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  A History of Terror and Abuse
Church of Scientology: A Religious Mafia?
By Craig Branch
http://www.watchman.org/scientologymafia.htm


Controversy continues to rage around Scientology, due mostly to the
totalitarian and abusive nature of its practices. The evolution and history
of Scientology raises serious and fundamental questions about freedoms and
protections of religion and even what or who defines a religion. Scientology
is an anomaly on even a diverse religious landscape. It does, in fact,
involve religious belief (in what most outsiders would regard as science
fiction). But that belief appears to have been built chiefly as a cover for
exploitive commercial operations.


Also in this Issue
 Virtual Religion
Aum Shinrikyo Profile
Just Two Kinds of Religion
To Astrologers and Psychics
Touched by an Angel
In the News...


  Scientology’s history of terror and abuse appears to be the result of its
founder’s delusion and paranoia. Evidence of L. Ron Hubbard’s delusional
character was well documented in court where the trial judge concluded, "The
organization [Scientology] clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this
bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder, LRH [L. Ron
Hubbard]. The evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological
liar when it comes to his history, background and achievements." (Church of
Scientology v. Armstrong, No. C420153, California Supreme Court, 1984).
Scientology is governed by inviolate policies or "Scriptures" of L. Ron
Hubbard which, when followed, have produced an extraordinary record of
institutionalized abuse, financial exploitation, harassment, intimidation,
civil and criminal convictions of its members, leaders, and even the church
itself.

One critic, Reader’s Digest senior editor Eugene Methvin, experienced
serious harassment by Scientology. He has aptly charged, "Scientology is far
more than mere religion…[it is] a multi-national racket masquerading as a
religion." ("Scientology: the Sickness Spreads," Reader’s Digest, September,
l981, reprint, p.2).
 Read the Sidebars to this article:
Scientology's Punitive Policies
Scientology's Concentration Camps
Scientology Targets WFI Staff Member


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Scientology officials have repeatedly taunted that "it is not a turn the
other cheek religion."

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 Scientology believes that it alone has the solution to mankind’s problems.
This is not different from many religions, including Christianity, but the
similarity stops there. Scientology officials have repeatedly taunted that
"it is not a turn the other cheek religion" (e.g., Leisa Goodman, "New
Religions: The Cult Question," MTV News and Specials, June, 1995). Not
turning the other cheek may involve subjecting followers or critics to
involuntary servitude, hard labor in "rehabilitation" camps, slander, hiring
private detectives to harass and intimidate, dirty tricks, and lawsuits.
Scientology has a twisted view of "ethics," believing that anything is
permissible which advances the goals of Scientology. Those goals include
doing whatever needs to be done "to bring the government and hostile
philosophies or societies into a state of complete compliance with the goals
of Scientology. This is done by a high level ability to control… to
overwhelm. Introvert such agencies. Control such agencies" (HCO Policy
Letter of August 15, 1960).



  Scientology’s objective is to "clear the planet." This can only be
accomplished through recruiting people, often by deception, into taking a
multitude of expensive "counseling" courses in order to be rid of
"aberrations" from present and past lives (reincarnation) and arrive at a
state of "clear."
One then learns that one must continue to advance through the levels of
Hubbard’s bizarre science fiction cosmology of "Operating Thetans," in order
to survive. The whole process can involve billion-year contracts, but
$200,000 – $400,000 in this lifetime.

Involvement has proven even more costly for many people. There have been
losses of marriages, possessions, life savings, family relationships, and
sanity. And, the most tragic from the Christian point of view, Scientology
leads to an eternity separated from God.

A recent episode of 60 Minutes exposed some of the corrupt and deceptive
tactics of Scientology (CBS, December 28, 1997). Interviewer Leslie Stahl
asked former Cult Awareness Network executive director Cynthia Kisser if she
still stood by her statement ("Scientology: The Cult of Greed," Time, May 6,
1991) that "Scientology is quite likely the most ruthless, the most
classically terrorist, the most litigious and the most lucrative cult the
country has ever seen." Ms. Kisser responded, "Oh, more than ever…
everything they’ve done since just proves that quote." (Transcript on file)

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's policies have brought Scienotlogy into
such serious conflicts with the law that national news magazines such as
TIme have run extensive cover stories on the organization's abuses.

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"The Church's actions...unquestionably constituted reckless disregard for
the likelihood of causing emotional distress."

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 Abusing the Legal System
Two recent and protracted cases clearly demonstrate how Scientology
assiduously carries out the policies initiated by L. Ron Hubbard for
intimidating and harassing its "enemies." Scientology’s target in the first
case was a former Scientologist, Larry Wollersheim. In 1986, Wollersheim won
a $30 million jury verdict in compensatory and punitive damages against the
Church of Scientology California mother church in a case that began in 1980.
This was later reduced on appeal to $2.5 million.

