The Arts & Entertainment (A&E) cable TV networkInside ScientologyTranscript part one - 14 December 1998RealVideo files of the programFrom: Xenubat@primenet.com (Bat Child (Sue M.)) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Part 1, transcript, A & E show on Scientology Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 08:01:59 GMT Description of video is in [brackets]. VO=VOICEOVER s========================================= ANNOUNCER: On December 14, 1998, this is "Investigative Reports". BILL KURTIS: Hello, I'm Bill Kurtis. It is America's most controversial religion. Some, in fact, say it's not a religion at all. For 40 years, the Church of Scientology has flourished in this country, while under constant attack by the government, the media, and the psychiatric profession. It's been perceived as an organization interested only in money making, which brainwashes its members and then bankrupts them; all untrue, say its leaders and its many high-profile believers, including John Travolta, have drawn hundreds of thousands to its cause. In this edition of "Investigative Reports," a rare in-depth look into a group that says it is paying the price for its revolutionary ideas. [title--"INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY"] [aerial shots of various Scn churches] VO: Scientology is one of the fastest growing new religions in the 20th century. Its impressive edifices and glittering parishioners have put the 48-year old organization on the map of global emerging philosophies. [Scn IAS ad with John Travolta, Kelly Preston and their son Jett with caption saying "Lifetime Members] JOHN TRAVOLTA (on set of a movie in Army camouflage uniform; caption--"John Travolta, Scientologist actor"): You name me another philosophy, religion or technology where joy is the operative concept. JENNIFER ASPEN (at Celebrity Centre party; caption--"Jennifer Aspen, Scientologist"): In this community where you learn that you want to be part of all kinds of other communities and help the rest of the world. ISAAC HAYES (at Celebrity Centre party; caption--"Isaac Hayes, Scientologist musician"): It brings a lot of good will, it influences wonderful things out of people. It helps people. KIRSTIE ALLEY (outside AOLA on L. Ron Hubbard Way, caption--"Kirstie Alley, Scientologist") So I think that's pretty spectacular. I think everybody should see this. [Scienos marching; footage of Anne Archer, Travolta, unnamed singer, Jenna Elfman; outside Scn church; montage of Scn course rooms, auditing sessions, Bridge chart; man standing on the top of a hill] VO: Scientology provokes emotion. Hollywood celebrities are often seen raving about the religion they say has changed their life. Through a series of complicated self-help courses and a confessional process known as auditing, Scientologists strive to rid themselves of negative past life memories and reach a state of "clear." KELLY MORAN (caption--"Kelly Moran, Scientologist): It was just like someone had removed a gauze around my head, you know, and I could think and everything was really crisp and clear, and, and it was just really great. [Scientology sign lighted up; newspaper article titled, "Scientology bizarre plot to get official"; part of British newspaper article title "In Court as 'Evil Cult'"] VO: But despite the positive testimonials many assume that the church is an evil and dangerous cult. HAYES: I said, "But Scientology, I heard y'all were a cult, I heard you were a cult. I heard y'all take folks' money, y'all brainwash people. I mean, I said what was on my mind, you know. [Aerial shot of Scn church; picture of Lisa McPherson; Fort Harrison Hotel; legal papers in Lisa McPherson civil lawsuit; autopsy report; picture of candlelight vigil with picket sign with Lisa McPherson's picture and the caption "Lisa McPherson, 1959-1995"; autopsy photo of Lisa's hand with cockroach bites and bruises; picture of Lisa holding her Clear Certificate, morphed into the same picture when it was on the front page of the New York Times with the headline, "Death of a Scientologist Heightens Suspicions in a Florida Town"; Scienos taking pictures; footage of December 1997 Clearwater picket (including Xenu holding sign saying "www.xenu.net", other signs saying "Scientology Hates Free Speech" and "Hubbard Was a Fraud"; Scieno rally; newspaper article titled "Psychologists Rally Against Dianetics"; cover of Time magazine Scientology issue "Cult of Greed"; Scn ad for "Dianetics with exploding volcano] VO: Why the deeply rooted suspicion of Scientology? The church has often been linked to conflict, most recently when longtime Scientologist Lisa McPherson died after convalescing for 17 days in a Scientology-owned hotel. Her family believes her death was unnecessary and the fault of Scientologists who refused to take her for medical care. After a two-year investigation, Florida prosecutors have filed charges of abuse and neglect of McPherson, the first criminal accusations brought against the U.S. church in over 20 years. Scientology vehemently denies responsibility for the ugly death and faults a scandal-hungry media for savagely transforming a personal tragedy into exploitative headlines. The organization says negative impressions about the church are the result of a 40-year-old assault by world governments, psychiatry and the media; all part of an establishment threatened by a breakthrough faith. ARON MASON (caption--"Aron Mason, Scientologist"): It's just a classic case of, you know, you've got to have sensationalism, and I think it's why the public are fed up with the media today, is that they've finally seen, as we have, that it's just, it's never ending, and it's a self- fulfilling prophecy. You say it's that way and then you make it that way so you can run the story. [shot of someone getting a newspaper out of a newspaper rack; outside a government building] DAVID MISCAVIGE (caption--"David Miscavige, Ecclesiastical leader of the Church of Scientology"): We are talking about attacks from multibillion dollar media conglomerates, governments, world governments, real powers of the world. The fact that Scientology has continued to expand, and is in the position it's in today in the face of those attacks, well, that says there really must be something to this subject. [newspaper articles--"Church Claims U.S. Campaign of Harassment", "5 Scientologists Get Jail Terms In Plot on Files", "Scientology--Menace to Mental Health", (from the "National Enquirer") "Bizarre Brainwashing Cult Cons Top Stars Into Backing Its Drug Program" (with pictures of Charlene Tilton and Gregory Harrison), "Ex-Member Cites Abuse By Church", "Scientology: A Judge's verdict--'CORRUPT IMMORAL SINISTER'"; photo of L. Ron Hubbard giving a lecture demonstrating an auditing session; LRH auditing a tomato; promotional picture of LRH; pictures of LRH as a child and teenager; combat footage; LRH diaries] VO: Amidst the flurry of tales, it's difficult to decipher the truth. To really understand Scientology it's necessary to go back in time to the genesis of the religion and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was born in 1911 in Tilden, Nebraska. An adventuresome spirit, Hubbard made trips to Guam and China as a teenager, described romantically in his teenage diaries. [pictures of LRH in aviator uniform and in adventurer's uniform] DAN SHERMAN (caption--"Dan Sherman, official Hubbard biographer): You are talking about a young L. Ron Hubbard, you are talking about someone who shot sharks, who scaled erupting volcanoes, who explored the jungles of Asia. I mean, you're talking about Indiana Jones, but for real. [picture of a young LRH blowing a bugle; painting of a skull] JON ATACK (caption--"Jon Atack, former Scientologist"): He did some small thing and that just blew up in his own mind. He had a very dangerous imagination. Even when he was 19, he was starting to inhabit a fantasy world. [cover of "The Kingslayer" by LRH; picture of LRH by a typewriter; cover of "Unknown" magazine with "Slaves of Sleep" by LRH; cover of "Fear" by LRH; cover of "Fantastic" magazine with "Masters of Sleep" by LRH; Lyle Stuart in his office] VO: That fantasy would be put to use in the 1930s when Hubbard dropped out of college and began to write for a living. Unusually prolific, Hubbard moved to New York and became a popular writer of adventure and science fiction stories. But those who knew him recall that Hubbard had other ambitions. [shot of city street] LYLE STUART (caption--"Lyle Stuart, publisher"): I knew Ron Hubbard before he ever started Scientology. I was in a writing group with him in Greenwich Village and he kept saying, "You know, the only way to make any money, you can't do it with pulp writing, you got to, you start a religion." And nobody