A ket element of Scientolgy’s doctrine on handling others is a policy letter of 7 March 1965RC re-issued 13 March 2013 entitled Suppressive Acts Suppression of Scientology and Scientologists.
In this policy letter it defined suppressive acts as acts which are clearly covert or overt acts knowingly calculated to reduce or destroy the influence activities of Scientology. Although they publicly teel you they would give you a fair hearing to see if any of these actions were true and to give you a chance to confront thyour accusers, this is NOT the case. At any time a person can be accused and never be told why or for what and then have a public edict be circulated that you are guilty of the alleged crimes you were accused of. This create a “Declare Order “owith you being labeled a “Suppressive Person” by the Church of Scientology.
Because of this you are forced to disconnect from any family, friends or business associates immediately or they would be labeled as what Scientology calls a PTS, a potential trouble source. If someone is then labeled a PTS they would not be allowed to continue taking classes at the Church of Scientology or able to receive their counseling, which is called “auditing”. If your family,friends or business associates don’t obey the Church’s disconnect order it would also place you in a situation to ruin one’s marriage, business and friendships if they were all with other Scientologists.
This is an act of intimidation and coercion to force anyone to be in their control.
What is most disconcerting is the ongoing fraud they commit to lure their members into submission where the Church of Scientology publicly denies that they ask its members to disconnect. (See their website and Going Clear movie and interview with their senior executive Tommy Davis who states this)
Like my daughter who got caught in this,many members lives revolves around a Scientology based community. This is how and where many were raised .Yet the Church believes it has the right to tear families apart and deny our constitutional rights!
The Church of Scientology’s civil right violations of the go even further. Their policy says: “a failure to disavow or disconnect or be at the hire of anti-Scientology groups or persons is also a suppressive act.”
Now they violate free association and free trade through their intolerance! The Church of Scientology justice procedure interferes with our free rights of association. A religion does not have a constitutional right to do whatever they want it violation of the constitution when these actions violate another’s constitutional rights. To do otherwise would create anarchy and a complete shift in power as the Church would now rule and judicial and legislative powers would be meaningless.
I withdrew from the church some 35 years ago and no longer consented to be bound by The Church of Scientology ecclesiastical law but that didn’t stop them from ripping my family apart
Extortion
These steps constitute extortion and interference with one’s civil rights and private family life. Worse the Church tells you in their policy what a person needs to do to get m=back in good standing so they can re-connect to their loved ones and firned.
First they demand that you make a public announcement admitting that you were actively attacking and suppressing the Church of Scientology, that your actions were ignorant and unfounded and explain your motivations. Then you must get it signed by witnesses and publish it broadly especially sharing it with those you supposedly influenced or associated with concerning these alleged. Next you are commanded to make amends by doing a special project that their International Justice Chief approves commensurate with the severity and extent of the acts you have been accused of and found guilty of doing and to continue making amends until this person believes you have been reformed.
In addition to this you am required to pay the church approximately $350,000 to redo and all training and counseling you had done before as they canceled any and all training and auditing certificates you had received while a member.
All the above MUST be done before you can even be considered to be acceptable to be able to communicate with your family member or any other Scientologist or they are threatened to be declared Suppressive with these same consequences if they don’t obey!
Additionally this process has places your family and close friends and business associates under suspicion of being in cahoots with the “enemy” and be subjected to trials and interrogations at their expense, to determine if they had any similar “crimes.” Once again these actions provide tens of thousands of dollars to the Church and subject them to derision and distress.
For me The Church of Scientology is trying to apply ecclesiastical policy on me long after I withdrew my consent to be held to canon law and using their powers to obtain financial gain!
This is clearly in violation of GUINN v. CHURCH OF CHRIST OF COLLINSVILLENO. 62154. 775 P.2d 766 (1989)
WHEN PARISHIONER WITHDREW HER MEMBERSHIP FROM THE CHURCH OF CHRIST AND THEREBY WITHDREW HER CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN A SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP IN WHICH SHE HAD IMPLICITLY AGREED TO SUBMIT TO ECCLESIASTICAL SUPERVISION, THOSE DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS THEREAFTER TAKEN BY THE ELDERS AGAINST PARISHIONER, WHICH ACTIVELY INVOLVED HER IN THE CHURCH’S WILL AND COMMAND, WERE OUTSIDE THE PURVIEW OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTION AND WERE THE PROPER SUBJECT OF STATE REGULATION.
This case makes very clear “As the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment applies where an individual has been deprived of the ability to freely choose whether or not he or she will submit or adhere to religious doctrinal discipline and/or commands, civil redress must be available in such instances if the constitutional guarantee is to be given meaning.
This case makes very clear ;
“As the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment applies where an individual has been deprived of the ability to freely choose whether or not he or she will submit or adhere to religious doctrinal discipline and/or commands, civil redress must be available in such instances if the constitutional guarantee is to be given meaning.
This present case revolves upon her constitutional freedom to pursue any religion, which includes her freedom not to pursue any particular religion, as well as her constitutionally protected fundamental right to privacy.”
The plaintiff had the right to terminate her membership within the church upon communication of that fact to an authorized representative of the church, at any time. The form of the communication is not limited to written or explicit resignation. A present, unequivocal and clear expression — either by oral or written word, or otherwise — that such individual rejects the doctrine and declines further intervention by the church is sufficient.
[T]he constitutionally protected freedom to impose even the most deeply felt, spiritually-inspired disciplinary measure is forfeited when the object of “benevolent” concern is one who has terminated voluntary submission to another’s supervision and command.”
No real freedom to choose religion would exist in this land if under the shield of the First Amendment religious institutions could impose their will on the unwilling and claim immunity from secular judicature for their tortious acts.”
The Church has violated my First Amendment right not to worship Scientology and harms me significantly as it has ripped my family and me apart because of extreme coercion and religious intolerance. This abuse continues today.
The vast reach of Scientology’s HCO PL Suppressive Acts is ominous and destructive to the rights, privileges and ability to freely express, associate or conduct commerce freely. The policy sets aside all rights and values on which this country was founded. This policy, if left in tact, goes beyond a mere shunning of members who are ostracized, it reaches into the very texture of society creating a class of second class citizens similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews when they targeted them as enemies of the state because of their religious beliefs. Scientology calls it a suppressive act to have any involvement in any group that is divergent from the Church of Scientology. This literally means that anyone who watched the HBO special Going Clear; Scientology, Hollywood and The Prison of Belief or read the book of the same name it was based on or was involved with HBO or Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright or any of the newspapers, television stations or anyone else involved in this project, could be declared suppressive and subject to loss of business and relationships because of their intolerance. This brings me to the next point.
In Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241 Conspiracy Against Rights this statute makes it unlawful for two or more persons to conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person of any state, territory or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of the United States, (or because of his/her having exercised the same).
The Church of Scientology’s draconian policies and Nazi like control of their parishioners extends itself into society to create tentacles, which strangle the very lifeblood of our civil and constitutional rights preventing.
In Reynolds v. United States (1878) the Supreme Court declared “It may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured. Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere [religious] opinion, but was left free to reach [only those religious] actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order.”
Certainly protecting the right of free speech and maintenance of the rights of personal and family privacy is a social duty and an essential part of the good order of our country. The sacrosanct nature of a family and its ability to have free and unencumbered speech to maintain relationships is essential to good order and promote the interests, rights and privileges of individuals. The ability to have free trade and commerce is also vital to the endurance of a free society. Yet the Church of Scientology asks all its members to first check the religious, philosophical and political beliefs of anyone they interact with or suffer the consequence of social, business and family destruction because someone they speak with has contrary thoughts or opinions concerning any aspect of the Church or its founder L. Ron Hubbard.
The very strength that makes our country great is our freedom of speech and being able to openly discuss and debate facts and opinions to be able to make informed decisions. Open discussion and questioning, is part of the process of free men making free choices and being educated. To do otherwise is endorse brainwashing. Allowing the Church of Scientology to subvert the good order and violate the social duties of being an informed citizen prevents citizens from discussing what many have discovered as lies and fraudulent representations that Hubbard has repeated told and proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, acts to support the their continual fraud to all members of the Church while damaging the rights of every non-Scientologist that may be in association with them,
Can you imagine if the Catholic Church used this same policy and sent millions of Suppressive Orders to anyone who criticized the Catholic Church? This could destroy the fabric of families in this country and around the world. This would be equal to allowing the Catholic priests who were sexually abusing children never to be brought to justice as those making the accusations would have been threatened with being denied their salvation as the Catholic Church tried to shield itself from these accusations for it was part of their Church doctrine to handle this themselves! If this practice of The Church of Scientology is left intact it sets a precedent for religious fanaticism to thrive and prosper as if an alien nation within our borders operating with immunity performing various levels of terrorist attacks on society.
Please consider U.S. v Kuch 288 F Sup. 439 (1968):
“Those who seek constitutional protections for their participation in an establishment of religion and freedom to practice its beliefs must not be permitted the special freedoms this special sanctuary may provide merely by adopting religious nomenclature and cynically using it as a shield to protect them when participating in anti social conduct that otherwise stands condemned.”
This should not be surprising considering how the Church had nine of its members found guilty of espionage and infiltration of many government agencies, which included the wife of Scientology’s Founder who it has been said was following her husband’s orders. And who can forget when the Church of Scientology’s legal and investigative arm, the Guardian Office, framed an author who wrote an unflattering book about The Church of Scientology by falsely accusing the author of sending bomb threats to the church. The author ,Paulette Cooper, was indicted in 1973 because of The Church of Scientology lies. Thankfully she was fully exonerated when the FBI raided Scientology offices and discovered this plot against her in 1977. This is their mentality, to set themselves above the law to violate anyone’s constitutional rights necessary to achieve their goals.
