Scientology, Scientology, Scientology

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Bad luck really does come in threes, if you're a Scientologist.

First - the controversial cult was today convicted of fraud by a court in France for harassing members to hand over large sums of money.

Second - just hours later, a two-time Oscar winner quit the group, branding them cowards and liars.

Third - the spokesperson for Scientology walked out on a national television show.

It's a one, two, three punch play resulting in a very public 'crash' for scientology.

Soon after an interview aired across America the two time Oscar-winning writer/director of 'Crash' and 'Million Dollar Baby', Paul Haggis, quit Scientology after 35 years.

In a letter explaining his decision Haggis cited abuses of human rights, cowardice and hypocrisy. See the letter here

He also slammed Scientology's policy of Disconnection - where someone who leaves the fold is not allowed to communicate with those still inside even if they're family. Haggis says of Scientology's denials: "To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about?"

Haggis went on to say he was horrified and dumbstruck by recent accusations of awful physical violence committed by Scientology's leader, David Miscavige.

(See the ABC Nightline story featuring the violence allegations and the walk-out here)

The filmmaker who conquered Hollywood said he and his wife were also appalled by scientology's anti-gay stance.

The famous meltdown on the BBC Panorama program two years ago was Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis' finest hour. It turned out he had followed and harassed reporter John Sweeney until he lost it badly on camera.

Today, though, it all caught up with Davis who had his own mini-meltdown on American television when interviewer Martin Bashir asked him about Xenu the galactic overlord.

Why would Tommy Davis walk out when the truth is out there?

Today, a French court convicted Scientology of fraud and fined it $1 million for pressuring and harassing members of the public into handing over large sums of money for vitamins, books and little else.

Earlier this year Today Tonight broadcast L Ron Hubbard, a one time science fiction writer – turned Scientology founder, talking about Xenu the galactic overlord in a lecture recorded in 1967. In this lecture, Hubbard tells how Xenu came to earth, or ‘Teegeak’, 75 million years ago from the planet ‘Koltis’.

Here's another of the outrageous claims made by Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard.

"(Interviewer) Did I understand you just say that a person's IQ can be raised through scientology? (Hubbard) Oh yes, yes, this is the one thing that scientology has upset the world's universities."

Perhaps the worst thing about all of this is you are paying for it. You see, despite the convictions, the horror stories from people who've left the bizarre and secretive beliefs and the huge amounts of money they make, Scientology is still recognised as a religion here, which means they don't pay any tax.

Now former members are saying scientology should not be getting a free ride, so is Federal MP Nick Xenophon.

"I think there's a lot of community concern gets the huge benefits of having a tax exempt status as a religion," Xenophon said.

Yet again Today Tonight approached Scientology for an interview and again they refused to answer simple questions on camera. Instead saying, in a press release to all media, that their conviction in court in France was somehow driven by anti-religious extremists; they suggest film-maker Paul Haggis is simply misguided in his criticism.

Certainly someone is misguided.

Further information

The St Petersburg Times newspaper series on Scientology:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/article1012148.ece

Church of Scientology, Official response

• Regarding the claim on Florida KESQ and ABC Nightline

Regards the interview with Mr Martin Bashir of ABC Nightline - 17 vital minutes of the interview was edited out of this segment of the show.
Church policy is not to engage in discussions concerning these perverted distortions of Church scriptures. It is offensive. It would be akin to asking a Muslim to draw a picture of Mohammed or a Rabbi to eat pork on national TV.
The polite request of Mr Davis to respect our beliefs was grossly violated, which ended the interview.
The issues in question are esoteric and do not relate to core beliefs of Scientology. These are publicly available to anyone in any of the 18 basic books and accompanying 280 lectures by L. Ron Hubbard.
The media likes to focus on an extremely small portion (less than 1 percent) of the Scriptures of Scientology - the most advanced levels of Scientology - which are unpublished. There is a rich tradition of religions that have confidential scriptures, teachings or practices. Within the Judeo-Christian tradition, for example, this exists in such religions as Judaism, Mormonism and Catholicism. In Catholicism, the Vatican Secret Archives in the Holy See contain documents and religious secrets not accessible to the public. In Mormonism, the temple ceremony is regarded as highly confidential; practitioners are pledged to secrecy.

• Reaction to Mr Paul Haggis's leaving

None, why should we? Mr. Haggis has a right to leave the Church if we wants like anyone does. That he believes the Church should publicly support gay marriages is his right to believe. It's not a policy that Mr Rudd, the Labour Government, the Opposition or any major religion in Australia supports so I am not sure why Scientology's neutral position on the matter is news.
Scientology is a very tolerant and open religion and supports the rights of people of all races, creeds, colours or background.

Scientology actively supports human rights and has been in the forefront of human rights activism in Australia for over 30 years. Witness the Royal Commission into Chelmsford Hospital which is widely acknowledged to have only occurred due to the ten years of campaigning by Scientology sponsored organisations to expose the violations of patients' liberties.

Scientology cannot satisfy everyone's spiritual needs and we wish Mr. Haggis well in his pursuit for spiritual enlightenment.

