I occasionally receive Scientology junkmail.
One of Scientology's favorite advertising campaigns is, "Great Myths Exposed."
It's usually attached to the statement "Scientology has been scientifically proven to raise IQ." (Sure, you can raise your IQ score -- if you take the same IQ test over and over again!)
Now, critics know that Scientology frequently lies. There's all the lies about Hubbard's life. There's all the lies about health benefits, that they don't tell the general public any more.
What are the "Top 10" lies Scientologists tell?
Points will be given for easy demonstration, disprovability, brazenness, illegality, self-contradiction, lunacy, and outright implausibility.
Super bonus points for how much impact the exposure of these lies will have on J Random Public, who has heard of the Cult, but doesn't know jack about them and their evilness.
If I can make 1 side of a piece of paper that lists the lies they tell, and makes it clear to "the average public" that the Organization Known As Scientology is Eee-vil, it would make one HELL of a flyer, don't you think?
Follow up this post with your suggestions. And ignore the Clams. They will try to distract you with DA shit, or topic-changing anger-provoking insinuations, but just ignore them.
jdrake
TOP TEN LIES TOLD BY SCIENTOLOGY
10) Scientology is equally valid to all people, and can be used in conjunction with any religion.
9) Scientology can, with a process called "auditing," cure many diseases, such as cancer, because these diseases are psychosomatic, and Scientology can help you get over the psychological problems that cause these diseases. Scientology can rid the body of radiation, which is a kind of impurity. Advanced Scientologists don't get colds.
8) Scientology uses scientifically proven technology. The free personality test can truthfully show an improvement in the personality of Scientology users.
7) Psychologists / Psychiatrists / Therapists are all using techniques invented under the direction of Kaiser Wilhem and Adolph Hitler after him, to incite genocide, etc., etc.
6) Scientology has 8 million members, worldwide, and is growing at an astounding rate.
5) Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard was a famous war hero, was struck blind as a result of war injuries, and realized the great truths that came to be known as Scientology while clinically dead on an operating table due to other war injuries.
4) Scientologists are being persecuted as violently in Germany right now, as Jews were during World War Two.
3) Scientology receives "only" the same tax-exempt status as any religion. Scientology deserves this tax break.
2) Scientology's case records of its members who undergo "auditing" therapy are private and never revealed, much as the records of physicians, psychologists, and priests are not revealed.
and the number one Scientology Lie:
1) Scientology does not harass its critics, but only "defends itself" against persecution by vicious attackers.
Discussion:
10) Scientology is equally valid to all people, and can be used in conjunction with any religion.
Various writings and recordings of Hubbard claim: that Christ was a myth fabricated by space aliens to deceive Man from realizing his true nature; that Christ was a child-molester; that Blacks are genetically inferior to Whites; and, in the "free personality test," women are scored lower than men.
9) Scientology can, with a process called "auditing," cure many diseases, such as cancer, because these diseases are psychosomatic, and Scientology can help you get over the psychological problems that cause these diseases. Scientology can rid the body of radiation, which is a kind of impurity. Advanced Scientologists don't get colds.
In the 1960s, the US Government prosecuted Scientology for making false health claims. Scientology books and E-Meters were confiscated. Scientology no longer makes any health claims to the general public, but private Scientology documents still claim that "the tech" can cure diseases such as cancer. These documents are only revealed to advanced members.
E-Meters are very similar to amateur lie-detectors, and apparently measure the skin resistance of the person undergoing "auditing" therapy. During auditing, the auditor quizzes, yells at, demands, and even makes up stories about the subject, and notes the reaction of the meter, which bounces aroung wildly, and is not shown to the subject. When the auditor decides that the subject has "reacted" to a stimulus, the subject is given repetitive thought exercises to eliminate this reaction. Scientology claims that by extinguishing such reactions, the person will be in better control of their life.
