Here's a clip from a comedian called Billy Lyday who took part in an 'anonymous' protest against Scientology. He starts talking about the threatening letter he received after about a minute.
How Scientologists pressurise publishers Over and over again, critical publications have been blocked David V Barrett
guardian.co.uk
December 4 2008
Last week we learnt that Amazon.co.uk has bowed to pressure to stop selling a book by a former senior Irish Scientologist. The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology (Merlin Publishing, Dublin) describes John Duignan's 21 years in the religion, not all of it a happy tale. According to Amazon, "Unfortunately, we have had to withdraw The Complex by John Duignan in the UK because we received a specific allegation that a passage in the book is defamatory regarding an individual named in the book" Other bookshops are also thought to have been warned not to stock the book. And everyone who has ever encountered the Church of Scientology sighs and says, "Here we go again."
Scientology has a long history of trying to suppress material written about it that it doesn't like. Several times they've taken legal action to try and stop websites revealing their teachings – particularly those which, to outsiders, might look a bit odd. (I won't quote them, but just type "Xenu" into a search engine, then sit back and marvel.)
With books, their usual tactic is to get their solicitors to send out letters alleging defamation; I had one myself a few years ago. If bookshops receive such a letter, most of them chicken out immediately. They lose very little by not stocking a book - except their honour. I was lucky. Knowing Scientology's reputation for litigiousness, when I wrote my second book on new religions eight years ago I had long discussions with a senior Scientologist. Eventually it seemed as if we'd reached an agreement: if I didn't tell the Xenu story, they wouldn't sue me for saying several other things they didn't like. We shook hands on what I thought was a deal - a gentlemen's agreement - in a tea shop somewhere in Covent Garden.
But as Samuel Goldwyn said, a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on. As the book was at the printers a long letter arrived from top libel lawyers Peter Carter-Ruck & Partners, accusing me of several counts of defamation in the previously-agreed chapter. Fortunately my publishers had a good lawyer; we made a few changes and went ahead and published, and never heard a word from Scientology or their lawyers again.
Others weren't so fortunate. Back in 1971 American writer Paulette Cooper published The Scandal of Scientology. The Church of Scientology set up a campaign called Operation Freakout to discredit her. One internal document later seized from the Church by the FBI said their aim was "To get P.C. incarcerated in a mental institution or jail, or at least to hit her so hard that she drops her attacks." She had 19 lawsuits filed against her worldwide, her neighbours received smear letters claiming she was a prostitute, and the Church falsely told the FBI she had sent them two bomb threats. In Canada the Church threatened to sue public libraries if they didn't withdraw Cooper's book and three other books on Scientology.
In 1980 the Church of Scientology asked Gerry Armstrong, stepson of the Church's president Heber Jentzsch, to research an official biography of founder L Ron Hubbard. Armstrong claimed to have discovered a disjunction between the "approved" story of Hubbard's life and what he found from Hubbard's personal archives, to which he had full access. He brought this to the attention of the Church and subsequently left Scientology, before being declared a Suppressive Person - an enemy of the Church. Armstrong had made copies of enough material to support his claims, and the Church took him to court to recover the material they said he had stolen. The court cases went on for some years and eventually the Church won. Armstrong filed for bankruptcy and fled to Canada. The Church filed further lawsuits against him in the 1990s and into the new century. There have been numerous other examples of Scientology trying to suppress criticism.
It's hardly surprising that, despite all the money they spend on PR, the Church of Scientology has such a poor public image.
But one astonishing PR coup is getting the media to quote unquestioningly Scientology's supposed membership figures: ten million worldwide, 120,000 of them in Britain. As I've shown elsewhere the 2001 Census revealed just 1781 Scientologists in England and Wales – less than 1.5% of the figure claimed by the Church. An official survey in America the same year estimated there were just 55,000 Scientologists in the USA, meaning that the world total can't really be any higher than 100,000 – a little different from 10 million.
