Church of Scientology Recruitment

When looking at the way the Church of Scientology operates, it is important to compare it with how one would expect a normal, honest organization to operate.

We can get so lost in the Church of Scientology's justifications for each and every strange, unethical, illegal and convoluted action of theirs that we forget how very far from honest and normal the church is.

Take, for example, the way the Church of Scientology attempts to recruit new members.

What does a normal religion do? Why, they might get a listing in the local paper's Religion Section. They might put of one of those message signs in front of their church or temple, telling people when their services are. I've even occasionally seen a few mailings. That's normal.

What does the Church of Scientology do?

They pretend they have "the solution to illiteracy" and attempt to get their "Study Technology" into schools in a covert, stealth recruitment effort. They don't admit up front that this is Scientology. When their vaunted "Study Technology" is debunked by respected educators as pretty darn worthless, they ignore it and keep trying to fool schools into allowing them in -- in other words, it isn't really about improving education.

They pretend they have "the solution to drugs" and attempt to con people into going to their "Narconon Centers" in a covert, stealth recruitment effort. They don't admit up front that this is Scientology. When communities and families find out that Narconon's reported statistics are false, and their "solution" really fails most of the time, the Church of Scientology ignores it and keeps trying to fool the vulnerable and their families into coming to their Narconon Centers -- in other words, it isn't actually about handling drug problems.

They pretend they are "helping disaster victims" with their Volunteer Minister program. The church orders some Scientologists to act as Volunteer Ministers and sends them out every time there is a disaster, but without any medicine, without food, without supplies, without materials for shelter. Why do the Volunteer Ministers show up? They bring materials for dissemination and then attempt to start Scientology courses in a covert, stealth recruitment effort. When the real relief agencies expose their bogus actions the Church of Scientology ignores it and keeps showing up at disaster sites -- in other words, it isn't really about helping disaster victims.

They pretend to give "Stress Tests" at tables set up on public streets and in malls in a covert, stealth recruitment effort. They don't admit up front that they are Scientology, they have "Dianetics" signs on the tables. When these "stress tests" are exposed as meaningless sales tricks, they ignore it and keep setting up their little tables, hoping that someone will be fooled -- in other words, it isn't really about finding and handling real stress.

And so it goes.

Do you see the common thread here? All these actions are covert and stealthy actions. When debunked as worthless, these actions are always continued because they are actually recruitment efforts. The Church of Scientology is not open. It is not honest. And the church certainly is not normal.

Even before Scientology became the punchline for jokes, they operated this way. This isn't a recent phenomenon. David Miscavige has certainly made it worse, but L. Ron Hubbard specified these kinds of covert, stealthy recruitment actions in his policy letters many years ago. They have always hidden who they were and what they were really doing.

Why?

Well, back to that comparison of the Church of Scientology with what you'd expect from an honest and normal organization:

If a product is good and the organization behind it is honest, you don't need to trick people into trying it.

The fact that the Church of Scientology uses tricks, lies and covert, stealthy actions for recruitment says it all.
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Would You Buy Scientology From ... ?

Would you buy something from a person who never answered your questions?

Scientologists will never answer your questions. Not ever. Their "answer" is that you should buy something, a book or a course (or both!), and that "will answer your questions".

Now why would you have to pay money to get your questions answered?

Well, you don't. That is, you do pay money but you don't get answers. It is highly unlikely that the books or courses will provide the information you wanted.

You see, that's just a sales gimmick. They just say "Your questions will be answered in this book, or on this course". It's a lie to close the sale, get your money, your name, your address and your phone number.

After you complete the books or courses and still have unanswered questions, well, buy another book, or course!

Would you buy something from a person who demanded you never look at critical reviews of their product?

Scientology insists that you only look at their information, their glowing descriptions of what they sell, never at any information that might have a differing view.

It is built into the dogma of Scientology: Scientology is good and anyone who says otherwise is evil. No non-Scientology information is allowed.

Well, keeping people from knowing other information might be "good salesmanship" but it isn't honest.

Would you buy something from a person who locked you in a room until you paid for something?

Believe it or not this actually is a common practice in the Church of Scientology. There are many, many stories (on those sites you're not supposed to go look at) that chronicle just that kind of "sales technique".

And, unfortunately, this often works. People will, in desperation, write a check just so they can get out of that room. Instead, they should call the police.

Would you buy something from a person who refused to provide any evidence of their claims for their product?

Scientology is big on claims, but completely lacking in any evidence. They claim Scientology will produce better communication, improved lives, better income, raised IQ, resolution of all sorts of problems -- on and on and on. But there is absolutely no evidence that any of their claims are true.

Oh, they have anecdotal stories from nameless people about all sorts of "good things", but that isn't evidence. If Scientology could actually produce the fantastic gains they promise, it would be a walk in the park for them to provide actual evidence. If their results were true, they could prove them.

But they can't.

Would you buy something from a person if you knew they were specially trained in mind-control techniques?

Yes, the "Registrar" (salesman) you are talking to in a Church of Scientology is specially trained in various techniques to get you to buy. They will "ruin" you (make you very upset). They will manipulate your "Tone Level" (control your emotions). They will use other tricks they have been trained in to make you say yes.

They are trained to make you say yes when you really don't want to. They are trained to make you pay even when you can't afford to.

Would you buy something from a person who, when you explain that you didn't get what was promised, always said the solution was to buy more?

