Atack General report on scientology 3

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FACTNET REPORT

General Report on Scientology

By Jon Atack
(Part three of four parts)

Retribution against litigants, critics, competitors and former members

68. The Hubbard "Policy Letter" "Suppressive Acts, Suppression of
Scientology and Scientologists" (JCA-115), shows how easy it is to commit
"High Crimes" or "Suppressive Acts". These include "Public disavowal of
Scientology", "Public statements against Scientology", "Bringing civil
suit against any Scientology organization", "Demanding the return of any
or all fees", "Continued adherence to a person or group pronounced a
suppressive person or group", "publicly departing Scientology" and
"Violation or neglect of any of the ten points of Keeping Scientology
Working" (in particular "Knowing it [Scientology "technology"] is
correct", "Applying the technology", "Hammering out of existence incorrect
technology"). Strictly speaking, anyone who does not know that
Scientology's "technology" is correct is deemed a "Suppressive Person".

69. It is made clear in Scientology's published policy that a person
expelled from Scientology is "Fair Game" (JCA-139). A "Suppressive Person
declare" is Scientology's equivalent of the Shia Muslim "fatwa".

70. In "Justice, Suppressive Acts, Suppression of Scientology
and Scientologists, the Fair Game Law", Hubbard asserted "By FAIR
GAME is meant, without rights for self, possessions or position,
and no Scientologist may be brought before a Committee of
Evidence or punished for any action taken against a Suppressive
Person or Group during the period that person or group is 'fair
game'." (JCA-140) In this Policy Letter, we learn that
"Suppressive Acts include ... 1st degree murder, arson,
disintegration of persons or belongings not guilty of suppressive
acts". Scientologists are thereby given leave to destroy the
person and property of a "Suppressive Person".

71. Elsewhere, Hubbard carefully explained the provisions of Fair Game: A
Suppressive Person "May be deprived of property or injured by any means by
any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be
tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed." (JCA-141).

72. In 1968, Hubbard ordered that the words "Fair Game" "may not
appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations."
However, the practice of Fair Game was not cancelled "This ...
does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP
[Suppressive Person]." (JCA-142).

73. A training checksheet used as evidence in the conviction of
eleven Scientology officials in the US (including Hubbard's wife
and immediate deputy), shows that the 1 March 1965 "Policy
Letter" (JCA-140) still formed part of a secret course for
Scientology harassment operatives (members of "Branch One" of
the "Guardian's Office" of Scientology) (JCA-143, p.18, second
item).

74. When the nominal head of Scientology's "Guardian's Office",
Jane Kember, and the head of Scientology Intelligence, Morris
Budlong, were sentenced to imprisonment in the United States, in
1980, the sentencing memorandum included this statement:
"Defendants, through one of their attorneys, have stated that
the fair game policy continued in effect well after the
indictment in this case and the conviction of the first nine
co-defendants. Defendants claim that the policy was abrogated by
the Church's Board of Directors in late July or early August,
1980." (JCA-144, footnote p.16).

75. The "Policy Letter" which allegedly cancelled "fair game"
in 1980 (JCA-139), was itself cancelled by a Policy Letter of 8
September 1983 (JCA-145). As such, Fair Game is an
incontrovertible "scripture" of the Churches of Scientology
(JCA-46, JCA-47, JCA-48), even though the words "fair game" are
no longer used to describe the practice (JCA-142).

76. Mr. Justice Latey ruled in the High Court in London, in
July 1984, that "Deprival of property, injury by any means,
trickery, suing, lying or destruction have been pursued
throughout and to this day with the fullest possible vigour ...
The 'Church' resorts to lies and deceit whenever it thinks it
will profit it to do so." (JCA-146).

