Scientology in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Scientology in the United Kingdom is practised mainly within the Church of Scientology
and its related groups which go under names including "Hubbard Academy of Personal Independence" and "Dianetics and Scientology Life Improvement Centre". The national headquarters, and former global headquarters, is Saint Hill Manor
at East Grinstead
, which for seven years was the home of L. Ron Hubbard
, the pulp fiction author who created Scientology
. Church-connected groups promoting aspects of L. Ron Hubbard's teaching, including Narconon
and CCHR, have also been active in the UK, in some cases with charitable status
. There have also been groups practising Scientology independently of the Church.
Scientology has received critical judgements from British courts, calling it "pernicious nonsense," "dangerous material" and "immoral and socially obnoxious". It has been described in Parliament as a socially harmful enterprise which indoctrinates children and other vulnerable people by "ignorantly practising quasi-psychological techniques". The UK Government's 1971 official report into Scientology was highly critical, as was another report prepared secretly several years later. Since then, the Church has been recognised as a religion by some authorities, but is not itself a registered charity.
The Church has used covert intelligence gathering, harassment and smear campaigns against its UK opponents, although not on as grand a scale as it has in the United States
.
, which included an optional question about religion, gave a figure of 1,781 Scientologists.
and Wales
was rejected in 1999, on the grounds that there is no "public benefit arising out of the practice of Scientology". and the Church has not exercised its right of appeal. In 2000, however, the Church of Scientology scored an important victory when it was exempted from UK value added tax
on the basis that it is a not-for-profit body. As a result of the decision, Revenue and Customs reportedly had to return several million pounds' worth of past VAT payments to the Church.
Although the Church of Scientology itself does not have charitable status, several of its related organisations do, including Greenfields School
and Narconon
.
The governing organisation of Scientology in the UK, Church of Scientology Religious Education College, Inc (COSRECI), is a corporation registered in South Australia. While a court judgement there recognising Scientology as a religion, COSRECI itself is not registered as a charity.
The Ministry of Defence
has confirmed that Scientology is "an officially recognised religion in the Royal Navy
". The Prison Service in England and Wales does not recognize Scientology as a religion, but prisoners who are registered as Scientologists may practice their religion and are given access to a representative of the Church of Scientology if they wish to receive its ministry.
The Crown Prosecution Service
announced in March 2009 that Scientology should be treated as a religion for the purposes of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
, which criminalises threatening words or behaviour directed at religious groups.
, L. Ron Hubbard
's theory of the mind, swept through the UK as it did the United States. Amateur dianetic groups set up in locations including Bristol
and London
. The Dianetic Foundation of Great Britain was established in 1952. In the next few years, the dianetic groups affiliated themselves to the Hubbard Association of Scientology. From 1957 to 1959, Hubbard lived and wrote at Fitzroy House in the West End of London
. The house was sold off in 1968 but later bought back by the Church of Scientology
and is now a museum in honour of Hubbard.
in East Grinstead
, Sussex, a manor house dating from 1733. This is the most famous of the Church's "Advanced Organisations," delivering Operating Thetan
training up to level 5. The estate contains a castle built by Scientologists in a medieval style
, which opened in 1989. Hubbard developed security checking during this era and ordered that all check sheets should be forwarded to Saint Hill. In 1968, the Scientologists tried unsuccessfully to have their East Grinstead "chapel" officially recognised as a place of religious worship. Rejected by the Registrar General, they took the case to the Court of Appeal
and lost. Since the mid-1980s, Saint Hill has been run by a group of young, mostly second-generation Scientologists known as the Commodore's Messenger Organization
.
Scientologists own several shops in East Grinstead high street and are active in the Chamber of Commerce. They run an annual medieval fayre at the manor. When Religion, Inc., Stewart Lamont's unfavourable book about Scientology, was released in 1986, all the copies available in East Grinstead were bought up by one man.
Scientologists own a number of other properties around the town. One of its communal houses burnt down in 1991 and since then the Church has been prosecuted by the local council over fire safety. The Independent
newspaper acquired documents in 1993 suggesting that the Scientologists had deceived council inspectors, pretending one dormitory housed 50 people when in fact there were 130 permanent residents.
During the 1970s, the Church's intelligence operations were directed from Saint Hill by the "Guardian World Wide", Jane Kember, and her deputy Mo Budlong. These included Operation Snow White
(a campaign of burglary, infiltration and wiretapping of US Government offices and the Internal Revenue Service
) and various "dirty tricks" against opponents. Kember and Budlong were extradited to the United States, where in November 1980 they were sentenced to two to six years in prison.
said Scientology's practices were "a potential menace to the personality and well-being of those so deluded as to become its followers". He described Scientology as "so objectionable that it would be right to take all steps (...) to curb its growth," and so introduced a ban on the immigration of foreign Scientologists. Until then, the Hubbard College of Scientology had, as a recognised educational institution, been allowed to receive foreign students. Foreign Scientologists already in the country were not allowed to stay. According to an internal document from 1976, some of the Church's intelligence staff got around the ban by giving false information to immigration officials. Hubbard left the UK permanently in 1969, moving Scientology's world headquarters to a fleet of ships. The Home Office
told him not to return.
Scientologists denounced Kenneth Robinson's remarks as "insane". In retaliation against him, Scientology publications titled "Freedom Scientology", "Freedom and Scientology" and "Freedom" conducted a libel campaign, beginning in 1968. According to these newsletters, he was responsible for creating "death camps" to which innocent people were being kidnapped to be killed or maimed at will. Robinson successfully sued for libel, prompting a total retraction and substantial damages.
The government inquiry
in 1971 recommended lifting the ban, by which time 145 individuals had been refused entry to the country. However, the ban was not immediately lifted. The Church took out multiple writs of libel against the Department of Health and Social Security
, who in 1977 prepared a confidential report (released to the public 30 years later) to assess their position. According to this report, young people were being alienated from their families by the Disconnection
policy and some Scientologists were being trained to carry out Fair Game
actions against Church opponents. It also alleged that the Church was taking on young people with mental illness problems, charging them hundreds of pounds, then putting them out on the street after breakdowns. It warned that if the Government lost the libel cases, it could give "some seal of respectability to an organisation which is essentially evil." On its release, a Church spokesman attacked the document as "based on no evidence".
It was not until July 1980 that the Home Secretary reversed the ban, saying in Parliament, "My Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State of Social Services is not satisfied that there is clear and sufficient evidence for continuing the existing policy with regard to Scientologists on medical grounds alone." Once the ban was lifted, applications by foreign Scientologists to come to the UK were assessed individually. However, all the applications were refused because of Scientology's non-religious status. This was changed in 1996 when the Home Office labeled Scientology a "bona fide religion" for immigration purposes.
In 1984, Hubbard contested his exclusion from the United Kingdom, but his ban was reaffirmed by the Home Office when he refused to discuss his conviction in France for fraud.
in the United Kingdom is delivered in an ethical manner. He regarded the Scientology version of "ethics" as inappropriate.
Documents seized by the FBI in raids on the Church's US headquarters in July 1977 revealed that an agent had been sent to investigate Sir John Foster in an attempt to link him to Paulette Cooper
, author of The Scandal of Scientology
and victim of Operation Freakout
. The documents showed that Lord Balniel, who had requested the official inquiry, was also a target. Hubbard had written, "get a detective on that lord's past to unearth the tit-bits".
. Although the father had stated that he would not raise the ten-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl as Scientologists, Mr Justice Latey ruled that they should reside with the mother (this would not otherwise have been the case since it meant disrupting the status quo for the children) due to the prospect of Scientology's "baleful influence" on their upbringing.
The case reached conclusions about many aspects of Scientology:
Mr Justice Latey revealed his conclusions in a public hearing because of their significance.
A Church spokesman described the judgement as "a travesty of British justice," and alleged that there had been no opportunity for Scientology itself to submit evidence. Mr Justice Latey had observed that Scientology's lawyers had been in contact with the father and had had an opportunity to answer the allegations made in the case. The judgement was taken to the Court of Appeal
the next year, where it was upheld.
letter from Karen to her mother, and by local MP Peter Hordern
.