That is the sum total of the Scientology problem-resolution. When you don't receive the gains and abilities promised by Scientology (and you won't), their solution is never to give you your money back. Their solution is never to do whatever it takes to ensure you get what was promised -- at no further cost. Nope, that is never their solution.

The Church of Scientology's "solution" is for you to buy more -- another book, another course, more auditing. And when that doesn't deliver what was promised, why "buy even more!"

All Scientologists are on the endless treadmill of "your next level will handle that!"

Would you buy something from someone who offered a product that was too good to be true?

When a Scientologist is selling you Scientology, they will promise that Scientology will handle any problem you have, give you any abilities you desire and will make you rich. Yes, they will promise you anything -- but certainly not in writing -- to get you to buy Scientology.

Doesn't that ring any alarm bells for you?

It's just another sales gimmick. No matter what you want, they are trained to answer "Scientology can help you with that!" Scientology can't do that, but the trick often gets a person to buy.

Do not check your good sense at the door when you talk to a Scientology sales person. When they try to sell you something, look at it like any other expensive purchase. If you look at it that way, you will see Scientology for what it really is.
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The Church of Scientology cries "Hate Group!"

The Church of Scientology has been throwing the term "hate group" around a lot. If two or more people dare to criticize the church, the Church of Scientology inevitably cries "Hate Group"!

And now it's reported that the Church of Scientology is supporting and advocating legislation to increase penalties and restriction on "hate groups".

Well, exactly what is a hate group? Who is a hate group?

Hate Group

The term “hate group” is used to describe any organization in any sector of society that aggressively demonizes or dehumanizes members of a scapegoated target group in a systematic way. (from PublicEye.org)

Hate Group

An organized group or movement that advocates physical or verbal aggression toward or refusal to interact with persons on the basis of those persons' possession and/or exhibition of a certain characteristic. (from Wikipedia.org)

These seem to be pretty clear and reasonable definitions of what constitutes a hate group. A group selects some people and declares that these people are evil, these people are beneath contempt, these people are sub-human, not deserving of decent treatment, these people are to be punished, perhaps even killed.

And the hate group's selection of the people to be hated can be, and usually is, quite arbitrary, based only on criteria unique to the hate group's beliefs.

OK, since the Church of Scientology appears to be accusing a lot of people as being "hate groups", let's hold up a mirror, as we like to do.

How does the Church of Scientology itself, under the leadership of David Miscavige, stack up against these definitions?

Do they arbitrarily select out people to hate? Do they describe these people-to-hate as evil, sub-human, beneath contempt?

Do they advocate punishment against these people-to-hate, not for any actual crimes proven in a court of law, but just for the crime of "being evil", whatever that means in their dogma?

Let's see.

The first example, and perhaps the oldest in the Church of Scientology's enemies list is psychiatrists.

Yes, the Church of Scientology declares, explicitly, that all, let me repeat that, all psychiatrists are evil. Through the church's front group, the so-called Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), the Church of Scientology has relentlessly attacked psychiatrists -- not for something they all do, but just because they are psychiatrists -- and, of course, "psychiatrists are evil" according to Scientology's dogma.

L. Ron Hubbard has declared that the Great Evil in this universe, down through millennia, has been directed by and carried out by psychiatrists. Yes, he did say this, quite a number of times. According to Hubbard, all the evil in the world has been and is being caused by psychiatrists.

As part of the Church of Scientology's hate campaign against psychiatrists, CCHR has "documented" a huge number of bogus claims, blaming psychiatrists for the Holocaust, for 9/11, for school shootings, and, well, for just about everything bad that has happened.

American Psychiatric Association President, Nada Stotland, M.D., recently noted that psychiatrist have their own "dedicated hate group" -- CCHR. And this is factually true. CCHR's stated purpose is to "destroy psychiatry", not for any actual crimes proven in any court of law, but just for being psychiatry, and for being the group-to-be-hated.

But that is not all. Not by a long shot.

The Church of Scientology has a lot more groups that, it has declared, must be hated, attacked and destroyed. Some years ago they even published a list of hundreds of what they called "Suppressive Groups". It is known that this list still exists, and has grown, but more recent issues are not publicly available.

The next group that the church absolutely hates are the many Church of Scientology critics. These people are not, in reality, an organized group, but the church has lumped them all together, so they can be properly hated and destroyed.

Now you may say that it is perfectly reasonable for the church to dislike its critics, and that is so, but the church goes far, far beyond what is remotely reasonable.

A normal, sane group, when faced with some kind of exposé, might respond in a number of ways. Perhaps they would point out factual errors and provide verifiable information in rebuttal. Perhaps they would give evidence that the critic was affiliated with some competitor. Perhaps they would provide ample evidence of their own actual good works. Or they just might ignore it.

Not the Church of Scientology. They don't operate in that realm. The church never, ever, ever provides any facts, evidence or proof of anything they claim. What they do is attack, by any means, fair or foul, in a never-ending attempt to literally destroy their critics.

Take for example Paulette Cooper and her exposé of the church, The Scandal of Scientology. When this book was published in 1971, exposing many of the abusive practices of the Church of Scientology, did the church respond in a reasonable, logical, sane manner?

Not at all. First, they declared Ms. Cooper a "Suppressive Person". This is a wholly fabricated category and group that is the Church of Scientology's primary group-to-hate.

Let me explain. A "Suppressive Person" is Scientology's Ultimate Evil Person. While, in theory, there are certain specific criteria that supposedly describe a Suppressive, in practice it boils down to one simple criteria: If you have, in any way, offended the Church of Scientology, then they will declare you a Suppressive Person.

