To most people Scientology falls under one or more of three common labels:
A) That Tom Cruise/hollywood celebrity thing
B) A wacky religion which, for the most part, is a bit sketchy on the details
C) The punchline to any number of jokes
Unfortunately, assigning any of these 3 labels to Scientology effectively masks the most accurate and important one:
D) Scientology is a dangerous organization that is guilty of countless human rights abuses, fraud, blackmail, and murder_ .
This diary is meant to educate you on things which you (and most others) are largely unaware.
Scientology was founded by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard in 1953. It gained tax-exempt status as a ‘religion’ but later had that status removed in 1967. Finally, after a ‘payment’ to the IRS in the amount of $12 million in 1993 they once again declared Scientology to be a "non-profitable charitable organization"; a status which the ‘church’ enjoys to this day. Scientology is the only ‘religion’ which maintains copyright protections on its materials and charges members a fee to be involved with the ‘church’. It is the only For Profit business which also retains tax exempt status as a religion. While many religions rely on donations and even require fees for certain optional services, Scientology requires regular payments in order for members to join and participate. These are not elective services members pay for. While some may argue that it is possible to join the ‘church’ free of charge, numerous members have been threatened with "Disconnect" who fail to show their loyalty through payments to the organization. The current head of the "Church of Scientology" is David Miscavige.
Scientologists are publicly known for believing psyciatry to be a scam and forbid members to use many forms of prescription drugs. Scientologists even have their own ‘doctors’ which they strongly encourage their members to visit in lieu of real doctors. These scientologist doctors adhere to the organization’s position that ailments should be treated with vitamins and in "auditing sessions". Ailments are viewed as resulting from some fault of the individual experiencing them-usually blaming them for associating with a "Suppressive Person" or "SP". This position is one significant source of the human rights abuses and deaths that have been (and continue to be) due to membership with the "Church of Scientology". Former scientologist Ellie Perkins was killed 5 years ago today when her schizophrenic son stabbed her over 70 times. Reports indicate he was not taking any schizophrenic medicine due to the rules imposed by the ‘church’ of which both he and his mother were members:
Perkins' schizophrenia was being treated with vitamins and herbs by his parents, Church of Scientology "auditors" who rejected modern psychiatry. On Tuesday, John R. Nuchereno, Perkins' attorney, told the judge that had his client been given psychiatric treatment instead of being treated at a Church of Scientology medical facility, "his mother would be alive today."
Another largely unknown source for the human rights abuses by the Church of Scientology is the "Sea Org". I’ll let some ex-scientologists speak about the Sea Org. This is only a taste of what information is available so please visit the website yourself and read more:
The Sea Org, short for "The Sea Organization", is Scientology's parish (for lack of a better word). Not all Scientologists are in the Sea Org, but the most dedicated ones usually are. The current leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, is also in command of the Sea Org.
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When a Scientologist joins the Sea Org, he signs a contract agreeing to serve for 1 billion years (no typo - 1,000,000,000 years). Because Scientologists believe in re-incarnation, the Sea Org member is expected to return and serve again in his or her next life.
Critics believe that the Sea Organization is one of the most abusive groups in the world. The abuses that go on daily in the Sea Org are all that more egregious because, due to Scientology's religious status, law enforcement is reticent to investigate. Here are just a few aspects of Sea Org life, taken from hundreds of personal testimonials from ex-Sea Org members, that are decried by critics:
Sea Org members are not permitted to have children while working for the organization. Couples who get pregnant are either pressured to abort the baby, or they must leave. Often, these people have been in the Sea Org so long, they have nowhere to go, no resume outside of Scientology, no job experience, no finances, no property, and no non-Scientology friends.
Anyone who leaves the Sea Org without permission is declared a Suppressive Person by the Church of Scientology, and is ostracized from family, friends, and loved ones. It is very difficult to get permission to leave the Sea Org, and one cannot simply quit and then walk out the door. The "approved" leaving process involves up to 3 years of hard physical labor, E-metered confessionals, social isolation and group pressure.
Sea Org members live in horrible conditions. Unmarried members never have rooms to themselves, regardless of age, but instead live in small rooms with 3-12 other members. Members are often denied proper sleep and are often forced to skip meals because of the pressures of the job.
But wait. Whose words are these? Well they are the words of 3 former members of the Sea Org. One of them is named Jenna Miscavige. She is the niece of the current head of the Church of Scientology David Miscavige. She left the organization in 2005 and has been crusading against it’s abuses ever since. Their website can be found here and I strongly recommend it.
In January of this year an underground group which is called ‘Anonymous’ openly declared war on the Church of Scientology. The video which started it all is here:
Anonymous is a de-centralized, leaderless organization focused on dismantling the Church of Scientology. Their goals are: to expose the leaders as conmen who are bilking victims of their money; have the church's tax-exempt status (and therefore religious classification) revoked; bring to the attention of the public the egregious human rights abuses and see those responsible prosecuted; and offer help to those who have become brainwashed and/or victimized by the organization.
The Anonymous group first gained attention when they hacked the Church website in late January. Since then the group has decided to focus on strictly legal means with which to fight the organization and has since denounced any further activities such as the website hacking. They organized demonstrations in multiple countries on Feb 10th and have succeeded in gaining awareness and increasing their numbers. While many of their activites are now limited to public protests, the group is involved in other areas (all legal that I’ve seen so far) meant to help bring about the downfall of Scientology.
With the popularity the Anonymous group has gained through YouTube and the fact that the group remains anonymous even to its own members, copycat and imposters have popped up to take advantage of the spotlight. Searching youtube you will find a number of other groups who appear in masks and/or claim to be part of the Anonymous group. Some of them utter nonstop stupidity from the moment they open their mouths. Yet others appear to have taken up the cause themselves and seem to capture the purpose of the movement perfectly:
Two things you will find common to both real and imposter anonymous members is the covering of their faces and masking of their voices. While some may think this is just a form of a ‘marketing scheme’ to sell the idea to the YouTube crowd, members insist it is for their own protection. The Church of Scientology has a very aggressive legal department that continues to threaten lawsuit against anyone who speaks negatively of the organization. Protestors are often photographed and followed by members of the OSA. So while the Guy Fawkes masks and the voice synthesizers may seem childish at first glance, they are used specifically for the protection of the members. Most anonymous members don’t even know or reveal anything about themselves to other members out of fear of exposing themselves to CoS informants. While this serves to effectively protect individual members it also opens the door for anyone and everyone to claim to speak for the movement-even if their message is one of complete idiocy. This has happened and will continue to happen but the movement survives and grows despite that caveat.
This Saturday Anonymous is staging massive, worldwide protests in front of Scientology centers as well as other operations both public and secret. I encourage you to join them in their fight to educate the public to the abuses of the Church of Scientology. I also heavily encourage you to take serious precautions to hide your identity if you do. Hats, masks, sunglasses, hoodies, wigs...whatever you have to hide your identity is a good idea. Don’t reveal anything about yourself-even to other protestors. Don’t judge the protestors on their appearance. They’re not anarchists and they’re not crazy idiots. This is a new type of protest movement. It’s meant to change the way people think about protests. It’s meant to attract people to the group who would normally wince at the idea of a ‘protest rally’. It’s meant to look like a block party. It’s supposed to look crazy and fun. But the purpose and the message remain grave and focused. Judge them on their message and their accomplishments-not their appearance.
Tell people about Scientology. Direct them to the websites hereand here. Raise awareness about the abuses of the CoS. Scientology is not a punchline. It ruins lives and people must know the truth.
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