Seminar: Current Affairs 07/08

Jeannette Nedoma non-profit organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of the human spirit and providing counselling and rehabilitation programs.” 4 On the official Scientologist home page they

claim that their “ultimate goal […] is true spiritual enlightenment and freedom for the

individual.” 5 Both assertions give the impression that Scientology could be seen as an alternative to the existing religions worldwide. But why do they act like a sect? As we all know the organization tries to hide how many drop-outs they have. It is known that they try to forbid television teams to film the Scientologist estate. As it was often shown on television they damage cameras and beat reporters. Many former members report that Scientology exerts high pressure on potential drop-outs, even if the membership in the organization was very short. Former members were pursued, observed, threatened and stalked. The only way to get out of the organization alive seems to be the payment of much money. So is Scientology a fast growing danger? One significant aspect is that we do not really know how many members Scientology has. We also do not know how dangerous this threat is. On the one hand the organization tries to hide their drop-outs. Therefore it is difficult to find true information about the sect and about the number of members. On the other hand it is not proved that they have eight million members. Independent publications and newspapers only speak about 150,000. Currently, there are approximately 55,000 Scientologists in the United States of America.

Former members also report that during their membership in Scientology adversaries often get a kind of brainwashing. Therefore Scientologists often break with their families and friends who are not involved in the organization. For this reason drop-outs are very difficult for the members. No one could help them out of the “sect“ because they have no real contact to the outside world. The fact that members have to split from their families and friends, who are no Scientologists, shows that Scientology acts like a sect. Another significant fact is that the organization puts pressure on its enemies and abuses the confidence of its members. Additionally the film coverage often shown on television gives the impression that the whole Scientology organization is dangerous and dubious. They try to keep their life and tactics secret from the outside world.

One of the well-known terrible cases which are connected with the organization is the death of the Scientologist Lisa McPherson. In December 1995 she died after 18 days in “isolation”. Her “Scientology friends” kept her prisoner in the “Ford Harrison Hotel Dallas” to force her

4 http://religion-spirituality.org/scientology/index.php

5 http://www.scientology.org/en_US/religion/catechism/index.html

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Seminar: Current Affairs 07/08

Jeannette Nedoma to stay in the organization. In the end of her torture she died of dehydration. On the Lisa McPherson home page one can find some shocking photographs of her corpse that show her mistreatment. 6 The Church of Scientology declares disloyal members for “fair game”, that means drop-outs were betrayed, stolen and destroyed. The organization uses so called “black propaganda” against former members. These are character assassination campaigns, which spread rumours about a person, for instance that one is involved in a crime. Another strategy to persecute drop-outs is to overwhelm them with legal proceedings. In many cases former members of Scientology were forced by court judgements to keep silent about their experiences in the organization. The malicious aim of Scientology is to ruin people, who want to drop out or already dropped out of the organization, financially, mentally and socially. Furthermore the Church is troubled to prevent that Scientology’s practices become public. Besides is it peculiar that many critic home pages about Scientology vanish into thin air and that many links on the Internet are not available any more. At present, you can find videos by a group named “Anonymous”, which is a group of hacker releasing statements against the Church of Scientology, on the platform “youtube”. They call their actions “War on Scientology”. Why is it still popular with celebrities? Do they recruit Hollywood? Scientology's celebrities like John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Kirstie Alley, Kelly Preston, Priscilla Presley and Lisa Presley endorse and promote the organization. Why do they deceive their supporters and the media? Surely the celebrities are being given money for praising Scientology and its alleged fundamental methods. In addition, I think that Scientology also menaces their celebrities who want to drop out or who had already dropped out. It is probable that the organization also uses “black propaganda” against the celebrities to force them to come back. Surely celebrities function as “showpieces” and so Scientology wants to “keep” them.

Is it a religion, a fanatical cult with criminal ambitions or just a manipulative money-making organization? These are controversial questions discussed by scientists, religious communities and psychotherapeutic practitioners, but the opinions of specialists are very different. Scientology is a controversial organization which attached a lot of distrust and criticism within the American society and throughout the whole world. Scientology characterizes itself as a “religion by its basic tenets“. 7 Many scientists have dealt with the Scientology dianetic and other documents and came to the

6 http://www.lisamcpherson.org

7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology

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