According to the church, a Suppressive Person is evil, sub-human, beneath contempt, and all who have been "declared Suppressive" by the church may be, according to L. Ron Hubbard, "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".

And, trust me, the church carries out these instructions religiously.

Understand that the only "crime" is that they offended someone in the Church of Scientology. There are no actual, real crimes -- but the church's punishments are very real. No matter how or why a person gets "assigned" to this group by the Church of Scientology, once you are in it, you are in serious danger of becoming a victim of hate crimes by the church.

There are many, many, many stories of people in this pseudo-group who can attest to the Church of Scientology's hate crimes against them. Getting back to Ms. Cooper, she provides a prime example of the kinds of hate crimes the church commits.

Paulette Cooper was the target not only of harassment-by-litigation but of several other harassment campaigns including a Scientology campaign known as Operation Freakout, the goal of which was to have Ms. Cooper "incarcerated in a mental institution or jail or at least to hit her so hard that she drops her attacks." In a previous campaign titled Operation Dynamite the church sent itself forged bomb threats, purportedly from Cooper, using her typewriter and paper with her fingerprints on it; further plans included bomb threats to be sent to Henry Kissinger. The Church's campaign was discovered when the FBI raided Scientology offices in 1977 and recovered documents about the operation.

Don't think this was an isolated incident or "isn't done any more". Check out the illegal actions the church took against Gabe Cazeras, the then mayor of Clearwater, attempting to frame him for a (fake) hit and run accident and to otherwise defame him.

It has also been reported that the Church of Scientology has distributed libellous fliers about various critics to their neighbors, has made false accusations to critics' employers in an attempt to get them fired, has filed frivolous lawsuits to try to bankrupt critics, and other hate crimes.

Psychiatrists and critics. Outside of Scientology's dogma and paranoia, these people have committed no crimes. These people have done nothing deserving of punishment -- not to mention "destruction". These people are, as a group, innocent. Yet the Church of Scientology is relentless in its vicious attacks and its corrosive lies.

Are these the actions of an honest organization? Are these the actions of a sane organization?

Or are these the actions of a hate group, with an agenda to destroy selected people?

Is the Church of Scientology a hate group? The answer is obvious.
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Scientology's "Mental Manipulation"

In the recent news about the Church of Scientology on trial in France, one of the lawyers for the church, Patrick Maisonneuve, said:

"We will contest every charge and prove that there was no mental manipulation."

Oh, really?

That is going to be a very, very hard thing to prove. After all, Scientology is all about mental manipulation!

How do you suppose the lawyer is going to prove that an organization that boasts that its "technology" can handle any and all "mental problems" does not practice mental manipulation?

Let's see. L. Ron Hubbard's book Science of Survival, a rather large book, is specifically and only about how to use Hubbard's "Tone Scale" to evaluate and control people using mental manipulation.

Hubbard's extensive issues about surveys and marketing are all about how to control people without their consent or knowledge. His advices to "registrars" (salesmen) are all about how to use tricks and how to persist until they "get the sale".

Hubbard carefully selected the images for his book covers because, he believed, they would mentally manipulate people so they would buy his books without knowing why they felt compelled to do so. The most famous image is, of course, the "Dianetics volcano" on Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health, which was supposed to trigger OT III and force people to buy the book.

Hubbard's famous "TR" drills are all about controlling people. These drills are billed as "communication drills" but that isn't what they teach. Their purpose is to teach a person how to control others. The TR0 drills train the person to not react in any way to what others might say. The rest of the TR drills train the person to get an answer or, especially, to get compliance from others by means of mental manipulation. These drills have nothing to do with how to have normal, social conversations, they are all about control and how to force compliance.

In fact, when you get right down to it, there isn't any part of Scientology that isn't about mental manipulation. Scientologists are all busy being controlled and working to control others through their "superior mental technology".

So, just how is it that this lawyer thinks he can prove that mental manipulation wasn't involved?

Ah! Perhaps he will contend that, because Scientology's attempts at mental manipulation are so feeble and ineffective, it really shouldn't count. In other words, their only defense will be to prove that Scientology doesn't work!
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Scientology Agree/Disagree

In the Philadelphia Doctorate Courses, L. Ron Hubbard spoke quite a bit about agree and disagree. Agreement is effect and disagreement is cause. If you agree with someone, you are the effect of what they say. If you disagree with someone, you are at cause. According to Hubbard.

He also stated that the basis for controlling people is agreement. The basic principle of hypnotism is agreement. If you enforce agree-agree-agree on someone, you will, eventually, completely control them.

Well, guess what is not allowed in the Church of Scientology? You may not disagree with anything Hubbard or David Miscavige has ever said. Period.

In Scientology, if you say you disagree with Miscavige or Hubbard, it means you are wrong, you "have misunderstoods" (words you do not understand), you must be handled until you agree. Everything stops for you until "your misunderstoods are handled" -- meaning, until you agree.

You cannot say, "Oh, I don't agree with that, but this seems OK." No, you are required to agree with everything in Scientology.

Scientologists are very fond of saying "In Scientology, what is true is what you, yourself have found to be true." And they are quite adamant that they "didn't agree" until after they studied and tried some bit of Scientology.

And this is true. They studied something, they tried it, and they agreed that "it worked."