took him very seriously. [LRH in Navy uniform; cover of "Magick in Theory and Practice, the Master Therion" by Aleister Crowley (and "The Beast, 666"; picture of Aleister Crowley] VO: In 1945, after a four-year stint in the Navy, Hubbard became involved in ritual magic with a protege of British Satanist Aleister Crowley. [black-and-white footage of a fire burning] JON ATACK: They started performing ceremonies to find a woman who would be willing to be the mother of an incarnation of the Antichrist. Babylon. Sexual ceremonies were performed between Parsons and Cameron, with Hubbard watching, and telling them what to do, and observing things on the astral plane, and this was meant to, you know, she would become pregnant, and they would control this elemental destructive force. I can't emphasize this too much. Hubbard was trying to incarnate pure evil so that he could control it to his own ends. [Dan Sherman at his desk] VO: But the church insists that Hubbard's participation in the alleged rituals was part of a government mission. DAN SHERMAN: We know about L. Ron Hubbard. He was sent in by one of the American security forces, with a brief to shut the thing down, which effectively he did. [picture of LRH giving an auditing demonstration; picture of LRH standing next to a car shaking hands with another man; cover of "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine; original edition of "Dianetics"] VO: Government agent or not, Hubbard was destined to become the pop therapist of his era. In 1950, at the age of 39 he wrote an essay in "Astounding Science Fiction," detailing discoveries he made about the human mind in a "science" he called Dianetics. The essay became the foundation for "Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health. L. RON HUBBARD (from Scientology video): Dianetics through mind, and this book, that, that's the background of all of this, that's what started all the trouble. [aerial footage of suburbs in the 1950s; song "Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes,--" playing in the background; more footage of scenes from the '50s; magazine pictures from the '50s; picture of a sunset; Bridge chart with "Clear: in big letters] DAN SHERMAN (voice of and on camera): The world into which Dianetics was released in may of 1950 was overall a world of conformity. You had soldiers returning to the United States, and they were effectively told this: You get yourself a good job, you get yourself a tract home, and you live a conformed life. And if you are lucky, you will get yourself a swimming pool after, of course, you've dug your bomb shelter. You will have children, and they in turn will have grandchildren, and then you will die, and you will become nothing. All of a sudden here comes Dianetics. And Dianetics is saying, wait a minute, what if you can really rise above this state of a human being into something more special. Into what ultimately became a Clear [picture of LRH; footage of a bunch of airplanes and war footage; newspaper article with pictures of LRH and title, "Dianetics: A study of the mind--fastest growing 'movement' in America"] VO: Hubbard claimed to have uncovered the cure of virtually every ailment known to man and professed to have healed himself from partial blindness caused by an alleged war injury. Hubbard promised his book could work wonders on anyone who tried it. [pictures supposedly of PCs being audited] JON ATACK (voice of and on camera): He said that he could take anybody who was not brain damaged, and in less than 1,000 hours of therapy, which could be done by somebody completely untrained other than having read the book, you could take this person to a state called Clear. [picture of LRH holding copy of "Dianetics"; picture of LRH from magazine article; blue plastic model of a human head] VO: Hubbard claimed that all illnesses were psychosomatic and could be cured by eliminating painful past experiences from the brain. HUBBARD (from video): The brain is a sort of a switchboard. [video graphics of red circle with the words "reactive mind" inside it and blue circle with the words "analytical mind" inside it] ISAAC HAYES (voice of and on camera): Engrams is mental image pictures that consist of pain, where there is mental or physical pain. It's there. We have two minds. We have the analytical mind that doesn't make mistakes at all. We have the reactive mind. hat's the culprit. [apparently a page of a book or magazine with cartoon drawing of a human head with diagram of parts of the brain and the caption, "A critical appraisal of a best-selling book that originated in the realm of science-fiction and became the basis for a new cult--Dianetics"; Scn promotional video of auditing session; picture of LRH on the phone] VO: Hubbard said the troubling reactive mind could be forever discarded through auditing. During an auditing session, one confesses his innermost thoughts to another, all the while monitored by an electrometer, a tool similar to a lie detector. Auditing, said Hubbard, allowed one to relieve his mind from troubling past life traumas. Hubbard was eager to share Dianetics with prominent mental health experts. MIKE RINDER (caption--"Mike Rinder, Director, Church of Scientology International"): He said, "Yeah, you take it, use it, help people with it. They rejected it; they were afraid of it. [picture of New York Times bestseller list with "Dianetics" #4 on the list] VO: But the book was an instant best seller. [picture of printing press; newspaper article titled, "Hubbard's disciples vary but they've all read THE BOOK" with picture of LRH] L. RON HUBBARD (voice of and on video): We expected this to sell about 6,000 copies and, uh, when this textbook was published, and it hit the top of the best seller list of the New York Times and it just stayed there month in, month out. [picture of Sigmund Freud] VO: Hubbard's open contempt for the field of psychiatry and the popular theories of Sigmund Freud also caused a ripple. INTERVIEWER (on video): Is this a form of psychoanalysis? L. RON HUBBARD (on video): No, psychoanalysis, they lay back...Don't associate Scientology with such people. That's terrible, that's bad manners, you know. I mean, that business about sex and all that sort of thing. That's for the neurotic or the person who is insane or something like that. That has nothing to do with Scientology. [newspaper articles--"Dianetics: Noted doctors attack new treatment", "Doctors snipe at Dianetics as 'quack' mental therapy"] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): The psychiatric institutions and the prominent psychiatrists kept attacking Dianetics. It became clear that what they were engaged in had nothing to do with helping anybody. It had nothing to do with making someone more capable, of making someone happier. [footage of patient getting gag put in her mouth, doctor and nurse nearby] NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER: Electroshock therapy may be recommended for other disorders. MIKE RINDER (voice of): It only had to do with keeping them quiet, giving them drugs, performing electric shock treatments on them. [footage of nurse holding a teapot under a patient's nose; patient is in some odd get-up where only her head is sticking out with a rubber sheet stretched out; picture of LRH] NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER: Hydrotherapy is useful in calming disturbed patients. MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): Those sort of things are barbarities. And I think that Mr. Hubbard was one of the first people that stood up and said, wait a minute, this is wrong, something needs to be done about it. We're going to take responsibility for making sure that people are not being turned into vegetables at the hands of psychiatry. [picture of people doing auditing; picture of someone in a Scn bookstore; picture of LRH and another man standing in front storefront of the Hubbard Association of Scientologists; "Hollywood" sign; picture of someone writing at a desk; Food & Drug Administration building; newspaper article with headline "Controversial E-Meter Takes Aim On Impurities"; official carrying out boxes] VO: Glowing testimonies to Hubbard's "technology," led to the creation of the Hubbard Association of Scientologists. Based in Hollywood, the organization taught Hubbard's courses to those willing to pay the $25 an hour for the therapy. The Food and Drug Administration was suspicious. The FDA, which believed Hubbard was making medical claims for the e-meter, paid a visit to the D.C. Organization in 1963. MIKE RINDER: They hired a bunch of longshoreman, sent them into the church in Washington, and cleaned the place out. They took the books, they took the e-meters, they took the vitamins, they took everything out. [picture of LRH; magazine article titled, "Number One Fraud of the Year: Dianetics"; picture of the White House] VO: Hubbard, furious, was convinced that psychiatry professionals had tainted the U.S. Government against him. [magazine article titled, "100 atom bombs can knock out the U.S."; footage of J. Edgar Hoover; magazine article with title "Hoover's Files Haunt Congress"; footage of Martin Luther King, Jr.; picture of LRH BILL WALSH (caption--"Bill Walsh, tax attorney, Church of Scientology"): When L. Ron Hubbard started Scientology, and created Scientology in the '50s, he did it at the height of McCarthyism and he came across with new ideas and a whole new way of looking at things in a new perspective. And J. Edgar Hoover at the time wasn't exactly fond of new ideas. And the whole approach of the United States government was to be suspicious of new leaders who were coming at the time. Martin Luther King was a great target of the FBI, L. Ron Hubbard was a target of the FBI. |