• Scientology and "Disconnection"

The family is the building block of any society. The Church of Scientology encourages and helps its members to have excellent family relationships, whether their relatives are Scientologists or not. Family members of Scientologists are always welcome to visit the Church, to meet other Scientologists and to have their questions about Scientology answered.
What there is, is a view that people thrive better when not in active contact with antagonistic sources. So people are urged to deal with people of parties that are hostile to them but if their efforts come to nothing there is a point where one should let the matter go and get on with their life and stay out of contact with the antagonistic source until the antagonism ceases. It's just common sense to lead a happier and more harmonious life.

There is no policy mandating that a member of the Church of Scientology must disconnect from anyone. Disconnection is defined by Mr. Hubbard as "...a self determined decision made by an individual that he is not going to be connected to another. It is a severing of a communication line."
Scientology even provides online courses in building relationships. These courses resolve how to make a marriage work, why many marriages fail, how to discover if partners are well suited to each other, and how to save a failing marriage.
People often find that once they begin practicing Scientology their relationships with their spouses and other family members are strengthened dramatically. The Church of Scientology teaches an individual to communicate more freely with others, raises his ability to love other people and puts him in better communication with family and friends.
Marriage, raising children and building strong family relationships are major factors in a stable life. And while marriages still outnumber divorces, the gap is rapidly closing
L. Ron Hubbard wrote extensively on interpersonal relationships, and much of it is applicable to this most personal of relationships. Through its Volunteer Minister Program, the Church of Scientology provides online courses in building relationships. These courses resolve how to make a marriage work, why many marriages fail, how to discover if partners are well suited to each other, and how to save a failing marriage.

People trapped in abusive relationships have the right to sever those relationships for their own well-being, or apply to a court for an order preventing the harassing individual from contacting them. Likewise, an individual who discovers that his or her spouse is having an affair has every right to insist that the affair cease and, failing that, to dissolve the marriage. These are each a form of disconnection.

A person who disconnects from another is simply exercising his or her right to communicate or not to communicate with a particular person. This is one of the most fundamental human rights, the right of freedom of expression. Moreover, freedom of religion or belief and freedom of association are fundamental rights that allow individuals to freely associate with individuals who share their religious principles and beliefs. The right to freedom of religion includes the right to be free from coercion to change one's religious beliefs. [See Article 18 (2), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.] Individuals who actively oppose one's religious association and beliefs are involved in a form of coercion.

• Regarding the three former Scientologists and your allegation

Scientology is very careful in its maintenance of confidential matters. The allegations you mention are untrue - the statements made by these individuals were public disclosures they each made previously. They were not privileged documents nor were they exchanged through pastoral counselling. The Church has very strict protocol concerning the confidentiality. Pastoral counseling as it is considered privileged and sacrosanct both in Australia and overseas.

• Regarding the French Decision

What you fail to mention is that the Paris Correctional Court rejected the request of prosecutors citing:

• the absence of any complainants coming forward despite the intense media surrounding the trial and
• that the defendants had acted out of sincere religious conviction

It was for these reasons it refused the draconian sanctions sought by the government and imposed no restrictions on the Church.

The Paris Correctional Court yesterday rejected the request of prosecutors in a case against a Paris Scientology Church, a Scientology bookstore and six individual Church members. The Court cited the absence of any complainants coming forward despite the intense media surrounding the trial and that the defendants had acted out of sincere religious conviction as reasons for refusing the draconian sanctions sought by the government. The Court therefore imposed no restrictions on the Church.

The Church has decried the matter as a heresy trial and an example of the discriminatory treatment to which new religious movements are treated in France—treatment that has been condemned by international human rights bodies. In its annual International Religious Freedom Report issued on October 26, 2009 the United States State Department said that "discriminatory treatment" of Scientologists in France "remained a concern."

The case arose out of the five-month participation in Scientology religious practices in 1998 by the main civil party. This included studying Scientology Scriptures and receiving spiritual counseling. All donations made by the plaintiffs were returned to them by the Church.

In 2006, the prosecutor recommended the case be dismissed because there was no evidence of any wrongdoing and because all donations had been returned.

Instead, a new judge three years later succumbed to pressure from anti-religious extremists in government and turned it into a heresy trial in violation of the rights of the Scientologists under French law and under the European Convention on Human Rights.

This is in marked contrast to the treatment of Scientology in other countries where Scientology is formally recognized as a religion. The European Court of Human Rights has on two recent occasions found that Churches of Scientology in Russia are entitled to the protection of religious freedom guaranteed by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Today's decision means that Scientologists remain free to practice their religion in France, despite the best efforts to the contrary by anti-religious extremists. While the fines and suspended sentences issued by the Court will be appealed, they will have no effect on Church activities and the rapid expansion the Church is experiencing will continue.

The Church of Scientology has grown from one Church in 1954 to more than 8,000 Churches, Missions and groups in 165 countries today. The Church sponsors an international human rights education initiative as well as the world’s largest non-governmental drug education program. Four new Churches have opened in 2009, most recently the Church of Scientology of Rome on October 24, with a new Church opening in Washington, DC, on October 31. In April, three new Churches were dedicated: in Malmo, Sweden; Dallas, Texas; and Nashville, Tennessee. The Scientology religion has expanded more in the past year than in the past five years combined and more in the past five years than in the past five decades combined.

Yours sincerely,

Vicki Dunstan
Church of Scientology Australia
20 Dorahy Street
Dundas, NSW, 2117
Ph: (02) 9638 5200
www.scientology.org.au