I'm no opponent of new religions. Because of the unbiased descriptive stance of my books on new religious movements, anti-cultists have accused me of being a "cult apologist". I'm not that, either. I have no problem with new religions if they behave reasonably, if they're up front about their mistakes – and their membership! – and if they learn to accept criticism gracefully. Those, I think, are signs of maturity in a religion. It's a shame that some religions still act like troubled, insecure and aggressive teenagers.
Well that settle the question of where the 'anonymous' name comes from. I've never really bothered much with 4chan as whenever I've been there it's struck me as being peopled by a throng of bollocks.
L Ron Hubbard founder of Scientology Church of Scientology convicted of fraud in France Adam Sage in Paris
timesonline
October 27th 2009
The Church of Scientology was convicted of organised fraud in France today in a ground-breaking judgment which denounced the cult for swindling vulnerable members out of thousands of euros. The church was ordered to pay fines totalling €600,000, and Alain Rosenberg, its leader in France, was fined €30,000 and given a two-year suspended sentence. Five other French scientologists were given fines of between €1,000 and €20,000. But Paris Criminal Court stopped short of banning scientology altogether in France, on the grounds that prohibition could drive it underground where it would be difficult to control.
The ruling, likely to have repercussions for scientologists around the world, came in a case brought by Nelly Reziga and Aude-Claire Malton, former members who said they had been cheated out of €49,500 and €21,000 respectively. Mrs Malton, 43, for instance, said she was persuaded to spend the money on drugs, vitamins, counselling, saunas and equipment which she was told she would improve her mental and physical health. This included an electrometer to measure her mental energy.
Although scientologists have been convicted of fraud by French courts before, the church - officially considered to be a sect and not a religion in France - has never been found guilty as an institution. ''It is the first time that the way the organisation itself functions has been convicted,'' said Georges Fenech, head of the French Government Mission of Vigilance and Fight Against Sects. In her ruling, Judge Sophie-Hélène Château said the Church of Scientology had used fallacious arguments ''of no scientific value'' to ''catch'' members.
She ordered the Celebrity Centre, the church's headquarters in France, to pay a fine of €400,000 and its bookshop to pay €200,000. But the church, which claims 12 million members worldwide, including Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and 45,000 in France, said it would appeal.
Founded in 1952 by L Ron. Hubbard, a former science fiction writer, scientology claims that humans are immortal beings who have strayed from their true nature and who can be rehabilitated through counselling.
Trouble is brewing between the Church of Scientology and German public broadcaster ARD ahead of the TV premiere of a drama portraying the controversial faith as dangerous and unethical. “Bis nichts mehr bleibt,” or “Until nothing remains,” is the dramatised true story of a family torn apart by the religion, and Scientology officials may try to ban its broadcast on March 31, daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Monday.
Scientology spokesperson Jürg Stettler told the paper that members of the church were not invited to a supposedly secretive press screening of the film last week, and ARD has tried “everything so that we don’t see the film before broadcast. It is a violation of ARD’s programming guidelines, what they’re planning to spread,” he said. “The station is required to support religious tolerance, not the opposite.”
Until now, no German television station has directly addressed Scientology in such a fashion, which is designated as an anti-constitutional organisation in the country. The film’s message is clear, the paper reported, portraying Scientology as a dangerous totalitarian organisation in direct conflict with democratic society. Now the group is making its own documentary and plans to show it within the next two weeks in Hamburg or Munich.
“We will show that the so-called expert engaged by ARD Ursula Caberta is feeding the media false information,” Stettler said, adding that the film’s reportedly true story is fabricated. “Exactly the opposite of what ARD shows is the truth,” he said.
But ARD subsidiary SWR, which filmed the drama along with Teamworx, rejected the organisations claims. “We intentionally made a feature film and not a political analysis of Scientology, because we wanted to reach as many people as possible,” SWR film department head Carl Bergengruen told the paper, though he did add that the story was indeed a “true story.”
They are a CULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There! I said it, and I live very close to Clearwater too! I'd say it to that sniveling dork's face too! Very interesting. I'm surprised the BBC guy was able to stay so polite as long as he did. I'd have wanted to throttle the little beast.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
