Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Fighting Scientology - an anarchist perspective

Temple of Xenu | 28.01.2008 17:49 | Analysis | Culture | Repression | London

Seeing as everyone and their dog is getting in on this on the internet, now seems as good a time as any for a discussion about Scientology, the actions of its Church, and the logistics and politics of fighting against it.

A number of arguments are raised against campaigning against Scientology, some of which are summed up here (found through Digg).

One common argument against anti-Scientology campaigning is "freedom of belief." Under this argument, to campaign against any one religion is de facto bigotry and should be rejected. This analysis, however, is extremely superficial. Those Scientologists who do not work within the Church - the Free Zoners, in other words - have not been the target of nearly the same amount of attention, in spite of holding nearly identical beliefs. Why? They do not behave in the same way.

The infamous South Park episode targetting Scientology was both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it exposed the core Scientology beliefs for what they are - poorly written science fiction with a bit of pseudopsychology thrown in for good measure. It may be possible that some people who would otherwise have joined the Church will have seen this and become skeptical in general. On the other hand, however, it reduced the problems with Scientology down to it being a scam to make money by selling people religion - putting things in much more favourable terms for the church, in that the complaint becomes about what they believe, rather than what the church has done and continues to do.

This is not an issue of belief, it is an issue of action. The Church's history in this regard is well known, but just as a summary:

- Operation Freakout, an escalating plan of harassment against a woman who wrote a book critical of the church intended to result in her being sectioned.

- Operation Snow White, an attempt by Church of Scientology officials to have negative records about individuals and the organisation as a whole purged from government records.

- Extremely aggressive attack techniques against enemies and heretics, including regular harassment.

- Abuse of the law to attack splinter groups and suppress dissent and criticism, especially over the Internet.

The wikipedia article on Scientology controversies gives a fairly good introduction; sadly it doesn't even begin to cover the problems caused by this organisation.

On the realm of actions, another regular complaint against taking action against the Church is that it is only one such organisation among many. This does bear noting - pretty much any religious (or non-religious) organisation of appropriate size or age is going to have its problems. Why, then, "single out" Scientology?

The first is, quite simply, that it's easier. Scientology, while it has a worryingly high profile, has a relatively low number of members. It's a young movement that has yet to take serious root. Taking on an organisation of this type has certain advantages over an older, larger institution tied in with history and politics and all the complications they bring.

Secondly, I would argue that the Church of Scientology is, if not "worse" in some objective sense, markedly different from other institutions such as the Vatican. While no-one can deny the bloody legacy of Christendom, it is largely a concept of the past. The more recent history of the Catholic Church has seen its share of scandal (such as the child sex abuse controversy) and been rightly met with condemnation. The greatest condemnation in this was not simply that the abuse was happening in individual cases (which could, if not be excused, at least not be used to tar the entirety of the church), but that church officials higher up were aware of the situation and actively trying to cover it up. It is this that marks the difference between the odd "bad apple" and a rotten barrel.

With the Church of Scientology, most, if not all, of the controversies associated with it have occured on an official level, and thus cannnot be dismissed as simply a few individual churches here and there going wrong. Orders for harassment, orders singling out targets, Freakout, Snow White, the lawsuits that have bankrupted people time and again - all of these were planned and carries out at the highest levels with involvement down the chain as appropriate.

Another complaint against targetting the CoS is that by using certain tactics the attacker is "no better than them." This is reductionist idiocy that analyses actions only in terms of the action itself and not its outcome and should be ignored.

Why, then, should we fight it? There are a few reasons.

Free expression. Much of the information we have about the Church of Scientology, its beliefs, practices, and internal memoranda (including the Fair Game policy) comes from documents released anonmyously via the Internet. Some of its members left the church as a result of websites such as Operation Clambake. In response, the Church of Scientology has repeatedly attempted to censor the Internet - from an attempt to have a Scientology discussion group removed from Usenet to their intimidation of Google to have Operation Clambake removed from results, to the multiple lawsuits against websites hosting anti-Scientology materials (see www.chillingeffects.org - search for Scientology). For every step forward the CoS makes in its attempts at intimidation and censorship, a precedent is set for the rest of us.

Protection for the vulnerable. Some of the Church's actions are directly aimed at people who are vulnerable, specifically Narconon (drug counselling) and Criminon (criminal rehabilitation). The methods they use are based on Hubbard's writings and both organisations are staffed by Scientologists. Their treatment, however, has no history of effectiveness and is believed by many to do more harm than good, as well as acting as a front for recruitment to the church.

They are trying to gain influence. The Church has been trying to get close to police in London, through giving gifts of large amounts of money to individual cops and other activities. Similarly they have attempted to get their materials taught in school, and in some cases succeeded. Their activities in Clearwater, Florida, known as Project Normandy, read as the plan of an organisation seeking to completely take over a town. Their aims, however, are much wider.

They are a sinister destructive cult. This, more than anything else, needs to be kept clear. The activities of the Church of Scientology from its inception to the present day have been calculated to sap money and energy from those who put their faith in it.

This is not a matter of freedom of religion. It is a matter of freedom.

Demonstration 10th February 2008, London.

Temple of Xenu

Comments

Display the following 9 comments

  1. Links — Temple of Xenu
  2. Keep an open mind! — Freedom
  3. the law is not the issue... — Temple of Xenu
  4. All religion follows the same path — Jerry McGuire
  5. The law... — Freedom
  6. Scientology invasive tactics — Not Tom Cruise
  7. re: the law — Temple of Xenu
  8. blah — anonymous
  9. Radio talkshow host Eric Von Wad hounded by scientology — Lisa Davis
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech