Legal Disclaimers: This site is not the official site of, nor is it affiliated with, the "Church" of Scientology. The "Dollar sign and triangles" logo is a parody (a protected form of expression in the United States of America) of a Scientology trademark, and is furthermore used in a non-commercial manner for the purposes of news reporting and/or commentary, as explicitly protected by 15 USC § 1125 (c)(4)(B,C). Quotations from Scientology texts are made in accordance with the "Fair Use" protections of the copyright laws of the United States of America (17 USC § 107).

	Scientology's policy on the legal system:
	The purpose of the suit is to harass and discourage rather than to win. The law can be used very easily to harass, and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway, well knowing that he is not authorized, will generally be sufficient to cause his professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly.
	-- L. Ron Hubbard (A Manual on the Dissemination of Material, 1955)

I first learned about the "Church" of Scientology in 1995, when, in an effort to silence its critics, it committed a number of assaults against free speech. A lawyer working for Scientology attempted to delete a Usenet newsgroup where the secrets of Scientology were being discussed. Four critics of the "church" had their houses raided and their computers and other property confiscated for the crime of quoting Scientology texts on the Internet. Numerous other critics have been sued or threatened with lawsuits, some for posting a mere six lines of "secret" Scientology scriptures.

The more I learned about Scientology, the less I liked it. From my reading of Scientology's own publications, witnessing their actions both on and off the Internet, and from my own experiences with Scientology's lawyers and members of its Office of Special Affairs, it is my opinion that the Church of Scientology is a dangerous cult which attracts adherents through fraudulent promises, abuses the court system as a bludgeon against its critics, and has committed numerous human rights violations against its own members.

In these Web pages, I hope to present the reasons for that opinion.

	"In my opinion the church has one of the most effective intelligence operations in the U.S., rivaling even that of the FBI."
	-- Ted Gunderson former head of the FBI's Los Angeles office, quoted in TIME Magazine (May 6, 1991)

Scientology's Actions and Front Groups
Scientology Documents seized by the FBI	Internal documents seized from Scientology by the FBI in 1977, many of which pertain to the church's attempts to infiltrate the government and media of Clearwater, Florida. Among the documents is a report concerning Charles Manson's involvement in Scientology, and some confidential memos about "Operation PC Freakout".
Operations against Gabriel Cazares	More files seized by the FBI, all pertaining to Scientology's covert operations against Gabriel Cazares, Mayor of Clearwater at the time Scientology began infiltrating the town.
Church of Scientology protects child molester	In 1995, a forty-year-old Scientologist was convicted of sexually molesting his young stepdaughters, aged eleven and thirteen. His wife stated, under oath, that the "Church" of Scientology ordered her not to report it.
Narconon	Information about the Scientology-run "drug rehabilitation" program which has been found by government inspectors to be "not medically safe" and even "potentially lethal".
Coroner's Report on Lisa McPherson	A young woman dies at Scientology's Clearwater headquarters, and the Church of Scientology refuses to cooperate with the police. The coroner's report poses some interesting questions. Lisa McPherson's story may be found at LisaMcPherson.org and at the Lisa McPherson Trust.
Censored by Scientology	In an attempt to prevent their members from seeing objectionable information on the Internet, the Church of Scientology created a filtering program, similar to CyberSitter and Net Nanny. They weren't censoring pornography, though...

Scientology's Policies, Practices and Beliefs
The Scientology Punchline	Can Scientology really help get rid of all your problems, or just those problems which you got from Scientology itself?
The Operating Thetan Materials	Links to Scientology's "trade secrets", the ultra-secret high-level scriptures of the Church of Scientology. Normally, one must pay the "Church" hundreds of thousands of dollars -- or work "on staff" for years, at far below minimum wage -- before one is allowed to view them.
Scientology Ethics	These pages contain an analysis of first couple of chapters of the Scientology publication Introduction to Scientology Ethics. According to L. Ron Hubbard, "All that Ethics is for -- the totality of the reason for its existence and operation -- is simply that additional tool necessary to make it possible to apply the technology of Scientology. " (Funny, that's not what my dictionary says!)
The TNX-L Excerpts	Highlights from the Scientologists-only TNX-L mailing list, leaked to the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.scientology in 1995. These are some of the things Scientologists say to each other when they think no "wogs" (non-Scientologists) can hear them.
Scientology's policy of harassment	Part 1 of a flyer I created for a protest in Clearwater. Though heavily Clearwater-specific, it shows a pattern of harassment directed against Scientology's critics (especially in government and the media).
A Clearwater Timeline	A brief timeline of Scientology's murky history in the city of Clearwater, Florida (primarily between 1975 and 1992). Part 2 of the protest flyer.

Personal Involvement
Legal Threats	Scientology lawyers threatened to sue me for trademark dilution. Here are their letters to me, and my responses. The experience did not leave me with a high opinion of their competence.
A Visit from OSA	On 26 February 1997, two Scientologists were sent to my apartment to try and dissuade me from participating in a picket/vigil to be held in the memory of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist who died under mysterious circumstances. One of them was the Vice President and "Director of Special Affairs" of Scientology's New York City organization. This was odd, because I live in Florida.
Clearwater Picket 8 March 1997	My account of a picket and candlelight vigil held at the Scientology headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, where Scientologist Lisa McPherson was apparently held against her will for the last 17 days of her life.
Radio Interview 10 March 1997	After the picket, I was contacted by a local radio station and asked if I wished to speak on the air about it. This page contains a transcript of the interview.
Clearwater picket 5 December 1998	My account of another picket held in Clearwater, Florida, on the third anniversary of Lisa McPherson's death under the care of Scientology.
A visit to Flag	A brief account (and pictures) of my visit to the "world spiritual headquarters" of Scientology: the Flag Service Org in Clearwater, Florida, where some of the highest levels of Scientology "training" are delivered.
A Conversation with Koos	Koos Nolst Trenite was a Scientologist who became mentally unstable. The "Church" of Scientology, which claims to have the only workable system of mental health, didn't help him; instead, they threw him out. But because they had instilled into him a fear and hatred of psychiatrists, he never sought the help he so sorely needed. This online conversation I had with him shows the lingering effects Scientology had on his thought processes.

Suppressive Multimedia

Hubbard on Christianity

The Church of Scientology claims to be compatible with all other religions. This animation is based on an infamous sound clip from Lecture #10 of L. Ron Hubbard's Class VIII Course, which shows that claim to be false. (35 seconds, 2.2MB MPEG with sound) Please note: Windows Media Player and RealPlayer frequently misdiagnose the length of this animation. If your player estimates a length shorter than 35 seconds, you will only see a portion of the file. If this occurs, you can view the entire animation by saving the link to a file, and then playing the file.

Links to More Information
Operation Clambake	Operation Clambake contains many essays on various aspects of Scientology, press information kits, first-person accounts of life in Scientology, and more.
Secrets of Scientology	Another good collection of information.
ars web page summary	A massive list of both pro-Scientology and critical Web sites.