Hubbard responded to the case the next year by sending out a letter to every Member of Parliament
, complaining of libellous attacks from the newspapers and others "with a lurid turn of mind".
for East Grinstead
, over claims he had made on BBC television
that families were being alienated by the Disconnection
policy. In court, he produced evidence of specific cases which were not disputed by the Scientologists. One of the witnesses against Johnson-Smith was William Hamling
MP, who had taken a course at Saint Hill in order to find out more about Scientology, and described the course as "First rate". The jury decided that Johnson-Smith's comments were substantially true and made in good faith.
for attacks on Scientology and named Mary Appleby, Secretary of the NAMH, as the ultimate source. Starting in 1969, the NAMH was the target of a mass infiltration campaign by Scientologists who tried to take over key offices and change the organisation's policy on psychiatry
. The large numbers of new membership applications just before a deadline raised the suspicion of the existing members and led to a mass expulsion. The Church of Scientology
sued unsuccessfully in an attempt to get their members reinstated.
In 1988, Scientology-connected group the Citizens Commission on Human Rights
conducted a defamation campaign against Professor Sir Martin Roth
, a Cambridge University professor of psychiatry
. Material provided by the CCHR falsely alleged that experiments run by Professor Roth had damaged patients' brains with huge doses of LSD
, led to more than 20 deaths in an Australian hospital, and maimed human subjects in Canada. The Newcastle Times, which had published an article based on the CCHR material, admitted the falsity of the allegations and paid substantial libel damages in 1990.
was an intelligence operation launched by the Church to neutralise unfavourable information in government files internationally. Project Witch, the UK branch of Snow White, was directed at the UK branch of Interpol
, the Royal Navy
and various government ministries. Among the documents seized in the 1977 FBI raids that exposed Snow White was a memo from Jane Kember, the Church's worldwide head of intelligence. Kember announced that Scientology agents had obtained a Metropolitan Police
report on the Church and asked for related documents so that a lawsuit against the police could be "mocked up".
On October 22, 2006, a new Church of Scientology centre opened on Queen Victoria Street in the City of London
. David Miscavige
, chairman of Scientology's Religious Technology Centre, came to the UK for the ceremony. Local dignitaries also attended the opening, including Chief Superintendent Keith Hurley, the City of London Police lead officer for faith issues. Hurley's speech thanked the Scientologists for their efforts after the July 7 attacks and described Scientology as "a force for good". This prompted anti-cult group Family Action Information Resource
to openly criticise Hurley.
The next month, Freedom of Information
requests by The Guardian
and the Daily Mail
revealed that more than twenty City officers had accepted dinners, free entry to Mission: Impossible III
film premieres or other hospitality from the Church, including meetings with Tom Cruise
. The revelation prompted an internal review of the force's policy on accepting hospitality. Nearly two years later, the City of London Police issued a court summons to a teenage protestor for refusing to take down a placard calling Scientology a "dangerous cult". They later dropped the case on the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service
.
Other police forces in the UK have banned their members from formal contact with the Church, although London's Metropolitan Police Service
includes Scientology in its list of groups to be given privileged security information in the event of a crisis.
, a Scientology-connected charity which promotes Narconon
and Criminon
, had paid for stalls at the Labour
and Conservative
party conferences.
Labour's decision to accept the money was taken by its National Executive Committee, and a spokesman described it as purely a "business transaction".
after complaints. The ban was lifted in April 1996. Later that year, the Church produced an advert in which people of many different nationalities speak the word "trust". It aired initially on the cable channels UK Gold and UK Living and moved to Sky News and other channels, this being the UK's first ever national advertising campaign for a religion. Heber Jentzsch
, president of the Church of Scientology International
, came to the UK to launch the campaign.
The Advertising Standards Authority
censured the Church for a poster campaign stating that they had cured "Over 250,000" drug addicts. The figure was a count of everyone who had completed the Scientologists' detoxification program
, including people whose "drug" exposure was infrequent use of alcoholic drinks or prescription drugs.
that enemies are to be harassed using legal and extra-legal means, including frivolous lawsuits. At one point, the Church had 36 libel writs against British newspapers. An internal document from 1971 said that the Church's UK legal department "seldom, if ever, assesses its chances of winning before commencing action. (...) Legal UK has been in courts more often in the past three years than the rest of the Scientology world combined. (...) Do not worry about whether you will win or lose, but direct all effort and concentration on the legal technicalities required to achieve legal confrontation."
. For "Inside the Cult", which aired July 13, 1995, an undercover reporter joined staff in Poole and East Grinstead and was invited to join the Sea Organization. The Church said the programme "took everything out of context". In "The S Files", broadcast November 28, 1996, former staff at Poole confessed to financial malpractice. The family of a young ex-Scientologist blamed Church harassment for contributing to his suicide; a charge countered by spokesman Mike Rinder
.
In advance of the first broadcast, the Church of Scientology took out a private prosecution against the reporter, producer and production company, which was eventually thrown out as abusive. They also applied for a ban on the programme, but were refused by the Attorney General
. At around the same time, cars belonging to the team had their windows smashed in, and the reporter's mobile phone was cloned and used to run up huge bills. The staff said these events were part of a harassment campaign in response to their documentary, although no connection with Scientology was ever proven and the allegations were denied by the Church.
, interviewing several members of Hubbard's inner circle. Scientologist John Travolta
appealed directly to the channel's controller Mike Jackson in a failed attempt to prevent its broadcast.
The programme makers reported various forms of harassment. Private detective Eugene Ingram visited friends and associates of members of the team, spreading rumours that they were involved in crimes including money-laundering. A Scientologist agent phoned friends of the director and producer, posing as a member of a survey organisation and thereby tricking the phone contacts into revealing their addresses. Those who did were visited by private detectives. It is not known how the agent obtained the numbers that the programme makers had dialled from their private phones.
During the making of the programme, the crew said that they were trailed by private detectives in the United States and Canada as well as in England. A film crew calling itself "Freedom TV" made unannounced visits to the homes of the programme makers to film them. The Church said it was investigating whether the programme was part of a campaign to extort money from them.
filmed a documentary, "Scientology and Me" which was shown on May 14, 2007 as part of the BBC
's Panorama
series. In advance of the broadcast, the Church of Scientology released a 40-second video clip of Sweeney losing his temper and screaming in the face of their spokesman Tommy Davis
at a Psychiatry: An Industry of Death
exhibition. Sweeney was reprimanded by the BBC for his outburst. As he had with Secret Lives, John Travolta
personally appealed to the channel's executives to cancel the broadcast. The Church of Scientology also responded by distributing its own documentary on DVD.
When the Panorama team were filming in the USA, Scientology representatives followed them and repeatedly harangued them. Unknown men also trailed the team, one even appearing at John Sweeney's wedding. Sweeney later complained of being "chased round the streets of Los Angeles by sinister strangers [...] In LA, the moment our hire car left the airport we realised we were being followed by two cars. In our hotel a weird stranger spent every breakfast listening to us." When the crew returned to London, Church executive Mike Rinder was sent from the United States to lobby the BBC, even camping out at their offices.
. Its connection to the Church was examined in 1984 by Mr. Justice Latey, who commented:
It emerged that most of the staff and governors were Scientologists, and that its Chairman of Trustees had been forced both to step down and remove his son from the school as punishment for speaking to Suppressive Persons. At the time, staff were working at charitable rates: an average of 40 pounds per week. In 1994, local paper the Evening Argus reported that the school was hiding all mention of Scientology from its publicity materials. Greenfields is recognised as a charity by the Charity Commission.
administers a "Detoxification" procedure called the Purification Rundown
, which they advertise as a cure for drug addiction. Narconon has been denied approval by the Home Office and has been refused funding by the Prison service
. However, it is a recognised charity with a center in Tunbridge Wells. Narconon officially denies a connection to the Church of Scientology, though the Church describes it as "a Scientology organisation" and the UK address of its parent body, the Association for Better Living and Education
, is in Saint Hill Manor.
In 1994, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
funded an alcoholic to go to Narconon for detoxification, but the council withdrew funding when the Church of Scientology connection was revealed. The woman stayed on, funded by Narconon's trustees.
In 2001 an application for a Narconon promotional event in London
's Trafalgar Square
was barred by the mayor, Ken Livingstone
.
It emerged in early 2008 that police around the country had attended briefings on the Church's "Say No to Drugs" campaign as part of a programme of meetings with "community leaders". Some police forces have distributed Narconon leaflets to schools. The leaflets described illegal drugs, prescription drug
s and alcohol as "poison" and praised the Purification Rundown
and Narconon as the best way to deal with drug abuse. Scotland Yard said working with the church should not be seen as an endorsement.