Although auditing is claimed to be a scientific process, exactly specified by Hubbard's "tech," it is still the subjective interpretations of the auditor that determines when the subject has "cleared" a reaction, and therefore improved his ranking as a Scientologist. Subjects are frequently stripped of rank if they violate one of a myriad of "ethics" rules (construed to be criticism of "the tech"). Certain advanced Scientologists, for example, try to hide headcolds because L Ron Hubbard wrote that "Clears don't get colds," and if they have a cold, they must have somehow "faked" their achievement, and could therefore lose their status, a setback that could cost thousands of dollars and lots of work to recover.
Scientology teachings claim that "radiation" is a kind of chemical compound that can be "washed away" from the body by a regimen including dangerously strenuous exercise, dangerously long periods in sauna baths, and dangerous quantities of vitamins and minerals. Some ex-Scientologists have suffered from kidney failure, which is one of the possible side-effects of this regimen.
The science of physics has proven that raditation is a kind of energy, not a chemical compound, and its effects cannot be "washed away."
Recently, a Scientologist named Lisa McPherson died while under the care of Scientologists for what might be called a "nervous breakdown." An autopsy revealed that Lisa died of a blood clot, was severely dehydrated, had lost a lot of weight, had the marks of being physically restrained, and had been bitten by cockroaches many times. (Blood clots are often caused by severe dehydration.)
Scientology requires strict logs be made of the care provided for such members, and those logs reveal that Lisa was given prescription drugs without the recommendation of a doctor. Mysteriously, the last few days of the logs have "been lost," and the caretakers have fled the United States. Lisa's family has filed a wrongful death suit, and the State of Florida is investigating criminal charges against members and Scientology itself. Scientology's reaction to this situation, in addition to "losing" its records and caretakers, has been to publically attack the judges, lawyers, family, and medical examiners involved. (This is a pattern of Scientology -- when criticized, they attack the critics, and ignore the charges.)
8) Scientology uses scientifically proven technology. The free personality test can truthfully show an improvement in the personality of Scientology users.
The only scientific studies anyone can find disprove scientology. Scientology claims to have its own studies, but has never revealed them.
In addition, scientists always continue to refine and improve their work. Scientology believes that its "Tech" is perfect, and explicitly prohibits any experimentation to improve it or even verify it.
The "Oxford Capability Analysis" (aka the Free Personality Test) has nothing to do with Oxford University, or any other person, place or thing called "Oxford." It was probably invented by Hubbard (or at least, he claims to have invented it). It was developed specifically to measure Scientology benefits, after the initial Scientology "tech" was developed. Also, members of Scientology take the exact same test, over and over again, to show their improvements.
When non-members of Scientology recently took the test at two different offices, one would purposefully flunk the test, and the other would answer each question "correctly," getting a perfect score. Even though the two people switched roles, they both received the exact same interpretation of their test scores at both locations: "Scientology can vastly improve your IQ, your relationships with other people, and your entire life." (The perfect scores were claimed to be "indicative of covering up deep problems.")
7) Psychologists / Psychiatrists / Therapists are all using techniques invented under the direction of Kaiser Wilhem and Adolph Hitler after him, to incite genocide, etc., etc.
The above is an exact quote from "What is Scientology?" Scientology also shows a movie in which psychiatrists are portrayed as evil "mad scientists" who wish to give all their "victims" LSD and electroshock therapy. (The psychiatric community ignores this slander.)
Scientology secretly runs, and spends its tax-exempt money funding, an organization called "Citzens Committee on Human Rights," which seeks to collect and document cases of psychologists abusing patients, in order to back up their claims. Although this "committee" hs been in existence for years, the number of cases they have uncovered only shows that psychiatry is a lot less evil than even the "man in the street" would believe otherwise.
But see also below, about the "Cult Awareness Network."
6) Scientology has 8 million members, worldwide, and is growing at an astounding rate.
In the book, "What Is Scientology," it is claimed that Scientology has 8 million members. The president of Scientology has repeatedly used this figure in print, on TV, and in court rooms. Yet in this same book, a few pages later, it is claimed that Scientologists have received 1.2 million hours of auditing therapy.