But understand this very, very clearly. That agreement is not a decision or a choice. That is a specific, required sequence. After the Scientologist tries something from Scientology, he or she must agree that "it works".

If the Scientologist finds that something from Scientology doesn't work, it means, according to Scientology, that the Scientologist is wrong and must be corrected and corrected, until the Scientologist "finds it works".

An Instructor or Supervisor or Executive must challenge with ferocity instances of "unworkability". They must uncover what did happen, what was run and what was done or not done.

L. Ron Hubbard - Keeping Scientology Working

As a Scientologist travels deeper into Scientology, further "up The Bridge", their agreement becomes more set. They are more and more at effect. No disagreement, no cause -- just agreement. How odd for a methodology that is supposed to be making people more at cause.

For a Scientologist to try something from Scientology and find it doesn't work is forbidden.

For a Scientologist to disagree with anything Hubbard or Miscavige has said is forbidden.

With Scientology, you do have enforced agreement.

In Scientology, you very specifically have agree-agree-agree.

Every Scientologist, then, agrees with every other Scientologist about Scientology. They are all in perfect agreement on every little thing that Miscavige or Hubbard ever said. No matter what, they all agree.

Isn't that amazing?

Here is a quote from Hubbard on that subject:

The common denominator of a group is the reactive bank. Thetans [people] without banks have different responses. They only have their banks in common. They agree then only on bank principles.

L. Ron Hubbard - Keeping Scientology Working

Ah, the irony! A group that is in total and complete agreement is a group agreeing only on bank (bad, unevaluated) principles. And a group that suppresses disagreement and enforces agree-agree-agree is working very hard to hypnotically control its members.

According to L. Ron Hubbard.
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Scientology: "Saving the Planet"

If I had to select the absolute worst thing that the Church of Scientology claims, I'd say the claim that they are "saving the planet" is the very, very worst.

Yes, they really do claim exactly that.

This is what L. Ron Hubbard says:

We're not playing some minor game in Scientology. It isn't cute or something to do for lack of something better.

The whole agonized future of this planet, every man, woman and child on it, and your own destiny for the next endless trillions of years depend on what you do here and now with and in Scientology.

This is a deadly serious activity. And if we miss getting out of the trap now, we may never again have another chance.

Remember, this is our first chance to do so in all the endless trillions of years of the past.

L. Ron Hubbard
HCO PL 7 February 1967 - KEEPING SCIENTOLOGY WORKING

This statement is taken totally at face value by all Scientologists. This is, to all True Believers, totally true, very serious and very, very important.

This message is actually repeated many times and in many ways by Hubbard. The message is:

• Scientology is the only path to salvation for not only the Scientologist, but for "every man, woman and child" on this planet.
• It is the only chance for salvation in "trillions of years".
• If Scientology does not take over and "save" the planet "we may never again have another chance."

Wow! Those are some heavy claims, aren't they?

So, how is this used by the Church of Scientology?

The Church of Scientology demands that every Scientologist go deeply, hopelessly into debt and give all their money to the church. After all, what is one little insignificant Scientologist's survival when compared to such an important goal!

The Church of Scientology demands that every Scientologist spend every moment working to expand the Church of Scientology. They must be on course; they must be reading Scientology books or listening to Scientology lectures; they must disseminate Scientology to friends, family and strangers; they must volunteer at the local church, join staff, join the Sea Org, make their children join the Sea Org ... there is no end to what is demanded -- after all, the Church of Scientology is saving the planet!

Scientologists must buy everything offered, every course, every book, every CD, and then buy them all over again.

And nothing is forbidden to the Church of Scientology in carrying out their all-important mission. The church can commit any crimes, any abuses, any fraud and it is excused because they are saving the planet! They can and will lie and cheat and steal to forward this all-important purpose.

If you object to anything the Church of Scientology says or does, if you work to expose these crimes, these lies, these abuses, they will destroy you, as is their right because their mission is more important than anything else on the entire planet!

Yes, anything is permitted to the Church of Scientology. Anything. Just look at their goal! They're saving the planet and you aren't.

Yet there is something very, very important that is missing from the Church of Scientology's work. If the Church of Scientology is, indeed, "saving the planet", then why is nothing associated with the church getting any better at all? As the old expression (that I just made up) goes, "Saving the planet starts at home!"

At what point does any part of the planet start getting "saved"? So far, the Church of Scientology has collected hundreds of millions of dollars and claimed to have done things, but there is no evidence that anything associated with the Church of Scientology is getting any better at all. (Once again, for you True Believers, I'm not talking about whether Scientology makes you "feel better" or not, I'm talking about its big claims.)

• There are no Clears per Hubbard's definition.
  
• There are no OTs -- Scientology is supposed to be a "gradient to OT", but zero at the bottom and zero at the top isn't a lot of progress.
  
• Narconon has been exposed for lying about its success rate -- its actual results are much lower than other drug rehabilitation programs.
• Hubbard's "Study Tech" has been found, in real classrooms with real students, to be far inferior to many other educational methods.
• Independent scientific analysis has found the "Purification Rundown" to be completely ineffective.
  
• Their "Volunteer Ministers" are just Scientology sales reps in yellow shirts, unwelcome at disaster sites by the real relief agencies.
• And so on...
  

Demanding Scientologists make huge sacrifices for the Church of Scientology would be a bit questionable even if the church were doing some good -- but when the church's results are so mediocre, so lacking, such demands for huge sacrifices are unconscionable.