[aerial shot of White House; picture of log for American Psychiatric Association; photo of psychiatrist and an empty couch; Scieno picketers with one sign saying "Don't let psychiatrists drug children" VO: While Hubbard distrusted the government, he viewed psychiatry, a profession that also treated the human mind, as the number one enemy of Scientology. [photo of CIA agent] DENNIS ERLICH (caption--"Dennis Erlich, former Scientologist") (voice of and on camera): It was part of the sort of lore that you learned when you went into the organization. Scientology has enemies, and some of them you will need to deal with very firmly. ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (caption--"Robert Vaughn Young, former Scientologist"): The enemy to Scientology is anybody that questions Scientology. Anybody that opposes it. Anybody that challenges it. Anybody, that in the Scientology language is "counter intentional." [neon "Scientology" sign; footage of J. Edgar Hoover; neon "Scientology" sign again] VO: It was Hubbard's belief in the existence of a global conspiracy against Scientology that would define him and his church. ISAAC HAYES: L. Ron said that you have to fight back against your oppressor. If you don't, he will gain strength and more strength and more strength, and wipe you out. [picture of LRH on ship; footage of ship] VO: When we return, L. Ron Hubbard feels the heat of the IRS and takes to the sea. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] [footage of hippies; picture of LRH with other Scienos] VO: The United States of the early '60s saw a new generation of Americans, suspicious of traditional authority. The atmosphere was ripe for L. Ron Hubbard, a sci-fi writer gone spiritual leader, to spread his promises of do-it-yourself healing to the people. L. RON HUBBARD (from video): We live in a world where, where, where, where we have governments and we have societies and so forth, who are desperately trying to help man. they are trying, however, to solve his problems for him. [picture of LRH; aerial shot of Scn church with Scn cross on top of the building; book "Scientology" with Scn cross on top; Scn members standing near giant photograph of LRH] VO: By 1960 Hubbard had taken Dianetics one step further, and founded the Church of Scientology. A cross appeared on Hubbard's buildings, his writings became "scriptures," and his students parishioners. [picture of book "The Dianetics & Scientology Technical Dictionary"; Scn church "service" with "minister" in clerical garb] DENNIS ERLICH (voice of and on camera): It was an alternative therapy. A non-recognized alternative mental therapy. But Hubbard actually made us start wearing minister's uniforms and put up the trappings of religion around so the IRS would get off his case. [picture of LRH; shot of clouds in the sky; HCOPL of March 6, 1969"Scientology is a Religion"] VO: But Hubbard contended that since his work dealt with man as spirit separate from his body he had entered the realm of religion. L. RON HUBBARD (from video): We have a 2,000 year history of man as a spirit, whereas we only have less than a century of considering simply mud. And, uh, therefore art my study is more traditional than most philosophies. [magazine article titled, "Attention the Minister of Health: This man is BOGUS" with picture of LRH; magazine article titled, "The red-headed maverick" with picture of LRH] VO: Hubbard and his upstart religion provoked contempt. [picture of map of the Soviet Union; footage of Richard Nixon] DENNIS ERLICH (voice of and on camera): Hubbard had been kicking over rocks and exposing things, and the government didn't like him, and the communists didn't like him and Nixon didn't like him and he had all these big enemies. [covers of "Freedom" magazine; one issue had cover story "South African Human Warehouses Exposed"; pictures of psychiatric patients sitting in a hallway; "Freedom" magazine article, "The living nightmare of the deep sleepers", headline "ZOMBIE DEATHS INQUIRY"] VO: The church outlined these enemies in its publication "Freedom" magazine. "Freedom" proudly published exposes on bizarre psychiatric practices, including what it called psychiatric work camps in South Africa, and a strange deep sleep therapy in England. [magazine article titled "CIA Lab Grows Deadly Bio-Weapons", close-up of the word "MKULTRA"] BILL WALSH: He talked about this secret program that was being conducted by the intelligence community using psychiatrists, called MKUltra that we finally found out about it, but it was using drugs, and hypnosis, in order to create in essence a "manchurian candidate." [footage of U.S. Government buildings; Internal Revenue Service Building; newspaper article titled "Cult to pay taxes"; footage of St. Hill Org; newspaper article titled "Behind the castle's walls"; inside and outside of luxurious estate; pictures of LRH; LRH memo titled "The War" VO: While Hubbard went after the government, the government went after him. In 1967, the IRS revoked the Church of Scientology's tax exemption, stating that Scientology was a commercial, not religious, organization. Hubbard lived in luxury, and was suspected of skimming huge sums of money from the church. He immediately became the subject of an IRS probe into his financial dealings. Outraged, Hubbard began penning a number of "policy letters" on how to deal with Scientology's enemies. [Fair Game HCOPL; close-up of HCOPL with word "LOUDLY", "BLACK PROPAGANDA" HCOPL; first page of Hubbard Communications Office Manual of Justice] GRAHAM BERRY (caption--"Graham Berry, anti-cult attorney) (voice of and on camera): The Fair Game policy refers to utterly destroying any critics. That a Scientologist can do whatever is required to destroy a critic. And the Fair Game policy is one of the policy letters in that series of documents, that also include how to conduct a noisy investigation, black propaganda. In the Manual of Justice he writes, "the purpose of the lawsuit is not to harass, but to destroy." [Ford Greene at his desk; poster for "God Bless America Festival" with picture of Sun Myung Moon; magazine article about Greene; HCOPL with close-up of words "Investigate public" VO: Attorney Ford Greene, a former follower of Sun Myung Moon, says Scientology's policies did not come as a surprise. [outside Scn church; picture of Sun Myung Moon] FORD GREENE (caption--"Ford Greene, anti-cult attorney") (voice of and on camera): All cults draw a dichotomy between those on the inside and those on the outside where those on the outside are lesser people and are treated by a whole different system of morality, that can justify misconduct from cheating, lying to killing. Scientology call it Fair Game, the Unification Church calls it heavenly deception. [Fair Game HCOPL; "Cancellation of Fair Game" HCOPL; newspaper article titled, "How sect fought 'enemies'"] MIKE RINDER: It became misinterpreted. What it said was that if someone has left the Church of Scientology, or if someone is directly attacking the Church of Scientology, that person no longer has recourse to the internal ethics and justice procedures within the church. It was canceled. But for PR reasons, because it had been being misinterpreted. [HCOPL with close-up of words "COUNTER-ESPIONAGE"] VO: But ex-members claim that the militaristic policies remained. [HCOPL of February 16, 1969, Issue 11, Reissued September 24, 1987--"ConfidentialBATTLE TACTICS"] ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of and on camera): You have to understand that, that the mentality of the organization is that it's a--first of all, it's built on a military model, it's not a religious model. He's got policy letters called "battle tactics", all right? And there are battle plans. [HCOPL