Chapter 10
- People don't deserve to have Scientology as a divine right, you know. They have to earn it.
- -- L. Ron Hubbard{1}
Even worse than what happens to an outsider who tries to attack Scientology is what happens to a Scientologist who turns against or displeases the group. They too may be investigated, although in that case the investigation is quite simple. The Scientologists can go right to the preclear's file and his intimate secrets and confessions are all there.{2} Furthermore, Hubbard made it clear that he wanted these secrets. "If anyone feels like leaving," wrote Hubbard "just examine the records and sit down and list everything done to and withheld from me and the organization and send it along. We'll save a lot of people that way."{3}
In a Policy Letter of April 19, 1965, Hubbard also laid down similar guidelines. "Any preclear blowing an Org [getting up and leaving] without reporting to the [Technical] [Secretary], [Director] of [Processing] and the Ethics section first, and who will not permit an auditor to handle the matter at the Org where the auditing occurred, must be fully investigated by the Ethics section at any cost."{4}
The following is a letter Hubbard wrote to the Secretary
of the Melbourne Australia headquarters about a
boy who apparently "blew an Org" i.e. left, or did something equally
heinous:
Horner blew up in our faces and had his cert[ificate]s
canceled. We have criminal background on him. Rape of a girl pc
[preclear] in Dallas and countless others. This will do something to
[name omitted]. Now I firmly believe you will be able to find a
criminal background this life on [two more Australian
Scientologists] as no such occurrence anywhere in the world has
failed to find one. I'd grab him when he comes in and security check it
in to view. Run one on [two names out]. If they won't cooperate
you have suspected criminal activities. It's a thrupenny push now.
Horner ... possibly Nibs -- all tie in to a neat network. We're pulling
it apart.{5}
This same Horner, the one who allegedly raped a preclear,
was once such a dedicated Scientologist that he wrote a book on the
subject, and in it referred to Hubbard as "one of the great geniuses of
the Twentieth Century" whose "discoveries will make possible a new era
of living for man." In addition, the man referred to above as "Nibs" --
whom Hubbard apparently saw as part of this "conspiracy" or whatever --
is the nickname for L. Ron Hubbard Jr., Hubbard's own son, who was a
Scientologist until he quit in 1959.
The Australian Inquiry which reprinted that letter, also
had a few comments on the veracity of the statements:
It is now said that accusations against Horner of
"criminal background" and "of the rape of a girl pc in Dallas and
countless others" were unfounded.... Subsequently ... Horner returned to
the fold and when last heard of was a leading over-seas Scientologist
who probably would be extremely surprised to know of his "criminal
background" so irresponsibly publicized by Hubbard. There was no
justification for the [other] accusations.... Hubbard was merely
irresponsibly asserting, as was
his practice, that anyone out of line with Scientology had a criminal or
communist or homosexual background.{6}
It appears that few other Scientologists have gotten out
of it or spoken against their group though, perhaps because one of the
Scientology codes stated that no member was permitted to speak
disparagingly of Scientology to outsiders or members of the press.{7} This seems to work both ways, and in addition to not
speaking against Scientology, Scientologists rarely listen to
arguments against it either, and have little opportunity to hear both
sides of the story.
In fact, Hubbard told them never to discuss Scientology
with a critic. "Just discuss his or her crimes, known or unknown. And
act completely confident that these crimes exist. Because they do."{8} As a concomitant to this, Scientologists rarely
participate in panel discussions, perhaps because of their aversion to
confrontation with critics, but also because Hubbard wrote them "why ...
give some other subjects an audience before which it could air its
views?"{9}
Most Scientologists are anxious to adhere to this code and
not speak against Scientology, so much so that when one alleged
Scientologist committed suicide in England, he left a note saying his
suicide had nothing to do with Scientology or with his being a member of
the group.{10} (Later on, another case will be
presented of someone who wanted to commit suicide, but was afraid that
if he did so it would "invalidate Scientology.")
But in the past, if a Scientologist did decide to
say something against Scientology, perhaps to publicly disavow it or
report or threaten to report it to civil authorities,{11} he was immediately declared a "suppressive person"
and sometimes an "enemy of Scientology."{12} A
"suppressive person" was immediately dropped from Scientology and no
Scientologist in the world was permitted to associate with him.
Perhaps this doesn't seem like much of a punishment to
the reader, but remember that the Scientologist has often withdrawn from
his former friends and family and spends his time mainly with
Scientologists.