May I gently suggest to Scientologists that they support the Church of Scientology only to the degree that the church shows that it actually is doing some good for some portion of the planet? Empty promises and big claims don't count. Actual improvement of something (besides the church's bank account) must be demonstrated and verified. If the church can't show they've made anything really better, then they don't deserve anyone's support.

And, may I make a few suggestions to the Church of Scientology, since they are inexperienced in this?

First, they should stop doing bad things. It's hard to do good when you are committing crimes, fraud and abuse. And that "demanding Scientologists make those huge sacrifices just to enhance the church's bank account" thing? In case you guys didn't know, that's a bad thing.

When the church has that down pretty well, they could try and do something good -- something small and local until they learn how to do it. It might help them to know that real organizations, that do actual good work, do not consider doing good things to be a money-making operation. Just so you know.

And Church of Scientology? Please lay off the "saving the planet" crap. You're not doing that, you've never done that, and you show no sign you'll ever make any progress in that direction. So just stop saying that, OK? It just screams "fanatical cult!"
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A Scientologist's Golden Age of Integrity Drills

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Note for non-Scientologists: Wonder what all these weird formatting and colors are all about? This whole post is in David Miscavige's Golden Age of Tech format. Miscavige called this type of drill the "What do you do?" drill. The idea of parodying Miscavige-style drills to teach Scientologists to defend themselves against Miscavige's abuses is nicely ironic.
Note to Miscavige: This is fair-use parody.

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Today, Scientologists are often asked to violate their personal integrity, to do something that just doesn't feel right, for the “good of the group”. This is just about always in direct violation of LRH Policies, Bulletins and other instructions.

The following drills have been created to help the Scientologist defend his or her personal integrity.

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1. You are talking to the Registrar and the Registrar asks you to pay for your next book sets, auditing intensives or courses. However, you do not have enough money in the bank for this and all your normal living expenses.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Don't buy the books, intensives or courses.
(“Sorry, I don't have money for that right now” or similar wording.)

Reference: HCOPL 3 JUNE 1959 - FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

The basic principle of financial management is a simple one, income must be greater than outgo. -- L. Ron Hubbard

2. The Reg tells you to “Put it on your credit card” or asks you how much “room” you have on your credit cards.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Do not go into debt!
("Sorry, LRH financial policy forbids me from going into debt." or similar wording.)

Reference: HCOPL 3 JUNE 1959 - FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Amongst the principles of financial management are these: One cannot spend money unless he has it. Never contract bills or debts unless the money is immediately in sight to pay them. -- L. Ron Hubbard

3. The Reg tells you, “Get the idea more money is 'in sight' – and charge it”.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Do not go into debt!
("I'm real sorry, but that violates LRH Policy" or similar wording.)

Reference: HCOPL 2 JUNE 1959 – A COMMENT ON FINANCE

I don't run up bills if I don't have money. I spend money freely only when it has been made and is in the bank [emphasis added]. -- L. Ron Hubbard

4. The Reg tells you, “Purpose is senior to Policy.” and tells you to violate LRH Policy and go into debt to purchase the books, intensives or courses.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Do not go into debt!
("Excuse me, but, in Scientology, someone else's purpose is not senior to LRH's policy! LRH policies align perfectly with his purposes!"
or
“Listen, if LRH Policy interferes with you accomplishing your purposes, may I suggest that it isn't LRH that needs to change?” or similar wording.)

Reference: HCOPL 10 JULY 1986 – Keeping Admin Working

Neither tech nor policy admit interpretation, alteration or "new ideas" generated by the bank. Bright, constructive application of exact principles, yes. Embellishment and know-best, never. -- L. Ron Hubbard

5. The Reg, or someone else from the org insists that you give them money for the org's “Ideal Org” Campaign.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Do not give money to projects that explicitly violate what LRH says.
("I'm sorry, but that isn't what LRH says to do" or similar wording.)

Reference: Tape 31 DECEMBER 1960 – The Genus of Scientology

We own a tremendous amount of property. We own a tremendous amount of material, and so forth. And it keeps growing. But that's not important.

When buildings get important to us, for God's sake, some of you born revolutionists, will you please blow up central headquarters. If someone had put some H.E. [high explosives] under the Vatican long ago, Catholicism might still be going.

Don't get interested in real estate. Don't get interested in the masses of buildings, because that's not important. -- L. Ron Hubbard

6. The Reg, or someone else, insists that you give them money for some other “bright idea” fund raiser – the IAS, Library Campaign, CCHR, Building Fund, Planetary Dissemination, etc.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Do not give money to Scientology “fund raisers”.
("I'm sorry, but this explicitly violates LRH Policy" or similar wording.)

Reference: HCOPL 24 FEBRUARY 1964 – Urgent - Org Programming

If the Org slumps: Don't engage in "fund raising" or "selling postcards" or borrowing money.

Just make more income with Scientology.

It's a sign of very poor management to seek extraordinary solutions for finance outside Scientology. It has always failed.

For Orgs as for pcs "Solve it With Scientology".

Every time I myself have sought to solve finance or personnel in other ways than Scientology I have lost out. So I can tell you from experience that Org solvency lies in More Scientology, not patented combs or fund raising Barbecues. -- L. Ron Hubbard

7. The Reg, or someone else, demands fund-raising money from you because “You owe it to Ron!”

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Do not give money to Scientology for bogus “reasons”.
("Ron specifically said that he didn't want more money, so even if he were still around, he would never be asking me for more money." or similar wording.)

