according to Hubbard's
principles. Society's problems would
then be solved by removing the "suppressive
people" from society, by quarantining or extermination.
Scientology was created by a science-fiction
writer, and
appropriately enough, its belief system includes a galactic empire and
space aliens
blowing each other up. The "OT3" document, which includes these
claims, is only given to followers who have gone through sufficient
indoctrination and given enough money or labour.
The Scientology organisations do not want
"raw meat" (that's you and I) to be told about the higher levels
of the belief system, as Fishman's press release
explains.
Now read on for the stories and
documents that they don't want you to read.
Popular Misconceptions about Scientology
Is it just a harmless minority religion? No,
it's a totalitarian cult.
Does it have 8 million members? No, the real
figure is much lower.
They wouldn't dare do anything illegal,
would they? Think again: the Scientology organisation has a proven history of criminal activity
which includes burglary and wiretapping of government offices and has
occurred as recently as 1996 (in Greece). It is the
only criminally convicted church in Canada.
Okay, so how nasty can they get? L Ron Hubbard
described shooting someone in the head
as "an enormously effective process for exteriorization,
but its use is frowned upon by this society at this time."
Is Scientology rapidly expanding? The huge list of documented closures
would suggest otherwise.
Scientology is sometimes confused with
Christian Science: they are in fact unrelated.
Useful Links:
Timeline of Scientology's
Harassment of Internet users in 1995.
Rod Keller's review
of the week summarises the latest revelations.
Martin Hunt's Acronym FAQ
explains the jargon used by scientologists and their critics.
The pages you are reading now use a minimum of
graphics, for the benefit of people with slow connections. If you like
pictures, take a look at Scientologists in
their uniforms, a tour of
the Saint Hill headquarters or a picket in Tottenham
Court Road. If you have a RealAudio player and don't mind a 2.8
Meg download, here are soundtracks from two British documentaries on
Scientology, from 1995 and
1996.
Information on Scientology
celebrities and their influence in Hollywood from Tilman
Hausherr.
In fairness, here are are the links to the
official sites for Dianetics and
Scientology.
I'm not expecting them to link to this page any
time soon.
Books and Pamphlets in hypertext format: Jon Atack's The Total Freedom
Trap is a very readable summary of the truth about Scientology,
Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard. Bob Penny's Social Control in
Scientology describes how individuals are pressured to give up
independent thought. Margery Wakefield's The Road to Xenu
is a detailed and emotional narrative account of life in the cult.
Other such books can be found on the Suppressive
Bookshelf.
Thanks to the many contributors to alt.religion.scientology
whose work I have used in this page. The newsgroup is still around,
despite the "Church" management's plan to
"handle" it.
The Dangers of Involvement with Scientology
Danger to your
mental health: Research carried out in 1982 suggests that
Scientology's mind-control
techniques are the most damaging of any major cult.
Danger to
your family relationships:
an example of how the cult's "disconnection" policy
breaks up families. The Bajaj family
lost their son.
Danger to your
children's health and sanity:
Dennis Erlich found out the hard way. Yolanda
Howell
told an equally disturbing story.
Danger to your bank
balance:
The total cost to reach Scientology's upper levels can be in the
hundreds of thousands. Just one level
can cost $45,000. A UK price list has also
been released.
Internal Documents seized by the FBI:
Operation
Freakout:
Paulette Cooper wrote an expose of the cult. In response they
attempted to frame her for bomb threats. They had a highly detailed plan which almost worked.
Deception
Training: The CoS has trained some of its people to lie convincingly
in court.
PC Files:
Scientology auditing is used to extract personal confessions which are
then used to blackmail defectors.
Operation
Bulldozer Leak:
A sinister plan to infiltrate government and the media.
Wins in 1970: more
on the cult's "intelligence" activities.
Many more such documents are kept by Jeff Lee
Huge losses in civil
court, damning government reports and hostility from an increasingly
informed public:- Scientology is in
Trouble!
Abuse of the Legal System
Steven Fishman
gave a short affidavit about the attempts
to manipulate judges and key witnesses. Allegedly they even infiltrated
the office of the opposing attorney.
Hon. James M.
Ideman,
a US District Judge, wrote this complaint about the scientologists'
harassment.
Ex-scientologist Gerald
Armstrong describes abuse of the legal system.
