Frequently Asked Questions, Who is Arnie Lerma?

"Act as if the future of the universe depends on what you do, while laughing at yourself for thinking that your actions make any difference"
Buddhist advice.

"What a long strange trip it's been"
Gerry Garcia,
The Grateful Dead

Why become a Senator when you can buy one?
Gore Vidal

USA = The United States of Amnesia, Gore Vidal

"Freedom of the mind requires not only, or not even especially, the absence of legal constraints but the presence of alternative thoughts. The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity, but the one that removes awareness of other possibilities."Alan Bloom, Psycho-Politics

Freqently Asked Questions

quotes by L Ron Hubbard from his Affirmations - all men shall be my slaves, all mankind shall grovel at my feet and not know why - audience says what rubbish, guy next to him says shhhh, they might hear you

Above: quotes by Hubbard from his Affirmations see this newsarticle about them, with links to pdf file - Clearwater Sun - Witness: Hubbard used Black Magic - HERE

What is Scientology?

Scientology is like a 19th century seedy carnival side show, whenever someone in the audience would yell out how the trick was done, he would be dragged outside by a couple of toughs stationed there for this purpose, and beaten up. Scientology’s demeanor is identical to this, only in the ‘civil’ 20th century they use lawyers, then the entire sordid affair is cloaked in bogus religiosity.

When direct litigation is rendered no longer possible due to broad awareness, and Judicial wisdom, Scientology operatives generate false reports, based upon Hubbard's doctrines, "make it go right" , "fair game" and "if possible, destroy utterly" they then try to manipulate by ARTIFICE: state, local and Federal law enforcement to do their work for them - silencing critics. That John Travolta and Tom Cruise are entranced by this particular sideshow, should be interpreted as evidence of the mastery of the art of deception, sleight of hand, misdirection of attention, and linguistic trickery used by Hubbard. That Scientology then keeps the tent flaps tied shut, so that the deluded cannot see outside, is just confirmation that it indeed is merely a plot to deceive.. (c) Arnaldo P. Lerma 1999

Proof for above statement: L Ron Hubbard said (Full capitals in original):

THE SUPREME TEST OF A THETAN IS THE ABILITY TO MAKE THINGS GO RIGHT

Compare this to P.T. Barnum's world famous saying:

THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

Why does Scientology demonize Psychiatry?

For the same reasons they demonize me. So that current victims will not learn the facts that Dianetics is nothing more than a perverted version of the state of the art of psychiatric "Advanced Technology" in 1943 - Scientology, at its lower levels, is, simliarly a refried and also perverted version of Jungian free association techniques that also, has been laced with Alestair Crowley's satanic invocations which strip you of your conscience, while you are being told you are on the bridge to "Total Freedom". At Scientology's highest secret levels you are essentially stripped of any money you still have while being made ill by long exposure to the E-meter's electrical effects and driven over the edge.. into a mental state where you are mentally or even physically unable to seek justice for having been defrauded.

Man! Scientology really doesn't like you Mr. Lerma, what did you do to make them mad?

My conduct has interfered with Scientology's continued extraction of money from rubes

longer answer here

Do the Feds class Scientology as a Religion?

See Religion or Scam FAQ page, and see "If Scientology were an Auto Manufacturer".

Why did you get involved with Scientology?

I believed Scientology and L Ron Hubbard's lies. They fooled me for ten years, please don't let them fool you for ten minutes... Longer answer here

Why did you leave?

An incident occurred that caused me to suspend my belief long enough to disassociate with Scientology, that story has been included in Art of Deception II hotlink to the section about Suzette Hubbard is here.

Why did you decide to try to expose Scientology's true nature?

In a 1994 guidebook to the internet there was a list of newsgroups, in that list were two entries - one for alt.religion.scientology He's dead Jim...and an entry for alt.clearing.technology "renegades from the church of scientology". I logged in to the latter and posted and soon met a man whom 25 years previously I had last seen on the front steps of Scientology in Washington DC.. Joe Harrington.He introduced me to a few people on the net, and shortly thereafter I read the affidavit of Andre Tabayoyan, now I was galvanized... My efforts drew the attention of Scientology in November 1994 - See Washington post article about that. I began collecting and scanning court records and posting them upon the net. As I got to the bottom of a pile of affidavits, I scanned and ocr'd a copy of an unsealed court record containing scientology's secrets of XENU in the Fishman Affidavit to the newsgroup.That became RTC Vs Arnaldo Lerma, Digital Gateway, The Washington Post, Rich Leiby and Marc Fisher. A digest and scholarly analysis of these one time secrets is on Dave Touretzky's website at Carnegie Mellon University and at Xenu.net A version of these materials whose copyright happens to be prior to Scientology's, and held by one of my own "auditors", Jeffrey Filburt, from when I was in Scientology, is here on my website. This was filed as an exhibit late in my own case, in this motion. Details of Scientology's outrageous conduct in in RTC vs Lerma is summarized in this motion { long ) from RTC vs Lerma