.
joined the relief operation in the aftermath of the July 7 attacks in London. They distributed How To Improve Conditions In Life booklets, asking for a suggested donation of three pounds. They also provided cups of tea to the emergency services. Some of them later told a BBC reporter that they had kept psychiatric counsellors away from the bombing victims, because of the Scientology belief that psychiatry is evil
.
in the early 1980s led to a number of Scientologists leaving the Church while still holding to the beliefs of Scientology. These Independent scientologists are called "squirrels" by the Church.
, Scotland to deliver the upper level materials
of Scientology more cheaply than they were being delivered in the Church. It was founded by Robin Scott, who had been declared a "Suppressive Person
" by the church after making complaints within the organisation. They lacked some of the Operating Thetan
documents, but came up with a way to obtain them by theft. Two of Scott's colleagues, Ron Lawley and Morag Bellmaine, dressed in Sea Organization uniforms and went into the Advanced Organisation in Copenhagen
, presenting themselves as officers of the Religious Technology Center
. They were allowed into a private room to inspect the base's New Era Dianetics for OTs, which they put into Bellmaine's handbag and left. A Church agent tricked Scott into visiting Denmark the next year, where he was apprehended by Danish police and served a one month jail sentence, with three further months suspended
. The Church offered a reward of £120,000 for the return of the documents.
The group eventually became disillusioned with Scientology entirely and decided to publicly "expose" the Church as "an evil organisation". They showed a journalist the secret document which tells of the galactic dictator Xenu
and fought a decade-long court battle to keep hold of the Denmark documents.
policy and other complaints against Church management. Their interpretation was that the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard "encourage the unity of the family" and therefore that the Disconnection policy was "a misrepresentation or misapplication". Their goal was to buy out Saint Hill Manor and create a "university" where members could study Scientology without the objectionable policies.
Two members of FUSS, Richard and Judy Price of Tonbridge in Kent, were amongst those who received threats of legal action from the Church's solicitor, accusing them of planning "unlawful and tortuous acts" against the Church. The Prices told a local newspaper that they were suffering "harassment and intimidation" including unsolicited visitors to their house late at night. The Church of Scientology spread a rumour to the press that Richard Price was an alcoholic, which he denied.
", picketing her house and putting her family under surveillance. Woods told a local paper, "The biggest concern I have is for my children. Obviously I worry about their safety. I can never let them answer the phone or the door." Private investigator Eugene Ingram persuaded a creditor of Richard Woods' failed building firm to accept free help from Scientologists to pursue her money. As a result, the family were bankrupted.
The Church spread leaflets calling her a "hate campaigner" around her East Grinstead
neighbourhood and on the High Street. Woods sued for libel, and in response the Church took out three libel suits against her. After six years of litigation, eventually reaching the High Court
, the Church of Scientology admitted that the claims were lies and paid damages and costs. She told journalists that during the case she had been subjected to a "level of harassment that most people would find intolerable".
Ian Howarth, General Secretary of the Cult Information Centre
described Scientology in a 1996 interview as, "a group about which we are
deeply concerned, and always have been." The Church of Scientology retaliated with a dossier about the CIC in 1997. This exposed Howarth's personal financial details and attempted to link him to a convicted criminal.
Another dossier about FAIR (Family Action Information Resource
) held lurid allegations about the sex life of an ex-official.
In 1994, Lord McNair, a Scientologist and at that time a hereditary peer
, called on the University of Hull to cancel an academic conference on religious cults.
has arranged demonstrations around the UK from February 2008 onwards as part of Project Chanology
, its worldwide campaign to expose the Church of Scientology's "illegal and immoral behaviour". They wear Guy Fawkes
masks inspired by the film V for Vendetta
. The protests have involved live "Rick Rolling" and the distribution of cake and biscuits to passers-by. Scientology spokespeople have denounced the group as "terrorists".
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
and its related groups which go under names including "Hubbard Academy of Personal Independence" and "Dianetics and Scientology Life Improvement Centre". The national headquarters, and former global headquarters, is Saint Hill Manor
Saint Hill Manor
Saint Hill Manor is a country house at Saint Hill Green, Mid Sussex, near East Grinstead, West Sussex, England that serves as the location of the head office for the Church of Scientology in the United Kingdom.-Early history:...
at East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
, which for seven years was the home of L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
, the pulp fiction author who created Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
. Church-connected groups promoting aspects of L. Ron Hubbard's teaching, including Narconon
Narconon
Narconon is a residential program aimed at substance abusers, headquartered in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It operates through several dozen treatment centers worldwide, chiefly in the United States and Western Europe. Each Narconon center is independently owned and operated under a license...
and CCHR, have also been active in the UK, in some cases with charitable status
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
. There have also been groups practising Scientology independently of the Church.
Scientology has received critical judgements from British courts, calling it "pernicious nonsense," "dangerous material" and "immoral and socially obnoxious". It has been described in Parliament as a socially harmful enterprise which indoctrinates children and other vulnerable people by "ignorantly practising quasi-psychological techniques". The UK Government's 1971 official report into Scientology was highly critical, as was another report prepared secretly several years later. Since then, the Church has been recognised as a religion by some authorities, but is not itself a registered charity.
The Church has used covert intelligence gathering, harassment and smear campaigns against its UK opponents, although not on as grand a scale as it has in the United States
Scientology in the United States
Scientology was founded in the United States by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and is now practiced in many other countries.-History:...
.
Number of adherents
The Church claims a membership of 118,000 members in the United Kingdom, including 15,000 regular participants, and in the past has claimed as many as 200,000 British members. However, the 2001 census of England and WalesUnited Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, which included an optional question about religion, gave a figure of 1,781 Scientologists.
Legal status
The UK government does not classify the Church of Scientology as a religious institution. The Church's application for charity status in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
was rejected in 1999, on the grounds that there is no "public benefit arising out of the practice of Scientology". and the Church has not exercised its right of appeal. In 2000, however, the Church of Scientology scored an important victory when it was exempted from UK value added tax
Value added tax
A value added tax or value-added tax is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its...
on the basis that it is a not-for-profit body. As a result of the decision, Revenue and Customs reportedly had to return several million pounds' worth of past VAT payments to the Church.
Although the Church of Scientology itself does not have charitable status, several of its related organisations do, including Greenfields School
Greenfields School
Greenfields School is an Applied Scholastics and Independent Schools Association private school on the edge of the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, England. It is unique as being the only Study Tech-based private school of its kind in the area...
and Narconon
Narconon
Narconon is a residential program aimed at substance abusers, headquartered in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It operates through several dozen treatment centers worldwide, chiefly in the United States and Western Europe. Each Narconon center is independently owned and operated under a license...
.
The governing organisation of Scientology in the UK, Church of Scientology Religious Education College, Inc (COSRECI), is a corporation registered in South Australia. While a court judgement there recognising Scientology as a religion, COSRECI itself is not registered as a charity.
The Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
has confirmed that Scientology is "an officially recognised religion in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
". The Prison Service in England and Wales does not recognize Scientology as a religion, but prisoners who are registered as Scientologists may practice their religion and are given access to a representative of the Church of Scientology if they wish to receive its ministry.
The Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
announced in March 2009 that Scientology should be treated as a religion for the purposes of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which creates an offence in England and Wales of inciting hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion...
, which criminalises threatening words or behaviour directed at religious groups.
Beginnings
From 1948 to 1952, a craze for DianeticsDianetics
Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body that was invented by the science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and is practiced by followers of Scientology...
, L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
's theory of the mind, swept through the UK as it did the United States. Amateur dianetic groups set up in locations including Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The Dianetic Foundation of Great Britain was established in 1952. In the next few years, the dianetic groups affiliated themselves to the Hubbard Association of Scientology. From 1957 to 1959, Hubbard lived and wrote at Fitzroy House in the West End of London
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
. The house was sold off in 1968 but later bought back by the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
and is now a museum in honour of Hubbard.
East Grinstead
The global headquarters of the Scientology movement from 1959 to 1966 was Saint Hill ManorSaint Hill Manor
Saint Hill Manor is a country house at Saint Hill Green, Mid Sussex, near East Grinstead, West Sussex, England that serves as the location of the head office for the Church of Scientology in the United Kingdom.-Early history:...
in East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
, Sussex, a manor house dating from 1733. This is the most famous of the Church's "Advanced Organisations," delivering Operating Thetan
Operating Thetan
In Scientology, the state of Operating Thetan is a spiritual state above Clear. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, defined it as "knowing and willing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time ". According to religious scholar J...
training up to level 5. The estate contains a castle built by Scientologists in a medieval style
Medieval architecture
Medieval architecture is a term used to represent various forms of architecture common in Medieval Europe.-Characteristics:-Religious architecture:...
