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To whom it may concern:
We are writing to inform you of our intentions to carry out a peaceful protest against the Church of Scientology on February 10th, 2008, at 11 AM. The nature of our rally is to protest against some of the actions, policies, and privileges which the organization is involved in. This includes, but is not limited to:
The human rights violations under the direction of Church Officials The illegal covert operations conducted by the organisation including "Operation Snow White" and "Operation Freakout"
The organisation's misuse of copyright law to attempt to silence critical individuals and groups
The tax-exempt status of the Church of Scientology
We would also like to confirm that the protesters will abide by all local and national laws while conducting their protest.
Our Concerns
There have been many claims of human rights violations committed under the auspices of the Church of Scientology. The most famous case was that of Lisa McPherson, who was in the care of The Church Of Scientology after discharging herself from hospital, where she was being treated for injuries relating to an automobile accident. McPherson's body was later delivered to a different hospital in Clearwater, Florida[1]. Her body was taken from the Fort Harrison Hotel, a Scientologist owned complex in Clearwater. The coroner's report found that she was severely underweight, dehydrated, and riddled with bruises and insect bites. The Church Of Scientology reported to her family that she died of a quick-acting meningital disease, then that she died of an abnormally large blood clot, and then a staphylococcus infection. The coroner, however, denied any correlation between her death and a staphylococcus infection [2][3].
Her name is just one in a large list of suicides or homicides which were conspicuously linked to Scientology. In the Scientology-owned Fort Harrison Hotel the list is especially long: Heribert Pfaff, Josephus Havenith, Noah Lottic, Stacy Grove Meyer, Susan Meister, Roberto Deplano, Paride Ella, Giuseppe Tomba, Wilhelm Mack, Michael Leube, Bob Mills, Quentin Hubbard (Son of L. Ron Hubbard), John Buchanan, Nancy Graham, Sue Mueller, Richard Collins, Patrice Vic, Albert Jaquier, Rudolf Willems, Karen Simon, Diane Colletto, Mary Florence Barnett AKA Miller (David Miscavige's mother-in-law), Rodney Rimando, Carrie Slaughterbeck, Andreas Ostertag, Peter Ernst Frei, Ed Brewer, Pius Keel, and many others. While there is no possible way to prove a direct link with the organisation's actions yet, the amount of deaths surrounding the church warrants an investigation[4].
Scientology has also been involved in numerous covert and illegal operations. In 1971 Paulette Cooper published the book The Scandal of Scientology, a critical work of many years of research against Scientology. Cooper herself had been sued by the Church for an article written in Queen concerning the church. Scientologist officials eventually decided to frame Cooper for a bomb threat, and decided to a) imitate Cooper and threaten an Arab consulate in New York, b) a threatening letter written to an Arab consulate in the style of Cooper, c) impersonate Cooper and threaten the President of the United States and the Secretary of State, while another agent reported this to the FBI, d) gather information about Cooper so that the first three plans could be carried out, e) warning the consulate that Cooper had threatened to bomb it, and f) place Cooper's fingerprints on a threatening letter to the Secretary of State. The plan, dubbed 'Operation Freakout' was thankfully exposed[5][6].
Operation Snow White was a much larger undertaking, in which Scientologist officials infiltrated 136 government agencies, embassies and consulates in America all with the intent of taking or destroying evidence against the Church. The task-force consisted of 5,000 covert agents; the largest infiltration of the US government in history. The FBI raided Scientology compounds and found many messages and documents that showed Scientology to be culpable, as well as documents exposing Operation Freakout. 11 people were sentenced and jailed following proceedings relating to Operation Snow White[7].
These operations point to a long-established policy of censorship, and that is the one policy which disturbs us the most. Unlike most religions, the majority of the Church Of Scientology's doctrines are detailed in internal documents and other numerous copyrighted works. Those critical of Scientology use these works to illustrate and expose the doctrines and actions of the church they find objectionable. However, this puts The Church Of Scientology in the worrying position where they can silence practically all forms of dissent using copyright law. By using copyright law to silence critics, Scientology has managed to remove and suppress the majority of factual material that the general public would find objectionable.
For example, Scientology solicited Google to remove search results for "Scientology" which were against the policies of the Church[8]. The group alt.religion.scientology, an anti-Scientology Usenet group, was targeted by Church-led raids beginning in February 1993. The homes of site officials Arnaldo Lerma, Lawrence Wollersheim, Robert Penny and Dennis Erlich were raided in the US. The group has persisted to become of the most popular newsgroups on Usenet, and yet, barratry on the part of the Church has become sadly common[9].