He may not have a job to go to since he may have left his job to work
for the Org, and he may have divorced his former spouse and remarried
someone in the group -- none of the people can have anything to do with
him.)
At various times the Scientologists have treated
suppressives in an even worse manner. In 1965 they wrote that the
"homes, properties, places and abodes of persons who have been active in
attempting to suppress Scientology or Scientologists are all beyond any
protection or Scientology ethics."{13} In an earlier
code it said "I pledge myself to punish to the fullest extent of my
power anyone misusing or degrading Scientology to harmful ends."{14} At one time an enemy of Scientology was defined as
someone who could be "deprived of property or injured by any means by a
Scientologist ... may be tricked, sued, lied to or destroyed."{15}
Anyone who was "connected" to a suppressive, in other
words, anyone who knows him, no matter how vaguely, was "reviewed" --
and had to pay for this review.{16} If it came out that
he was indeed "connected," this friend or acquaintance was declared a
"Potential Trouble Source" (P.T.S.), and also could not receive
Scientology processing until he "handled" (in other words, persuaded)
the errant person to make amends, or "disconnected" from that person,
meaning that he too could have nothing more to do with the
suppressive, even if it was his spouse, lover, child, parent, etc.{17}
The P.T.S. also had to publish the fact in one of the
Scientology publications,{18} and then take "any
required civil action such as disavowal, separation or divorce."{19} Since the P.T.S. was not permitted to talk to the
suppressive, he usually disconnected by sending him a letter,{20} usually on little scraps of paper and sometimes
signed off with "love," stating that he could no longer have anything to
do with the suppressive, and implying or stating that the suppressive
reconsider and reform himself{21} -- which meant taking
more Scientology courses.{22} If the P.T.S refused to
"disconnect" from the suppressive, he was
charged with "high crimes" and became a "suppressive person" and outcast
also.{23}
A person did not have to be a Scientologist to be
suppressive. In the New York Org the night watchman was said to have
been declared suppressive for misdeeds that ranged from stealing from
the petty cash box to saying that Scientology didn't work.{24} Nor does the suppressive have to be an adult. One
ten-year-old boy was declared a suppressive -- because he refused to
"disconnect" from his father.{25}
Another Scientology "suppressive," now an outspoken
critic of the group, called Scientology "the beginnings of a Nazi party"
in court, during an American tax case. Mr. Raymond J. D. Buckingham, a
very accomplished English basso who administers a voice school in
Manhattan, initially got into Scientology through one of his pupils. She
agreed to give him $30 worth of processing in return for an equal amount
in voice lessons.
At first he was so impressed with Scientology that he
convinced several of his students, along with his fiancé to
undergo auditing. But he began to get disillusioned when he discovered
that his auditor was revealing personal information about him to a
friend of hers, and worse still that his fiancée's auditor (a
Reverend) was propositioning her.
When he complained about the situation to the
Scientologists, however, they said they would speak to him about it only
if he would agree to pay them $25 for the first session of "advice." He
agreed, but they then said they wouldn't talk to him unless he
"disconnected" from a business partner. It seemed that the
Scientologists had also labeled the partner a "suppressive person"
because he was connected to a suppressive.
Buckingham then had the incredible courage to speak
against Scientology on a radio show, and the Scientologists countered by
declaring him a "suppressive person, outside their protection," and
"fair game." Those of his students who had become Scientologists (at his
recommendation) were ordered to "disconnect" from him -- and also from
any money they
legally owed him. (This represented a loss of about $200 a week for
him.)
One of his students, a famous singer, in whom he had
invested almost $30,000 as her agent, told him that she had learned in
her auditing sessions that "you killed me in my past fifteen lives."
Then she not only disconnected from him, but also from the arrangements
he had made for her to perform in summer stock theatres. The loss almost
ruined him, and her as well, since she was fined by Actors' Equity and
left the country.