Scientology's war
against
judges: this "church" spends a remarkable amount of time and
money in the courtroom.
In 1995, Scientology had to make the largest libel payout in Canadian history.
The court ruled that "Every aspect of this case demonstrates
the very real and persistent malice of Scientology."
The use of the courts to silence criticism
is going on right now: read Maureen Garde's Web page
for the latest.
Scientology Strikes the Internet
Scientology is currently trying to clamp down
on the open Internet discussion of its practices and beliefs.
The tactics include raiding homes, illegal cancels of Usenet articles,
use of private
investigators to intimidate, covert operations
to unmask anonymous opponents and more. Ron Newman maintains the
definitive archive on this unique battle.
Grady Ward
and Keith Henson
are now in court cases because of posts that they made to the
alt.religion.scientology newsgroup. Ron Newman has the details.
"Skeptic" magazine has its own
summary of the battle in this article
by Jim Lippard and Jeff Jacobsen.
Stephen Marinick's article in Java Monthly
gives an overview of why the Internet has made him active against
the cult.
Troutman gives his
impressions
from his time on alt.religion.scientology.
If you're looking for the Scientology "secret
scriptures" which have escaped to the 'net, you could try looking at Dave
Touretsky's or Andreas
Heldal-Lund's sites.
Contacts and other information sources
Contact addresses for anti-cult groups.
Books
recommended by Scientology's critics
Now read about the harassment tactics
used against the authors of those books.
When those tactics fail, the Co$ turn to stealing books and newspapers.
Commentary on Scientology's
beliefs and doctrines can be found on the
beliefs page.
Humour
Check out my Helena Kobrin Pen Pal
Page
Scientologists are very serious in their
dedication to "clearing the planet". Their critics, on the other hand,
don't mind having a laugh. Marina Chong maintains the Joking and
Degrading archive.
Clam FAQ: Pope Charles'
explanation of the clam jokes -elucidates L Ron Hubbard's views
on the origin of humanity.
Diapetics: Ira
Wallach's hilarious parody from 1951.
L Ron Hubbard writes to
Usenet from his new base in Hell.
More Classic Moments
from alt.religion.scientology.
Songs: a Gilbert and
Sullivan take-off written for Helena Kobrin and Scientology version of
Nine Inch Nails' Heresy.
Many more such efforts are found on the A.R.S Song Page
Read this if you're
a raging pervert.
Stephen Jones has this
advice for David Miscavige
Mark Allen tells us how to Make Religion Fast!
Mike Beebe introduces the Church of Beeritology.
Heber and his Body
Raisins: how the head of the church made an idiot of himself on a
radio phone-in.
RTC Sues Reality!!
Our reporter Daniel Davidson has the details.
Damon Chetson explains what to do if the Church
of Scientology raids your house.
A Premiere Radio team bring us a radio advert for Scienetics
Jeff Jacobsen tells us about the origin of the
OT3 document.
Which is the most useful self-help book, "Dianetics" or "Boy dates
Girl"? Stephen Jones tests them out.
Kwantem has written a song
especially for alt.religion.scientology.
Martin Poulter presents Three Religions: Take Your Pick!
Ever notice that "Lafayette Ron Hubbard" is an
anagram of "Fat, Bad, Unearthly Bore"
Why did the Scientologist cross the road?
-Chicken Engrams!
First-hand accounts give a taste of life Inside Scientology
On Cults in General...
A Search for
Answers:
An essay by Dennis Erlich (a critic
of whom the Co$ are particularly frightened) on the attraction
and danger of cults.
Fight
Against Coercive Tactics: a real mine of information on Scientology
and on psychological coercion.
The
American Family Foundation
maintains an excellent list of pro- and anti-cult links.
The Antidote to
Cult Recruitment is to be aware.
Research: A
Short Review of Academic Research into Cults.
Exploding the
Myths:
Some words of warning from a top UK cult expert.
Notice from the original author: As if it
were not obvious, the articles archived at this site are meant
only to reflect the opinions of their writers. These opinions
are not necessarily shared by the author.
Permission to reproduce has not been sought for all the
material at this site. Most of the articles here have been taken
in good faith: I have assumed that those posting these documents
to Usenet have acted within their rights. I have deliberately
refrained from releasing material that I know to be the subject
of legal disputes.
The original author of this page is Martin Poulter