Despite the suspicious activity surrounding the Church of Scientology, it has obtained a tax-exempt status from the US government in October 1993. It had first gained status in 1957 but lost it in 1967. Operation Snow White was mostly resultant of a "war" Scientology was waging against the IRS. The IRS had the upper hand throughout these dealings, but settled with the church in 1993 for unknown reasons. Later, when speaking to assembled Scientologists, David Miscavige, the head of Scientology, called the IRS liars, puppets of psychiatry (which the Scientologists believe is evil, "vampires," and thieves. This suspicious relationship has led many of us to suspect the Church's validity in its current Tax-Exempt status, since it was finally granted this privilege through suspicious dealings with the IRS[10].
We wish to express our concerns through the exercising of free speech. However, the Church of Scientology has other means: the Fair Game Law.
Fair Game Law
Scientology has its own doctrine that deals with its opponents. This doctrine is called the "Fair Game Law", and was developed by L. Ron Hubbard in 1965. It supersedes normal notion of morality and legality and dictates that members of Scientology are to "handle" protest, questioning and opposition. It is used by Scientologists to silence its dissent. "Fair Game" is a pseudo-religious notion that anyone who is in any way opposed to Scientology or interferes with its operation is an "agent of evil" and should be retaliated against. As a matter of fact, the "Fair Game Law" defines a special group of people called "suppressive persons", which by definition includes any opponents and critics of Scientology. The following excerpt, which is implemented to the letter by Scientologists, gives a very clear sense of how Scientology deals with opposition:
"A Suppressive Person or Group becomes "fair game". By FAIR GAME is meant, may not be further protected by the codes and disciplines of Scientology or the rights of a Scientologist."
"The homes, property, places and abodes of persons who have been active in attempting to suppress Scientology or Scientologists are all beyond any protection of Scientology Ethics, unless absolved by later Ethics or an amnesty [...] this Policy Letter extends to suppressive non-Scientology wives and husbands and parents, or other family members or hostile groups or even close friends."
The above quote implies that Scientology authorizes its agents to act deceptively and violently whenever such acts may aid Scientology in countering opposition, whether or not such acts are deemed culpable under criminal law. A demonstrable history of such actions, ranging from petty harassment to fraudulent litigation to murder, leads us to believe that adherents of Scientology are trained and predisposed to respond with violence and aggression whenever their religion or acts of their leadership are being questioned. Scientology itself has a strict internal discipline mechanism whereby members who do not obey by instruction of Scientology are punished, often through violation of human rights. Documented incidents and court cases exist to show the seriousness and severity of the problem.
Scientologists claim that the 'Fair Game' doctrine has been abandoned, however, a number of high ranking ex-Scientologists claim that while working for the organisation they saw 'Fair Game' tactics continuing to be used. Vicki Azanaran who had been the Chairman of the Board of the 'Religious Technology Centre' (the organisation's central management body) claimed in an affidavit that:
"Because of my position and the reports which regularly crossed my desk, I know that during my entire presidency of RTC "fair game" actions against enemies were daily routine. Apart from the legal tactics described below, the "fair game" activities included break-ins, libel, upsetting the companies of the enemy, espionage, harassment, misuse of confidential communications in the folders of community members and so forth."
The possibility of 'Fair Game' related reprisals is of great concern to those attending the protest, therefore, is it likely that a number of attendees may take measures to protect their identity including possibly wearing masks, sunglasses, scarves and various other means of obscuring their faces where the law permits. We would like to make it clear that these measures are not intended to cause alarm to either law enforcement or the general public.
Our Objectives and Means
Our objectives are thus:
A formal investigation by the FBI on the Church of Scientology, and certain members of high-ranking staff of the Church of Scientology and the Religious Technology Centre including but not limited to David Miscavige An investigation of the Tax-Exempt status of the Church of Scientology. The freezing of the bank accounts of the Church of Scientology, as well as certain high-ranking high ranking CoS or RTC officials.
Our means are that of peaceful protest; we will raise awareness of the actions, policies and privileges of the Church of Scientology. Please note that we are doing everything in our power to research and abide by the laws of the city, district, county or state concerning our protesting.
Thank you for your time.
[1] http://www.lisamcpherson.org/
[2] http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/CoS/autopsy.html
[3] http://www.lisamcpherson.org/coroner.gif
[4] http://www.whyaretheydead.net/
[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freakout#_note-sentencing
[6] http://planetkc.com/sloth/sci/FREAKOUT.html
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White [8] http://www.news.com/2100-1023-865936.html
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt.religion.scientology
[10] http://www.lisamcpherson.org/irs/jeff-irs.htm
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