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[Scientology on the] WWW

From: "Bat Child (Sue M.)" <Xenubat@primenet.com>

Found at:
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/09/11/timwekgam02006.html?999

The Times, 11 September 1999, Weekend Games

WWW ...

IF THE recent advertisements and mailshot campaign have tempted you to join the Church of Scientology, you may wish to find out more about the organisation. Much has been published by and about it, but the Internet offers far more information. You will quickly discover that Lafayette Ron Hubbard has a lot to answer for.

A so-so sci-fi writer of the 1940s, Hubbard established the Church of Scientology in the early 1950s. This came a few years after he reportedly remarked to a colleague, at a sci-fi convention in 1948, that the best way to make money would be to start a religion. Ask anyone what they know about Scientology and probably the most they can come up with is a roll-call of its famous followers - Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, John Travolta, Lisa-Marie Presley, Shirley MacLaine et al.

The church thrives and by the mid-1990s it was claiming more than eight million members worldwide - 100,000 of them here in Britain. This despite judges on both sides of the Atlantic slamming it. In London a High Court judge called it "corrupt, immoral, obnoxious sinister and dangerous", and described Hubbard as a "charlatan".

If you think Scientology has a wholly American history, however, think again. Hubbard made the opulent Saint Hill Manor at East Grinstead, West Sussex, his British headquarters and, for seven years from 1959, his home.

For WWW starters, head to the Scientologists' official website for its Washington branch (www.foundingchurchdc.org). Here you are greeted with an essay entitled "My Philosophy" by L. R. Hubbard himself. It begins: "Know thyself and the truth shall set you free ... Suppression and oppression are the basic causes of depression. If you relieve those a person can lift his head, become well, become happy with life. And though it may be unpopular with the slave master, it is very popular with the people." Hubbard died in 1986 but the legacy living on is a multimillion-pound lifeform. New members undergo extensive personality tests - enduring the 200-question Capacity Analysis Test (© L. Ron Hubbard) before they are offered/sold self-improvement courses.

The Church of Scientologists has been criticised for, among many other things, its methods of recruitment. And despite its efforts to quash such things, the Internet is alive and well with Scientologist non-believers. These often conduct campaigns against the party faithful.

Head here first (www.primenet.com/~cultxpt/cos.htm) to taste an avalanche of doubt. You can see the cover of the original tomb upon which the church was practically born - complete with wacky werewolf character. There is also a delightful photograph of Hubbard "auditing a tomato". The 14-page site takes a general look, allowing you to "see another side of the Church of Scientology".

Another treat is Scientology Critics ( www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/mpoulter/scum.html) which answers the question, "Why are there so many anti-Scientology web pages?"

[includes picture from Jeff J.'s site of book cover with the werewolf character]

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