Why Say No To Scientology?

Note: This is opinion and commentary. You may rebut the commentary via the comments section. Or you may chime in.

I received an email today that fits in with other reading I have done recently and along the years about Scientology. The references to the events taking places in Clearwater were current events for me growing up there. I imagine most people think Scientology is another one of those whackadoo religions that basically does not harm. There seems to be a difference of opinion about that. This is one of them:

"Fortunately, L. Ron Hubbard did not foresee the Internet, and there is a plethora of good material and research that has been done in the past 15 years that is widely available. A good place to start is xenu.net, which was organized and is run by a man in Norway, Andreas Heldal-Lund.
. . .

Lately, there has been a lot of attention on Scientology because of the antics of Tom Cruise. Xenu has become a household word -- or joke.

I don't think it's very effective to focus on the space opera aspect (Xenu and the Marcabs) - every religion has an origin story that sounds strange to outsiders, and they just play the 'religious tolerance' card. However...the difference is that Scientologists in good standing aren't *allowed* to learn their origin story until they've paid more than a hundred thousand dollars, or years of sweat equity as a Sea Org slave. This is NOT informed consent. (But people tend to stick on the "nut cult" aspect and ignore the bait-and-switch fraud aspect).

Scn, Inc. will counter this with the concept of "information on a gradient" -- reading about it too soon can "mess up your case." Scientologists aren't allowed to discuss their 'case" with anyone but their auditor. Messing up your case is avoided like the plague because you have to pay for and take lots of extra courses to get 'back on track' on your "Bridge to Total Freedom."

However, I DO think it's effective to remind people that Scientology has a consistent history of abusing people and the law, and it's structure resembles an Multi Level Marketing more than a church. For instance, a Scientology FSM (Field Staff Minister) is rewarded with a percentage of every book, course, or bust of L Ron Hubbard he can get you to buy. The best FSMs make a lot of money.

There are no programs to serve the hungry, poor or elderly. Scientology is about "making the able more able." You don't see disabled people in Scientology. If you have a disability, it's something that is considered YOUR fault - YOU "pulled it in." and if you still have to be in a wheelchair, it's because you're not practicing Scientology correctly. Pretty convenient, eh? There's a lot of brushing close to practicing medicine without a license in this organization.

They do have several brands of literacy programs, like Way to Happiness, that they claim are secular. However, all materials are written by Hubbard, no outside materials are allowed except a dictionary, and that's pretty much all the program is - looking up words you don't understand.

They also have Narconon (NOT affiliated with similarly-spelled NarcAnon), which is considered internally to be an Inroad to Scientology - basically replacing addiction to drugs with addiction to Scientology. The reason they're so against psychiatric drugs is that they have a jihad against mental health professionals in general, and a GOAL of destroying psychiatry --because they view psychiatry as a *competitor*. They think if they can align mental health with Big Pharm, a lot of people will follow. They do this primarily through the front group, Citizens' Commission on Human Rights. When you read the purpose statement for this group, it has nothing to do with human rights, and everything to do with destroying psychiatry and mental health professions.
There is a lot of material online about Narconon and the "Purification Rundown" that has no peer-reviewed proof it works and may be downright dangerous.

The biggest problems I have with Scientology are:

--No informed consent

--This group is the largest organization INDICTED for infiltrating US Government offices (in the late 1970s, raids on Scn HQ in Clearwater revealed Operation Snow White, a program where government files were stolen, information that made scientology look bad were replace with "good" information. That and other operations, like Operation Tricycle and Operation Speedy Gonzalez were designed to "safe point" Clearwater for Scientology expansion, and destroy opposition - such as Gabriel Cazares, who was mayor at the time. They tried to set him up in a fake hit and run, and destroy his marriage and political career. he took them to court, and they settled - but the files are sealed and part of the settlement was a gag order. The church is embarrassed about this, and will insist that reforms were made. The only reform was that the church's "Guardian's Office" was renamed "Office of Special Affairs" or OSA. ALL of the policies are still in force.) Hubbard's own wife was one of 11 who went to jail over this.

--Written policy of attacking those who disagree or stand in the way of Scientology progress. One policy is called Fair Game, another KSW - Keeping Scientology Working. Fair Game, the name of the policy that instructs Scientologists to utterly destroy opposition through any means necessary. "they can be sued, lied to or harassed." The purpose of the lawsuit is not to win, but to shudder a critic into silence. They will also send PIs to dig through your trash. The policy says it's OK to manufacture crimes if none exist. If you're a critic, you have to have crimes, becuase Hubbard said all critics are only critics because they are criminals who know Scientology will create a civilization without crime.

Now they'll tell you Fair Game was rescinded, and name a policy letter that says so. However, if you read the actual policy letter, it simply says the NAME Fair Game is all that has been rescinded, because it causes bad PR. But nothing in the policy itself has changed.

--High-pressure sales techniques are taught, including "Training Routine - L" or "TR-L" where one is literally taught to lie with a straight face. Policy of disconnection from families if they don't completely accept your sojourn into Scientology and won't give you money for courses.

--The whole thing is a bait and switch - "you can be a scientologist and a Christian" is simply wrong. Christians . . . don't believe in reincarnation. But as a Scientologist, you aren't told that you are supposed to believe in it until you've paid a lot of money -- and that knowledge is provided simply as incentive to pay more to get rid of all the bad engrams in all your *previous* lives, after you've spent a ton getting rid of this life's engrams. Leisa Goodman, a spokesperson for Scientology, stated "we are not a turn-the-other-cheek kind of religion."

--Too many sad stories of people going off their meds to try to be good scientologists with tragic results.

Here's an example: You're taught in Dianetics (Book One to Scientologists) that you have a "reactive" and an "analytical" mind, and the source of all your troubles is your "reactive" mind. Once you accept that this exists, you're told that "engrams" or bad memories, continue to affect you and cause all your problems. But Scientology can help you with that by "auditing" - locating the source of the bad memory, and rendering it neutral. Auditing costs a lot of money. It costs a lot to become an auditor, too, and pay licensing fees and such. Ok, follow here --
The goal, when you get rid of all your engrams, is the state of Clear (which doesn't exist any more than the reactive mind does). Hubbard wrote that Clears never get colds, and have all kinds of enhanced powers. In order to reach Clear, you have to have a "cognition" - this is required of every course you take in Scn. But you're not allowed to talk about any of this stuff with anyone else.

The Clear "cognition" is this: I mock up my reactive mind.

So in other words, Hubbard sells you on a structure, then makes YOU admit that you made it all up -- you therefore have made up all your problems, too."


Here is a timeline that I found:
http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/CoS/timeline.html