By simple arithmetic, it's pretty obvious that if these numbers are true, members have received, on average, less than 8 MINUTES of auditing, each. Yet Scientology views auditing therapy as the principle way of self-improvement, and suggests that each member obtain hundreds of hours of auditing per year.
Additionally, Scientology requires each member to have a staff-employed counselor to help them. Given the number of staff employees, 8 million members would require each staff member to counsel TENS OF THOUSANDS of members.
The president of Scientology, when presented with these facts, has admitted that "8 million members" includes everyone who has ever visited a Scientology office, taken a free personality test, requested literature, etc. He refuses, however, to provide a more accurate figure of active members, and continues to use the number "8 million," even though he has admitted it is a lie.
Scientology claims to be growing, but many Scientology offices have closed down entirely, or moved to much smaller buildings, with many fewer people coming and going.
5) Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard was a famous war hero, was struck blind as a result of war injuries, and realized the great truths that came to be known as Scientology while clinically dead on an operating table due to other war injuries.
The operation never happened. Government records on this matter are clear and thorough. He was examined by navy officers and found to be able to see. Hubbard was an embarassment to the US Navy, having dropped anti-submarine torpedos on an empty piece of ocean, and perhaps accidentally conducting target practice on a stretch of land that turned out to be Mexico! When the Navy found out, they re-assigned him to keep him "out of the way" so that they could avoid the embarassment of having to court-martial him.
Scientology also claims Hubbard was a "nuclear scientist" and various other shades of brilliance. Hubbard left college after one year of failing marks. He might have been asked to withdraw in order to avoid being formally thrown out of college. Although college grades do not conclusively prove intelligence, various of Hubbards writings make it clear that he fails to understand college-level mathematics, physics, and chemistry, because the documents are riddled with obvious mistakes.
4) Scientologists are being persecuted as violently in Germany right now, as Jews were during World War Two.
The so-called Scientology "persecution" in Germany is two-pronged: 1) Scientology is not given a tax privileged status -- only a handful of the largest religions in Germany are, so Scientology is no more "persecuted" than several hundred legitimate religions; 2) Scientologists have committed so many crimes in Germany, that individual Scientologists and even the organization are being investigated -- for criminal acts, such as swindling, theft, and forgery.
No Scientologists at all have been killed by German "persecution." To compare Scientology, with ZERO deaths, to Jews, with 6 million deaths, is absurd and an obscene insult to anyone with intelligence, and certainly to Jews.
3) Scientology receives "only" the same tax-exempt status as any religion. Scientology deserves this tax break.
Scientology receives a much more generous tax break than any religion. For instance, sunday school is not tax-deductible, but Scientology classes are. Scientology receives this tax break because it illegally harassed, blackmailed, and sued the IRS thousands of times, until it finally gave in.
Scientology violates many of the IRS rules of tax exempt organizations. For example, it spends a huge amount of money suing critics, advertising itself, and paying commissions to scientology salesmen.
Scientology owed the IRS over a billion dollars in unpaid taxes before being granted this exemption. That tax bill was reduced to just $12 million.
In almost every other country on the planet, Scientology is not given a tax exemption at all, because those countries consider Scientology either a money-making business, or a criminal organization.
Although required to, the IRS has not published the agreement it reached with Scientology. What may have been this agreement was leaked to the Wall Street Journal recently, which published it. Tax lawyers were furious to find out the details, because religions would like very much to receive similar tax breaks, allowing their members to afford private religious schools.
Scientology is careful not to admit how much money it has, but analysts believe it to be several billion dollars in cash, with additional wealth in the form of real estate, boats, cars,buildings, real estate, munitions, and media equipment. Whereas many religions require ministers to uphold vows of poverty, head scientologists charge thousands of dollars per hour for "auditing," Scientology's version of psychiatric counseling. These wages are tax-free.
The cost for an "average" person to attain Scientology's enlightened "State of Clear" is over $300,000. Scientology has proclaimed that it must "clear the planet" in order to save mankind.