, which opened in 1989. Hubbard developed security checking during this era and ordered that all check sheets should be forwarded to Saint Hill. In 1968, the Scientologists tried unsuccessfully to have their East Grinstead "chapel" officially recognised as a place of religious worship. Rejected by the Registrar General, they took the case to the Court of Appeal
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
and lost. Since the mid-1980s, Saint Hill has been run by a group of young, mostly second-generation Scientologists known as the Commodore's Messenger Organization
Commodore's Messenger Organization
The Commodore's Messenger Organization is a unit in the Church of Scientology organization that communicates and enforces policies of the Religious Technology Center....
.
Scientologists own several shops in East Grinstead high street and are active in the Chamber of Commerce. They run an annual medieval fayre at the manor. When Religion, Inc., Stewart Lamont's unfavourable book about Scientology, was released in 1986, all the copies available in East Grinstead were bought up by one man.
Scientologists own a number of other properties around the town. One of its communal houses burnt down in 1991 and since then the Church has been prosecuted by the local council over fire safety. The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
newspaper acquired documents in 1993 suggesting that the Scientologists had deceived council inspectors, pretending one dormitory housed 50 people when in fact there were 130 permanent residents.
During the 1970s, the Church's intelligence operations were directed from Saint Hill by the "Guardian World Wide", Jane Kember, and her deputy Mo Budlong. These included Operation Snow White
Operation Snow White
Operation Snow White was the Church of Scientology's name for a conspiracy during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard...
(a campaign of burglary, infiltration and wiretapping of US Government offices and the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
) and various "dirty tricks" against opponents. Kember and Budlong were extradited to the United States, where in November 1980 they were sentenced to two to six years in prison.
Foreign entry ban and legal challenges
In a House of Commons of the United Kingdom speech on July 25, 1968, Minister for Health Kenneth RobinsonKenneth Robinson
Sir Kenneth Robinson PC was a British Labour politician who served as Minister of Health in Harold Wilson's first government, from 1964 to 1968, when the position was merged into the new title of Secretary of State for Social Services.-Early life:The son of Dr Clarence Robinson and a nurse, Ethel...
said Scientology's practices were "a potential menace to the personality and well-being of those so deluded as to become its followers". He described Scientology as "so objectionable that it would be right to take all steps (...) to curb its growth," and so introduced a ban on the immigration of foreign Scientologists. Until then, the Hubbard College of Scientology had, as a recognised educational institution, been allowed to receive foreign students. Foreign Scientologists already in the country were not allowed to stay. According to an internal document from 1976, some of the Church's intelligence staff got around the ban by giving false information to immigration officials. Hubbard left the UK permanently in 1969, moving Scientology's world headquarters to a fleet of ships. The Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
told him not to return.
Scientologists denounced Kenneth Robinson's remarks as "insane". In retaliation against him, Scientology publications titled "Freedom Scientology", "Freedom and Scientology" and "Freedom" conducted a libel campaign, beginning in 1968. According to these newsletters, he was responsible for creating "death camps" to which innocent people were being kidnapped to be killed or maimed at will. Robinson successfully sued for libel, prompting a total retraction and substantial damages.
The government inquiry
Foster Report
The Foster Report is a 1971 report titled Enquiry into the Practice and Effects of Scientology, written by Sir John Foster for the government of the United Kingdom, regarding the Church of Scientology....
in 1971 recommended lifting the ban, by which time 145 individuals had been refused entry to the country. However, the ban was not immediately lifted. The Church took out multiple writs of libel against the Department of Health and Social Security
Department of Health and Social Security
The Department of Health and Social Security was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Social Services.-History:...
, who in 1977 prepared a confidential report (released to the public 30 years later) to assess their position. According to this report, young people were being alienated from their families by the Disconnection
Disconnection
Disconnection, when used in Scientology, is a term used to describe the severance of all ties between a Scientologist and a friend, colleague, or family member deemed to be antagonistic towards Scientology. The practice of disconnection is a form of shunning. Among Scientologists, disconnection is...
policy and some Scientologists were being trained to carry out Fair Game
Fair Game (Scientology)
The term Fair Game is used to describe policies and practices carried out by the Church of Scientology towards people and groups it perceives as its enemies. Founder L. Ron Hubbard established the policy in the 1960s, in response to criticism both from within and outside his organization...
actions against Church opponents. It also alleged that the Church was taking on young people with mental illness problems, charging them hundreds of pounds, then putting them out on the street after breakdowns. It warned that if the Government lost the libel cases, it could give "some seal of respectability to an organisation which is essentially evil." On its release, a Church spokesman attacked the document as "based on no evidence".
It was not until July 1980 that the Home Secretary reversed the ban, saying in Parliament, "My Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State of Social Services is not satisfied that there is clear and sufficient evidence for continuing the existing policy with regard to Scientologists on medical grounds alone." Once the ban was lifted, applications by foreign Scientologists to come to the UK were assessed individually. However, all the applications were refused because of Scientology's non-religious status. This was changed in 1996 when the Home Office labeled Scientology a "bona fide religion" for immigration purposes.
In 1984, Hubbard contested his exclusion from the United Kingdom, but his ban was reaffirmed by the Home Office when he refused to discuss his conviction in France for fraud.
Official inquiry
An official inquiry into Scientology in the UK was carried out by Sir John G. Foster and published in 1971. The report made its case with L. Ron Hubbard's own words and reprinted a number of internal Ethics Orders. It concluded that it would be unfair to ban Scientology outright, but asked for legislation to ensure that psychotherapyPsychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
in the United Kingdom is delivered in an ethical manner. He regarded the Scientology version of "ethics" as inappropriate.
Documents seized by the FBI in raids on the Church's US headquarters in July 1977 revealed that an agent had been sent to investigate Sir John Foster in an attempt to link him to Paulette Cooper
Paulette Cooper
Paulette Marcia Cooper is an American author who is best known for activism against the Church of Scientology and the harassment she suffered as a result. Cooper's books have sold close to a half a million copies.-Early life:...
, author of The Scandal of Scientology
The Scandal of Scientology
The Scandal of Scientology is a critical exposé book about the Church of Scientology, written by Paulette Cooper and published by Tower Publications, in 1971....
and victim of Operation Freakout
Operation Freakout
Operation Freakout, also known as Operation PC Freakout, was a Church of Scientology covert plan intended to have the US author and journalist Paulette Cooper imprisoned or committed to a mental institution...
. The documents showed that Lord Balniel, who had requested the official inquiry, was also a target. Hubbard had written, "get a detective on that lord's past to unearth the tit-bits".
The Latey judgement
In 1984, a custody dispute between a practicing Scientologist father and an ex-Scientologist mother came to the High CourtHigh Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
. Although the father had stated that he would not raise the ten-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl as Scientologists, Mr Justice Latey ruled that they should reside with the mother (this would not otherwise have been the case since it meant disrupting the status quo for the children) due to the prospect of Scientology's "baleful influence" on their upbringing.
The case reached conclusions about many aspects of Scientology:
- Evidence was given of how the DisconnectionDisconnectionDisconnection, when used in Scientology, is a term used to describe the severance of all ties between a Scientologist and a friend, colleague, or family member deemed to be antagonistic towards Scientology. The practice of disconnection is a form of shunning. Among Scientologists, disconnection is...
policy had broken up families and relationships. - Mr Justice Latey read some of Scientology's internal documents into the record. These included Training Routine - Lying (TR-L)Training routines (Scientology)The training routines are introductory services used in the Church of Scientologyas well as affiliated programs Narconon, Criminon and WISE. The church describes them as a way of learning to communicate effectively and to control situations...
, a "Guardian's Order" describing ways to investigate and smear "traitors", and other documents relating to the Fair Game policyFair Game (Scientology)The term Fair Game is used to describe policies and practices carried out by the Church of Scientology towards people and groups it perceives as its enemies. Founder L. Ron Hubbard established the policy in the 1960s, in response to criticism both from within and outside his organization...
. He concluded that despite the ostensible cancellation of Fair Game, "Deprival of property, injury by any means, trickery, suing, lying or destruction have been pursued throughout and to this day with the fullest possible vigour." - Evidence had been given "of instances of mental breakdown" during auditing courses.
