However, journalistic accountability having been thrown to the wind, there followed a mixture of opinion and fiction. Objectivity died with the defamatory title and the front cover.
Scientology is a religion in the most profound sense of the word, as verified by courts around the world, including Australia, and religious scholars world wide. It is concerned with the full rehabilitation of man's spiritual self and his capabilities.
There is nothing mysterious about Scientology. It defines the laws of life through a series of axioms and maxims. From these follow techniques to solve the problems of life. It does not require belief - one applies the techniques and finds out what is true for oneself as a result of successful application. The proof that Scientology works is in the myriad of successes arising daily from its application.
Spiritual and mental betterment, the return of one's full individuality and intelligence and independence, are what Dianetics and Scientology are all about. The author implies that because I am a Scientologist I do not think or judge for myself. When all other arguments fail, it is convenient to suggest that a person is unable to think freely.
My work with the Citizens' Commission on Human Rights, which is sponsored by the Church of Scientology, has brought me in contact with people who have experienced the mind-numbing misery and helplessness of psychiatric involuntary commitment, complete with being pumped full of dangerous drugs against their expressed wishes. Once the psychiatrist concludes that someone is mentally ill, it does not matter what that person says or how intelligently they argue or how salient their points. Their opinions are nullified, and everything they say and so is twisted to fit the picture of their so-called mental illness. That is brainwashing and that is slavery.
The psychiatric profession, working hand-in-hand with massive drug companies, does not take kindly to anything which threatens their multi-billion dollar industry, or which exposes their litany of crimes against humanity done in the name of 'mental healing'.
The true story of Scientology is that what we do flies in the teeth of vested interest: we have one of the most successful drug detoxification and rehabilitation programs in the world; a criminal rehabilitation program without equal; a track record of exposing human rights abuses of the worst kind; a history of restoring and safeguarding basic freedoms.
Scientologists judge people by their ethics, not the colour of their skin or their religion or their preferences as to aspects of their life. To say that a non-believer is designated a suppressive person is simply ignorant. A suppressive person is someone who does his utmost to keep people in his environment down and who rails at anything which would improve the life of others or lift a society to higher levels. The author's description of the Purification Rundown was way off target. This rundown is just one of the many services delivered at a Church of Scientology. Its sole purpose is to rid the body of toxins lodged in the fatty tissues. Even years after taking drugs, a person can experience flashbacks when minute quantities of these drugs are released into the bloodstream, severely clouding someone's thinking and blocking spiritual and mental achievement.
The rundown consists of a regimen of sauna, light exercise - 15 to 25 minutes jogging to get the metabolism going - and vitamins to replace what is sweated out in the sauna. Every person, before starting, goes for a thorough medical check-up by any competent medical practitioner, is encouraged to eat a balanced diet composed of all the food groups. The rundown can take as little as 20 days or a few weeks, depending on factors such as age, fitness and extent of drug use. Except for the hours spent on the rundown, most people continue their usual daily occupations.
Ideally, the benefits of Scientology would be available free to anyone and all Scientologists wish they were. The financial support for the Church, its free community programs and social betterment activities, are funded by the donations Scientologists are asked to give for the services they wish to receive. Scientologists do not tithe and no donations are required for traditional church services such as weddings, funerals, baptisms.
In any Church of Scientology anywhere in the world the same services are delivered exactly the same. Scientology is tried and tested and works when applied exactly. This is why the Church endeavours to keep the technology of L. Ron Hubbard pure and to protect the trademarks and copyrights so that the work is used correctly. When the intellectual copyrights of an author are not protected, they can be changed, and they lose their value and workability.
The Church withstood the handful of vehement critics on the Internet for some time, taking no action. Only when the laws of the land were being violated and the Church writing were being abused, copied, changed and ridiculed on the Net was legal action taken, but only after communication was attempted in order to get the infringers to cease their illegal actions. The actions taken by the Church of Scientology to protect intellectual copyrights have been applauded broadly to many who have fallen victim to unscrupulous cyberspace criminals.
One thing is certain: there are people who act destructively and others who do a lot of good. We don't have time to stand around and moan about how wrong it all is - we need to get busy doing something effective to fix up what is wrong with this planet of ours.
For those wishing factual information on Scientology, I recommend they not bother to listen to other people's opinions or criticisms, but find out for themselves and make their own decisions.
Lara Meney
Church of Scientology, ACT