of March 1, 1966--"THE GUARDIAN"; HCOPL titled "Enemy Action"; picture of LRH with Navy hat and ascot; picture of Mary Sue Hubbard; picture of LRH] VO: Hubbard's battle plan was executed by the Guardian's Office, set up in 1966 to deal with Scientology foes. Hubbard, who had officially resigned as formal head of the church in 1966, put his wife, Mary Sue, in charge. But ex-members say Hubbard was still in charge. JON ATACK: They were L. Ron Hubbard's intelligence agents. That was their purpose; and indeed an intelligence specialist in the U.S. has said that they were as effective as the CIA. [GO document--"URGENT--SECRET SNOW WHITE PRIORITIES"; poster for the Freedom of Information Act, "Help Make the Government Accountable for Its Actions"; FBI files] VO: In 1973, the Guardian's Office implemented a program known as Operation Snow White. The group began to use the Freedom of Information Act to access government files. And it proved federal agencies were circulating lies about the church. [part of newspaper headline, "Snow White"] ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of and on camera): He dreamed up conspiracy to explain all this problem, and he created a top secret program called Snow White to uncover and find the source of this conspiracy. [Mike Rinder sitting at his desk talking on the phone] VO: But Scientology did indeed uncover some bizarre documents in government files. [part of FBI document with close-up on words, "LSD as a sacrament", "through Church of Scientology. And our Hubbard may be"; picture of Timothy Leary; hits of LSD; footage of hippies] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): At one point there was a document that said, aha, we have discovered Timothy Leary has, knows a man called Alfred Hubbard, Alfred Hubbard obviously is L. Ron Hubbard, therefore perhaps L. Ron Hubbard is really Timothy Leary and that there is money from LSD being channeled into the Church of Scientology. I mean, this is how absurd these reports were. There was this constant barrage of assaults coming from these government agencies, so the Guardian's Office was set up in order to deal with those external facing matters of the church. [Newspaper headline, "Scientology: A judge's verdict: 'CORRUPT, IMMORAL, SINISTER'"; newspaper article titled, "Here are 99 Groups on IRS Probe List", with close-up of the words "Founding Church of Scientology" on the list; picture of Hubbard; picture of the "Apollo"] VO: The target of media scrutiny and under investigation by tax authorities, Scientology's founder evaded growing hostility against him by purchasing a yacht and taking to sea. [footage of the ocean; picture of LRH with Sea Org members; Sea Organization flag; pictures of Sea Org members] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): He went off to begin a project of further research. He took with him a few very dedicated members of the religion, which became the nucleus of what we now know today as the Sea Organization. The most dedicated members of the religion are members of the Sea Organization. They dedicate their entire lives to accomplishing the goals and objectives of Scientology. [picture of Sea Org billion year contract] DENNIS ERLICH (voice of and on camera): It's the people who sign a billion year contract, to come back lifetime after lifetime serving Hubbard. [picture of LRH on ship; poster of "The Bridge to Total Freedom" with painting of a bridging going up side of a mountain; picture of the "Excalibur" ship; newspaper article titled, "Scientology Flagship Shrouded in Mystery"] VO: On the ship, Hubbard enhanced his Bridge to Total Freedom, creating new levels above that of Clear. Hubbard acquired more ships to accommodate the Sea Organization. The secrecy surrounding Hubbard's mini flotilla did not help Scientology's reputation abroad. [newspaper article titled, "50 Scientologists told to leave Britain"; footage of apparently Greek shore; apparently LRH looking through binoculars] ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of and on camera): Not only did he have to leave the United States, he finally had to leave the United Kingdom, then he was kicked out of Greece. He couldn't even land his ship after a while. [Portuguese harbor] VO: The animosity culminated in Portugal, in 1975. [footage with signs saying "25 de ABRIL sempre" and other banners; picture of the "Apollo"] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): A whole bunch of people were in the streets and someone got them all hyped up and they filled up a bunch of taxis with rocks, and they went down to the Apollo and they started stoning the ship. It was a time of incredible upheaval and upset and people in the streets, and this rumor went around and it went like wildfire. Pretty soon you're seeing it on walls in the harbors: "Apollo equals CIA. Apollo equals CIA. Frankly we all thought it was pretty amusing, like, the last people in the world to be accused of the--of being the CIA, is the Church of Scientology. We had been in a pitched battle with the CIA since 1950. [footage of shore and harbor] VO: After the incident, Hubbard returned to land, determined to uncover the source of the hostility against Scientology. [HCOPL with close-up of words "attack--attack"; HCOPL "Targets"] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): What do you do when you are under assault, what do you do when you're being attacked by the biggest governments in the world? And this is not paranoia. How do you respond? How do you deal with it? Yes, there were, there were a number of directives that were written. Ultimately, when you're in a battle with the United States government, for example, if it's simply a war of attrition, there's no doubt who's gonna win a war of attrition. BILL KURTIS: And the war was just beginning. When "Investigative Reports" returns, the Church of Scientology does battle with the FBI, and an author who dares to attack their motives. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] [pictures of FBI raid on Scn churches; newspaper article titled, "Secret probe sparks raid on Scientology"] VO: On July 7, 1977, 134 FBI agents stormed into Scientology centers in Washington and Los Angeles. [Washington Post newspaper article titled, "Scientologists Kept Files on 'Enemies'" ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of): We hit the front page of every newspaper in the country at that time. [footage of Scn press conference; copy of "Alaska Mental Health Act"; newspaper article titled, "Woman Sees 'Political Siberia' In Alaska Mental Health Bill"; footage of White House] VO: At an official press conference the church claimed that its stance against the obscure Alaskan Mental Health Bill had made it a target of the White House. [footage of Richard Nixon] MAN WITH MUSTACHE (from the Scn press conference) (voice of and on camera): We put out a publication and Richard Nixon who was vice president at that time was in favor of this bill, and we attacked the bill, and said that it's, uh, it's totally oppressive. And within two days the Secret Service burst into our church and threatened us never to use Nixon's name again, and that they were sent here on express orders of Richard Nixon. So we're not a quiet group. [supposedly Nixon's Enemies List with "Founding Church of Scientology" on the list] BILL WALSH (voice of and on camera): It was revealed that the Church of Scientology was one of the top targets of the Nixon White House, and was on the infamous Nixon enemies list, White House list. [newspaper article titled, "Scientology office stormed by police, documents seized"; picture of Scienos picketing against the FBI and Justice Department; Guardian Office document, "SECRET: URGENTSNOW WHITE PRIORITIES"; picture of Scienos apparently involved in "Operation Snow White"; newspaper article titled, "2 Scientology aides guilty of burglary"; picture of outside of the Department of Justice] VO: But the raids revealed that Operation Snow White had gone too far. Members of the Guardian's Office, in an attempt to prove a conspiracy against the church, had been robbing government files and infiltrating federal agencies. ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (caption--"Robert Vaughn Young, fmr. Spokesperson, Church of Scientology"): They started burglarizing government files, burglarizing media files, burglarizing psychiatrists' files, and one of the intelligence boys walked off and told the story to the Department of Justice, which had begun to piece some things together. [newspaper articles--closeup of the word "sentenced", "Wife of Church of Scientology founder gets 5-year prison term"; close-up of the words, "to prison"; newspaper headline, "Scientology Founder's Wife Gets Prison Term"; picture of outside of courthouse; picture of Mary Sue Hubbard] VO: Several top Scientologists were arrested. Hubbard's wife Mary Sue was among those jailed for the crimes. [pictures of hippies] ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of and on camera): Suddenly this was no longer just a little thing on the side that some people were doing, like meditation and chanting. This was something that was taking on the federal government, taking on the media, taking on professionals, taking on judges. And that's when Hubbard became the focus. [picture of LRH auditing a tomato] VO: But Hubbard had vanished. [magazine article titled, "The hidden Hubbard with picture of LRH; aerial shot of mountains in California] ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of and on camera): After the raid of '77, Hubbard went into serious hiding. He was at one point hiding in a place between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, out there in the edge of the desert. [aerial shot of church building] VO: Back in Los Angeles, church officials were dealing with a public relations nightmare. |
