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Stop Scientology Abuses

This site is dedicated to stopping the abuses of the Church of Scientology. Please read through it to learn the things that this DANGEROUS CULT do not want you, or anyone to know.

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This page provides a basic, factual overview of Scientology's founding, history, policies, and illegal activities. We encourage you to read the full Church of Scientology Wikipedia article, as it gives an more in-depth account of the subjects mentioned here.
Please note that this summary does not touch on Scientology's teachings, as the beliefs of Scientologists are not the focus of this site.

Contents

Founding and History

  • The first Scientology church was established in December 1953 by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, his wife Mary Sue Hubbard, John Galusha and a few other early Dianeticists.
  • As stated by Hubbard, the aims of Scientology are "A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of Scientology."
  • On January 24, 1986, L. Ron Hubbard died in hiding at a ranch in California. The Church of Scientology announced Hubbard had deliberately discarded his body to do "higher level spiritual research," unencumbered by mortal confines, and was now living "on a planet a galaxy away."
  • In, 1987, David Miscavige, one of Hubbard's formal personal assistants, assumed leadership of the church. Today he continues to be the effective leader of the Church of Scientology.
  • Scientology has large centers (called "orgs," short for organizations) in Sussex, England; Hollywood, California; Clearwater, Florida; and Gold Base, California, and smaller centers in numerous cities around the world.

Membership Numbers

  • Scientology claims it has anywhere from 7 million to 15 million members worldwide; however, these numbers are probably widely exaggerated and are not born out by census figures. Detailed census reports yielded the following figures
    • 45,000-55,000 Scientology followers in the United States (2001)
    • 1,781 in England and Wales (2001)
    • 1,525 in Canada (2001)
    • 282 in New Zealand (2001)
    • 5,000-6,000 in Germany (2005)

"Personality" and "Stress" Tests

  • Scientology offers "free personality tests" or "free stress tests" to members of the public entering a Scientology center or mission. The tests involve a device called an E-meter, which the FDA has concluded has negligible scientific value.
  • In addition to "personality" and "stress" tests, Scientology attracts followers through numerous front groups, including Narconon, a drug treatment program that has been surrounded by much controversy. Few front groups disclose their relationship with Scientology to members of the public.

Operation Snow White

  • Operation Snow White was Scientology's name for a project during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. This project included a series of infiltrations and thefts from 136 government agencies, foreign embassies and consulates, as well as private organizations critical of Scientology, carried out by Church members.
  • Operation Snow White was the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history, involving up to 5,000 covert agents.
  • In 1979, L. Ron Hubbard's third wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, along with ten other highly placed Scientology executives, were convicted in United States federal court after infiltrating, wiretapping, and stealing documents from government offices, including the IRS.
  • As the U.S. government investigated the Church's illegal activities stemming from Operation Snow White, Operation Freakout came to light.

Operation Freakout

  • Operation Freakout, also known as Operation PC Freakout, was the name given by the Church of Scientology to a covert plan intended to have the author Paulette Cooper imprisoned or committed to a mental institution.
  • The plan, undertaken in 1976 following years of Church-initiated lawsuits and covert harassment, was meant to eliminate the perceived threat that Cooper posed to the Church and obtain revenge for her publication in 1971 of a highly critical book, The Scandal of Scientology.

Tax Exempt Status

  • In 1967, the IRS stripped all United States-based Scientology entities of their tax exemption, declaring Scientology's activities were commercial and operated for the benefit of L. Ron Hubbard. The church sued and lost repeatedly for 26 years trying to regain its tax-exempt status.
  • The case was eventually settled in 1993, after the church paid $12.5 million, a fraction what the IRS had been claiming to cover more than 30 years of church operation including interest.
  • At that point, the IRS recognized Scientology as a "non-profit charitable organization," and gave it the same legal protections and favorable tax treatment extended to other non-profit charitable organizations. The New York Times reported that Scientologists blackmailed the IRS into submission by using private investigators to obtain compromising material on the IRS commissioner.
  • According to the agreement reached with the IRS, the IRS is contractually required to discriminate in their treatment of Scientology to the exclusion of all other groups. In other words, the Church of Scientology won a special right to claim tax deductions that, Judge Barry Silverman opined in 2002, "are contrary to law and rightly disallowed to everybody else."
  • Scientology cites its tax exemption as proof the United States government accepts it as a religion.