During this time, he was also receiving phone calls in
the middle of the night from men and women threatening to kill him. And
his fiancé, who at first didn't leave Scientology and join him,
was held in a room at the Org for four hours until she agreed to sign a
statement saying that Buckingham had threatened to kill her. The story
does have a happy ending. Three in fact. Mr. Buckingham and his
fiancé eventually did get married. The ten-year-old child who was
declared suppressive four years ago is now one of Mr. Buckingham's voice
students. And all three have left Scientology. (Scientology, however has
not left them, and they still receive mail urging them to "step into the
exciting world of the totally free."){26}
Two other stories of Scientologists who left the group
did not have such happy endings. In the first case, the Director of the
Scientology Institute in Bulawayo, Africa, a man named John Kennedy, was
said to be responsible for the success of Scientology in Rhodesia.{27} Naturally Hubbard was pleased with him, and in an
early issue of Ability, he wrote that Kennedy and his wife "both
knew which side of the E-meter is up, they respect you, they are
Scientologists, they have goals."{28}
Unbeknownst to Hubbard, one of their goals was leaving
Scientology and setting up a similar organization called the Institute
of Mental Health. They set up headquarters in Johannesburg, and brought
in a large number of Scientologists with them, naturally infuriating the
other Scientologists. Kennedy died shortly thereafter in a shooting
accident. "It is said he shot himself
accidentally while cleaning his revolver" stated the Daily Mail
on July 14, 1968, "but an open verdict was returned by the coroner."
Another case of someone who displeased the Scientologists
is shrouded in mystery and will probably always remain so. According to
the London Observer,{29} James Stewart, a
thirty-five-year-old encyclopedia salesman from South Africa was
suspended from Scientology because the Scientologists allegedly said he
had a "history of epilepsy and as such was refused permission to
continue Scientology training."{30} Robert Kaufman, a
former Scientologist (whose own story will be presented later) was at
the Edinburgh Org at the same time as Stewart and reported some things
that happened that were not printed in the newspaper.
He believes the Scientologists placed Stewart's[*] name
on the bulletin board and put him in a "condition of doubt" for having
seizures or fits in public and thereby "invalidating Scientology."
Kaufman was horrified that someone would be punished for a physical
ailment over which he had no control, especially since the "doubt
penalty" meant this ill man would have had to work at menial chores for
eighty hours straight without sleep.
A few days after the man was placed in "doubt," Kaufman
was even more upset to see the man's funeral and cremation notice posted
on the bulletin board. A short while later -- Kaufman believes it was
the afternoon he saw the funeral notice -- Kaufman was more shaken when
it was announced that the deceased's wife had just gone up another (very
high) level in Scientology. Kaufman's suspicion that the eighty-hour
penalty was connected to this man's death was heightened when he
returned home and one of his Scientology instructors told Kaufman that
he had heard
that the man hadn't really died at all and that it had all been a
mistake.
That's not what the London Observer said. They
reported that Stewart was found dead fifty feet below a window, and that
it was not a suicide, because the story of his death had been printed in
the public press in Scotland where they do not print names of suicides,
but rather incorporate them into the statistics of the annals of the
Chief Constables. According to The Observer, Stewart's wife said
she did not know how her husband's death occurred, "but she did know
that it had nothing to do with Scientology."
Not many Scientologists leave the group voluntarily. Most
of them firmly believe in Scientology and believe that it is helping
them. But someone who is growing a bit disenchanted may think twice
before quitting. Any Scientologist who has ever been thoroughly audited
has revealed a great deal of intimate information about himself to an
auditor whose qualifications and ethical standards could be subject to
some question.
The Rand Daily Mail in Africa reported that an
auditor told the South African Inquiry that he was criticized because he
kept the files on his patients "clean." The same auditor also told the
Inquiry that the Scientologists wanted him to jot down the more "meaty"
stuff people disclosed. He told the Inquiry that when he left
Scientology, he removed his files for fear of blackmail, adding that he
had often seen preclear's files with information circled, and with such
statements as "we can use this" printed on it.{31}
Perhaps it is not surprising that he was afraid of
blackmail. Not only is intimate information kept in files, but the
contents of the files are sometimes discussed among Scientologists. At
one time, these files were even accidentally accessible to outsiders.{32} A former Scientologist, photographer Michael Chassid,
said they were once kept in an unlocked area in back of the secretary's
office in New York;{33} in Washington, Hubbard's son
said "it wasn't difficult for anyone of the Founding Church to gain
access to these files;"{34} and in England,
the Scientologists were so careless with their records that personal
files and documents concerning two Scientology P.T.S.'s were allegedly
found in a garbage dump, read by a workman, and brought to the
Sun, who reported the story.{35}
The Board in Australia stated that Hubbard himself was
"not to be trusted to preserve confidences." They cited the case of a
preclear who was trying desperately to get back in Hubbard's good graces
after he had been kicked out of the group. In the hopes of a pardon, he
abased himself by writing a letter to Hubbard in which he confessed to a
number of sins, which "range[d] from the stealing of five shillings from
the mantel piece when he was six years old to very disgusting and
depraved behavior in adult life." The Scientologists produced this
letter at the Australian Inquiry in an attempt to discredit this
witness, and felt that they were justified in doing so because the
confession was not made during an auditing session.{36}
In Australia, Anderson said, he found "no evidence of
blackmail in the popular sense" but added that the existence of these
files "containing the most intimate secrets and confessions" of
thousands of individuals was a "constant threat." He added that it was
"even more serious because copies of these reports are also held at
Saint Hill Manor."{37}
There is no known case of any Scientologist actually
having been blackmailed (although someone being blackmailed would not be
very likely to admit it). But another question to consider, in addition
to whether a person is being blackmailed, is whether he thinks he
might be.