[HCOPL of May 11, 1971--"Black PR; closeup of words "Whom to Suspect"] ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of and on camera): With the raid of '77 they got all of our files, they got our secret packs, they got the stuff that we studied. They began to get the directives regarding how this was all done. So suddenly, the magic act was gone. [HCOPL, "Black Propaganda", close-up on words "dead agent caper"] VO: Most damaging were files showing that the church waged war on its critics by "dead agenting" them. DENNIS ERLICH: And now dead agenting someone means making them not be credible any more by reason of showing the world the dirt, the real dirt on them. [picture of LRH on telephone] GRAHAM BERRY (voice of and on camera): He wrote at one point, "Investigate those who attack us. Make it as rough as possible. Spread lurid lies." [Scn memo, "RE: Paulette Cooper"] VO: One example of this policy captured the media's attention. [picture of Paulette Cooper] GRAHAM BERRY (voice of and on camera): The FBI discovered Scientology's documents explaining what they were doing to Paulette Cooper and how they were doing it. [picture of Paulette Cooper's book, "The Scandal of Scientology"] VO; In 1971 Cooper had written "The Scandal of Scientology." FORD GREENE: She was the first person whoever wrote a book critical of Scientology, and in furtherance of their opportunistic policy of retribution called Fair Game, set her up. [newspaper article with close-up of words "frame female", "Operation Freakout"] VO: "Operation Freakout" was used to intimidate Cooper. JON ATACK: An anonymous letter was sent to all the tenants in the apartment block she was in, I think it was something like 200 people, saying she was a child molester. [newspaper article titled "An Author vs. Scientology Church" with picture of Paulette Cooper, close up of excerpt from article "We're gonna give you the .44 treatment] GRAHAM BERRY (voice of and on camera): They also hired a private investigator to go to her door and put a gun to her head, unloaded, but pulled the trigger. [picture of Israeli flag flying; newspaper article titled, "Author of a Book on Scientology Tells of Her 8 Years of Torment" with picture of Paulette Cooper] RUSSELL MILLER (caption--"Russell Miller, author")(voice of and on camera): The final trick was somebody somehow got her fingerprints on a piece of paper and they then wrote a bomb threat on this piece of paper and sent it to an Israeli embassy. So the FBI went around there and arrested her. Paulette Cooper was driven very very, close to the brink of a total nervous breakdown by what happened to her. [newspaper article titled, "Scientology papers reveal plot to frame female writer"] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): Really, it was a pretty stupid thing to do, but they stepped outside the law. They were thrown out of the church. [picture of Paulette Cooper; picture of LRH on ship; aerial shot of Scn church] VO: Paulette Cooper refused to be interviewed for this program, citing fears of harassment by Scientology. The church claimed Hubbard knew nothing of Operation Freakout and promised it was restructuring the church. MIKE RINDER: There was a reorganization that took place in order to structure the church so that nothing like that could ever happen again. JON ATACK: What happened in 1982 was that the Church of Scientology expelled something like 600 members. And we were told, as you will probably remember, that we weren't allowed to talk to these people. [newspaper article titled "Scientology is slammed in court as 'evil cult'"; picture of protester holding sign saying, "Parents beware--Moon wants your children"; pictures of Jonestown; newspaper headline from the Los Angeles Times titled, "Jones Ordered Cultists to Drink Cyanide Potion"] VO: The bad press had damaged the church, which many began to describe as a cult. The '80s found the anti-cult movement flourishing. The shocking images of Jim Jones and hundreds of his followers dead from cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, still fresh in the American psyche. The sensational treatment of the incident alarmed Scientology. [pictures of Jim Jones; pictures of Jonestown; part of newspaper headline with words "to expose evil cult--high court gives green light"; picture of culties in yellow outfits; newspaper article titled, "known clergy's advice on Scientology: Steer clear of this cult--it is unacceptable" with closeup of the word "cult"] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): Jim Jones and his activity was really a fairly mainstream Christian church. They weren't some weird gang that was, you know, just been invented by a Johnny-come-lately. They were, they were Christian. Now, what happened to them? I don't know. But I know what happened in the world as a result of what happened in Jonestown, which was you had the new "in" word. The "c" word. Jonestown, cult. Cult, bad. Cult, Scientology. ALEXANDER COCKBURN (caption--"Alexander Cockburn, journalist): The word cult can be used, and you can imply there is a huge threat, you can imply that suddenly this organization has got its tentacles everywhere. [aerial shot of Ft. Harrison; shot of city seal on the City Hall building in Clearwater, Florida; newspaper article from the Clearwater Sun entitled, "Scientologists plot city takeover"; footage outside Ft. Harrison; newspaper article titled "Scientology critics parade to hearings"; pictures of ex-member Scott Mayer in Sea Org uniform] VO: Was the Church of Scientology a cult? Or a religion? In 1982, the city of Clearwater called official hearings on the matter. The church was accused of plotting to take over the city. Ex-members came forward to recount their horror stories about the church. At the hearings, former Sea Organization captain Scott Mayer spoke about life on the ship with Hubbard. [pictures of LRH on ship; picture of Sea Org member being lifted up by two other Sea Orgers and held over railing of ship] SCOTT MAYER (caption--"Scott Mayer, fmr. Sea Organization member")(voice of and on camera): We all heard him from time to time, screaming and yelling on the ship at somebody. He had an incredibly fierce temper. Anybody at any time could be put down in the bilges, or put up on the rails and tossed overboard. I mean, somebody would fish them out, but it was mostly the humiliation factor, of being, you know, like the old walking the plank. [stationery with letterhead "Operation and Transport Corporation Limited" from Panama] VO: Supposed illegal activities onboard the ships were also revealed. [apparently Hubbard and another person on board the Apollo] SCOTT MAYER (voice of and on camera): Telex transmissions were used to set up funds smuggling, and he had a couple million dollars in the strong box right on the Apollo. [apparently drive-by footage outside Scn building; Sea Org memo "The Rehabilitation Force"; Sea Org members walking down street; RPF'er bailing out water with a bucket; apparently RPF guard dressed in black] VO: The notion that Scientology was a dangerous cult was furthered by bizarre tales about the Rehabilitation Project Force, a discipline program where Sea Organization members performed hard labor. [picture inside a regular church with cross on the wall; footage inside and outside a church] ALEXANDER COCKBURN (voice of and on camera): You can make any religion sound really dumb. Supposing you said there is a cult in which the members of this cult, the Christian cult, they go around and they eat a biscuit, which they say is the body of their god, and they drink wine which they say is the blood of their god, and this is a ritual. You