- The case produced evidence that a Rehabilitation Project ForceRehabilitation Project ForceThe Rehabilitation Project Force, or RPF, is a controversial program set up by the Church of Scientology Sea Organization, intended to rehabilitate members of the Sea Organization who have not lived up to the Church expectations or have violated certain policies...
(an internal punishment system involving physical labour) was in operation in Saint Hill. - Latey ordered Scientology to stop harassing the mother and her partner.
Mr Justice Latey revealed his conclusions in a public hearing because of their significance.
"Scientology is both immoral and socially obnoxious. (...) In my judgement it is corrupt, sinister and dangerous. It is corrupt because it is based on lies and deceit and has as its real objective money and power for Mr Hubbard his wife and those close to him at the top. It is sinister because it indulges in infamous practices both to its adherents who do not toe the line unquestioningly and to those outside who criticise or oppose it. It is dangerous because it is out to capture people, especially children and impressionable young people, and indoctrinate and brainwash them so that they become the unquestioning captives and tools of the cult, withdrawn from ordinary thought, living and relationships with others."
A Church spokesman described the judgement as "a travesty of British justice," and alleged that there had been no opportunity for Scientology itself to submit evidence. Mr Justice Latey had observed that Scientology's lawyers had been in contact with the father and had had an opportunity to answer the allegations made in the case. The judgement was taken to the Court of Appeal
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
the next year, where it was upheld.
The Henslow case
In 1966, newspapers highlighted the case of Karen Henslow, a 30-year-old woman who had a history of psychiatric problems but had been recovering, who appeared to suffer ill-effects after going to Saint Hill and taking part in Scientology practices. The case was taken up by the newspapers, which published a DisconnectionDisconnection
Disconnection, when used in Scientology, is a term used to describe the severance of all ties between a Scientologist and a friend, colleague, or family member deemed to be antagonistic towards Scientology. The practice of disconnection is a form of shunning. Among Scientologists, disconnection is...
letter from Karen to her mother, and by local MP Peter Hordern
Peter Hordern
Sir Peter Maudslay Hordern, D.L., P.C., is a British Conservative Party politician.Hordern was educated at Geelong Grammar School, Australia and Christ Church, Oxford. He served with the 60th Rifles, 1947–49, joining the regiment of his father and great uncle : Brig...
.
Hubbard responded to the case the next year by sending out a letter to every Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, complaining of libellous attacks from the newspapers and others "with a lurid turn of mind".
Geoffrey Johnson-Smith MP
In 1970 the Church attempted to sue Geoffrey Johnson-Smith, MPMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
, over claims he had made on BBC television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
that families were being alienated by the Disconnection
Disconnection
Disconnection, when used in Scientology, is a term used to describe the severance of all ties between a Scientologist and a friend, colleague, or family member deemed to be antagonistic towards Scientology. The practice of disconnection is a form of shunning. Among Scientologists, disconnection is...
policy. In court, he produced evidence of specific cases which were not disputed by the Scientologists. One of the witnesses against Johnson-Smith was William Hamling
William Hamling
William "Bill" Hamling was a British Labour Party politician.Hamling was educated at Liverpool University and was a signals officer in the Royal Marines during World War II....
MP, who had taken a course at Saint Hill in order to find out more about Scientology, and described the course as "First rate". The jury decided that Johnson-Smith's comments were substantially true and made in good faith.
Mental health professionals
According to a memo of May 6, 1971, Hubbard blamed the National Association for Mental Health (NAMH) and World Federation for Mental HealthWorld Federation for Mental Health
The World Federation for Mental Health is an international membership organization founded in 1948 to advance, among all peoples and nations, the prevention of mental and emotional disorders, the proper treatment and care of those with such disorders, and the promotion of mental health. Members...
for attacks on Scientology and named Mary Appleby, Secretary of the NAMH, as the ultimate source. Starting in 1969, the NAMH was the target of a mass infiltration campaign by Scientologists who tried to take over key offices and change the organisation's policy on psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
. The large numbers of new membership applications just before a deadline raised the suspicion of the existing members and led to a mass expulsion. The Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
sued unsuccessfully in an attempt to get their members reinstated.
In 1988, Scientology-connected group the Citizens Commission on Human Rights
Citizens Commission on Human Rights
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights is an advocacy group established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz. The group promotes several video campaigns which support views against psychiatry...
conducted a defamation campaign against Professor Sir Martin Roth
Martin Roth
Professor Sir Martin Roth FRS was a British psychiatrist.He was Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, 1977–85, then Professor Emeritus, and was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge from 1977. He was one of the pioneers in developing Psychogeriatrics as a subspecialty.-References:...
, a Cambridge University professor of psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
. Material provided by the CCHR falsely alleged that experiments run by Professor Roth had damaged patients' brains with huge doses of LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
, led to more than 20 deaths in an Australian hospital, and maimed human subjects in Canada. The Newcastle Times, which had published an article based on the CCHR material, admitted the falsity of the allegations and paid substantial libel damages in 1990.
Police
Operation Snow WhiteOperation Snow White
Operation Snow White was the Church of Scientology's name for a conspiracy during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard...
was an intelligence operation launched by the Church to neutralise unfavourable information in government files internationally. Project Witch, the UK branch of Snow White, was directed at the UK branch of Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
, the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and various government ministries. Among the documents seized in the 1977 FBI raids that exposed Snow White was a memo from Jane Kember, the Church's worldwide head of intelligence. Kember announced that Scientology agents had obtained a Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
report on the Church and asked for related documents so that a lawsuit against the police could be "mocked up".
On October 22, 2006, a new Church of Scientology centre opened on Queen Victoria Street in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. David Miscavige
David Miscavige
David Miscavige is the leader of the Church of Scientology and affiliated organizations. His title is Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center , a corporation that controls the trademarked names and symbols of Dianetics and Scientology. Miscavige was an assistant to Hubbard while a...
, chairman of Scientology's Religious Technology Centre, came to the UK for the ceremony. Local dignitaries also attended the opening, including Chief Superintendent Keith Hurley, the City of London Police lead officer for faith issues. Hurley's speech thanked the Scientologists for their efforts after the July 7 attacks and described Scientology as "a force for good". This prompted anti-cult group Family Action Information Resource
Family Action Information Resource
In November 2007, FAIR , Britain's main "anti-cult" group, re-established itself as The Family Survival Trust ....
to openly criticise Hurley.
The next month, Freedom of Information
Freedom of information
Freedom of information refers to the protection of the right to freedom of expression with regards to the Internet and information technology . Freedom of information may also concern censorship in an information technology context, i.e...
requests by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
revealed that more than twenty City officers had accepted dinners, free entry to Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible III is a 2006 spy film, the third based on the spy-themed television series Mission: Impossible starring Tom Cruise who reprises his role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt....
film premieres or other hospitality from the Church, including meetings with Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
. The revelation prompted an internal review of the force's policy on accepting hospitality. Nearly two years later, the City of London Police issued a court summons to a teenage protestor for refusing to take down a placard calling Scientology a "dangerous cult". They later dropped the case on the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
.
Other police forces in the UK have banned their members from formal contact with the Church, although London's Metropolitan Police Service
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
includes Scientology in its list of groups to be given privileged security information in the event of a crisis.
Political parties
In January 2007, it emerged that the Association for Better Living and EducationAssociation for Better Living and Education
The Association for Better Living and Education is a non-profit organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It states that it is "dedicated to creating a better future for children and communities." It promotes secular uses of L. Ron Hubbard's works, and has been classified as a...
, a Scientology-connected charity which promotes Narconon
Narconon
Narconon is a residential program aimed at substance abusers, headquartered in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It operates through several dozen treatment centers worldwide, chiefly in the United States and Western Europe. Each Narconon center is independently owned and operated under a license...
and Criminon
Criminon
Criminon is a program for rehabilitating prisoners using L. Ron Hubbard's teachings. Criminon International, a non-profit, public-benefit corporation managing the Criminon program, was spawned from Narconon International in 2000, and is part of Association for Better Living and Education's public...
, had paid for stalls at the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
party conferences.
Labour's decision to accept the money was taken by its National Executive Committee, and a spokesman described it as purely a "business transaction".