Scientology Membership and Costs

  • It is standard practice for Scientology members to sign lengthy legal contracts and waivers before engaging in Scientology services, a practice that contrasts greatly with many mainstream religious organizations. These legal contracts state, among other things, that Scientology followers must reject any psychiatric care their doctors may prescribe to them.
  • Scientologists are expected to attend classes, exercises or counseling sessions, for a set range of fees (or "fixed donations"). Charges for auditing and other church-related courses run from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
  • A wide variety of entry-level courses, representing 8 to 16 hours study, cost under $100 (US). More advanced courses require membership in the International Association of Scientologists (IAS), have to be taken at higher level Orgs, and have higher fees.
  • Membership without courses or auditing is possible, but the higher levels cannot be reached this way.
  • In 1995, Operation Clambake, a website critical of Scientology, estimated the cost of reaching "OT 9 readiness", one of the highest levels, as US $365,000 - $380,000, assuming the most expensive route.

Disconnection Policy

The Church of Scientology has been criticized for their practice of "disconnection," in which Scientologists are directed to sever all contact with family members or friends who criticize the faith. Critics, including ex-members and relatives of existing members, attest that this practice has divided many families.

The Free Zone

  • The Free Zone comprises a variety of individuals and groups who practice L. Ron Hubbard technology independently of the Church of Scientology.
  • The Church has actively sought out "rogue" Scientologists and tried to prevent them from using officially trademarked Scientology materials. They are classified by the Church as "suppressive persons" (SPs) - opponents and enemies of Scientology.

Scientology in Europe and Australia

  • In the 1960s Scientology was banned in three states in Australia as a result of the Anderson Report, a detailed inquiry into the organization.
  • In 1999, an application by Scientology for charitable status in Europe was rejected after the authorities decided its activities were not of general public benefit.
  • In Germany, Scientology it is seen as a totalitarian organization and is under observation by national security organizations due, among other reasons, to suspicion of violating the human rights of his members granted by the German Constitution.
  • In December 2007, Germany's top security officials said that they considered the goals of Church of Scientology to be in conflict with the principles of the nation's constitution and would seek to ban the organization.
  • In France, a parliamentary report classified Scientology as a dangerous cult.
  • In the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada the Church of Scientology is not regarded as meeting the legal standards for being considered a bona fide religion or charity.

Scientology Front Groups

There are many independently-chartered organizations and groups which are staffed by Scientologists and pay license fees for the use of Scientology technology and trademarks under the control of Scientology management. In some cases, these organizations do not publicize their affiliation with Scientology.

ABLE

Founded in 1989, the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE) is an umbrella organization that administers six of Scientology's social programs

CCHR

The Citizens' Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), co-founded with Thomas Szasz in 1969, is an activist group dedicated to exposing "psychiatric abuse," furthering Scientology doctrinal opposition to mainstream psychiatric therapies.

WISE

Many other Scientologist-run businesses and organizations belong to the umbrella organization World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE), which licenses the use of Hubbard's management doctrines, and circulates directories of WISE- affiliated businesses.
  • One of the best-known WISE-affiliated businesses is Sterling Management Systems, which offers Hubbard's management "technology" to professionals such as dentists and chiropractors.
  • Another well-known WISE-affiliated business is e-Republic, a publishing company based in Folsom, California.
  • Internet ISP EarthLink was founded by Scientologist Sky Dayton as a Scientology enterprise. The company now distances itself from the views of its founder, who has moved on to become CEO of SK-EarthLink.

The Cult Awareness Network

The Cult Awareness Network was founded in 1978 and was very critical of the Church of Scientology, categorizing it as a "destructive cult". In 1996 after mounting legal fees from multiple lawsuits by the Church of Scientology they were forced into bankruptcy. The Church of Scientology then bought out the network.