Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review Volume 0, Issue 3 05/07/95 by Rod Keller [rkeller@netaxs.com] copyright 1995
The articles in A.r.s Week in Review are brief summaries of the articles. Many include an excerpt, and all include message IDs for the articles I cover. This may or may not be useful to you, depending on how long your site stores articles in the newsgroup before expiring them.
A.r.s Week in Review is available free, by e-mail and is archived at http://amazing.cinenet.net/scientology.html
Cult Seminar Update
Last week it was reported that the Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater
would hold a seminar on Scientology, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. This
week the St. Petersburg Times reported that Scientologists attended the
seminar and attempted to disrupt it.
"Inside the church rotunda, Scientologists made known their dislike for the subject and its presenter, Craig Branch of the Watchman Fellowship. On at least four occasions, Scientologists stood up and yelled at the speaker. They were swiftly led out by church members, who manned the doors and aisles trying to head off trouble."
"The Scientologists have accused the church of being duped into allowing CAN to come to the church and deliver its message. Calvary Baptist has denied this, saying the seminar is all its idea. About 400 people signed up."
"Richard Haworth, spokesman for the Church of Scientology, said he found the seminar offensive. "I am really disgusted that an outside group would come into this community," he said."
I thought the "outside agitators" theory went out with the 1960's.
Message-ID:
<3o5b2l$5v6@news.xs4all.nl>
Harlan Ellison
An interesting article was posted this week, from the magazine Saturday
Evening Wings. The article is an
interview with Harlan Ellison,
a well-known science fiction writer.
"Scientology is bullshit! Man, I was there the night L. Ron Hubbard invented it, for Christ Sakes!"
"We were sitting around one night... who else was there? Alfred Bester, and Cyril Kornbluth, and Lester Del Rey, and Ron Hubbard, who was making a penny a word, and had been for years. And he said "This bullshit's got to stop!" He says, "I gotta get money." He says, "I want to get rich"."
"And somebody said, "why don't you invent a new religion? They're always big." We were clowning! You know, "Become Elmer Gantry! You'll make a fortune!" He says, "I'm going to do it." Sat down, stole a little bit from Freud, stole a little bit from Jung, a little bit from Alder, a little bit of encounter therapy, pre-Janov Primal Screaming, took all that bullshit, threw it all together, invented a few new words, because he was a science fiction writer, you know, "engrams" and "regression", all that bullshit."
Message-ID:
<031303Z02051995@anon.penet.fi>
Freedom Magazine
About 100,000 copies of the new Freedom Magazine were distributed in the
Clearwater area recently. Here are some highlights.
"In a two-page spread, Clearwater officials are taken to task for failing to settle Scientology's demand for $1.5-million it says it spent in legal fees fighting a city ordinance that was overturned last year."
"The ordinance, which never was enforced because of the court fight, required religious groups and other charitable organizations to keep records on their solicitations, and opened the way for city investigations."
"A separate article in Freedom questions the [St. Petersburg] Times' hiring and promotion policies for minorities and women."
"Another article criticizes HRS, comparing it to the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. It says the agency has destroyed families with the help of psychiatrists. Scientology has long been a critic of psychiatry.
Message-ID:
<3o2khp$t33@news.xs4all.nl>
Making Points
An interesting document taken in the FBI raid in 1977 was posted this
week. It describes how to win points.
"1. All available overt data collection on a subject or group being investigated. 5 points
2. On or more covert interviews that contribute to the completed investigation. 5 points per interview
3. Covert documentation where necessary obtained. 10 points
4. An agent in place, counted each week. 5 points"
Message-ID:
<3o0qme$707@news.primenet.com>
Canadian Report
This excerpt from a 1967 report to the Committee for the Healing Arts of
the Province of Ontario was new to me. John A. Lee conducted a study on
non-medical healing practices, including Christian Science, Unity,
Spiritualism, Christian faith healing, New Thought, Concept-Therapy, etc.
While most of the other groups cooperated with the study, here's how
Scientology reacted.
"The "Church" used the same techniques for dealing with us as it instructs its members to use against any alleged opponent or apostate, the so-called "Suppressive Persons" techniques...In our case this involved scurrilous press releases accusing at least one member of the Committee on the Healing Arts of personal "crimes" and impugning the motives of the whole Committee. After lengthy consideration the Committee concluded that further use of its powers of investigation would not add substantially to information already available (the general drift of which was amply confirmed by the "Church's" tactics) and would merely delay a final report on the matter."
Message-ID:
<3o7vho$rg3@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>
Jonathon "the Idiot" Retires
Farewell to Jonathon "the Idiot", who posted frequently to a.r.s in the
past few weeks about there being no representatives of Scientology among
the active posters in the group. Here's his sign-off.