Advertising regulators
Television adverts for the Church of Scientology were aired in the early 1990s on Superchannel, but in February 1993 were banned by the Independent Television CommissionIndependent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003....
after complaints. The ban was lifted in April 1996. Later that year, the Church produced an advert in which people of many different nationalities speak the word "trust". It aired initially on the cable channels UK Gold and UK Living and moved to Sky News and other channels, this being the UK's first ever national advertising campaign for a religion. Heber Jentzsch
Heber Jentzsch
Heber Carl Jentzsch has served as president of the Church of Scientology International since 1982.-Biography:Heber Jentzsch grew up in a Mormon family, and identified himself as a "believing Mormon". He is the son of polygamist Carl Jentzsch and Carl's third wife Pauline; Heber has 42 siblings...
, president of the Church of Scientology International
Church of Scientology International
The Church of Scientology International, Inc. is a Californian 501 non-profit corporation. Within the worldwide network of Scientology corporations and entities, CSI is officially referred to as the "mother church" of the Church of Scientology....
, came to the UK to launch the campaign.
The Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)
The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...
censured the Church for a poster campaign stating that they had cured "Over 250,000" drug addicts. The figure was a count of everyone who had completed the Scientologists' detoxification program
Purification Rundown
The Purification Rundown, also known as the Purif or the Hubbard Method, is a controversial detoxification program developed by Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard and used by the Church of Scientology as an introductory service. Scientologists consider it the only effective way to deal with the...
, including people whose "drug" exposure was infrequent use of alcoholic drinks or prescription drugs.
Relations with academics, authors and the media
As Justice Latey observed, L. Ron Hubbard created written policiesFair Game (Scientology)
The term Fair Game is used to describe policies and practices carried out by the Church of Scientology towards people and groups it perceives as its enemies. Founder L. Ron Hubbard established the policy in the 1960s, in response to criticism both from within and outside his organization...
that enemies are to be harassed using legal and extra-legal means, including frivolous lawsuits. At one point, the Church had 36 libel writs against British newspapers. An internal document from 1971 said that the Church's UK legal department "seldom, if ever, assesses its chances of winning before commencing action. (...) Legal UK has been in courts more often in the past three years than the rest of the Scientology world combined. (...) Do not worry about whether you will win or lose, but direct all effort and concentration on the legal technicalities required to achieve legal confrontation."
Critical authors
- Cyril VosperCyril VosperCyril Ronald Vosper was a Scientologist and later a critic of Scientology. He wrote The Mind Benders, which was the first book on Scientology to be written by an ex-member and the first critical book on Scientology to be published .-Biography:Vosper was born in 1935, in Hounslow, Middlesex...
, a Scientologist for fourteen years, became disillusioned and wrote a critical book called The Mind BendersThe Mind BendersThe Mind Benders was written by Cyril Vosper, a scientologist of 14 years who had become disillusioned, Published in 1971 and reprinted in 1973 , it was the first book on Scientology to be written by an ex-member and the first critical book on Scientology to be published The Mind Benders was...
. In 1972, the Church sued to prevent publication, claiming that as a condition of taking the Special Briefing Course at Saint Hill he had agreed not to divulge its content to anyone who wasn't "ClearClear (Scientology)Clear in Dianetics and Scientology is one of two levels a practitioner can achieve on the way to personal salvation. A state of Clear is reached when a person becomes free of the influence of engrams, unwanted emotions or painful traumas not readily available to the conscious mind...
". Lord Denning dismissed the case, arguing that the material was sufficiently dangerous for the public interestPublic interestThe public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare." The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself...
to override the confidentiality agreement.
- Roy WallisRoy WallisRoy Wallis, was a sociologist and Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the Queen's University Belfast. He is mostly known for his creation of the seven signs that differentiate a religious congregation from a sectarian church, which he created while researching the Scientology...
, a sociologist of religion, investigated Scientology in the 1970s and wrote The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology, tracing its evolution from a cult to an authoritarian religious sect. Before publication, he made 100 edits in negotiation with the Church, although this was not made clear in the book itself. On its publication, the Church denounced the book as biased and selective, but would later describe it as fair and reasonable. After the book's publication, a Scientology agent visited Stirling UniversityUniversity of StirlingThe University of Stirling is a campus university founded by Royal charter in 1967, on the Airthrey Estate in Stirling, Scotland.-History and campus development:...
where Wallis was teaching and tried to get him to implicate himself in the drug scene. Subsequently, forged letters apparently from Wallis were sent to his colleagues implicating him in scandalous activities including a homosexual love affair.
- Journalist Russell MillerRussell MillerRussell Miller is an award-winning British journalist and author of fifteen books, including biographies of Hugh Hefner, J. Paul Getty and L. Ron Hubbard.-L. Ron Hubbard biography:...
wrote a biography of L. Ron HubbardL. Ron HubbardLafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
entitled Bare-faced MessiahBare-faced MessiahBare-faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard is a posthumous biography of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard by British journalist Russell Miller. First published in 1987, the book takes a critical perspective, challenging the official account of Hubbard's life and work promoted by the...
, which was published in 1987. He was spied on while researching the book in the USA, and his friends and business associates received visits from Scientologists and private detectives. Attempts were made to frame him for the murder of a London private detective, the murder of singer Dean ReedDean ReedDean Cyril Reed was an American actor, singer and songwriter who lived a great part of his adult life in South America and then in communist East Germany.-Life and career:...
in East Berlin and a fire in an aircraft factory. Senior executives at publishers Michael Joseph, and at The Sunday TimesThe Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
, which serialised the book, received threatening phone calls and also a visit from private investigator Eugene Ingram, who worked for the Church. Another private investigator, Jarl Grieve Einar Cynewulf, told Sunday Times journalists that he had been offered "large sums of money" to find a link between Miller and the CIA. The Church unsuccessfully tried for an injunction against Miller and Penguin Books to stop the book being published; a move that the judge described as "both mischievous and misconceived".
- Another British journalist, Stewart Lamont, wrote Religion Inc.Religion Inc.Religion Inc. The Church of Scientology is a non-fiction book about Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard, written by Stewart Lamont. The book was published in hardcover edition by Harrap, in 1986.-Cited by other works:...
which was published in 1986. Its preparation was begun with the Church's co-operation, but Lamont refused to let their representatives review it before publication. Lamont and his publisher then reported a campaign of phone calls and letters from Scientologists, including legal threats. A private detective attempted to get damaging information about Lamont from his ex-wife, and other people posing as bank representatives contacted his neighbours. A Scientology spokesman accused Lamont and his publishers of exaggerating the response to generate publicity.
- Paul Bracchi was a journalist at the Evening Argus in East Grinstead, and later at the national Daily MailDaily MailThe Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
. He revealed in 2007 that after his series of investigative articles on Scientology for the Evening Argus in the 1990s, he was subjected to what he calls a "vicious smear campaign" including defamatory leaflets, threatening letters and faxes and an attempt to find his ex-directory telephone number.
- Jon Atack, an ex-Scientologist who left in 1983, wrote the book A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard ExposedA Piece of Blue SkyA Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed, published in 1990, is an examination from a critical perspective by former British Scientologist Jon Atack of the history of L. Ron Hubbard and the development of Dianetics and the Church of Scientology...
. He provided help to other members in leaving the organisation, as well as acting as an expert witness in various cases concerning Scientology. In response, Atack's home was repeatedly picketed by placard-carrying Scientologists over the course of six days. Eugene Ingram, a private investigator employed by the Church, made visits to Atack, his elderly mother and other family and friends, spreading rumours that Atack would be going to prison. Scientologists also distributed leaflets entitled "The Truth about Jon Atack", implying that he was a drug dealer who only criticised Scientology for money. Atack eventually went bankrupt due to the cost of defending himself against legal action from the Church.
- In January 1997, Richard IngramsRichard IngramsRichard Ingrams is an English journalist, a co-founder and second editor of the British satirical magazine Private Eye, and now editor of The Oldie magazine.-Career:...
, co-founder of Private EyePrivate EyePrivate Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
, made negative comments about L. Ron HubbardL. Ron HubbardLafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
in a column for The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
. A Scientology internal fax from the United States, leaked to Observer journalist William ShawWilliam Shaw (writer)William Shaw works as a journalist and writer in the US and in the UK. One of his most noticeable works is the 1999 book called Westsiders. He worked on Details magazine and remains a contributing editor there...
, called for an operation to discredit Ingrams and to write a response. It listed details of his personal life and told the recipient to, "Find, investigate and document scandals Ingrams is for sure part of."
