Alternative Charlemagne Award
A diverse group of
critics from around the world have joined via an internet web site in showing
their support for the preentation of a human rights award in Leipzig, Germany on
June 3, 2000. The recipient of the Alternative Charlemagne Award, Bob Minton,
is widely known for his public information work in supporting those who have run
astray of the Scientology organization. U.S. Congressional hearings on
Scientology in Germany are scheduled within a few weeks of the ceremony. |
 | | English Award Site
http://www.alt-charlemagne-award.de/
German Award Site
http://www.alt-karlspreis.de/ |
Bob Minton at the Cult Information Conference | | |
Victims of raids and seizures by Scientology will be pleased to learn that
Robert Minton, who has been championing their cause in recent years, will
receive a human rights award for his efforts on their behalf. Minton will be
presented with the Alternative Charlemagne Award on June 3 in Leipzig, Germany
from a German based group called the European-American Citizens Committee for
Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the USA. The group was formed in 1997 to
present the American Consul in Germany with a letter of condolence for deceased
Scientologist Lisa McPherson, and has since expanded to include representatives
from several communities around the world which keep watch on Scientology's
activities. Scientology has been granted tax-exemption for religious purposes
in the USA, but its methods are regarded as totalitarian in much of post-war
Europe. |
 | |  |
| Scientologist
Frank Ofman
facing off with
Bob Minton in Boston |
Lisa McPherson | | |
| | |
Charlotte
Kate's history of Bob Minton | Scientology's
position towards Bob Minton | Holysmoke's history of Bob Minton |
| | |
The Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc.
Mission Statement:
As things at LMT are evolving rather rapidly, I thought I should update the
posting of just a few days ago as there are now new domains (to be effective
next week), revised position statements, a correction was made due to a staff
omission and new people have been added to the advisory board.
The Lisa McPherson Trust
33 North Fort Harrison Avenue
Clearwater, Florida 33755
Tel: (727) 467-9335
Fax: (727) 467-9345
Email: info@lisatrust.net
Web: www.lisatrust.net
Our Mission Statement
To expose the abusive and deceptive practices of the Church of Scientology and
to help those who have been victimized by it. These were the final wishes of
Lisa McPherson's mother, Fannie, who died before the Church of Scientology was
held to account for Lisa's death.
Our Objectives
To accomplish our mission, we will demystify and thereby make transparent the
coercive processes and practices of the Church of Scientology. In this way,
informed consumers can make an educated decision about whether Scientology can
meet their psychological or spiritual needs.
We will expose the Church of Scientology's abuse of the human, civil and privacy
rights of its members and critics. We will reveal its deceptive advertising
practices that border on consumer fraud. We will bring to light those "religious
practices" that violate civil or criminal law. At the same time, we will
respect the right of all Scientologists to embrace any religious belief they may
choose.
We will assist Scientologists in recovering from their unique personal
experience with the abusive and deceptive practices of the Church of
Scientology. We will offer counsel to Scientologists who choose to hear the
truth about how the Church of Scientology uses deceptive mind control
techniques. Our dedicated staff will provide the information, love and support
to Scientologists that will enable them to release the bonds of cult mind
control.
Finally, all of the people involved in the Lisa McPherson Trust will respect the
dignity and innate human goodness of all current, former and recovering
Scientologists.
Our Philosophy
The Board of Directors, Advisory Committee and staff of the Lisa McPherson Trust
include a number of former Scientologists who have had firsthand experience with
the Church of Scientology's abuse, and they are all in some way still recovering
from it. They are decent, caring and compassionate human beings who have chosen
to help others that have made similar uninformed decisions about the Church of
Scientology. Moreover, they are willing and able to share their innermost
personal experiences in the Sea Organization or as public Scientologists in
order to educate and immunize others against the abuses and deceptions of the
Church of Scientology.
The Church of Scientology draws its members from a broad cross-section of
society, and, like other destructive cults, uses a sophisticated combination of
deceptive recruiting methods, false promises, hypnosis, behavior modification,
sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation, information control, phobia
indoctrination and other mind control techniques to entice and control its
members. There is no shame in having been seduced into a group like the Church
of Scientology. Likewise, there need be no reluctance to leave after discovering
that the organization is not capable of delivering on its promise of a "Road
to Total Freedom."
Real freedom begins and ends with the never-ending quest of the human
spirit to be free. This perpetual quest is the single most important factor that
keeps mind control from being irreversible. Organized Scientology's claim of
eight million members is a deception. Informed estimates indicate that there are
at most 200,000 active members of the Church of Scientology in the world today.
What is clear is that the vast majority of people who join the Church of
Scientology reject it, because this organization does not deliver on its
promises.
The Board of Directors, Advisory Committee and staff of the Lisa McPherson Trust
will do our part to see that the human spirit of all Scientologists will always
have a pathway to real freedom.
Lisa's Story
The story of Lisa McPherson's death broke in 1996, a year after she died in the
Church of Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel after being held against her will
for seventeen days. As the details of her tragic and senseless death began to be
publicized, more and more people across the world came together through the
Internet to oppose the abuses occurring in the Church of Scientology.
The Reform of the Church of Scientology
The Lisa McPherson Trust started operations in Clearwater, Florida on January 6,
2000. It was formed after decades of exhaustive investigation by media and
government agencies as well as firsthand accounts from hundreds of former
Scientologists. For more than twenty-five years there have been outcries that
the Church of Scientology abandon its abusive and deceptive practices. But until
now, there has been no formal organization committed to stopping these abuses.
