SCIENTOLOGY: END THE HARRASSMENT!
	"I'd like to start a religion.  That's where the money is."   
	L. Ron Hubbard, Founder, Church of Scientology*

	The Church of Scientology (the folks behind all those Dianetics 
ads on TV) has a long history of repression against its critics.  
Journalists, judges and ex-members have found themselves targets of 
endless lawsuits and other acts of intimidation for speaking out against 
the church.  The founder of Scientology and pulp science fiction writer, 
L. Ron Hubbard, actively encouraged this abuse in written policy 
statements to his followers.  Following are some examples: 

	"The purpose of a lawsuit is to harass and discourage rather than 
to win . . . Don't ever defend.  Always attack.  Find or manufacture 
enough threat against them to cause them to sue for peace.  Originate a 
black PR campaign to destroy the person's repute and to discredit them so 
thoroughly they will be ostracized . . ."

	"The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment 
on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway, well knowing that he 
is not authorized, will generally be sufficient to cause his professional 
decease.  If possible, of course, ruin him utterly."

	  -- From "A Manual on the Dissemination of Material" (1955) by 
L. Ron Hubbard

Reader's Digest, September 1981

	"Eighteen months ago, the U.S.-based church of Scientology 
launched a global -- and unsuccessful -- campaign to prevent publication 
of a Reader's Digest report called "Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening 
Cult."  The church engaged a detective agency to investigate the author, 
Digest Senior Editor Eugene H. Methvin.  Digest offices in a half-dozen 
nations were picketed or bombarded with nuisance phone calls.  In 
Denmark, South Africa and Australia, the church sued unsuccessfully to 
prevent publication.
	In the months since the article appeared, in May 1980, a flood of 
reader reaction both here and abroad has convinced us that our article 
only scratched the surface.  Indeed, there is every indication that 
Scientology's international operations are at least as chilling as the 
U.S. operations described in our May '80 article.  And they continue to 
grow at an alarming pace."

Time Magazine, May 6, 1991, page 50, Thriving Cult of Greed and Power by 
Richard Behar.

At last 10 attorneys and six private detectives were unleashed by 
Scientology and its followers in an effort to threaten, harass and 
discredit Richard Behar.  Copies of his personal credit reports were 
illegally retrieved from a national credit bureau.  Detectives were sent 
to interview his acquaintances inquiring about such subjects as his 
health, legal problems, etc.  The Church launched a barrage of lawsuits 
against the reporter and Time - all of which have been dismissed, the 
last as recently as July 1996. 

Richard Behar on Journalist Paulette Cooper

"In 1971 Paulette Cooper wrote a critical book on the cult which led to a 
Scientology plot (called Operation Freak-out) whose goal, according to 
church documents, was "to get P.C. incarcerated in a mental institution 
or jail."  It almost worked.  By impersonating Cooper, Scientologists got 
her indicted in 1973 for threatening to bomb the church.  Cooper, who 
also endured 19 lawsuits by the Church, was finally exonerated in 1977 
after FBI raids on church offices in Los Angeles and Washington uncovered 
documents from the bomb scheme."

-----
* Hubbard to Lloyd Eschback, 1949, from The Total Freedom Trap, by Jon Atack

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Judges are not immune from this terrorism, nor blind to it:

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, Paul Breckenridge, June 1984 in the 
Gerry Armstrong (an ex- Scientologist) case:

"In addition to violating and abusing its own members' civil rights, the 
organization over the years with its "fair game" doctrine has harassed 
and abused those persons not in the church whom it perceives as enemies."

But the Church reserves it most vicious tactics for use against its 
ex-members:

	"...ENEMY.  SP Order.  Fair game.  May be deprived of property or 
injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the 
Scientologist.  May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."

	Hubbard Communications Office, Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, Sussex
	HCO Policy Letter of 21 October 1968

Margery Wakefield (ex-Scientologist and former University of Michigan 
student recruited by the Church right here on campus)

"Fighting against Scientology can be hazardous.  Since initiating 
litigation against the "Church" ten years ago, I have learned new 
meanings for the word "harassment," ranging from the macabre to the 
ridiculous.  On one steamy Florida summer night several years ago, I 
returned to my apartment late at night to find the door wide open.  No 
one seemed to be inside.  Nothing in the apartment appeared to be 
disturbed.  However, when I went into the bedroom, I saw that a dark red 
liquid had been splashed against the bedroom wall just beside the bed.  
It was blood, and it was still wet and still dripping."

	- Margery Wakefield, The Road to Xenu

	Now the cult has turned its beady eyes on the Internet.  Its 
early attempts to quell criticism on the net included illegal cancel 
messages (removing other people's posted communications before they can 
reach the group) and even an attempt to remove the Usenet group, 
alt.religion.scientology, entirely.  Over the past few years, nearly all 
of the Scientology "Sacred Scriptures" have been anonymously posted to 
a.r.s.   The cult has responded with multiple lawsuits and has even 
raided homes and businesses, confiscating computers, personal/business  
financial records, etc.  At least one of these raids was later ruled 
unconstitutional, but the cult has yet to return all the items as ordered 
by the court.  
	Please remember, when you buy Dianetics or fill out their 
Personality Test, you are helping to support one of the most vicious and 
repressive cults in recent history.  The right of individuals to hold 
what religious beliefs they choose is not the issue here, however odd 
those beliefs may seem.  The issue is your constitutional right to 
freedom of speech - your freedom to criticize, praise or question without 
fear of reprisal.  For more information, hop on the World Wide Web and 
check out the following sites:

 		http://www.cybercom.net/~rnewman/scientology/home.html
		http://www.demon.co.uk/castle/scientology.html
		http://www.cs.cmu.edu/WEB/People/dst/Fishman
		hhtp://www.sky.not/~sloth/sci/sci_index.html