could make this sound absurd. What's happened with Scientology is that it's become like the representative demon cult. [outside a "Dianetics and Scientology information center" with sign saying "TROUBLE with relationships? Would you like to be truly happy? Find out how inside"] VO: But was Scientology a sect that endangered its own devotees, or an unjustly demonized emerging religion? BILL KURTIS: The policies of the church were now coming under increasing scrutiny, and the critics want some definitive answers from its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. But where was he? [COMMERCIAL BREAK] [outside Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles; magazine "Bay Guardian" with cover story "Scientology secrets revealed in 2 million dollar consumer fraud case"; outside AOLA building in Los Angeles; news footage from Julie Christofferson Titchbourne trial in Portland, with Scienos picketing] VO: The '80s saw a series of lawsuits brought against the Church of Scientology. Ex-members united, claiming they had been lied to and bilked out of millions of dollars. In 1985, an ex-Scientologist was awarded $39 million after she claimed the church had falsely promised to improve her eyesight. Thousands of Scientologists converged on Portland to protest the verdict. JOHN TRAVOLTA (from 1985): I just don't see why something that has such a good intention is being so--so persecuted, I mean, in my ten years, I've never had to come out to this degree. [more Scieno picketing] VO: Church members were fervent. ANUDA GORMAN: I'm gonna call my boss Monday morning and tell him that my religion is being attacked. JEANETTE PENWELL: Scientology works, and we want everybody on the planet to know that. [more Scieno picketing] VO: The verdict was eventually overturned. JOHN TRAVOLTA (on set of movie dressed in Army camouflage uniform): That was a big changing point in our group, and Portland was pivotal. [newspaper article titled, "Church of Scientology loses suit, is told to pay woman $2 million"; footage of Scn members walking inside church building, red and green volumes on shelf; what looks like magazine article sidebar close-up--text says, "75 million: Years ago when billions of "Thetans" were banished to the planet Earth by Galactic ruler Xenu. 300,000+: Cost in dollars to complete Scientology training. 4,560: Cost in dollars to purchase large bronze bust of L. Ron Hubbard."] VO: The case raised questions about the prices the church charges for its courses. [apparently clip from Scn video showing blue figure with red flashing signs saying "engram"] JON ATACK (voice of and on camera): There are people who've spent millions of dollars, who didn't have millions of dollars. There are people who left Scientology ten years ago who are still paying back the money they borrowed to do it. [sign outside Scn church saying "Free personality and IQ test--film showings--bookstore"; cover of LRH book "The Cycle of Communication"; Scn ad for books saying "Find out the truth"] ERIC SHERMAN (caption--"Eric Sherman, Scientologist")(voice of and on camera): There is a range of services which the church offers and provides which go from free to costing some money. Depending on how one is stationed and what one wishes to do. The books are charged for more or less normal rate that books are charged for. For the courses and, uh, auditing services, donations are requested. I don't have a problem with that. They need to survive, everybody needs to survive, plus you put a value on something... That's, that just never been an issue for me. ARON MASON: If people didn't want it, if it wasn't setting--if it wasn't helping them lead better lives, they wouldn't, they wouldn't pay for it. [three Scienos on-stage at Scn event; newspaper article titled, "Church of Scientology sues IRS, alleging 33 years of harassment"] VO: Scientology was proving persistent in its battles. In the '80s, the church continued its fight with the IRS. [promotional brochure or poster saying "Get your copies of this booklet" with picture of booklet, "How to Protect Your Rights As a Taxpayer"] ARON MASON (voice of and on camera): We co-founded the National Coalition of IRS Whistle Blowers, and this gave a forum to these former IRS agents and also people working in other areas of government who knew about IRS crimes or dirty tricks. [picture of LRH on board ship; footage of L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. on TV talk show; legal papers with close-up of words "Re the Estate of L.RON HUBBARD, A Missing Person,"; outside Scn church] VO: And throughout all of this, not a word from L. Ron Hubbard. In fact, in 1982, Hubbard's estranged son claimed his father was dead. INTERVIEWER (from TV talk show): When was the last time you saw him? [picture of LRH] L. RON HUBBARD, JR. (voice of and on TV talk show): September 1959. Everybody else hasn't seen him since March, 1980. SECOND INTERVIEWER (from a second TV show): There's got to be more to it than that. You're taking this to court. L. RON HUBBARD JR. (from second TV show): Well, I think we have enough evidence to show that he is probably dead. But, of course, we don't have his body. [footage from Scn press conference] VO: The church moved fast to defuse the rumor. [newspaper article titled, "Hubbard body fingerprints to be verified"] NEWS ANCHOR (voice of and on video footage): The Church of Scientology today produced what it called evidence to quell rumors that its founder L. Ron Hubbard is dead. [copy of handwritten document supposedly written by LRH with fingerprints] HEBER JENTZSCH (from Scn press conference video) (voice of and on camera): I have here my own personal copy with the two colored spots of ink, and with Mr. Hubbard's personal fingerprint over the ink, scientifically proving that Mr. Hubbard had to be signing this document and putting together after February 2, 1983. [apparently video of Jentzsch holding tape recorder--closeup of portrait of LRH] VO: Church officials also produced greetings from Hubbard. [close-up of cassette in tape recorder--cassette titled, LRH RJ 36--December 31, 1982--"Your New Year"] L. RON HUBBARD (on audio tape): With inexorable promptitude, 1983 is upon us. INTERVIEWER (off camera): Is that Ron Hubbard? HEBER JENTZSCH (on video): You bet your life. [aerial shot of what looks like Hemet area in California; picture of Scn video] VO: The church said Hubbard was not hiding nor dodging subpoenas, but writing and directing internal technical films. [picture of director's chair with "L. Ron Hubbard Director" on back; picture of LRH talking through bullhorn; match lighting] JON ATACK (voice of and on camera): There would be six messengers on duty when he was filming. One would hold his chair, one would hold a packet of cigarettes, and as soon as she saw that the cigarette he had was going out, would have to light another and give it to him. One held the ashtray, one held his pen, and so on. There were six of them round him. One of them was put on the humiliating Rehabilitation Project Force where she probably served for several months because she didn't get a chair there fast enough. [picture of LRH standing next to camera] VO: Conflicting reports began to emerge about how Hubbard was spending his final years. [picture of LRH at desk; picture of "Battlefield Earth" book; picture of "Mission Earth" series] DAN SHERMAN (voice of and on camera): He suddenly found himself with a little spare time on his hands. So, he turned to the world of fiction. What came out of that was "Battlefield Earth," and the 10-volume "Mission Earth" series. [picture of sunset over the ocean] SCOTT MAYER (caption--"Scott Mayer, former Scientologist")(voice of and on camera): The last time I saw him, he was shaking, virtually uncontrollable, he was kind of dithering around trying to explain something about the sunlight. [picture of LRH; Scn document with picture of LRH and the message "Hubbard in Heaven"; newspaper clipping with picture of LRH and headline "L. Ron Hubbard Dies"; newspaper article titled, "Hubbard--Dead or Alive?"] VO: On January 27, 1986, the news broke: L. Ron Hubbard was dead. The announcement provoked wild media speculation. [newspaper article titled, "Scientology founder's fate: Dead or alive?"] ERIC SHERMAN (caption--"Eric Sherman, Scientologist")(voice of and on camera): The people who were more or less having difficulty with Scientology were trying to prove that he was dead when he was alive. When he died, they were trying to prove he was alive. (laughs) So, you know, this is the media. [aerial shot of Big Blue building; picture of LRH; picture of an HCOPL; lighted sign outside AOLA church building] VO: Some cried that with Hubbard unable to cancel policies and make new proclamations, Scientology would be unable to change with the times. PRISCILLA COATES (caption--"Priscilla Coates, anti-cult activist): According to Scientology's definitions, scripture is what was written and spoken by L. Ron Hubbard. |