2) Scientology's case records of its members who undergo "auditing" therapy are private and never revealed, much as the records of physicians, psychologists, and priests are not revealed.
Scientology's "Auditor's Code" requires the auditor never to release these records, but this does not prevent other Scientologists from reading and publishing these records. In courts of law, Scientology was proven to have published defamatory pamphlets based on these case records.
What's worse is that these records show auditors' opinions of the members, not just members's actual confessions.
Some Scientology critics are ex-members, including personal assistants to L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. Several have stated in court that they themselves, when members of Scientology, were ordered by leaders, including Hubbard, to comb these case files and prepare reports of the damaging information in them.
These members have been harassed in this exact way, once they left Scientology and published criticisms of it.
This practice continues to this day, as courtroom evidence has shown. Scientologists who leave the Organization have claimed, in court, that they fully expect and fear that this supposedly confidential information will be used against them.
1) Scientology does not harass its critics, but only "defends itself" against persecution by vicious attackers.
The short answer is that Scientology has been involved in more lawsuits than any church, by a gigantic margin. Scientology is often criticized by judges and law magazines as being one of the most litigious groups on the planet, and has filed more lawsuits in one single day than many churches have in their entire histories.
Scientology has repeatedly claimed that it does not harass critics, in many newspaper and magazine "letters to the editor," on television, and in courtrooms, yet the evidence of Scientology harassing, persecuting, and threatening its critics is voluminous, well-documented, and proven in courts of law.
Scientology had an official department for practicing these policies, called the "Guardian Office." Members of this office were convicted of crimes related to these policies, and sent to prison. L Ron Hubbard was named an "unindicted co-conspirator," believed to have full knowledge of the business of this department, but he was not charged with a crime.
The very same people who were sent to prison are now high-ranking Scientologists, and although Scientology claims that the "Guardian Office" has been disbanded, these Scientologists are part of a so-called "Office of Special Affairs" which has been shown in court to be practicing the exact same tactics as the "Guardian Office."
Scientology had an official, formal policy, written by L Ron Hubbard, for dealing with critics, which urged filing harassment lawsuits, digging up or making up embarassing personal problems about critics and then publishing them, trying to get critics fired, picketing their homes, and threatening critics with bodily harm. It stated "always attack, never defend," and "the purpose of the lawsuit is to harass, not to win." Scientology claims to have abolished this practice, but evidence of these exact tactics being used this year has been presented in court.
Scientology has sued its critics thousands of times. In many cases, Scientology's lawsuits have been thrown out of court as frivolous. Scientology lawyers have been penalized for using lawsuits as a harassment tactic, which is illegal.
(US Laws and the Constitution do not provide a "public defender" for such lawsuits, so critics who are attacked in this way are more-or-less forced to spend their own money defending themselves, and then must countersue to collect legal fees.)
Many US judges have criticized Scientology's legal tactics, called Scientology "criminal," and suggested that Scientology lose its right to sue, and that Scientology lawyers be disbarred.
Some critics were sued repeatedly, and because they could not afford to pay their lawyers, lost, and were coerced into signing settlements with Scientology resulting in "gag orders" -- the critics were forbidden from ever discussing Scientology, the lawsuits, or the settlements. Scientology then sued these critics again, claiming that they had violated these settlements.
When a former high-ranking Scientologist left and sued for "failure to provide advertised benefits," he won, but Scientology moved all of its billions wealth from one set of "dummy" corporations to another, then claimed bankruptcy. This tactic is, obviously, illegal.
This ex-Scientologist is therefore once again suing and attempting to collect what he is owed. Scientology has hindered the legal system so much that unless Scientology produces some miraculous last-minute win, it will be liable for many times the original amount of the lawsuit.
Recently, "60 Minutes," a television news program, presented a story of an organization called "Cult Awareness Network," which provided impartial help to victims of religious cults. Scientology filed hundreds of lawsuits -- on the very same day -- against the leader of the group, eventually harassing the group into bankruptcy. It then bought the corporate entity of CAN, and even to this date pretends to be the older organization[.]