The courts found that Scientology was guilty of intentional and negligent
infliction of severe emotional harm. They wrote "Any one of these acts
[against Wollersheim] exceeds the ‘bounds usually tolerated by a decent
society’ so as to constitute outrageous conduct.… the Church’s actions…
unquestionably constituted reckless disregard for the likelihood of causing
emotional distress. The policy of fair game, by its nature, was intended to
punish the person who dared to leave the Church. Here, the church actively
encouraged its members to destroy Wollersheim’s business. Further, by
physically restraining Wollersheim from leaving the Church’s ship, and
subjecting him to further auditing despite his protests, the Church ignored
Wollersheim’s emotional state and callously compelled him to continue in a
practice known to cause him emotional distress" (Daily Appellate Report,
July 1, 1989, p. 9270).


  This account bears striking parallels to the recent account of Lisa
McPherson, whose struggle ended in death (See The Watchman Expositor, Vol.
14, No. 5).
Scientology continues its insistence that the fair game policy was canceled
in 1968. But the Daily Appellate Report shows the Court found that, "despite
the Church’s public rejection of the fair game practice, it continued to use
fair game against targeted ex-Scientologists throughout the 1970s" (p. 9274;
emphasis added).

Scientology, true to form, attempted every legal maneuver they could to
escape this judgment, regardless of merit. The case went up to the
California Supreme Court twice and even to the US Supreme Court.

Scientology counter-sued Wollersheim and the California appellate court has
thrown out that suit and awarded Wollersheim his attorney fees. The judgment
now stands at $6,025,857 including accrued interest.

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Wollersheim's account bears striking parallels to the recent account of Lisa
McPherson, whose struggle ended in death.

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Scientology "only use[s] the law as a tool, and it is a tool to 'utterly
destroy' their enemies."

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 Wollersheim’s attorneys have won another significant amended judgment. They
proved to the Court’s satisfaction that the Church of Scientology had
conducted a pattern of systematically shuffling their assets between various
Church owned or affiliated corporate entities to avoid payment to
Wollersheim. The court found that the Religious Technology Center run by
David Miscaviage and Church of Scientology International were all "alter
egos" of the Church of Scientology California. The court ruled that
Scientology "acted in bad faith which would result in an injustice to
plaintiff…" (Los Angeles Daily Journal, December 12, 1997).
Attorney Dan Leipold, who has been a very successful litigator against
Scientology, observes that Scientology "believes they can do no wrong…that
any finding against them is injustice and that everybody is conspiring
against them to destroy them…They only use the law as a tool, and it is a
tool to ‘utterly destroy’ their enemies" (Ibid.).

The courts agree. The California appellate court found Scientology’s
counter-suit of Wollersheim was "consistent with a pattern of conduct by the
Church to employ every means, regardless of merit, to frustrate or undermine
Wollersheim’s petition activity…[the church’s lawsuit was] (a) in
retaliation for his 1980 lawsuit against the church; (b) to punish him
economically for bringing that lawsuit, and (c) to obliterate the value of
any victories over the Church by forcing him to abandon his efforts…"
(Church of Scientology v. L. Wollersheim, Nos. B084686, B086063).


  Scientology’s target in the second case was David Mayo, also a former
Scientologist. Mayo won big in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mayo
was suing Scientology and in typical fashion, Scientology sued him back. The
court dismissed Scientology’s suit and awarded Mayo $2.9 million in attorney
’s fees. The court applied the tough sanctions against Scientology saying
the Church had been playing "fast and loose with the legal system" by filing
countless frivolous motions, employing "evasions, misrepresentations, broken
promises and lies… destruction and concealment of documents" (Los Angeles
Daily Journal, April 18, 1996, p. 3).
The validity of the courts’ findings concerning the continuation of
Scientology’s fair game policy and other abusive directives was dramatically
demonstrated in two other major criminal convictions of Scientology leaders
and even the church itself.

The first of these, as reported in The Watchman Expositor (Vol. 14, No. 5),
followed a 1977 FBI raid on Scientology headquarters that produced
comprehensive evidence of stolen government documents, spies planted in the
IRS and Justice Department, planted bugging devices, and 48,000 documents
detailing smear campaigns orchestrated against critics of the church.
Hubbard’s wife, Mary Sue, and ten other Scientologists were convicted and
received prison terms.

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Scientology played "fast and loose with the legal system" by filing
frivolous motions, employing "evasions, misrepresentations, broken promises
and lies...[and engaging in the] destruction and concealment of documents."

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Govermental raids have revealed Scientology plots to destroy enemies by
framing them for bomb threats, hit-and-run accidents, and other crimes.