The Lisa McPherson Trust was established for that purpose, and we are now
calling for the Church of Scientology to make the following reforms:
1) Tell their members and the public the truth about the life of
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
2) Tell their members and the public the truth about the history of
Dianetics and Scientology.
3) Cease all illegal, unethical and harassing activities against their
own members and those who criticize or disagree with Scientology.
4) Revoke the policies and practices that violate the civil and human
rights of Scientologists and those who criticize or disagree with
Scientology.
5) Revoke the policy of practicing medicine without a license and
preventing people from receiving proper medical treatment.
6) Stop using and abusing the legal system as a means of harassment.
7) Stop keeping the technology of Scientology secret if it truly has
the power to help the human race.
8) Encourage Scientologists to speak freely among themselves. Urge
them to communicate with family and friends, even those who may
disagree with Scientology. End the practice of "disconnection."
9) Revoke the policy and practice of using private and personal
material from confidential counseling sessions to blackmail, harass
and intimidate.
10) Stop using duress to extract exorbitant sums of money from their
members.
The Lisa McPherson Trust firmly believes in religious freedom for all. But we do
not believe that anyone has the right to engage in behavior that violates other
people's rights or the laws of the land. Scientologists have every right to
participate in the world's religious community in practicing their sincerely
held religious beliefs. However, the Church of Scientology needs to cease its
abusive and deceptive practices.
Our Officers and Staff
Stacy Brooks, President
Jesse Prince, Executive Vice President
Kim Baker, Vice President
Mark Bunker, Vice President
David Cecere, Vice President
Brian Haney, Secretary
Duncan Pierce, Treasurer
Grady Ward, Webmaster and Security Director
Our Board
Peter Alexander
Stacy Brooks
Gabe Cazares
Patricia Greenway
Brian Haney
Jeff Jacobsen
Rod Keller
Kim Krenek
Dell Liebreich
Ed Lottick
Bob Minton
Duncan Pierce
Jesse Prince
Our Advisory Committee
Gerry Armstrong
Ida Camburn
Priscilla Coates
Paulette Cooper
Ken Dandar
Ray Emmons
Steve Hassan
Keith Henson
Ralph Hilton
Dan Leipold
Arnie Lerma
Frank Oliver
Margaret Thaler Singer
Margery Wakefield
Lawrence Wollersheim
Internet Resources
www.xenu.net.
www.xenutv.com.
www.lisamcpherson.org.
www.lisatrust.net.
www.xenu-city.net.
www.freedomofmind.org.
www.entheta.net.
www.cisar.org.
www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/.
Helpful Books
Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves
Steven Hassan (To order, you can call 1 800-860-2139
or order securely from the freedomofmind site above.)
Captive Hearts, Captive Minds
Madeleine Tobias and Janja Lalich
Combatting Cult Mind Control
Steven Hassan
Cults In Our Midst
Margaret Thaler Singer
A Piece of Blue Sky
Jon Atack
The Scandal of Scientology
Paulette Cooper
We trust there will be many who will join us in our crusade.
January, 2000
Copyright 2000 The Lisa McPherson Trust
Sincerely,
Bob Minton,
for and on behalf of
The Lisa McPherson Trust
LAW OFFICES OF ELLIOT J. ABELSON
8491 WEST SUNSET BOULEVARD SUITE 1100
LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA 90069-1911
TELEPHONE (213) 960-1935 FAX (213) 650-0464
OF COUNSEL JAMES L KEANE
18 November 1997
Robert S. Minton
137 Freemont Road
Sandown, NH 03873
and
Robert S. Minton
39 West Cedar
Boston, Mass 02114
Dear Mr. Minton:
You appear to have undertaken the financial maintenance of a significant number
of litigants adverse to Scientology Churches in the United States. You have even
become the patron "dog and pony show" witnesses without legal claims,
like the Youngs, who instigate disputes and sell their testimony to the
litigants you underwrite. You're now even financing the travel of hate-filled
individuals, some of whom have already been prohibited by courts from committing
further acts of violence against members of the Churches of Scientology, from
across the United States to the Church of Scientology's premises in Clearwater,
Florida. You are, in this manner, a responsible party in fostering a climate of
hatred in Clearwater, which endangers our staff and parishioners who work and
live there.
The distraction to Church ministers and parishioners engaged in religious
services by the potential hate crimes committed by the individuals you are
financing, would not be occurring were it not for you going out of your way to
foment their irrational hatred. If you have not realized it before, then
recognize now that this creates a serious potential liability for you. A number
of those with whom you have associated yourself through your patronage, such as
Dennis Erlich and Keith Henson, have engaged in threats and acts of violence,
attempts at intimidation and scandal-mongering. Association with lawbreakers
such as these, combined with the monetary demands that inevitably accompany
their involvement in litigation or similar fertile areas for attempts of
extortion, make your actions of interest to the prosecutors to whom such conduct
has been referred.
My client holds you, your associates and backers, financial or otherwise,
personally responsible for any and all damages it has suffered or will continue
to suffer as a result of your tortious officious intermeddling in Church
litigation. The Church will not tolerate such conduct. I demand that you
immediately withdraw all financial support for such matters and am warning you
that you and those you're financing have crossed the threshold of legality.
I advise you to inform me forthwith what you have done to cease fomenting and
financing unlawful attacks against my client.
Very truly yours,
(signed) Elliot J. Abelson
EJA:sg