77. In Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California (the
"mother church" of the Churches of Scientology at the time the
suit was filed), the California Appeal Court ruled, in a
decision upheld by the US Supreme Court: "Wollersheim was
compelled to abandon his wife and his family through the policy
of disconnect. When his mental illness reached such a level he
actively planned his suicide, he was forbidden to seek
professional help. Finally, when Wollersheim was able to leave
the Church, it subjected him to financial ruin through its
policy of 'fair game'." (JCA-147, pp.A-7, 15 & 16). At appeal,
Scientology asserted that "fair game" was a "core practice of
Scientology", and therefore protected as "religious expression".
This position was also made on behalf of Scientology in the case
against Gerald Armstrong, in 1984, by religious expert Dr. Frank
Flinn (JCA-45).

78. In the same case (Church of Scientology of California v.
Armstrong) (JCA-7), Judge Paul Breckenridge criticised the
continued use of Fair Game, showing that the policy had remained
in force beyond the supposed cancellation in 1980. Judge
Breckenridge said: "In addition to violating and abusing its own
members' civil rights, the [Scientology] organization over the
years with its 'Fair Game' doctrine has harassed and abused
those persons not in the Church whom it perceives as its
enemies." Judge Breckenridge added, "After the within suit was
filed ... Defendant Armstrong was the subject of harassment,
including being followed and surveilled by individuals who
admitted employment by Plaintiff; being assaulted by one of
these individuals; being struck bodily by a car driven by one of
these individuals; having two attempts made by said individuals
apparently to involve Defendant Armstrong in a freeway
automobile accident; having said individuals come onto Defendant
Armstrong's property, spy in his windows, create disturbances,
and upset his neighbors".

79. Fair Game has long been a policy of Scientology. In 1955
Hubbard wrote, speaking of practitioners of Scientology not
licensed by him: "The law can be used very easily to harass ...
if possible, of course, ruin him utterly" (JCA-27, p.157).
Hubbard also wrote, "If attacked on some vulnerable point by
anyone or anything or any organization, always find or
manufacture enough threat against them to cause them to sue for
peace." (JCA-148).

80. In 1965, Hubbard wrote in Scientology's "Auditor" magazine:
"Principals of the Victorian government such as the 'Prime
Minister', Anderson the 'Q.C.' and hostile members of the
'Victorian Parliament' are continued as suppressive persons and
they and their families and connections may not be processed or
trained and are fair game." (JCA-149). 81. Current Scientology
"scriptures" attribute only negative qualities to "Suppressive
Persons" (JCA-150). Between 1983 and 1992, the number of people
ajudged "Suppressive Persons" by Scientology increased from 600
(JCA-1) to 2,400 (JCA-151). According to Scientology leader
David Miscavige, the next section of Hubbard's supposed
psychotherapy - Operating Thetan Course Section 9 - will not be
released until "ethics is fully gotten in on the SPs
[Suppressive Persons]" (JCA-152). This means that all critics of
Scientology must be silenced. In light of the "scripture" of
"Fair Game", the interpretation of this order to all
Scientologists can only be alarming.

82. The lengths to which Scientologists will go to harass
opponents are shown by a Hubbard lecture, still distributed
within Scientology, where Hubbard boasted of the creation of his
intelligence agency the "Guardian's Office", and its
infiltration of newspapers, international banks and even the
British government:

"With all of this action being taken against us in the last 17
years ... it was vitally necessary that I isolate who it was on
this planet who was attacking us ... The Organization, under
the direction of Mary Sue [Hubbard], ... employed several
professional intelligence agents who had long and successful
professional backgrounds and they looked into this matter for
us and the results of their activities - although still in
progress - have told us all we needed to know with regard to
any enemy we had on this planet. Our enemies on this planet are
less than 12 men. They are members of the Bank of England, and
other higher financial circles. They own and control newspaper
chains and they are oddly enough directors in all the Mental
Health groups in the world ... Wilson ... the current premier
of England [sic] is totally involved with these fellows ...
They have collected rather interesting files on us ... and
their orders concerning what to do about this as part of their
files all makes very interesting reading. We of course have
full copies of their files. It was, of course, their bad luck
to tangle with someone who had been trained in the field of
intelligence by the allied governments, which is myself and
they had insufficient security and insufficient loyalty amongst
their own people to keep out the intelligence agents which we
sent against them." (JCA-153).