"Retraction
I retract all statements I have been previously on this newsgroup and in e-mail. I am not in a position to make statements regarding the applied religious philosophy known as Scientology nor the Church of Scientology. I apologize for any confusion I may have caused here. As a declared SP, I cannot be fully trusted and my past ethics history gives evidence to this. Disregard my previous postings and e-mail messages.
Thank you, Jonathon"
Scientology didn't make him more able, apparently.
Message-ID:
<idiot.84.00026FE9@primenet.com>
Harassment Update
Jeff Jacobsen reported a visit this week from private investigators.
Here's his description of the events.
"From about 7:30am to 8:45am a private investigator sat in his car near my house. The police came by and asked them (at times it was 2 guys) what they were doing. They told the police that they were private investigators. I went and talked to them and they told me they were not private investigators. I took their license plate numbers."
"One guy had straggly long black hair. The other, who seemed to be in charge, had short brown hair and a long nose. They were both perhaps 35 or so. They also went through the garbage cans in the alley."
Dennis Erlich also reported that a letter from his parents had been opened before delivery.
Message-IDs:
<3o312f$9ni@news4.primenet.com>
<9505051658.0NU8A00@support.com>
Oklahoma City
Rev. Brad Yarbrough, pastor of Grace Community Fellowship in Oklahoma
City, was quoted in the New York Times this week. He was placed in charge
of screening volunteer ministers who came to attend to the victims and
families involved in the recent bombing. Representatives of the Church of
Scientology were ejected from the area.
Also, a free Dianetics Workshop was scheduled at the University of Central Oklahoma.
"The room was booked one week after the bombing and Scientology concealed its identity by telling the university it was a "crisis management" group."
Message-IDs:
<richchen-3004951605390001@richchen.charm.net>
<3odv15$8hg@natasha.rmii.com>
Factnet Archives
Shiona Fox-Ness' resignation letter to the cos was posted this week. It is
dated 27 January, 1984. Some highlights:
"Whatever value exists in the basics of Scientology technology is vastly and completely overshadowed by a corrupt and degrading modus operandi imposed by the Church's senior management. This operandi operates to the continued detriment of those remaining Church members whose integrity is till uncontaminated."
"In my experience, staff are degraded, intimidated and oppressed and are rendered robotic and manageable by fear tactics. I have witnessed the disillusionment, degradation and departure of hundreds of good, honest and highly dedicated staff members who have suffered through successive purges, experiencing cruel and inhumane treatment. These individuals have been severed from friends and families, their only crime being an expressed desire to see an end to injustice, suppressive and dictatorial behavior, and the blatant corruption of the tech and policy of Scientology. Staff are routinely handled with ruthless force, psychotic screaming, obscene shouting and absurd programs. Lies, trickery and treachery abound."
"The public are viewed solely as gross income products. The attitude is to control them with propaganda. To deprive them of their upstat field opinion leaders (regardless of opinions) so that no voice exists other than that of the official Church propaganda manipulators. The insane rationale behind such attitudes is that 'the field is composed of dilettantes', that 'anyone not in the Sea Org is under suspicion', that 'the field respond best to intimidation and make-wrong techniques'.
Message-ID:
<1995May1.021328.8019@nmt.edu>
Talk.religion.scientology
Mike Chapman, having received no support in creating a moderated
discussion group, this week proposed an unmoderated version of a.r.s in
the Talk hierarchy. His rationale:
"The discussion of the Church of Scientology has caused heated debate in alt.religion.scientology. The Usenet community would benefit from the improved distribution that a scientology group would gain with "Big 8" status."
"An unmoderated newsgroup will continue the tradition of open discussion and debate which has been fostered in alt.religion.scientology."
I fail to understand what Mike has against Alt.
Message-ID:
<3o3f94$cul@rodan.UU.NET>
Ron Hubbard Jr. Interview
This interview from Penthouse was reposted from the Factnet archives. The
posting didn't include the date of the article. As always, some highlights:
Penthouse: Your father was selling information to the Soviets?
Hubbard: Yes. That's where my father got the money to buy St. Hill Manor in East Grinstead, Sussex, which is the English headquarters of Scientology today.
Penthouse: What information did your father have to sell the Soviet government?
Hubbard: He didn't do any spying himself. What he normally did was allow these strange little people to go into the offices and into his home at odd hours of the night. He told me that he was allowing the KGB to go through our files, and that he was charging 40,000 pounds for it. This was the money he used for the purchase of St. Hill Manor.
Penthouse: Do you know any specific information that the KGB got from your father that might have been harmful to security?
Hubbard: The plans for an infrared heat seeking missile in the early fifties. They obtained the information by extensive auditing of the guy who was one of the head engineers. There were great infiltrations, clear to this day. There has always been an inordinate interest on the part of Scientology in military and government personnel. There's no way for me to prove it sitting here, but I believe that the KGB trained East German agents who came via Denmark to London to the United States who were, supposedly, Scientologists. They made very good Scientologists. They were very well trained.
Message-ID:
<1995Apr30.055148.18609@nmt.edu>