- British journalist Andrew MortonAndrew Morton (writer)Andrew David Morton is a former British Fleet Street journalist, a notable writer and biographer.Before moving into a career in journalism, he attended grammar school, then studied history at the University of Sussex....
wrote Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized BiographyTom Cruise: An Unauthorized BiographyTom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography is a biography of actor Tom Cruise, written by Andrew Morton. The book was published in the United States in hardcover format on January 15, 2008 by St. Martin's Press, with a first printing of 400,000 copies, and an audio format on five CDs by Macmillan Audio...
, published in early 2008. It alleged that Scientology had almost taken over the actor's life and that he was in effect the number two person in the Church. The Church denied this, and the book was not published in the UK for legal reasons. Cruise's lawyer, Bert Fields, gave interviews in which he denounced the book as "poorly researched" and a "rehash of tired old lies".
- The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of ScientologyThe Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of ScientologyThe Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology is a non-fiction book about the organization and practices of the Church of Scientology, written by former Scientologist John Duignan with Nicola Tallant. The book was published in Ireland on October 7, 2008 by Merlin...
, an Irish book by ex-Scientologist John Duignan, was removed from Amazon.co.uk and other UK bookstores in late 2008, after complaints that it is defamatory, which the publisher denied. UK readers could still order the book through Amazon US.
Twenty Twenty Television
Twenty Twenty Television made two documentaries which were shown in the Big Story series on ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. For "Inside the Cult", which aired July 13, 1995, an undercover reporter joined staff in Poole and East Grinstead and was invited to join the Sea Organization. The Church said the programme "took everything out of context". In "The S Files", broadcast November 28, 1996, former staff at Poole confessed to financial malpractice. The family of a young ex-Scientologist blamed Church harassment for contributing to his suicide; a charge countered by spokesman Mike Rinder
Mike Rinder
Michael "Mike" Rinder is an Australian Scientologist who was a former chief spokesman of the Church of Scientology. Rinder served as Executive Director of the Office of Special Affairs and was a director of the Church of Scientology International...
.
In advance of the first broadcast, the Church of Scientology took out a private prosecution against the reporter, producer and production company, which was eventually thrown out as abusive. They also applied for a ban on the programme, but were refused by the Attorney General
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...
. At around the same time, cars belonging to the team had their windows smashed in, and the reporter's mobile phone was cloned and used to run up huge bills. The staff said these events were part of a harassment campaign in response to their documentary, although no connection with Scientology was ever proven and the allegations were denied by the Church.
Channel 4
Secret Lives: L. Ron Hubbard was a biographical television documentary shown November 19, 1997 on Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, interviewing several members of Hubbard's inner circle. Scientologist John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
appealed directly to the channel's controller Mike Jackson in a failed attempt to prevent its broadcast.
The programme makers reported various forms of harassment. Private detective Eugene Ingram visited friends and associates of members of the team, spreading rumours that they were involved in crimes including money-laundering. A Scientologist agent phoned friends of the director and producer, posing as a member of a survey organisation and thereby tricking the phone contacts into revealing their addresses. Those who did were visited by private detectives. It is not known how the agent obtained the numbers that the programme makers had dialled from their private phones.
During the making of the programme, the crew said that they were trailed by private detectives in the United States and Canada as well as in England. A film crew calling itself "Freedom TV" made unannounced visits to the homes of the programme makers to film them. The Church said it was investigating whether the programme was part of a campaign to extort money from them.
John Sweeney and BBC Panorama
Journalist John SweeneyJohn Sweeney (journalist)
John Sweeney is an award-winning journalist and author, currently working as an investigative journalist for the BBC's Panorama series.- Investigative journalism :...
filmed a documentary, "Scientology and Me" which was shown on May 14, 2007 as part of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
series. In advance of the broadcast, the Church of Scientology released a 40-second video clip of Sweeney losing his temper and screaming in the face of their spokesman Tommy Davis
Thomas W. Davis
Thomas W. "Tommy" Davis is the head of the Church of Scientology's Celebrity Centre International in Los Angeles, California.-Celebrity Centre:...
at a Psychiatry: An Industry of Death
Psychiatry: An Industry of Death
Psychiatry: An Industry of Death is a museum in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, as well as several touring exhibitions. It is owned and operated by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights , an anti-psychiatry organization founded by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz...
exhibition. Sweeney was reprimanded by the BBC for his outburst. As he had with Secret Lives, John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
personally appealed to the channel's executives to cancel the broadcast. The Church of Scientology also responded by distributing its own documentary on DVD.
When the Panorama team were filming in the USA, Scientology representatives followed them and repeatedly harangued them. Unknown men also trailed the team, one even appearing at John Sweeney's wedding. Sweeney later complained of being "chased round the streets of Los Angeles by sinister strangers [...] In LA, the moment our hire car left the airport we realised we were being followed by two cars. In our hotel a weird stranger spent every breakfast listening to us." When the crew returned to London, Church executive Mike Rinder was sent from the United States to lobby the BBC, even camping out at their offices.
Greenfields School
A private school near East Grinstead uses the Study Technology devised by L. Ron Hubbard, which it licenses from Church-related group Applied ScholasticsApplied Scholastics
Applied Scholastics is a non-profit corporation founded in 1972 to promote the use of study techniques created by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction author and the founder of the Church of Scientology...
. Its connection to the Church was examined in 1984 by Mr. Justice Latey, who commented:
"Scientology as such is not taught as a subject. But all the ambience is of Scientology, and it is plain that the Church exercises a strong influence if not indeed control. (...) The School pays money annually to Scientology."
It emerged that most of the staff and governors were Scientologists, and that its Chairman of Trustees had been forced both to step down and remove his son from the school as punishment for speaking to Suppressive Persons. At the time, staff were working at charitable rates: an average of 40 pounds per week. In 1994, local paper the Evening Argus reported that the school was hiding all mention of Scientology from its publicity materials. Greenfields is recognised as a charity by the Charity Commission.
Narconon
An "anti drug" body, NarcononNarconon
Narconon is a residential program aimed at substance abusers, headquartered in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It operates through several dozen treatment centers worldwide, chiefly in the United States and Western Europe. Each Narconon center is independently owned and operated under a license...
administers a "Detoxification" procedure called the Purification Rundown
Purification Rundown
The Purification Rundown, also known as the Purif or the Hubbard Method, is a controversial detoxification program developed by Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard and used by the Church of Scientology as an introductory service. Scientologists consider it the only effective way to deal with the...
, which they advertise as a cure for drug addiction. Narconon has been denied approval by the Home Office and has been refused funding by the Prison service
Her Majesty's Prison Service
Her Majesty's Prison Service is a part of the National Offender Management Service of the Government of the United Kingdom tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales...
. However, it is a recognised charity with a center in Tunbridge Wells. Narconon officially denies a connection to the Church of Scientology, though the Church describes it as "a Scientology organisation" and the UK address of its parent body, the Association for Better Living and Education
Association for Better Living and Education
The Association for Better Living and Education is a non-profit organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It states that it is "dedicated to creating a better future for children and communities." It promotes secular uses of L. Ron Hubbard's works, and has been classified as a...
, is in Saint Hill Manor.
In 1994, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It is in the eastern part of London and covers much of the traditional East End. It also includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks...
funded an alcoholic to go to Narconon for detoxification, but the council withdrew funding when the Church of Scientology connection was revealed. The woman stayed on, funded by Narconon's trustees.
In 2001 an application for a Narconon promotional event in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
was barred by the mayor, Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
.
It emerged in early 2008 that police around the country had attended briefings on the Church's "Say No to Drugs" campaign as part of a programme of meetings with "community leaders". Some police forces have distributed Narconon leaflets to schools. The leaflets described illegal drugs, prescription drug
Prescription drug
A prescription medication is a licensed medicine that is regulated by legislation to require a medical prescription before it can be obtained. The term is used to distinguish it from over-the-counter drugs which can be obtained without a prescription...
s and alcohol as "poison" and praised the Purification Rundown
Purification Rundown
The Purification Rundown, also known as the Purif or the Hubbard Method, is a controversial detoxification program developed by Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard and used by the Church of Scientology as an introductory service. Scientologists consider it the only effective way to deal with the...
and Narconon as the best way to deal with drug abuse. Scotland Yard said working with the church should not be seen as an endorsement.