References:

HCOPL 21 DEC 1965 – LRH FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIPS TO ORGS
This does not mean I want money. I spend my money on behalf of Scientology one way or another anyway. -- L. Ron Hubbard

HCOPL 2 JUNE 1959 – A COMMENT ON FINANCE
I am not parasitic on the organization. I always make many times the amount I may spend on hybrid horned toads with pink ribbons for the front hall. --L. Ron Hubbard

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Scientologists need to drill these until they can smoothly and easily retain their personal integrity despite all the off-Source pressure to do otherwise.

In this battle, LRH is on your side.
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Scientology Doublethink Again

As I covered in Scientology: Masters of "Doublethink", Scientologists must master what George Orwell called doublethink, which he defined as "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them".

Nowhere in all of Scientology is this more true than when discussing "Suppressives".

In Scientology, a Suppressive is someone who works to destroy. According to Hubbard, if you look at a Suppressive, you will always find crimes, serious crimes.

A Suppressive person has a number of very specific characteristics, such as:

• He or she speaks only in very broad generalities.
• Such a person deals mainly in bad news, critical or hostile remarks.
• A Suppressive does not respond to treatment or reform or psychotherapy.
• Surrounding such people are cowed or ill associates.
• The Suppressive habitually selects the wrong target.
• The Suppressive cannot complete things.
• The Suppressive has a bad sense of property.

And a few more.

To Scientologists, Suppressives are the Ultimate Evil.

But here is the very, very weird part.

Let's picture our Scientologist. Our Scientologist has a family, a mother and father, brothers and sisters. He gets along just fine with all of them. In fact, he really loves his family.

Then the Church of Scientology, for some reason, declares his mother and father Suppressive!

What happens?

Does our Scientologist look at the characteristics of a Suppressive and evaluate his mother and father against that? Does he look for the "speaks only in generalities", "commits crimes", "bad news" and so on?

Um... no!

The Scientologist immediately "disconnects" (cuts all communication) from his parents!

They are not Suppressive by any sane evaluation -- but the Church of Scientology says they are. So our Scientologist forgets all the good, disbelieves what his own eyes tell him, and stops speaking with his parents!

This is doublethink of the most severe degree.

Our Scientologist doesn't know what "crimes" his parents have supposedly committed, no one is ever informed -- it's secret. All he might be told is some, yes, generalities.

And, as with most things associated with the Church of Scientology, it gets worse. All his brothers and sisters are commanded by the church to disconnect from Mom and Dad.

Let's say they are sane and they don't. Well, then they are "declared Suppressive" -- for the "crime" of talking with their Mom and Dad!

And now our little Scientologist robotically disconnects from the rest of his family, never evaluating whether this is right or not. Never evaluating whether this is sane or not. He just does it.

Our Scientologist knows all the definitions and characteristics of a Suppressive Person. Our Scientologist can easily see that his family has none of these characteristics, but he cuts all communication!

He will do the same with his best friend, if ordered to by the Church of Scientology.

This is exactly what has happened to thousands and thousands of Scientologists. Virtually every Scientologist has been forced to disconnect from family and friends -- who exhibit no "Suppressive characteristics"!

Yes, this is insane.

Well, it is no wonder Scientologists get confused. While the Church of Scientology is declaring people Suppressive people who do not have the above characteristics, the church itself manifests these attributes:

The Church of Scientology speaks in some very broad generalities. "All psychiatrists are suppressive!" "All reporters are evil." "Everyone who criticises Scientology has serious crimes!" and so on.

The Church of Scientology disseminates nothing but "bad news" about the world outside of Scientology. The world outside of Scientology is criminal, degraded, evil, horrible.

The Church of Scientology cannot and does not reform. David Miscavige, the leader of the church, makes no case gain, is incomplete on OT VII but hasn't been audited for many years, and does not respond to any treatment.

Surrounding Miscavige are very cowed and unhealthy people. Surrounding the churches, Scientologists are struggling, stuck, in trouble, sick. The churches themselves are often many months behind on the rent. Staff in the churches are really struggling.

Scientology is experiencing some serious difficulties but Miscavige's "solutions", drastically altering the tech, demanding Scientologists redo and redo and redo, forcing Scientologists to go deeply into debt, buying expensive buildings, are all wrong targets -- and only make the problems worse.

The Church of Scientology under Miscavige's leadership, has serious problems completing anything. The original, primary L. Ron Hubbard programs to bring every church to the "size of old Saint Hill" were never completed and were abandoned. The Super Power building has been incomplete for ten years. The highly vaunted Library Program utterly failed in its goals. Program after program is incomplete, sloppily done, abandoned.

The Church of Scientology has hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even billions, sucked out of the pockets of loyal Scientologists. The Scientologists now are deeply in debt, even bankrupt, but still the church demands more money from Scientologists. Scientologists shouldn't deny the Church of Scientology its rightful money!

It is no wonder Scientologists can't think about the subject of Suppressives -- those "declared Suppressive" don't manifest the characteristics, but the Church of Scientology, and especially David Miscavige, appear to have most, if not all, of the Suppressive characteristics.

Faced with such a split between what they know and what they are forced to endure, the only recourse for our poor Scientologist is to shut down all reason and just follow orders.
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Scientologists: Have You Been Scammed?

If you donated money to the Library Campaign, then, yes, you have been scammed.