It’s important to understand that the Church of Scientology is run like a business and not a church. There is no worship or faith in God. These are important distinctions to make and encourage one to wonder why they were ever given protection as a religion. Instead they have salesman called registrars that sell their “levels” of self improvement to it’s members which will cost $350,000 or more per person to climb their imaginary ladder to freedom, a freedom they control. These are not voluntary contributions but mandatory or else you are not permitted to go to the levels where you are “set free”. Registrars are rated each week according to their sales made and are compensated accordingly. Registrars are under huge pressures to do more and more each week and if they do not reach their quotas they can be penalized and punished. Yet never in this sale’s process from when you start or for years to come, does their consumer, now calling themselves a Scientologist, get informed of their disconnection policy and the possibility of what can happen if they speak to the wrong person or even read or watch a video critical of the Church.
Why are there no safeguards in this process to provide transparency to what can be the largest financial transaction of a person’s life? Doesn’t the state have a mandate to protect its citizens to help ensure they are protected from fraud or misrepresentation? Why isn’t the person buying these levels openly agreeing to The Church of Scientology disconnection polies because they are made transparent and not hidden? In all financial transactions today, whether it be getting a mortgage, a car loan or even signing up for something online, there are mandatory terms and condition someone is asked to read and agree to. Why not in this instance? The state and federal government have mandated this in all major financial transactions to ensure clarity for purchasers to know what they are getting into BEFORE they sign on the doted line and commit themselves to a transaction. Why should it be any different for the Church of Scientology members who are often asked to give their life savings and borrow whatever money they can to pay the costs of going up the Church’s “levels.” Surely transparency is vital to protect our citizens from being taken advantage of.
Please consider this fully and imagine discovering you are ordered to divorce your spouse, abandon your children or be forced to leave your job many years later while going up these “levels” after you have placed all your money and hopes into the Church of Scientology. You have become so invested you are coerced to follow their orders as these outside pressure are intolerable.
Also consider California appellate court, 2nd district, 7th division, Wollersheim v. “Church” of Scientology of California, Civ. No. B023193 Cal. Super. (1986):
During trial, Wollersheim’s experts testified Scientology’s “auditing” and “disconnect” practices constituted “brainwashing” and “thought reform” akin to what the Chinese and North Koreans practiced on American prisoners of war.”
“A religious practice which takes place in the context of this level of coercion has less religious value than one the recipient engages in voluntarily. Even more significantly, it poses a greater threat to society to have coerced religious practices inflicted on its citizens.”
‘Church’ practices conducted in a coercive environment are not qualified to be voluntary religious practices entitled to first amendment religious freedom guarantees.”
In the Courts conclusion it stated “We hold that the state has a compelling interest in allowing its citizens to recover for serious emotional injuries they suffer through religious practices they are coerced into accepting. Such conduct is too outrageous to be protected under the constitution and too unworthy to be privileged under the law of torts.”
Please also consider California Supreme Court, United States v. Lee [455 U.S. 252,257,258 (1982)*/:
“When a person is subjected to coercive persuasion [as in Scientology] without his knowledge or consent …[he may] develop serious and sometimes irreversible physical and psychiatric disorders, up to and including schizophrenia, self-mutilation, and suicide.”
With this in mind the State and federal Government have a real and present danger to protect its citizens from this abuse. To do otherwise is to grant special protection to a group that knowingly and intentionally is hiding behind a wall of religious freedom as if it is a separate country that may attack us without consequence. What sense does it make to give protection to organizations within our country that are attempting to take away the very core of our values by allowing them exemption from these laws? Who wouldn’t attempt to use the veil of religious freedom to prevent exempting taxation protect their subversive intentions? Would we allow permit jihadists hiding in a Mosque to plan a violent attack on our society or to give protection to the next generation of Nazis who create an “Aryan Church” to plot and execute the next Holocaust? Surely the Catholic Church could not hide behind the screen of religion when it sexually abused so many of its members who are children even though some priests told them it was the will of God to do what they were doing. Should we allow honor killings fro Muslims because their Holy Book says Quran- 4:15 “If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, take the evidence of four (reliable) witness from amongst you against them; if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them. Or God ordain for them some (other) way.” The Bible itself prescribes the death penalty for cursing a parent or adultery, ,is this permissible as well?
In the case of Bear versus the Reformed Mennonite Church (1975) Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that there are areas of paramount state concern of which maintenance of marriage and family relationships are vital.
Please help me in any way you can so no American is held hostage to limit their freedom of speech and the ability to question openly without the fear of retribution or destruction of ones family or business. No-one should held hostage fearing if they exercise their constitutional right for free expression it could destroy their relationship with family, friends or business associates.
Write your politicians, place this information on your social media sites, stand up and say NO.. No Way.. Not Here, Not Now Not Ever Again!