If a Scientologist was wondering whether or not to leave
the group and he heard his auditor discussing his case with a friend, as
happened to Ray Buckingham,{38} or he had been criticized for not recording "meaty"
stuff, and saw files ringed "we can use this," as in the case of the
South African witness,{39} or if he knew that Hubbard
had requested files of people who wanted to leave{40}
and had said to "investigate at any cost" someone
who had left,{41} or if he knew that his files were
easily accessible and that they could be brought out and openly
discussed at any time,{42} wouldn't he think that he
might be blackmailed and hesitate to leave Scientology?
Hubbard may even want preclears to think that
their secrets might at some time be revealed. It is hard to interpret
his statement below, which he wrote in Why People Fight
Scientology, in any other way. After ambiguously stating that the
E-meter can be used "in other ways than mental health," he wrote:
Every professional Scientologist is bound by his "Code of
the Scientologist" which is more strict by far than the codes binding
medical doctors and psychiatrists. Clause Nine of this Code is "to
refuse to impart the personal secrets of my preclears." Anyone's secrets
are safe with Scientology until the person himself no longer
considers the matter important.{43} (Author's
Italics)
A fear of blackmail can keep a Scientologist as tied and
subservient to Scientology as actual blackmail -- perhaps more so. When
someone knows that there is a great deal of personal information that
could be revealed and he is led to believe that it might be
revealed, even though no overt threat has been made or payment
requested, he must simply sit and wait and wonder.
{1} initial quote
[95]
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{2} go to files of people who leave
[255]
{3} quote on send files
[80]
{4} tries to leave
[96]
{5} Letter about Horner
[261]
{6} Australian comment to letter
[261]
{7} Scientologist can't disparage Scientology
[11, 12, 262]
{8} don't discusss Scientology with critic
[26]
{9} panel discussions
[29]
{10} Scientologist who committed suicide
[229]
{11} disavow or report Scientology
[104]
{12} become suppressive
[104, 255, 261]
{13} (43) homes of suppressives aren't safe
[99]
{14} (44) punish someone misusing Scientology
[29, 200]
{15} (42) enemy may be injured or tricked
[194]
{16} (13) pay for review
[255]
{17} (14) PTS
[104, 255]
{18} (15) publish fact
[99]
{19} (16) take civil action
[99]
{20} (17) disconnect letters
[262, 178]
{21} (18) suggest reform
[255]
{22} (19) sign up for more courses
[255]
{23} (20) PTS can't be processed
[99]
{24} (21) night watchman
[277]
{25} (22) 10-year-old boy
[277]
{26} (23) story of Ray Buckingham
[255, 277]
{27} (24) story of John Kennedy
[175]
{28} (25) Hubbard comment on Kennedy
[46]
{29} (26) James Stewart
[199]
{30} (27) epileptics permitted
[277]
{31} (28) auditor kept files clean; fear of
blackmail; files ringed
[247]
{32} (29) files brought out
[255]
{33} (30) files in New York
[177]
{34} (31) files in Washington
[255]
{35} (32) files in garbage dump
[207]
{36} (33) Hubbard revealing letter
[261]
{37} (34) no blackmail in Australia and quote
[261]
{38} (35) discussing cases
[255]
{39} (36) files ringed
[247]
{40} (37) Hubbard wants info
[80]
{41} (38) investigate those who leave
[96, 255]
{42} (39) files accessible
[177, 255, 207]
{43} (40) Hubbard quote on revealing (author's
italics) secrets
[26]
Extraneous citation notes:
{44} (41) on suicide
[229]