Launch in external player

A few seconds of Bob Minton and then
Arnie Lerma on NBC Dateline in 1997 1.8 Meg .WMV

Who won RTC vs Lerma? -

We won the Trade Secret claims on the 5th of December 1995, and got the RAID VACATED... From RTC's own filings summarizing what they think they won in their motion for costs, they only moved to seek $500,000 of the total of 1,700,000 they claimed in the same filing to have spent. By Scientology's own admissions, It is accurate to say we won 11/17th of the entire case... being a majority of RTC vs Lerma, so I can say we won, and having survived 1,700,000 of scientology litigation without a gag agreement, I'm sure we won.. You see, Scientology WINS a case by litigating it to a Gagged Settlement, like they won the Lisa McPherson case, the money that they pay out for silence, is merely the cost-of-doing-business. More about this here. Scientology even tried get Federal Judge Brinkema's final memorandum opinion sealed!

" Scientologists believe that most human problems can be traced to lingering spirits of an extraterrestrial people massacred by their ruler, Xenu, over 75 million years ago. These spirits attach themselves by "clusters" to individuals in the contemporary world, causing spiritual harm and negatively influencing the lives of their hosts ". USDJ Judge Leonie Brinkema 4 Oct 96 Memorandum Opinion, RTC vs Lerma

I was driving around Clearwater with it on the side of a billboard style truck! That's the image further down on this page.

See LEGAL page for more about RTC vs Lerma

How much did they offer for the gag agreement?

The final offer was 9-12 million, Monique Yingling was there with the BIG checkbook, but this was not just for me, this was a global settlement to try and end RTC vs Lerma, RTC and Bridge Publication vs FACTnet and Lawrence Wollersheim's 7,000,000 dollar judgement - it was an attempt at a huge global settlement. And nothing more than an attempt to purchase silence. This settlement meeting was covered by Westworld Magazine - LINK to Article

How long are you going to keep this up?

Until Scientology is no longer a threat to any other 16 year old kid, who had good grades and a bright future.

How many Scientologists are there?

Despite Scientology's preposterous claim of 8 million.... We now have some hard numbers, 55,000 in the United States...this is from a City University of New York scientific survey 2001 and 216 in New Zealand out of 3.8 million population in New Zealand { New Zealand census data), Scientology is obviously no more than a fringe cult of extremest fanatics...I know, I used to be one.

Why are Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirsty Alley, Jenna Elfman, etc. still in Scientology?

Scientology holds much appeal to a narcissist, I mean Hubbard essentialy promises that you can become a God if you get across his "bridge to total freedom" [tm] Religious Technology Center. And it is no surprise to find that the promise of making a man a God upon Earth has worked for other destructive social movements. Otherwise, it is a very good question; perhaps they have not read this website....

Now I do know why Hubbard targets "celebrities":

I have seen actual clay models, little figures of people, circles and arrows, all with little labels, inside one of Scientology's headquarter management buildings, of an elaborate charade to get a certain ally of a big time celebrity involved in Scientology. Hubbard based his elaborate efforts to recruit and retain "celebrities" upon British Christian Theologan Professor CS Lewis's "Screwtape Letters" and "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" :

"As the great sinners grow fewer, and the majority lose all individuality, the great sinners become far more effective agents for us. Every dictator or even demagogue- almost every film star or crooner--can now draw tens of thousands of the human sheep with him." "Catch the bellweather, and his whole flock comes after him"

However, Scientology exploits their "celebrities" more in the manner of a large corporation using celebrity endorsements to market their product, especially as a means to prey upon children. You don't see the Catholic Church touting that so and so is a Catholic...real "religion" doesn't need to market its product like a pair of running shoes.

Many other countries are cracking down on them, why does the United States government tolerate them at all?

When you find this answer please let me know.

Our founding fathers, under a seemingly all-inclusive banner of "In God We Trust" strove to create a government "of the people, by the people and for the people"

However, what we are dealing with today, seems a lot more like a government of the money, by the money and for the money. And Scientology is, afterall, really only about one thing, money.

How can I help?

Read enough to realize that Scientology is not just a kookie UFO cult and write your congressman and US Senator, demand an end to the legalized robbery called Scientology. If you are unwilling to provide your own effort and time, support Lermanet.com Exposing the CON's efforts with your wallet.

photo of UHaul van used during picket with Judge Brinkema's quote on it

Sincerely,

Arnaldo Lerma -- I'd prefer to die speaking my mind than live fearing to speak.

The only thing that always works in scientology are its lawyers

The internet is the liberty tree of the new millennium Secrets are the mortar binding lies as bricks together into prisons for the mind http://www.lermanet.com - mentioned 4 January 2000 in The Washington Post's - 'Reliable Source' column re "Scientologist with no HEAD"

Updated 2/20/2002 11:57:16