83. Ten years after Hubbard initiated the practice of infiltration and theft,
Churches of Scientology in the US were raided. This led to the conviction and
imprisonment of eleven Scientology officials (JCA-154). Almost forty others
were cited as "unindicted co-conspirators", including Hubbard
(JCA-155). Similar events led to convictions in Canada in 1992.

84. The sentencing memorandum in USA v. Mary Sue Hubbard et al makes
clear the scale of the offences committed by Hubbard's agents: "The United
States initiated the investigation which resulted in the instant
indictment in view of the brazen, systematic and persistent burglaries of
United States Government offices in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles,
California, over an extended period of at least some two years.
Additionally, the United States was confronted with the pervasive conduct
of the defendants in this case in thwarting a federal Grand Jury
investigation by harboring a fugitive, in effect forcefully kidnapping a
witness who had decided to surrender to the federal authorities,
submitting false evidence to the Grand Jury, destroying other evidence
which might have been of valuable aid to its investigation, preparing a
cover-up story, and encouraging and drilling a crucial witness to give
false testimony under oath to that Grand Jury ... a review of the
documents seized in the ... searches ... show the incredible and sweeping
nature of the criminal conduct of the defendants and of the organization
which they led. These crimes include infiltration and theft of documents
from a number of prominent private national and world organizations, law
firms and newspapers; the execution of smear campaigns and baseless law
suits to destroy private individuals who had attempted to exercise their
First Amendment rights to freedom of expression; the framing of private
citizens who had been critical of Scientology, including the forging of
documents which led to the indictment of at least one innocent person;
violation of the civil rights of prominent private figures and public
officials. These are but a few of the criminal acts not covered in the
'uncontested' stipulation of evidence ... defendant Heldt's assertion that
'the policy of the Church prohibits any illegality on the part of its
members or staff...' is totally unfounded and incorrect. The evidence in
this case ... establish[es] beyond peradventure that the Church and its
leadership had, over the years, approved, condoned and engaged in gross
and widespread illegality. One, indeed, wonders how it can even be
suggested that the defendants and their organization did not make illegal
activities part and parcel of their daily work." (JCA-154).

Scientology's attitude towards the Courts

85. The scriptures of Scientology show little respect for the
judicial system. In 1965, Hubbard wrote "Don't react to
Scientology Ethics as though it were 'wog' law. In society's
'courts' one is given the works and truth has little bearing on
the findings. A mean judge or clever attorney and small legal
errors decide a lot of their cases. Wog courts are like throwing
dice. There is huge cost and publicity and punishment galore even
for the innocent." (JCA-156). In another 1965 "Policy Letter",
Hubbard said "Want to know why wog courts make people nervy? Who
can predict a wog court decision? Who can even predict the
sentence man to man for the same crime?" (JCA-157).

86. The second edition of What is Scientology? contains a
section comparing "Scientology justice" to "wog law", which says
that the "justice system is bogged down in a morass of Latinized
grammatical complexities and has become, sadly, a matter of
which attorney can present the better argument. Right and wrong,
guilt and innocence are relegated to bit players in the show. A
lawyer defending a criminal on trial for armed robbery, for
instance, is not interested in establishing guilt or innocence;
he is looking for a loophole or technicality on which the case
can be dismissed and his client set free whether guilty or not.
Few have the wealth necessary or even try to pursue justice
through the courts and even if one prevails, attorney costs
often make it a Pyrrhic victory. The due process of the court
system is in a virtual gridlock of motions, countermotions,
depositions, injunctions, appeals, claims and counterclaims."
(JCA-158).