You were told that every library was to get a full set of "The Basics". You were even told this was accomplished. It never happened. Oh, yes, the books were probably all sent, but the project never accomplished even a small fraction of its goal.

Because of limited shelf space, all libraries handle unsolicited donations the same way. They throw the unasked for books in the dollar bin, or they give them to someone, or they just throw them away. This is exactly what happened to the books you paid for. This is very easy to check. Go check all the libraries in your town. Have your Scientology friends go check all the libraries in their towns. You will find that, for an overwhelming majority of libraries, those donated books never made it to the shelves.

And you have to be asking yourself several questions about this. Why didn't the Library Campaign people know this? This isn't secret information. The libraries will tell you this up front. The Library Campaign people let millions of dollars go to waste because they didn't do the most basic of checks. Or maybe they did, but that interfered with their fund-raising.

You should also be asking yourself this: If this was such an important project, and if Bridge Publications, who printed the books, thought it was so important, why did you have to pay full, retail price for the donated books? And why are all those sets showing up on EBay, priced for a dollar.

What was important? Getting full, retail price from you for lots of book sets? Oh yes! Actually getting the books onto library shelves? Not so much.

Yes, you got scammed.

If you made any donations to the "Ideal Org" Campaign, then yes, you got scammed.

You thought your local church would end up owning their own building and never pay rent again. This is not true. If your local church ever buys a building, the building's ownership will be transferred immediately to "International Landlord". The building and all the expensive renovations done to it are all the sole possession of International Management.

And that "never pay rent again"? Well, if Miscavige has funded any of the purchase or the renovations, then there will be rent due every month. Even though Miscavige's money originally came from Scientologists, maybe even you, he still will insist on charging rent.

And the chances of the new building solving your local church's problems? Slim to none. Since your local church wasn't hurting for space, and since the old quarters weren't that bad looking, a new building simply isn't the solution. But it is a very expensive, wrong solution.

What was important? Getting millions and millions of dollars from Scientologists for real estate going to International Management? Oh, yes! Solving the local church's actual problems? No, not so much.

Yes, you got scammed.

If you sent donations to the IAS (International Association of Scientologists), then, yes, you did get scammed.

You are, I am sure, under the impression that your donations were going to some soon-to-be-released dissemination campaign or were going to "fight the psychiatrists" or some such.

Nope. A very big portion of your donations went to multi-million dollar out-of-court settlements. In simple terms, it means the Church of Scientology committed criminal acts, was taken to court, was very certain to lose the case and "settled". They have paid many, many, many millions to various plaintiffs over the years to keep from officially losing all those cases.

But they paid these huge settlements from your money. Not only that, they paid their lawyers more millions of dollars -- from your money.

You didn't commit the crimes, you weren't guilty of anything, but you paid!

What was important? Getting money from Scientologists to pay for court costs and settlement costs so that the Church of Scientology doesn't have to pay? Oh, yes! Helping Scientologists? Not so much.

Yes, you were scammed.

If you donated to Super Power, then yes, you got scammed.

This may be the best and longest-running scam in Scientology. Let me explain.

First, do you know what the building was called around the Flag Land Base? It was called "the Flag Annex". Yes, the building was always intended to primarily be expansion space for the Flag Land Base. It was called "Super Power" elsewhere because that raised more money.

Second, do you know that, at last count, they raised four times as much money as they needed? It was such a good money maker, they kept using it to just raise money. What for? Who cares? It was so easy to raise money for "Super Power"! Tons of money has been raised and spent for things you didn't agree to support.

Of course, you know that they never finished it. They got very, very close to finishing it and then quit. Why? Several reasons. One was that David Miscavige wanted a big chunk of the building for his own personal apartments, very lush, very secure, but couldn't decide on all the features he wanted to include. That took forever!

And, the primary reason the Super Power Building has never been finished: If Miscavige finishes the Super Power building, people are going to expect Super Power to be delivered. That's a problem! You see, they can't figure out how to actually deliver Super Power. What L. Ron Hubbard wrote up isn't actually deliverable. Not only that, but rumor has it that the few people who have done the prototype Super Power rundowns -- left Scientology. Not the "end phenomena" that Miscavige is looking for.

What was important? Getting more and more money from Scientologists for something that wasn't real? Oh, yes! Actually finishing the building and delivering Super Power? Not so much.

Yes, you got scammed.

If you donated to the Planetary Dissemination Campaign, then, yes, you got scammed.

This one is very, very simple. There is no actual Planetary Dissemination Campaign. Never has been, never will be. This "Campaign" is only used for raising money from the faithful. International Management never intended to ever use the money for, well, planetary dissemination.

They will run a few advertisements on TV to help with the fund-raising, but not for very long and only locally where they're holding the fund-raising event.

What was important? Getting millions of dollars from Scientologists for a bogus campaign? Oh, yes! Actually doing some planet-wide dissemination? Not going to happen!

Yes, you got scammed.

If you donated to the Way to Happiness Foundation, then, yes, you got scammed.

This is another one, much like the Library Campaign. The goal was to get lots and lots of the booklets "out there". Then "success" was reported, the booklets are "out there". Where?

Sure, some are handed out on some street somewhere. But the rest? In some warehouse. In someone's garage or back room -- eventually recycled.

What was important? Getting full price for printing booklets that cost almost nothing to print? Oh, yes! Actually distributing all those booklets? Who cares?

Yes, you got scammed.

If you became a "Volunteer Minister" and donated your time and money, then yes, you got scammed.

