It’s not everyday that we get to celebrate the birthday of a man who realized his aspiration to get rich by starting up a religion. It’s not everyday that we get to celebrate the birthday of a man who created a totalitarian Orwellian terrorist cult. Today we get to celebrate both. Today is the birthday of the late L. Ron Hubbard, founder and “prophet” (pronounced /profit/) of Scientology. Continue reading to get an abreviated overview of the Church of Scientology’s history as an oppressive, intrusive, exploitative, Orwellian, totalitarian, deceitful, profiteering, paranoid, home-wrecking, blackmailing, abusive cult.

This Saturday March 15 is the next international “Church” of Scientology protest. Why protest? Many people simply view the CoS as weird, creepy, secretive, underhanded, disingenuous, and intolerant of criticism. This is just the tip of the iceberg. 

The CoS has a long history of intensely harassing, intimidating, spying on and following, smearing, lying about, framing, and going to great lengths to silence or destroy its critics. It is official policy of the CoS to encourage deceit, defamation, harassment, intimidation and destruction of anyone (person, organization or government) deemed to be an enemy (or “Suppressive Person”, SP) of the organization. This was referred to as their “Fair Game” policy [see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology)]. Three years after the introduction of “Fair Game”, the use of the policy *by name* was cancelled due to bad publicity. The policy is still in effect; just the name has been discontinued. For a particularly alarming example of this policy in action, read on Paulette Cooper, a woman who the Church attempted to frame for bomb threats (which, if convicted, would have resulted in up to 15 years in prison) and have committed to a mental institution [see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulette_Cooper#Conflict_with_Scientology]. The CoS has harassed and in some cases attempted to smear journalists and government workers. It has been convicted for breaking and entering into government offices in the US (“Operation Snow White”) and Canada [see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White]

They are accused by many ex-members of using rigorous dehumanizing control tactics, including:

• subjecting members to hypnotic one-on-one mind control procedures meant to promote submissiveness and suggestibility; [see: http://xenutv.wordpress.com/2006/09/28/get-your-trs-in/]
• subjecting members to lie-detector-aided interrogations (the E-Meter is akin to a lie-detector)—which is literally thought-policing; [see: http://www.exscientologykids.com/emeter.html]
• institutionalizing punishment, intense psychological abuse and intense social shunning (including permanent ostracism from the entire community, including one’s family and friends) for speaking or even thinking—let alone acting—negatively toward the “Church”, or for fraternizing with SPs who would engage in such “suppressiveness”, or for not informing Scientology authorities if one knows of another Scientologist engaging in such activities; [see: http://www.xenutv.com/interviews/astra-1.htm (in this video set, former member Astra Woodcraft describes her experience extensively, including discussion on psychological, social and physical barriers to questioning or defecting from Scientology); http://www.exscientologykids.com/disconnection.html]
• Guilting members into conformity, by convincing them that Scientology is the world’s best (if not only) hope of survival, so how could you not do everything you can? [see: Astra Woodcraft videos]
• Censorship of information critical to Scientology: CoS released software for members’ home computers which secretly included programming to block websites critical of the CoS. As mentioned above, the CoS also intensely discourages and often flat-out outlaws fraternizing with critics. [See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scieno_Sitter; Astra Woodcraft videos]

They are also Human Rights abusers. They

• Prevent members from using psychiatric medications, even members with intense psychiatric problems such as Schizophrenia. In one case, a schizophrenic member deprived of medication stabbed his Scientologist mother to death [see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Perkins]
• Deprive many Scientology children of proper education. Scientology kids in Scientology private schools are not allowed to be taught by their teachers. Instead, they read by themselves. Some Scientology children are often not in school at all, but rather are spending their days working for little or no money while often being berated for unsatisfactory performance. The students are instructed to lie to their parents, telling them that they are in school and things are going well. If they confess the truth to their parents, they get into serious trouble. One Scientology private high school has never produced a single graduate, because students are always recruited to the Scientology’s Sea Org (i.e., their navy) prior to graduation [see Astra Woodcraft videos]
• The Sea Org is a haven for human rights abuses. Adults working in the Sea Org make $30 a week, while not uncommonly working 7 days for sometimes nearly 20 hours a day. Non-adults in the Sea Org make less. If one’s department is deemed to be performing below expectation (regardless of whether or not the employees have been working over 100 hours a week), their pay is often cut to ½ or ¼ of the normal pay, and they are often fed low quality foods like re-fried rice. There are also very strong physical and social restrictions to leaving the organization, including social ostracism, guilting and psychological abuse, and physical surveillance and prevention. If one does make it past this gauntlet of obstructions and gets out, they are forever deemed a “degraded being” by the entire organization and its members. [See Astra Woodcraft videos]

They are working to gain as much control as possible over the city of Clearwater Florida (the “Church’s” “Spiritual Headquarters”), including the employment of city police officers (which has resulted in clear manifestations of police bias in favour of the CoS, and a number of warnings that the police and the CoS are becoming alarmingly intertwined) and forming apparent alliances with local politicians [see: http://xenutv.com/trust/policevideo.htm].

And they are not a Church. They charge excessive amounts of money for their services. They rigorously suppress dissent both inside and outside of the organization, and have institutionalized extreme, unethical and often illegal opposition to dissent and criticism both within and outside of the organization. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Church of Scientology is a profiteering exploitative oppressive fear-mongering totalitarian cult.

Despite the length of this writing, this is merely an abbreviated list of Scientology’s suspicious antics. For extensive video footage on the organization’s harassment, deceit, underhanded politicking, abuse of members, and for clear evidence of member indoctrination, visit www.xenutv.com. For the stories of three ex-Scientology kids, visit www.exscientologykids.com.

For more information on the February 10 2008 protest and the upcoming March 15 protest, visit www.xenu.net and www.enturbulation.org.

STAND UP FOR FREE SPEECH AND HUMAN RIGHTS BY PROTESTING AGAINST THE OPPRESSIVE POLICIES OF THE CO$ AS APPLIED TO CRITICS, INDIVIDUAL SCIENTOLOGISTS, AND ANYONE WHO THE “CHURCH” VIEWS AS BEING IN THEIR WAY. ATTEND THE PROTEST ON MARCH 15. POST ON THE CO$’ INHUMANE CONDUCT ON YOUR BLOG, WEBSITE AND/OR FACEBOOK NOTES. AND REFUSE TO TOLERATE OPPRESSION OF YOURSELF OR OTHERS.

For more posts on Scientology, click here.