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The World's Northernmost Scientology Critic Site

[ARSCC Approved]

(The ARSCC does not exist)

[Disclaimer]

[Background]
[Books and essays]
[Web resources]
[Personal encounters]
[CoS Propaganda]
[CoS in Norway]

[Xenu Brings Order]

Go to Operation Clambake

Background

During the past few years, the amount of information about and exposure of the Church of Scientology (CoS), its practices, and teachings, has increased rapidly, both on the Internet and in the media. On the Internet, much attention has been given to the CoS's attempts to censor the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology (or just a.r.s. for short) by attempting to remove it from the Usenet hierarchy (January 1995), and by launching a massive spam attack there in 1996. Also, their nasty habit of ferociously attacking and trying to shut down web pages set up by critics has not gone unnoticed. In fact, the CoS can be said to have declared a "war" against the Net and individuals daring to speak up against it. A historical introduction to this "war" between the CoS and the Internet can be found here.

Of course, one must not forget the CoS's practice of harassing their critics and ex-members, which in fact is a part of their "scriptures" (these "scriptures" being the writings of the late pulp science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard). Several critics have had their houses raided by the CoS and their army of lawyers, among others Dennis Erlich, Arnaldo Lerma, and Swedish Zenon Panoussis. The CoS does this in order to harass their critics, ex-members, and ex-members still believing in and practicing the teachings of Hubbard outside the CoS (so-called squirrels). In fact, it is their official policy; Hubbard told them to do it. Additionally, the CoS does not hesitate to use their huge amount of lawyers to launch lots of lawsuits in order to silence ex-members and critics. Hubbard knew that lawsuits can be very effective for this purpose, so he made sure to put in down in writing in one of his scriptures:

"The purpose of the [law]suit is to harass and discourage rather than to win. The law can be used very easily to harass, [...] If possible, of course, ruin him utterly."
(L. Ron Hubbard: "The Scientologist: A Manual on the Dissemination of Material", 1955).

For the above reasons (and for many others, which will soon become evident if you read on), I feel that Scientology is a dangerous cult whose lies, theories and practices should be exposed. These web pages are my contribution.

Online essays and books about Scientology

Many books, essays, and reviews critical of Scientology, Dianetics, and the claims of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, have been written. A few of them are archived here, and are recommended reading if you want to get more in-depth information about Dianetics, Scientology, and L. Ron Hubbard. For a short introduction, read the article What is Scientology? by Roland Rashleigh-Berry.
  • The Hubbard is bare
    Jeff Jacobsen's excellent essay. It is a critical analysis of Dianetics, where you will get the following questions answered: Who and what was Hubbard's sources? Does Dianetics really work? Is Dianetics really based on scientific evidence, or is it just another piece of pseudoscience?
  • Bare-Faced Messiah
    There are two wildly conflicting versions of the life story of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology, The first, promoted by the Church, is that he was an unfailingly honest, generous humanitarian whose profound insights have transformed the world. The second, propounded in its fullest form in Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller, is that he was a pathological liar, a fraud consumed by greed and paranoia who sucked literally millions of people into an extraordinary fantasy world.
  • The Scandal of Scientology
    The book Scientology tried to stop, and whose author they tried to frame. This book contains more historical than contemporary material. Some of the information comes from an American tax case that ran from 1956 to 1959; some of it comes from a 1963-1965 Inquiry in Victoria, Australia; and some comes from statements Hubbard made in the 1950's.

Web resources

Resources maintained by critics

There are quite a lot of web sites and pages run by critics of Scientology, too many to list here. But here are a few of the most important ones:
  • An Introduction to Scientology
    Designed for the uninitiated and for newcomers to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, this page gives introductory information about Dianetics and Scientology.
  • Operation Clambake
    Andreas Heldal-Lund's excellent site for in-depth information. For more than a year, Scientology have attempted to get this site shut down by harassing and threatening to sue Andreas and his ISP. Contains among lots of other things the CoS's "secret" documents (the Scientology "Bible"), which they desperately are attempting to keep secret.
  • Scientology Audited
    A very nice archive of independent research and documentation on Scientology.
  • Secrets of Scientology: The E-meter
    An E-meter (Hubbard electro-psychometer) is a crude lie detector used by Scientology auditors (counselors) to examine a person's mental state. Scientologists claim the device allows people to "see a thought." In the hands of a trained auditor it is said to be able to uncover hidden crimes. Here you will learn the truth about this device.
  • Marina Chongs web page summary.
    Mirrored here. The definitive reference for finding information about the CoS on the web. Also contains links to pro-scientology sites and pages.
On October 23, 1996, the Cult Awareness Network, Inc.'s servicemark and trademark rights, including rights to the use of the CAN stylized logo, were sold to a Scientology-related law firm as part of a $20,000 purchase of CAN assets in the federal bankruptcy court. Their original web pages have been archived by critics, and are presented here, for their historical value. If you're not quite sure where to start, you might want to try The Global Critical Page Locator, which selects a random critical web page for you.

Official Scientology web sites

For balance, and because I want you to make up your own mind about Dianetics, Scientology, and L. Ron Hubbard, you should visit the official web sites of the Church of Scientology (note that these pages are very graphics-intensive, so you might want to switch off automatic image loading before entering them): Note the total absence of references to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, and also how they avoid linking to sites outside their complete control (Yes, they do have a very few links, but you'd have to search a while to find them. The links they do offer to the outside have been chosen very selectively, and you will find that they invariably point to completely harmless locations).

And for the record: Scientology, Dianetics, and L. Ron Hubbard are just a few of the registered trademarks of the CoS. For a comprehensive list of their trademarks, have a look here. Don't you find it a bit strange that a "religion" have registered such a huge amount of trademarks?

Personal encounters with Scientology

The dangers of getting involved in Scientology

Some of the dangers in getting involved with Scientology can be illustrated by the following sad stories. These stories would probably not have reached the public unless critics of Scientology had shouted out about them.
  • The Lisa McPherson memorial page.
    Lisa McPherson was a scientologist that died on December 5, 1995, while in the care of fellow scientologists at the Ft. Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida, supposedly for "rest and relaxation".
  • The Odhran Fortune Story
    The story of Odhran Fortune and his family. This is a very important story as it describes the first occurance in the UK of Scientology using their policies of harassment against a family who have someone inside the cult.

Pickets against Scientology

The number of pickets, big and small, have increased heavily in a very short time. Here is some information about pickets that have been held around the world.

Encounters of the more humouristic kind

Personally, my first direct encounter with the CoS and with Scientologists in general, was during my visit to the Chicago Org, where I got my way cool L. Ron Hubbard mousepad! This later inspired me to devise the ClamBust Game.

Examples of CoS propaganda

I have collected a few posters and leaflets from the CoS and its front organizations. Some of the material I have scanned in, and presented here, with comments.

The CoS in Norway

The only Norwegian Scientology org is located in Oslo. You can find its address here. Pictures of the Oslo org can be found here.


Please send comments, problem reports, ideas for improvements/additions, etc. to www@xenu.phys.uit.no