I admire, greatly, those who volunteer their time to help others. No one should be criticized for volunteering, but ...

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers, as created and run by International Management, are not what you think they are.

Shucks, if you've gone out to "man the tent" for your church, you already know this. The Volunteer Ministers are out there to sell books. The Volunteer Ministers are out there to sell courses. The Volunteer Ministers are out there to "route people into the org". They've got stats. Scientology Volunteer Ministers are just salesmen. No more, no less. That's a scam.

But it's worse when Scientology Volunteer Ministers show up at a disaster site. International Management calls for VMs to go (using their own money of course). These VMs show up with nothing for the victims. No food, no medicine, no materials for shelter, no clothing -- these are the things that are most needed at a disaster site and the VMs bring nothing!

In fact, the VMs, because they bring nothing, add to the burden of the relief agencies already there. The VMs need shelter, the VMs need food -- and they, therefore, take vital food and shelter away from the victims who need it.

Why are they there? Because the Church of Scientology wants photos of the VMs at the disaster site, "helping" the victims. That's not help, that's a scam.

What was important? Using Volunteer Ministers to go out and drum up more business for Scientology? Oh, yes! Actually providing what disaster victims really needed? Not so much.

Yes, you've been scammed.

If you donated money to make "Mission Starter Packages" available to new Mission Holders, then yes, you've been scammed.

These "Mission Starter Packages" were very expensive packages of books, course materials, E-Meters and anything else Bridge Publications could throw in.

Supposedly these packages contained "everything needed to start a Mission" but, in fact, contained far more than anyone would ever need.

As people wanting to start missions often couldn't afford it, Bridge Publications started getting "donations" from wealthy Scientologists to buy Mission Starter Packages so that "someone else" could start the mission.

Hundreds of these "Mission Starter Packages" were sold, the money banked, the big fat commissions paid. And the books and materials? Never delivered anywhere, still sitting in the warehouse.

Scamming thousands of dollars from Scientologists and getting fat commissions? Definitely! Actually starting Missions? Not so much.

I'm sorry to report, Scientologists, you have been scammed.
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LRH Birthday Event

Scientologists, I am sure, are all atwitter about David Miscavige's recent big, bloated "LRH Birthday Event".

Miscavige did what he calls a "rolling thunder" presentation of impressive statistics, one right after another, big numbers, delivered with much emphasis.

And meaningless. Statistics are meaningless unless you have something to compare them with. Over what period of time? Exactly what was done? And what were the results?

It has been pointed out elsewhere, Miscavige's boast that over one billion people received "invitations" to come into the Church of Scientology is, in fact, a huge admission of failure. That many "invitations" and nobody showed up? Not only that but it looks like the Church of Scientology actually lost half their membership in recent years! Just between you and me, that's really lousy dissemination!

But I was more impressed with Miscavige's admission of failure of his whole "Ideal Org" program. His whole program has failed and he had to admit it. Oh, not in so many words, but what he "announced" said exactly that.

The whole idea of his "Ideal Org" program was that the "local Scientologists" would cough up the millions to buy these huge buildings, would somehow come up with millions more for the gaudy and expensive renovations, volunteer their time -- to create this "wonderful" building, which they would then, humbly, give to Miscavige.

That failed. Oh, did that fail. Don't say I didn't warn him!

So, in his crafty way, Miscavige turned the failure into a "success". He announced that he is going to open his purse strings and help create 70 "Ideal Orgs".

Oh, really?

We can deduce quite a number of things from that announcement.

First, like I said, it means his "Ideal Org" program failed. It didn't happen and it was never going to happen.

Next, although it isn't, technically, Miscavige's money, he won't give it up without strings attached. Those new "Ideal Orgs" will owe him, big time -- and they will pay. Miscavige has a trusted staff member in every single church who takes all the money in and sends just about all of it up to "International Management". Oh, they will pay. Staff pay will really suck.

Next, we can be very sure that Miscavige has redefined what an "Ideal Org" is supposed to be. You just know that "Ideal Org" has been redefined to be much cheaper.

We know this because, when Miscavige totally failed to expand all churches to the "size of old Saint Hill" as ordered by L. Ron Hubbard, Miscavige cleverly redefined those goals to be much, much smaller. Then, when he failed at that, he gave up.

So it will be with his "Ideal Org" program. With this step, he will have defined that an "Ideal Org" is to be much, much smaller. Of course, when this fails, he will, inevitably, give up.

So what will happen? Will Miscavige actually create 70 new "Ideal Orgs"?

Well, given that he does have money to throw at it, and given that only he can define what the goal is and when it has been reached -- well sure.

Then what?

There may be a temporary boost in "traffic in" based on curiosity about the "new buildings" fuss. But it will be very, very temporary.

After that, all those 70 churches will be in much worse shape than they are today.

You see, the difficulties of the Church of Scientology aren't caused by "not enough new buildings", so, buying new buildings won't solve them! That's very simple logic.

The problem with the Church of Scientology is that they lie. The problem with the Church of Scientology is that they never, ever produce the vast and wonderful results they explicitly promise. The problem with the Church of Scientology is that it is all fake -- a very expensive fake.

As long as all that was secret, they could survive. But it is no longer secret.

The reason that the Church of Scientology is failing so miserably is that the truth about the church is now out there and known.

And all the new buildings in the world won't erase the truth.

That is why Miscavige's "Ideal Org" program was doomed to failure from the very start.
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