Scientology controversies

The Religious Technology Center (RTC), the corporation controlling L. Ron Hubbard's copyrighted materials, sued to prevent a Post reporter from describing church teachings at the center of another lawsuit, claiming copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and the circulation of their "advanced technology" teachings would cause "devastating, cataclysmic spiritual harm" to those not prepared.

[10] In her judgment in favor of the Post, Judge Leonie Brinkema noted: When the RTC first approached the Court with its ex parte request for the seizure warrant and Temporary Restraining Order, the dispute was presented as a straight-forward one under copyright and trade secret law.

[11][12][13]: 303 In 2013, actress Leah Remini, a former Scientologist and vocal critic of the organization, filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) concerned about her disappearance.

The Church of Scientology's objection to secular ideas about mental health are religious in nature, based on the conviction that humans are essentially divine beings who have been marred by negative experiences acquired over several lifetimes.

All we had to do was look for it and murder would come out.In the past, many critics of Scientology have claimed they were harassed by frivolous and vexatious lawsuits, including journalists Paulette Cooper and Richard Behar; free-speech advocates Karin Spaink, David S. Touretzky, Keith Henson and Grady Ward; and former Scientology members Cyril Vosper, Lawrence Wollersheim, Jon Atack, Gerry Armstrong, Steven Fishman, Dennis Erlich, Arnie Lerma, and Bonnie Woods.

Sweeney alleged "While making our BBC Panorama film Scientology and Me I have been shouted at, spied on, had my hotel invaded at midnight, denounced as a 'bigot' by star Scientologists, brain-washed—that is how it felt to me—in a mock up of a Nazi-style torture chamber and chased round the streets of Los Angeles by sinister strangers".

[28] The church has reportedly released a DVD accusing the BBC of organising a demonstration outside a Scientology office in London, during which "terrorist death threats" were made against Scientologists.

Garrison then states, "It was partly on the basis of these policy reforms that the New Zealand Commission of Inquiry recommended that no legislative action be taken against Scientology".

According to the author Stewart Lamont, Hubbard defined R2-45 as a process by which exteriorization could be produced by shooting a person in the head with a .45 revolver.

On March 6, 1968, Hubbard issued an internal memo titled "RACKET EXPOSED", in which he denounced twelve people as "Enemies of mankind, the planet and all life", and ordered that "Any Sea Org member contacting any of them is to use Auditing Process R2-45.

That these defendants now attempt to hide behind the sacred principles of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the right to privacy—which principles they repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to violate with impunity—adds insult to the injuries which they have inflicted on every element of society.Eleven church staff members, including Mary Sue Hubbard and other highly placed officials, pleaded guilty or were convicted in federal court based on evidence seized in the raids and received sentences from two to six years (some suspended).

[48] Other noteworthy incidents involving criminal accusations and prosecutions against the Church of Scientology include: In 2007, a 25-year-old woman from Sydney was charged with murdering her father and sister and seriously injuring her mother.

[67][68] In 2012, Debbie Cook, who ran the "spiritual Mecca" for seventeen years, came forward and accused the church of repeated accounts of "screaming, slapping" and being "made to stand in a trash and water's poured over you" in efforts to confess her sins.

[70] The most widely publicized death of one of the organization's members was that of 36-year-old Lisa McPherson while in the care of Scientologists at the Scientology-owned Fort Harrison Hotel, in Clearwater, Florida, in 1995.

McPherson, at the time, was displaying symptoms suggesting she was struggling with mental illness; in one case, she removed all of her clothes after being involved in a minor traffic accident, later remarking she had done so in hopes of obtaining counseling.

When her then 24-year-old son Jeremy began to show strange and disturbing behavior, Elli did not seek out psychiatric care but used treatment in accordance with Scientology.

Found trespassing outside the University at Buffalo on August 14, 2001, Jeremy was arrested and remanded to a local hospital after a court-ordered psychiatric exam confirmed that he had a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Noah Lottick was an American student of Russian studies who died by suicide on May 11, 1990, by jumping from a 10th-floor hotel window, clutching his only remaining money in his hands.

[80] Lottick's suicide was profiled in a Time cover story that was highly critical of Scientology, "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", which received the Gerald Loeb Award,[80][82] and later appeared in Reader's Digest.

[82] Lottick's father cited his son's suicide as his motivation for researching cults, in his article describing a survey of physicians that he presented to the Pennsylvania State Medical Society.

This left only 3 cooks at Gold [Base] to cook for 800 people three times a day... apartment cottages were built for the use of John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Edgar Winter, Priscilla Presley, and other Scientology celebrities who are carefully prevented from finding out the real truth about the Scientology organization ... Miscavige decided to redo the meadow in beautiful flowers; Tens of thousands of dollars were spent on the project so that [Tom] Cruise and [Nicole] Kidman could romp there.

Many countries (including Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Russia, the United Kingdom), while not prohibiting or limiting the activities of the Church of Scientology, have rejected its applications for tax-exempt, charitable status or recognition as a religious organization; it has been variously judged to be a commercial enterprise or a dangerous cult.

Scientology is legally accepted as a religion in the United States and Australia, and enjoys the constitutional protections afforded to religious practice in each country.

In 1998, an A&E documentary titled Inside Scientology shows Lyle Stuart reporting Hubbard stated repeatedly to make money, "you start a religion.

[106] Skeptic Magazine described the Free Zone as: "...a group founded by ex-Scientologists to promote L. Ron Hubbard's ideas independent of the COS [Church of Scientology].

"[107] A Miami Herald article wrote that ex-Scientologists joined the Free Zone because they felt that Church of Scientology leadership had: "...strayed from Hubbard's original teachings.

[114] Since then, the U.S. Department of State has repeatedly expressed its concerns over the violation of Scientologists' individual rights posed by "sect filters", whereby potential employees are required to divulge any association with Scientology before they are considered for a job.

[119] In late 1997, the United States granted asylum to a German Scientologist, Antje Victore, who claimed she would be subject to religious persecution in her homeland.

Thus, aggressive measures and legal actions are the only way the church has been able to survive in a hostile environment; they sometimes liken themselves to the early Mormons who took up arms and organized militia to defend themselves from persecution.

As an official Scientology website explains: To understand the forces ranged against L. Ron Hubbard, in this war he never started, it is necessary to gain a cursory glimpse of the old and venerable science of psychiatry—which was actually none of the aforementioned.