FAQ
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Who are Anonymous?
Anonymous is a loose group of people who oppose The Cult of Scientology and protest its effects on society. Anonymous isn't comprised of any specific group of people: it is made up of all sorts of people who wish to remain anonymous (due to Scientology's Fair Game policy, their aggressive litigation policy and scare tactics,) to fight against the cult. Anonymous come from all walks of life, they may be a person who turns up and pickets outside a Scientology centre, a student who hands out fliers to his classmates, or a housewife who simply sends out emails to her friends.
Why do you hate Scientology?
Firstly, Anonymous support the right to free speech, and to believe in whatever you so wish. We are not against Scientologists themselves, nor their belief system, no matter how crazy it may seem to the outside world. We support these people in whatever they wish to believe, particularly if they find it helps them.
We believe that Scientologists should be free to practice their religion outwith the "Church" of Scientology. The Church itself does not agree, and has taken unacceptable actions to prevent Scientologists from doing so.
Anonymous is against the following specific policies of the "Church" of Scientology:
Disconnection. This policy insists that Church members stop all contact with their family and friends: their husbands, wives, and even their children. Countless families have been destroyed in this way.
Fair Game. This policy says that members of the public who speak out against Scientology may be "tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed." There is mountains of evidence to show that the Church has followed through on this policy, using a combination of shocking and often criminal techniques to attack the brave few who have spoken out against it. Blackmail, slander, smear tactics, criminal framing, aggressive suing and causing bankruptcy to name but a few. Countless many lives have been destroyed in this way.
Ironically, Scientology claims that they support free speech: in reality, the only freedom of speech they support is their own.
[Wikipedia: Fair Game (Scientology)]
Solitary Confinement. The Church calls this policy of mental abuse the 'Introspection Rundown' -- in common with many of L. Ron Hubbard's writings, unfamiliar language is used here to disguise familiar concepts. This policy is deadly serious: Scientologist Lisa McPherson died following weeks of neglect in the 'care' of her Church's Introspection Rundown.
[Wikipedia: Introspection Rundown] [The Lisa McPherson Trust]
Is Scientology a Religion or a Cult?
Every cult can be defined as a group having all of the following five characteristics:
1. It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate and retain its members. 2. It forms an elitist totalitarian society. 3. Its founder/leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic, not accountable and has charisma. 4. It believes 'the end justifies the means' in order to solicit funds and recruit people. 5. Its wealth does not benefit its members or society.
This definition is taken from the CIC homepage and the CoS fits each of these 5 characteristics of a cult. Many critics and former members of CoS also describe CoS as a 'bait-and-switch racket' or the 'mafia of religion'.
Attacking Scientology is Religious Bigotry!
A common argument made by the Church of Scientology and occasionally the general public is that we are attacking a religious group, that we are simply bigots and that if we attacked Judaism or Christianity people wouldn't accept it.
First, it is important to understand that we are not against anyones religious or moral beliefs. We believe it is up to every individual person to believe what he or she thinks about the world, religion or otherwise, and we support anyones right to believe that a carpenter died 2000 years ago for our sins, or that an evil overlord Xenu sent alien souls to Earth, or whatever. Many religions seem silly to outsiders and hard to accept, we're fine with that and have no problems.
The difference with Scientology however, is that it isn't a religion, it's a cult. It is based on a set of principles and beliefs like any other religion, but it extorts money out of people for those beliefs. Imagine if in Christianity they asked you to pay several thousand dollars for a bible and several thousand more for an ethics course each time you questioned something inside it. Imagine if you were forced to cut off ties with your family and friends because they weren't Christian.
Now, some people also make the argument that you have to pay for a Bible, that Churches need to make up their running costs and hence they ask for donations. Again, this is perfectly acceptable. But Scientology has fixed donations for each of its OT (Operating Thetan) levels which members must pay to progress higher up the pyramid. If they reject, they are in danger of being labeled an SP (Suppressive Person) and being cheated, hurt, slandered, sued and even murdered.
So, in summary:
- We do not object to the beliefs of Scientology, no matter how silly they may sound.
- We DO object to the cult, their abuse and fraud, and criminal practices.
- We believe Scientology is a cult
Why do you wear masks?
Anonymous are against the Cult's suppression of information and free speech, and as such is may seem hypocritical that we wear masks and hide our identity. The reason that we do this however, is due to Scientology's Fair Game policy, which states:
"The homes, property, places and abodes of persons who have been active in attempting to: suppress Scientology or Scientologists are all beyond any protection of Scientology Ethics, unless absolved by later Ethics or an amnesty ... this Policy Letter extends to suppressive non-Scientology wives and husbands and parents, or other family members or hostile groups or even close friends."
"SP's* May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."
- SP stands for Suppressive Person (you may have heard of this from the Tom Cruise videos), which means any person or organization who speaks out against, or interferes with the profit of Scientology.
In the past Scientology have attempted to silence SPs by bankrupting them, suing them, picketing their homes and spreading slander, and even murder. Paulette Cooper and Operation Freakout are an interesting yet horrifying case study of an attempted murder and character assassination by the Church which backfired, after which several Scientologists, including the founders wife, were arrested.
The 10th of May protest addresses this issue of Fair Game.
Where can I find neutral and unbiased information?
The free encyclopedia Wikipedia offers a neutral point of view:
* The Church of Scientology * Scientology versus the Internet * Project Chanology
Can I Edit This Site?
EdinburghLulz.com is based on MediaWiki (the same system that WikiPedia uses) and as such anyone can edit any page of the site, and upload their own images and files. The only requirement is that you must register a username, password and email (don't worry, this, nor your IP address will be displayed anywhere).
