Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 11:47:38 -0400
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.1031019114042.115A-100000@darkstar.zippy>

Russia and the "Sellers of immortality"

RBC Daily: Politic
September 25, 2003

Ten Scientology organizations operate on Russian Federation territory. In essence they hide under the mask of rights advocates associations and attract new members under the guise of rendering legal and psychological assistance, and ridding people of all problems.

This week at the Scientology centers in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga, protest operations are being conducted by the Fellow Travelers organization. For a period of five days at the entrances to Scientology centers the movement activists will distribute informational material and conduct informational work with those who would like to join the cult. This is not the first such operation by the Fellow Travelers. In January 2003 they organized similar measures in an attempt to focus attention to the activities of the St.

Petersburg Dianetics and Scientology center. And in recent years the Justice Ministry has tried to prohibit the activities of the Scientologists in Moscow. An attempt to put an end to the work of the Moscow Scientology Church was not successful taking the legal route. The Moscow State Court did not find a basis for liquidating the Scientology church in the capital.

The goal of the Scientologists is to create new people and a new world system. Scientology believes that the world is doomed to destruction and they are the only source of salvation. At the present time in more than 60 countries of the world there are nearly 700 different Scientology centers. American Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, the founder of the Scientology Church, had psychological problems and died in 1986. The activities of the church are not regarded as purely religious. Scientology encourages penetration of its members into government and business organizations to increase church influence, and also actively engages in entrepreneurial activity. So, for example, in 2001 in Germany "Scientology - New Bridge" was deprived of religious status in connection with it pursuing not only spiritual goals, but also engaging in business operations. In France after a law was passed to prohibit the operation of non-traditional denominations that use "mental manipulation," Scientology found itself hard put to ignore this law.

Courts generally prosecute Scientologists in connection with the real goal of their activity being business. The founder of the teachings himself, Mr. Hubbard, appealed to his adherents to extract as much profit as possible from those who passed through the doors of the organization. The ability to replenish the coffers of the cult has quite a tradition. The "mark" is analyzed, whereby countless potential problems and "negative imprints" (engrams) are found. The mark is offered a chance to be rid of these engrams by means of numerous "auditing" sessions, at a fee. Another product offered by the Scientologists is immortality. Such an exotic ware is particularly attractive for the elderly, and Hubbard's followers sell it for real money to this day. One can draw a conclusion about the commercial success of his undertakings from the amount of Hubbard's fortune at the moment of his death, which was estimated to be several hundred million dollars.

In Russia Scientology made itself known in the early 1990s. In Moscow, for example, they immediately celebrated the opening of a reading room in the name of Ron Hubbard at the journalism department of MSU. Today ten Scientology organizations are operating in Russia, the largest of which is located in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga. Despire numerous appeals by various social organizations, the activities of the Scientologists are not prohibited on Russian Federation territory. Besides that, in July 2002, Moscow State Court overturned the decision of the capital city's Nikulinsk court, which dismissed the claim of the Justice Ministry to liquidate the Scientology Church. The court did not find transgressions of law in its operations and the Scientology Church continues to operate in Moscow. The Moscow Church of Scientology is only one local leader of a large chain of Scientology organizations on Russian territory. All the organizations have a lot of Scientologists, but counting them is not possible because the majority of them hide under incomprehensible names like "Hubbard Center," "Novgorodian Earthans," and "Studema." Many of them do not pretend to have the status of a church, therefore, from an official point of view their actions are not organized. Along those same lines, a number of Scientology associations could be registered through front groups," Mr.

Dvorkin told RBC Daily. He is the church cultologist of the missionary department for the St . Tikhon Orthodox Institute, and has been involved in anti-cult informational activity for a number of years. According to what he said, he even had to go to court once in response to a claim filed by the Scientologists, which failed. "I experienced pressure on a regular basis," commented the anti-cult combatant of his relations with the Scientologists, "from libel, including on the Internet, to direct threats at my address."

According to what the expert says, there are cases known of the Scientology organization collaborating with important politicians, right leader Boris Nemtsov, for example. As he said, the "Narconon" drug rehabilitation program was at one time even recommended by the RF Health Ministry, which is one way the Scientologists replenish their members' ranks, and which is also a threat to health. It consists of consuming large quantities of vitamins and long sessions in the sauna. However, Mr.

Dvorkin had in his possession information, head of the Rights Power Union Boris Nemtsov sent a thank-you letter for the "active work in propagating a healthy way of life among adolescents and youth" by staff of the anti-drug "Narconon" social organization. And former Perm city mayor Vladimir Fil wanted to introduce the "Hubbard management system" into his administration.

As the specialists say, "pressuring" the Scientologists and other cults in Russia is not likely to occur due to lack of a legislative basis for enacting the requisite legal decision. That means the Scientologists can operate unimpeded due to problems in the legislature and to inadequate laws. Besides that, there are many cults which do not make a pretense out of registering their activities and which prefer to operate as rights advocates or as public (social) movements. The Russian legal system is not prepared to fight the spread of "dangerous" cults or their increasing influence. Under these conditions, experts note, the most effective measures against cults are protest operations and informational campaigns, such as the Fellow Travelers have done.

Aleksey Borov

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Joe Cisar http://cisar.org

The Press and Public Relations Policies of Layfayette Ronald Hubbard http://www.xenu.net/archive/thesis/cisar-home.html

To all those on ARS who say that the wolf will alway come to the door wearing the same disguise, I say go read some history ... Bob Minton

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