GRAHAM BERRY: It can't change. Scientology's policies and practices are written in stone. ISAAC HAYES: We will not allow it to become aberrated. We will not change it. If it ain't broke don't fix it. [inside auditorium at Scn event] VO: To Scientologists who believe in reincarnation, the news was hopeful. ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG: The last thing that was really wanted was for Hubbard to be, sort of dead. Like a mortal man. So something had to be dreamed up. And so what was dreamed up was that he had moved on to a new level of research. [footage from Scn video showing bronze Hubbard bust, various plaques; pictures of LRH in adventurer's uniform, aviator's uniform, and naval uniform; picture of LRH holding camera; space shot picture of the moon] VO: Despite the ridicule by outsiders, Scientologists were certain: Hubbard had merely discarded his body to move on to the next level of research. Hubbard had achieved his goal: To operate at a state outside the body. L. RON HUBBARD (from video): A being is a being, he is a spirit, and he actually can exist independent of his body. This is one of the more interesting discoveries in Scientology. [shot of outer space] VO: The charismatic leader of the Church of Scientology had passed on. Could Scientology outlive its founder? [COMMERCIAL BREAK] [picture of LRH; pictures of books "L. Ron Hubbard, Messiah or Madman?", "Bare-Faced Messiah] VO: Scientology lost its founder in 1986. And the news that Hubbard was no longer sparked a flurry of unofficial biographies. [Russell Miller walking down road; picture of LRH] RUSSELL MILLER (voice of and on camera): I knew that there was some question mark over L. Ron Hubbard's background. The church presents a picture of L. Ron Hubbard as being a very extraordinary individual, and was almost prepared, rather in the manner of Jesus Christ, to become this extraordinary guru. [clip from TV talk show "Central Weekend Live"] TALK SHOW HOST: We have with us Russell Miller, the author of "The Bare-Faced Messiah." [picture of military medals; picture of LRH; war newsreel footage; talk show audience member] MILLER (voice of and on camera, from talk show segment): Now, the church says that he was born into a distinguished naval family; it's a lie. The church says that he was an explorer; it's a lie. The church says that, um, he was a war hero; it's a lie. He was a bigamist, he was a child abductor, and in the later stages of his life, he descended into the classic symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. (audience members protesting ) TALK SHOW HOST: Isn't this totally to discredit the, the, the history, as published, of the life of Ron Hubbard, and therefore to discredit the church totally? WOMAN TALK SHOW GUEST, (apparently a Scientologist): I know for a fact that the people in his book-- and I've read it-- are all people who are not active Scientologists. How on earth could he give a balanced picture? [footage of two Scienos outside talking] VO: Practicing Scientologists were mystified by the attacks on their hero. [picture of Thomas Jefferson; picture of U.S. Constitution; picture of LRH] ERIC SHERMAN (voice of and on camera): Did Thomas Jefferson have affairs, or did he not have affairs? Does that change the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? The question is what is the work, what is the legacy? And I believe that what Hubbard said about life and living is helpful; we can improve the conditions of life. I don't care, much care whether he was a man, woman, black, white, Asian, Span--I really don't care. And I mean that, I actually don't care! [Russell Miller walking down road] VO: Miller claimed he was a victim of Fair Game for his tough portrayal of Hubbard. [newspaper article titled, "The cult and a private eye"] RUSSELL MILLER (voice of and on camera): I had a call from the police, saying that I'd been identified as a suspect in the murder of a private detective in south London, a man who'd been stabbed. I said, "I think I know what's going on." And I explained to them that I suspected the Church of Scientology, or an over-enthusiastic Scientologist had fingered me for this crime. [newspaper article titled, "Author of cult book victim of new plot" with picture of LRH; newspaper article titled, "Court Halts Distribution Of Hubbard Biography"] VO: The church sought injunctions to stop the book, which was never published in America. [magazine article titled, "A religious belief in lawsuits"; Sea Org member photographing license plate of car driving by] GRAHAM BERRY (voice of and on camera): A number of lawyers commented that life was too short to litigate against the Church of Scientology because of what the church puts lawyers through who go up against it. They have told me on several occasions, "We make life rough for people who sue us." [man holding large camera; footage of Scientology church buildings; "Time" magazine Scientology issue "Scientology: The Cult of Greed"] VO: The media ignored those warnings and began covering Scientology with a vengeance. In April 1991, Time magazine published "Cult of Greed," a scathing cover story on the Church of Scientology. WOMAN NEWS REPORTER (from news footage): The Time magazine article charged that the Church of Scientology wasn't a religion, but rather an organization obsessed with making money. ["Time" magazine article; footage of Big Blue building; legal papers in lawsuit by Scientology against "Time" magazine; newspaper article titled, "Church sues time for $416M"] VO: The relentless article called Hubbard "a lying flimflam man," accused the church of mind control, and contended that the church's parent organization was squirreling away over $400 million in offshore bank accounts. Scientology fought back by slapping Time with a $416 million libel suit. ["Time" Scientology issue magazine cover; Scn promotional material titled "The Story That TIME Couldn't Tell"] RICHARD BEHAR (caption--"Richard Behar, journalist) (voice of and on camera): After our cover story, the church launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign smearing me and smearing Time magazine. [Scn promotional material; assembly line with bottles of Prozac; apparently Scn ad saying "What U.S. Drug Company Produced Heroin and LSD?" with bottle of elixir heroin compound with the word "Lilly" printed on the label] VO: The church accused Time magazine of being at the hands of Eli Lilly, makers of Prozac and a Scientology foe. [ad saying "PROZAC: Eli Lilly's 'Miracle' Drug?"; pictures of Eli Lilly company] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): That article was the product of a campaign that was being waged to discredit the church for exposing the dangers of Prozac. And Eli Lilly and company purchased 750,000 copies of that magazine before it went to print. ["Freedom" magazine with cover story "Prozac Crash! Investors Abandon Killer Drug"; "Freedom" magazine article, "Psychiatrists: The Men Behind Hitler" with picture of Adolf Hitler] JON ATACK (voice of and on camera): They have depressed the share value of Eli Lilly, which probably concerns Eli Lilly. And I believe it's part of Hubbard's vendetta against psychiatry. [picture of Eli Lilly building; footage of Time-Life building] VO: Eli Lilly refused to comment on the Church of Scientology. After spending $10 million in legal fees, Time won the suit. [newspaper article titled, "Scientology vs. Time"; Supreme Court building] NADINE STROSSEN (caption"Nadine Strossen, President, A.C.L.U.")