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 One of the more egregious clandestine attacks uncovered in evidence
obtained in the raid was carried out against Paulette Cooper, author of the
1972 book, The Scandal of Scientology. Following Hubbard’s directive of, "If
possible, of course, ruin him utterly," Scientologists smeared Cooper’s
reputation, then framed her for a felony. Using stationary she had touched,
which therefore contained her fingerprints, they forged a bomb threat
against the Church. Upon discovering the plot, called "Operation Freakout,"
the prosecutors dropped all charges against Cooper. Besides the emotional
anguish and disruption of her life, Scientology’s outrageous, fraudulent
persecution of her cost Cooper $26,000 in legal and psychiatric fees. (Los
Angeles Times, June 24, 1990, A39).
Another such "attack and destroy" campaign uncovered by the FBI raid was
carried out against the then-mayor of Clearwater, Florida, Gabe Cazares.
Documents revealed that "Scientology agents staged a fake hit-and-run
accident" against Cazares (Washington Post, April 28, 1978, p. A-1).
Furthermore, Scientology attorney Merrell Vanier persuaded Cazares to use
his services in a lawsuit against Scientology. From this undercover position
Vanier was able to provide inside information to Scientology, as well as
gain access to sensitive files in the State Attorney General’s office "which
was conducting an investigation of the local Scientology organization."
After the facts became known Vanier was disbarred by the Florida Supreme
Court (Tampa Tribune, November 27, 1986, p. 15-B; Opinion, 498 So. 2d 896;
11 Fla. Law W. 621 [Fla. 1986]).

The Scientologists also planted spies in the Clearwater Sun and St.
Petersburg Times newspapers, the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, and engaged
in various efforts to frame their critics (St. Petersburg Times, November
27, 1979; Clearwater Sun, Nov. 27, 1979). Eventually "a federal judge ruled
the cult’s suit ‘frivolous, unreasonable and groundless,’ and made the
Scientologists pay Cazares’s legal costs of $36,022" ("Scientology: the
Sickness Spreads," Reader’s Digest, September 1981, reprint p. 4).


  The second major court case resulting in criminal conviction occurred in
Canada where the Church of Scientology and three of its members were found
guilty of breach of trust for conducting espionage against the government,
similar to what they did in the U.S. It was the first time in Canada that a
church had been found guilty of criminal activity. The church was also found
guilty of libel against the Canadian prosecuting attorney and was fined a
record $2.1 million. (The Globe and Mail, June 27, 1992; Toronto Star, March
12, 1992, p. D26).
According to the Toronto Sun report on the case, Marion Envoy, former
Canadian head of Scientology’s Guardian Office, was asked "how she
reconciled her criminal activities with some of Scientology’s statements of
principles regarding honesty and freedom." She replied, "‘It was the way I
was trained… whatever was necessary to protect’… Hubbard and Scientology.…
Criminal acts of that kind were ‘not considered against any code or moral in
Scientology because you were protecting Scientology’" (May 15, 1992). As is
so often the case in Scientology, the end (i.e. Scientology’s vindication
and success) justified the means.

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"Criminal acts...were not considered against any code or moral in
Scientology because you were protecting Scientology."

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Watchman has on file many records of Scientology's institutionalized pattern
of harassment and abuse of those it perceives as an enemy, and its tragic
consquences.

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 Other Cases of Abuse Harassment and Tragedy
Watchman has on file many records of Scientology’s institutionalized pattern
of harassment and abuse of those it perceives as an enemy, and its tragic
consequences — too many to print here, for lack of space. The following are
but a few representative examples.

1. Respected British biographer, Russell Miller, wrote a quite revealing
book, Bare Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. Following
Hubbard’s attack policies, Scientology not only sued him in Britain and the
United States but hired their chief "private investigator," Eugene Ingram,
to discredit him. Miller soon found himself being questioned by the police
as a suspect for a murder because of "an anonymous tip-off from someone who
used an extensive knowledge of Miller’s work and private life to try to
frame him" (Sunday Times, October 25, 1987, p. 3).

2. Scientology has a history of using private investigators to pursue and
harass critics. Eugene Ingram, fired from the Los Angeles Police Department
in 1981, is one of the most notorious. Warrants for Ingram’s arrest are
still outstanding in Florida and Oklahoma, for impersonating a police
officer, and for carrying a concealed weapon (copies of warrants on file at
WFI).

3. Scientology claims to "always deliver" through its alleged "total
freedom" technology. Yet, Noah Lottick, 24, "jumped to his death from the
10th floor of a Manhattan building," after paying Scientology $3,000, and
earlier, most of his savings, for their courses (The Times Leader, May 2,
1991, pp. 1, 12A).