87. In a statement recusing himself from a Scientology case,
California judge James Ideman said "The past eight years have
consisted mainly of a prolonged, and ultimately unsucessful,
attempt to persuade or compel the plaintiff to comply with
lawful discovery. These efforts have been fiercely resisted by
plaintiffs. They have utilized every device that we on the
District Court have ever heard of to avoid such compliance, and
some that are new to us. This noncompliance has consisted of
evasions, misrepresentations, broken promises and lies, but
ultimately with refusal. As part of this scheme to not comply,
the plaintiffs have undertaken a massive campaign of filing
every conceivable motion (and some inconceivable) to disguise
the true issue in these pretrial proceedings. Apparently viewing
litigation as war, plaintiffs by this tactic have had the effect
of massively increasing the costs to the other parties, and, for
a while, to the Court ... The scope of the plaintiffs' efforts
have to be seen to be believed ... 1,737 filings [were made by
Scientology] ... Yet it is almost all puffery -- motions without
merit or substance." (JCA-159).

88. In the "scriptures" of Scientology, Hubbard wrote: "the law
can be used very easily to harass." The December 1980 issue of
"The American Lawyer" makes it clear that this policy has
extended to judges in trials involving Scientology (JCA-160).

89. As part of their membership contract, Scientologists are
compelled to sign the "Pledge to Mankind", first issued in 1984,
which reads in part "In the United States ... we are the targets
of unprincipled attacks in the court system by those who would
line their pockets from our hard won coffers. Bigots in all
branches of government ... are bent on our destruction through
taxation and repressive legislation. We have been subjected to
illegal heresy trials in two countries before prejudiced and
malinformed judges who are not qualified or inclined to perceive
the truth." (JCA-161).

90. A 1985 issue of the Scientology magazine "Impact" carries
the following account: "Rev. Ken Hoden ... President of the
Church of Scientology of California recently won a motion in Los
Angeles that allowed the Church to rebring an important Federal
Lawsuit. After one of the Church attorneys was arrested on the
charge of contempt of court and another escorted out of the
Courtrooms by order of a suppressive Judge ... Rev. Hoden got
up. He argued before the judge for a full twenty minutes. He had
effectively picked up the ball and gave a most moving,
pro-Church and anti-suppression speech, right to the face of the
suppression: the judge in the case." (JCA-162).

Counselling

91. Since 1983, I have counselled tens of former Scientologists
and been appalled by a succession of accounts of financial and
psychological devastation. I have met individuals who borrowed
money under false pretences, bankrupted businesses to pay
immense amounts for Scientology "auditing", and abandoned
spouses and even small children to pursue Scientology. I have
also counselled individuals who had left Scientology as much as
20 years before and who had been plagued by guilt and a sense of
inadequacy induced by Scientology and its techniques of
psychological domination. Scientology is especially dangerous to
those with incipient mental illness. I have counselled two
individuals who were first committed to mental hospitals after
encountering Scientology and been consulted by the staff of a
psychiatric hospital in a third case. A California Appeal Court
judgment, upheld by the US Supreme Court, shows that Scientology
brought about manic depression and suicidal tendencies in former
member Lawrence Wollersheim (JCA-147, p.A-2).

92. The promises of Dianetics and Scientology are so
attractive, the counselling procedures so invasive and the
selling techniques so forceful that former members can take
years to see them as simply techniques of psychological
domination. U.S. academics Conway and Siegelman, who studied 400
former cult members from 48 groups, concluded that Scientology
has "the most debilitating set of rituals of any cult in America
... although claiming the most severe long-term effects, former
Scientologists surveyed reported the lowest total of hours per
week spent in ritual and indoctrination." Conway and Siegelman
approximated the time for unaided recovery at 12.5 years
(JCA-163). My own experiences as a counsellor bear this out.



(End of part three of four parts)

---Annoy a fool, ask him to back up his beliefs with facts---
"An enemy may be deprived of property, lied to, tricked, sued
or destroyed by any means" L Ron Hubbard--Fair Game Policy,
"If guns are outlawed, how can we shoot liberals?"
Mississippi State Senator Mike Gunn running for Congress