Citizen's Commission for Human Rights
The CCHR, a Scientologist anti-psychiatry group, has campaigned in Scotland to prevent the compulsory treatment of patients in ordinary psychiatric facilities and the high-security State HospitalState Hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland
The State Hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland is a psychiatric hospital providing care and treatment in conditions of high security for around 140 patients from Scotland and Northern Ireland who need to be detained in hospital under conditions of special security that can only be provided...
.
Volunteer Ministers
A group of 100 Volunteer MinistersVolunteer Ministers
The Volunteer Minister program of the Church of Scientology dispatches groups of Scientologists using techniques developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard...
joined the relief operation in the aftermath of the July 7 attacks in London. They distributed How To Improve Conditions In Life booklets, asking for a suggested donation of three pounds. They also provided cups of tea to the emergency services. Some of them later told a BBC reporter that they had kept psychiatric counsellors away from the bombing victims, because of the Scientology belief that psychiatry is evil
Scientology and psychiatry
Scientology and psychiatry have come into conflict since the foundation of Scientology in 1952. Scientology is publicly, and often vehemently, opposed to both psychiatry and psychology. Scientologists view psychiatry as a barbaric and corrupt profession and encourage alternative care based on...
.
Independent Scientologists
A schismSchism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
in the early 1980s led to a number of Scientologists leaving the Church while still holding to the beliefs of Scientology. These Independent scientologists are called "squirrels" by the Church.
Advanced Ability Centre
In the early 1980s, one group of former staff members set up a centre at Candacraig House in StrathdonStrathdon
Strathdon is an area in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated in the strath of the River Don, 45 miles west of Aberdeen in the Highlands...
, Scotland to deliver the upper level materials
Operating Thetan
In Scientology, the state of Operating Thetan is a spiritual state above Clear. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, defined it as "knowing and willing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time ". According to religious scholar J...
of Scientology more cheaply than they were being delivered in the Church. It was founded by Robin Scott, who had been declared a "Suppressive Person
Suppressive Person
Suppressive Person, often abbreviated SP, is a term used in Scientology to describe the "antisocial personalities" who, according to Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard, make up about 2.5% of the population...
" by the church after making complaints within the organisation. They lacked some of the Operating Thetan
Operating Thetan
In Scientology, the state of Operating Thetan is a spiritual state above Clear. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, defined it as "knowing and willing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time ". According to religious scholar J...
documents, but came up with a way to obtain them by theft. Two of Scott's colleagues, Ron Lawley and Morag Bellmaine, dressed in Sea Organization uniforms and went into the Advanced Organisation in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, presenting themselves as officers of the Religious Technology Center
Religious Technology Center
The Religious Technology Center is a Californian non-profit corporation. RTC was founded in 1982 by the Church of Scientology in order to control and oversee the use of all of the trademarks, symbols and texts of Scientology and Dianetics, including the copyrighted works of Scientology founder and...
. They were allowed into a private room to inspect the base's New Era Dianetics for OTs, which they put into Bellmaine's handbag and left. A Church agent tricked Scott into visiting Denmark the next year, where he was apprehended by Danish police and served a one month jail sentence, with three further months suspended
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
. The Church offered a reward of £120,000 for the return of the documents.
The group eventually became disillusioned with Scientology entirely and decided to publicly "expose" the Church as "an evil organisation". They showed a journalist the secret document which tells of the galactic dictator Xenu
Xenu
Xenu ,also spelled Xemu, was, according to the founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, the dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs...
and fought a decade-long court battle to keep hold of the Denmark documents.
AFINITIES
One independent group, based in East Grinstead, called itself the "Association for Freely Incorporated Non Intimidatable, Trained and Independent Scientologists" (AFINITIES). It formed in the early 1980s in response to the re-introduction of the DisconnectionDisconnection
Disconnection, when used in Scientology, is a term used to describe the severance of all ties between a Scientologist and a friend, colleague, or family member deemed to be antagonistic towards Scientology. The practice of disconnection is a form of shunning. Among Scientologists, disconnection is...
policy and other complaints against Church management. Their interpretation was that the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard "encourage the unity of the family" and therefore that the Disconnection policy was "a misrepresentation or misapplication". Their goal was to buy out Saint Hill Manor and create a "university" where members could study Scientology without the objectionable policies.
FUSS
In 1995 a campaigning group was formed, calling itself Families Under Scientology Stress (FUSS), to bring together ex-members and concerned families.Two members of FUSS, Richard and Judy Price of Tonbridge in Kent, were amongst those who received threats of legal action from the Church's solicitor, accusing them of planning "unlawful and tortuous acts" against the Church. The Prices told a local newspaper that they were suffering "harassment and intimidation" including unsolicited visitors to their house late at night. The Church of Scientology spread a rumour to the press that Richard Price was an alcoholic, which he denied.
Bonnie Woods
An American who moved to Britain, Bonnie Woods had been a member of the Sea Organization but left Scientology in 1982. Since 1992, she and her husband Richard have run a telephone helpline for families affected by Scientology. Scientologists declared her a "Suppressive PersonSuppressive Person
Suppressive Person, often abbreviated SP, is a term used in Scientology to describe the "antisocial personalities" who, according to Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard, make up about 2.5% of the population...
", picketing her house and putting her family under surveillance. Woods told a local paper, "The biggest concern I have is for my children. Obviously I worry about their safety. I can never let them answer the phone or the door." Private investigator Eugene Ingram persuaded a creditor of Richard Woods' failed building firm to accept free help from Scientologists to pursue her money. As a result, the family were bankrupted.
The Church spread leaflets calling her a "hate campaigner" around her East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
neighbourhood and on the High Street. Woods sued for libel, and in response the Church took out three libel suits against her. After six years of litigation, eventually reaching the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
, the Church of Scientology admitted that the claims were lies and paid damages and costs. She told journalists that during the case she had been subjected to a "level of harassment that most people would find intolerable".
Cult-monitoring groups
INFORM, a Government-sponsored service which answers queries on new religious movements, has said that it receives more calls about Scientology than about any other sect. A spokesman said, "We're aware of several cases in which people have spent a lot more than they intended to on Scientology courses."Ian Howarth, General Secretary of the Cult Information Centre
Cult Information Centre
The Cult Information Centre is a British organization that provides information and advice to members of what the organization terms as cults, as well as affected family members, members of the press and scholarly researchers. The organization also serves as a resource for information on...
described Scientology in a 1996 interview as, "a group about which we are
deeply concerned, and always have been." The Church of Scientology retaliated with a dossier about the CIC in 1997. This exposed Howarth's personal financial details and attempted to link him to a convicted criminal.
Another dossier about FAIR (Family Action Information Resource
Family Action Information Resource
In November 2007, FAIR , Britain's main "anti-cult" group, re-established itself as The Family Survival Trust ....
) held lurid allegations about the sex life of an ex-official.
In 1994, Lord McNair, a Scientologist and at that time a hereditary peer
Hereditary peer
Hereditary peers form part of the Peerage in the United Kingdom. There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited. Formerly, most of them were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, but since the House of Lords Act 1999 only ninety-two are permitted to do so...
, called on the University of Hull to cancel an academic conference on religious cults.
Anonymous
The Internet group AnonymousAnonymous (group)
Anonymous is an international hacking group, spread through the Internet, initiating active civil disobedience, while attempting to maintain anonymity. Originating in 2003 on the imageboard 4chan, the term refers to the concept of many online community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic,...
has arranged demonstrations around the UK from February 2008 onwards as part of Project Chanology
Project Chanology
Project Chanology is a protest movement against the practices of the Church of Scientology by members of Anonymous, a leaderless Internet-based group that defines itself as ubiquitous...
, its worldwide campaign to expose the Church of Scientology's "illegal and immoral behaviour". They wear Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...
masks inspired by the film V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta (film)
V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. It is an adaptation of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd...
. The protests have involved live "Rick Rolling" and the distribution of cake and biscuits to passers-by. Scientology spokespeople have denounced the group as "terrorists".
External links
- Church of Scientology United Kingdom
- Churches of Scientology in the UK
- Decision of the Charity Commissoners for England and Wales refusing charity status, 1999
- BBC Panorama, "Scientology and Me" viewable online (requires RealPlayer or Windows Media Player), first broadcast May 14, 2007
- BBC Radio Five Live "Mind Games: Psychiatry versus Scientology" streaming audio (requires RealPlayer), first broadcast July 2, 2006
- Scientology in the UK: the 1950s: original research, dated October 9, 2001
- Scientology in the UK: a status report: summary of Companies House records as of February 2002