4. L. Ron Hubbard’s own son committed suicide from a hose hooked from the
tailpipe in his car. There are a great number of Scientology associated
suicides or attempted suicides listed on the website <www.factnet.org>.

5. Many out-of-court settlements have been paid to plaintiffs and defendants
in cases involving Scientology. In most of the settlements the parties are
barred from disclosing the amount. It has been revealed, however, that Julie
Titchbourne received $100,000, Gerald Armstrong received $800,000. Court
documents in a U.S. district court also revealed that Scientology had been
willing to pay $650,000 to four of at least 10 plaintiffs who all later
settled for an undisclosed amount.

The church also "settled four multi-million dollar suits" as well as with 11
other plaintiffs and "others with claims against the church" for $2.8
million in 1986 (William Horne, "The Two Faces of Scientology," American
Lawyer, July, 1992, p. 5, Cult Awareness Network News, March, 1987, p. 4).

6. Watchman has on file many published accounts of intense harassment and
abuse of former members, media reporters, television companies, newspapers
and magazines, lawyers, and even trial judges who had anything to do with
either criticizing or bringing Scientology to justice. Two American Lawyer
articles detail the extraordinary and chilling accounts of consistent
harassment and acts of intimidating experienced by various judges assigned
to significant lawsuits against Scientology ("Scientology’s War Against
Judges," December, 1980; "Two Faces of Scientology," July/August, 1992).

  One tactic most often used against those who dare to expose abuse in
Scientology is a pattern of slanderous information distribution in the
critic’s neighborhood or workplace. (The Sunday Times [London], April 3,
1994). Recently, when participants in a peaceful demonstration over Lisa
McPherson’s death at Scientology headquarters in Clearwater arrived home
they discovered fliers distributed around their neighborhoods accusing the
Scientology critics as religious bigots, a threat to families or worse
(Philadelphia Inquirer, December 13, 1997; The Event (Salt Lake City),
December 18, 1997).
The respected professional writers journal, The Quill, details the extent of
the horrendous intimidation and smear tactics of Scientology against the Los
Angeles Times, Time magazine, Reader’s Digest, and other major publishers
and their reporters (November/December, 1991, pp. 36–39).

But some of the most chilling are the stories of personal abuse including
people being held against their will unless they complied with more
Scientology processing, or being told that they would commit suicide or harm
their children if they didn’t take more expensive Scientology courses etc.
(Gadsen Times, May 4, 1991, pp. A1, A6; Cherokee County Herald, December 12,
1990; personal testimonies on file).

Reader’s Digest senior editor Eugene Methvin quotes former Scientology
leader Lorna Levett, whose conscience would not allow her to continue in
what she came to recognize as "an international conspiracy." "Psychological
coercion by dangerous mind-bending cults under cover of religion can only
occur, like diseases, when there is no immunization against it," she
declared. "In this case, the immunization is freedom speech. The cults,
using tax-free dollars, can violate human rights only when the truth is
allowed to go unpublished" ("Scientology: The Sickness Spreads," Reader’s
Digest, September, 1981, reprint, p. 6).

Methvin himself says it well, "Above all, the 20th Century record of
leader-cults demonstrates that such collectives need watching. Nothing in
our legal tradition requires us to shut our eyes to a racket religion simply
because it masquerades and claims immunity under our First Amendment"
("Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult," Reader’s Digest, May, 1980,
reprint, p. 6).

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Some of the most chilling episodes are the stories of personal abuse
including people being held against their will unless they complied with
more Scientology processing, or being told that they would commit suicide or
harm their children if they didn’t take more expensive Scientology courses.

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It is Watchman Fellowship’s biblical mission to warn others to "have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done by them in
secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light…"
(Ephesians 5:11-13).

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 Americans rightly appreciate the special Constitutional religious freedoms
enjoyed in their country. They should not be deceived, however, by
Scientology’s repeated efforts to wrap its practices in the cloak of the
Constitution and First Amendment protections by claiming bigotry and
persecution. Actually, it is Scientology’s own heinous and nefarious
activities of individual abuse, and abuse of the legal system, which
jeopardize everyone’s religious and personal freedoms.
It is Watchman Fellowship’s biblical mission to warn others to "have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [expose
and rebuke] them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are
done by them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest
by the light…" (Ephesians 5:11-13).

Jesus warns "For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved [exposed and rebuked]. But
he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made
manifest, that they are wrought in God" (John 3:20-21). Not surprisingly,
Scientology policy is "NEVER agree to an investigation of Scientology" (HCO
Policy Letter of 25 February 1966).

These issues are brought forward out of love and compassion for those still
in Scientology, in hopes that they will escape. But the Scripture also bears
a grave warning, "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy" (Proverbs 29:1). No doubt
Jesus had such a penalty in mind when He said, "And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).

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