The Church of Scientology Cries "Nazi!"

I really hate this. Anyone who wants to vilify a leader will call him a "Hitler". Anyone who wants to vilify a group will call them "Nazis". It's dumb. It's overused. It's pretty much always misused.

And so it is with the Church of Scientology. They've used this stupid trick for years. But now they're using it almost all the time in an attempt to defame their critics and position themselves as "poor victims". They hope to trick people into subconsciously thinking things about the Church of Scientology and its critics that simply are not true.

So, lets take an in-depth look at the subject of "Nazi", the Church of Scientology and its critics.

The definition of Nazi is:

An adherent or advocate of policies characteristic of Nazism; a fascist.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

The definition of fascism is:

A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

Do the critics of the Church of Scientology have a centralized authority under a dictator? Do the critics of the church advocate socioeconomic controls? Do the critics practice suppression of opposition through terror and censorship?

Nope. None of those.

There is no centralized authority, no dictator. No critic is advocating any socioeconomic controls.

Do the critics suppress opposition? Actually, most critics of the Church of Scientology quite enjoy a good debate with Church of Scientology representatives or other Scientologists.

All the critics of the Church of Scientology have made it very, very clear, many times, that they do not have anything against Scientologists nor against the belief system of Scientology. At times, they actually defend the Scientologists' rights to believe as they wish, if comments get too critical of Scientologists. The critic's opposition is specifically and only to the organization known as "the Church of Scientology".

Aside: It must be noted that a group known as "Anonymous", when they first decided to attack the Church of Scientology, did use some unfortunate tactics, such as denial-of-service against websites, prank phone calls and faxes and the like. However, it should be carefully noted that it was long-time critics of the Church of Scientology who convinced these people to cease these ill-advised and short-lived attacks. These tactics are no longer sanctioned by Anonymous, and were never sanctioned by any critic.

It should also be noted that the so-called "terror tactics" against the Church of Scientology, such as reports of white-powder letters and bomb-threats, are believed to be products of the church's own "black ops" department, OSA. The FBI investigation of such incidents found no connection to anyone associated with any critical group. The Church of Scientology has a long history of trying to frame people they don't like, including creating fake bomb-threats.

Let me be very, very clear. If the Church of Scientology reformed and quit committing crimes, or if the Church of Scientology ceased to exist -- but all Scientologists continued to believe in, and practice, Scientology -- the critics would be quite happy. There is no campaign against the belief of Scientology nor against Scientologists.

So far, the label of "Nazi" just doesn't fit when applied to the critics of the church.

Dare we take a look at the Church of Scientology? Normally, I really would not care to do such a comparison, but the church keeps yelling "Nazi! Nazi! Nazi!" so, I'm afraid, this look needs to be taken.

Is the Church of Scientology run under a central authority, under a dictator?

Yes. All of the Church of Scientology empire, every church, every group, every front group, every Scientologist is specifically under the control of the main Church of Scientology organization, International Management.

The church's International Management is under the sole control of one person: David Miscavige. Recently, Miscavige decreed that his orders are absolutely senior, taking precedence over anything and everything else in the church, including anything written by L. Ron Hubbard. Yes, that is the characteristic of a dictator: Absolute control.

So far, the Church of Scientology does match the definition. But let's not be too hasty.

How about stringent socioeconomic controls?

Within the Church of Scientology empire, International Management and David Miscavige do have absolute socioeconomic control. This is completely true.

Every penny earned or spent by any church, group or front-group is tightly controlled by International Management. They require strict reporting. Specific percentages from each of these groups must be sent to International Management or allocated exactly as International Management dictates. Specific "earning targets" are set and enforced by International Management. In addition, International Management has final authority on staff postings, staff pay, services offered and all planning at all levels of the empire. Even the official events and parties are all centrally planned and scheduled by International Management.

International Management doesn't have legal authority to dictate to the individual Scientologists. However, because they have the power to banish anyone from Scientology for any reason, their powers in that area are absolute. When they give orders to the average Scientologist, you can bet they are complied with, or else!

Unfortunately, so far, the Church of Scientology is still matching the definition for fascistic.

How about the suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship?

It is well known that the Church of Scientology is the most litigious church in the history of the world.

Critics of the Church of Scientology are inevitably declared "ENEMY" by the church. All critics:
"May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."
Church Policy Letter PENALTIES FOR LOWER CONDITIONS.

Under this policy and many others of similar ilk, the Church of Scientology carries out a systematic plan to silence and, ultimately, destroy its critics.

It is well documented that the Church of Scientology even tries to frame its critics for crimes they did not commit!

In addition, the Church of Scientology commonly prints libelous handouts about its critics and passes them out in the critic's neighborhood, and has even used such libel to cause some critics to lose their jobs!

Following Hubbard's specific instructions, the church works quite hard to sue any and all critics to bankruptcy, if possible. The church's biggest expenditure, by far, is for lawyers and private investigators--who are assigned the job of tracking down and silencing critics.

While there is no hard evidence that the church uses "terror" to silence critics, the church does rely on intense fear as much as it can.

It is very, very true that many critics of the Church of Scientology have ceased speaking out, not because the problems were resolved, but because the critics simply became fearful for their lives and livelihood.

Further, it is the aim of the Church of Scientology to see that the whole world becomes a "Scientology World", a "Cleared Planet". They want all businesses to run using "Hubbard Tech". They want all justice to be "Scientology Justice". They want all peoples to "enjoy" the benefits of Scientology.

Finally, you need to know that Germany is looking at banning Scientology because it perceives that Church of Scientology has too many characteristics of the kinds of fascistic groups that Germany has vowed will never again gain power in Germany.

I'm sorry, but this is really quite disturbing. I don't like this at all. I refuse to call the Church of Scientology a Nazi organization. I refuse to call the Church of Scientology a fascistic organization.

But I will point out that, if the Church of Scientology continues to shout "Nazi! Nazi! Nazi!" in an unethical and poisonous attempt to libel their critics and warp public opinion, such a comparison as I have just made will, inevitably, be made by others. And, in any such comparison, the Church of Scientology will not come out looking good.

The Church of Scientology would be well advised to temper their behavior before this unfortunate comparison takes place by someone less courteous than I.
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