(voice of and on camera): Defamation lawsuits can really serve as a deterrent to people who engage in provocative or controversial or offensive expression. What the Supreme Court has called this kind of effect is a chilling effect. FORD GREENE: Is the job of the press to just look at somebody's mask and to say "Oh, well, of course that's what you are" or is the job of the press to dig behind and see really what the substance is, and to really see what's going on? [newspaper article titled, "Scientologists Infiltrated Forbes Magazine"; newspaper article titled, "Scientologists sue Times, 2 Reporters for $1 Million"] VO: Journalists who have covered Scientology have long held that they are harassed and investigated. [Scn DA brochure titled "The Boston Herald, Merchants of Sensationalism"; newspaper article titled "Church of Scientology probes Herald reporter"; footage inside Boston Herald office] JOSEPH MALLIA (caption"Joseph Mallia, journalist") (voice of and on camera): I believe that Scientology tries to make reporting about Scientology a traumatic experience in the hopes that it will prevent reporters or deter reporters from writing about them. [close-up of someone's hand typing on computer keyboard; footage of Richard Behar in his office] ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG (voice of and on camera): And, of course, you never go into an interview without doing a background check on the reporter. So you run that reporter through the voting records, through the bankruptcy records, through court records. You interview his friends, you see what else they've done. So you get a feel of this, whether or not this is an enemy reporter. [apparent church memo about how the church is being portrayed in the media with close-up on the word "cult"] ALEXANDER COCKBURN (voice of and on camera): Well, of course, Scientology for journalists has become like a target of opportunity. It's like you can portray it as this demonic organization, you can portray it as greedy, as relentless, as a dangerous foe, which of course gives the impression that you're very courageous to be going after it. [footage of Mona Boutros and German TV crew being followed by OSA] VO: German reporter Mona Boutros recently experienced Scientology's tough policy on unfriendly journalists. MAN (in vehicle with Boutros; from footage): ...Person's with you. He has been physically threatened by the Church of Scientology, and they are the ones following us. They're stalking us. [Scieno taking pictures; Scienos following somebody around on foot and by car; close-up of a hand tracing on a deposition about forced abortions in the Sea Org] MONA BOUTROS (caption--"Mona Boutros, television producer)(voice of and on camera): Our main objective in "The Dark Side of Scientology" was to inform the public about criminal activities of the church. Once we began shooting, the angle changed. Once the church found out about our project, once they observed us gathering information and filming, they didn't leave us alone after that. They followed us and they put pressure tactics and prevented us from working independently as journalists. MONA BOUTROS (from footage while filming "The Dark Side of Scientology"): The BMW is... Yes, three cars, and we would like to come to the closest police station. MAN (in vehicle with Boutros, from footage): You've got to say it's stalking 'cause that's the felony. [newspaper headline clippings--"Scientology", "Attacks", "Investigators", "and Critics"; Scn promotional material, "The true story of Scientology" with picture of LRH; close-up of someone's hand underlining a sentence in a document; Scieno taking pictures; footage of Mona Boutros holding folder] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): The only time that we have done anything to investigate a journalist who was doing an investigation into Scientology was when they wouldn't come to us. When they wouldn't ask us "What is it? What's the truth about this?" When they wouldn't accept any of the information that we gave them. When they were clearly operating on some other agenda. Now, when someone like that shows up and they feel like they have the right to be digging around and investigating and finding out all the dirt and stuff that they can dig up to put in a story about us, I see nothing wrong with going and investigating what is it that's motivating them. Who said that a journalist is immune from someone looking into their methods and activities? [newspaper article titled, "San Diego Paper Sued for $10,000"; newspaper article titled, "Church out to even the score"; Scieno taking pictures; cover of "Spy" magazine issue with article "Infiltrating Scientology: A Spy Investigation"; picture of Mark Ebner] VO: Despite the possible headaches of covering Scientology, an interest in getting the inside story persists, leading to undercover investigations by reporters who delight in provoking the church. [photograph from "Spy" magazine article" with caption "Hello?" and Ebner holding one of the e-meter cans to his ear and the other to his mouth] MARK EBNER (caption--Mark Ebner, journalist): I'm not gonna lie and say I had a completely open mind, I mean, I thought, you know, 'cause I noticed the scam working, you know, as soon as I walked in the door-- them making a play for my credit card. I'm an Introductory to Dianetics graduate. I got my hands around those cans of that e-meter, and, baby, my needle floated. It floated good. [pages from "National Lampoon" article "Elron Hubbard--Over 10,000,000 Purged--Diarrhetics"] VO: The church says the cynicism comes from a media in search of the sensational. [front page of "Weekly World News" magazine with headline "GEORGIA FLOWERS CAME FROM OUTER SPACE!"; footage from a newspaper office] MIKE RINDER: >> The media's interest in, uh, three-headed babies, in people that have been impregnated by outer space UFO aliens... 'Cause I think it's very easy for the media-- particularly people that are doing a short program or writing a short story that's something they got to bang out in a couple of hours--to take and try and reduce things to sound bites. ARON MASON (caption--"Aron Mason, editor, "Freedom" magazine): And because Scientology doesn't reduce to a sound bite, it just doesn't lend itself to media coverage. It doesn't lend itself to some kind of accurate treatment. We're not just a "blank." [copies of "Freedom" magazine mounted on Scn office wall] VO: Scientology often expresses frustration with the press, and has taken to conducting its own investigations, publishing them in Scientology magazines. [page from "Freedom" magazine with caption "We believe human rights are worth fighting for" superimposed over picture of the U.S. Constitution] ARON MASON (voice of and on camera): From our perspective, the more you know, the less likely you are to be victimized, the less likely you are to become a target. To actually be safe. [Scn ad with caption "'The [IRS] organization will get you.'" with picture of IRS agent; another ad with picture of John Wayne and caption "What he didn't know about the IRS could affect you, too." VO: In 1991, the church utilized national newspapers to air their gripes with the IRS. [footage of someone getting copy of "USA Today" from newspaper rack; Scn ad with caption "'I'll take your income for the rest of your life--'" and picture of evil agent standing in front of woman; another ad with caption "Q: How do you spell IRS in Russian? A: KGB" and picture of USSR flag] MIKE RINDER (voice of and on camera): We figured, you know... (laughs) we're not gonna get the IRS any more upset with us than they already are, so we published a series of ads in USA Today, and they documented the fact that the IRS was, in fact, abusing all sorts of people. ALEXANDER COCKBURN: You know, when Scientology, like, goes after an institution, they don't just pick on little guys (laughs), as people might-- I mean, they pick on the IRS. 'Cause they obviously wanted tax exempt status, they felt they deserved it. [picture of someone getting copy of "Washington Post" from newspaper rack; outside of Washington Post building; Scn ad with caption, "What magazine gets it wrong in 1991?" and picture of Time magazine cover; outside Los Angeles Times building; "St. Petersburg Times" newspaper article titled, "Scientologists bar reporter"; Sea Org security guard taking pictures] VO: Scientology continues to utilize media channels to make its opinions known, but the organization is still notorious for pestering critics. [Sea Org security guard walking up to camera person] RUSSELL MILLER (voice of and on camera): When this program goes out, I can assure you, assure the producer of this program, and the network, that they will get exactly the same happening to them that has happened to me. Absolutely; it's a promise. I guarantee it. BILL KURTIS: The Church of Scientology recently launched a multi-million-dollar public relations blitz. Church leadership says it's aimed at increasing membership, and promoting its unique programs. Critics say it's merely an attempt to counter the growing negative publicity surrounding the church. In our next hour, we hear from current and former Scientologists as they speak out passionately about the church and its members. Also, a rare interview with a man who is now the group's spiritual leader, as he prepares his flock for the 21st century. I'm Bill Kurtis. Stay tuned. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] ====================================== (CONTINUED IN PART 2) Sue, SP4(:), listed on the Scieno Sitter list 5 times! -- http://www.primenet.com/~xenubat "It will take a *long* time to find another enemy with the combination of evil and incompetence you see in Scientology."--Keith Henson Background courtesy of Windy's Web Design |