The Pageless Book

Photo Above by Jarnocan. Photo Below by Ralph Hockens. Last Photo by Tracy Olson.

Yesterday I wrote about the questionable policies of the Church of Scientology, in my attempt to show why I applaud Anonymous in opposing the Church of Scientology. Today, I am interesting in talking about some of the more specific acts of this organization - in particular, illegal acts. However, I find myself at a loss. When I went to research for this article, I found that I could barely scratch the surface in the 500 - 700 words I normally write. As such, I’ve decided to only detail a few of the more grievous offenses this so-called Church.

Operation Snow White is the code-name of the Scientology project to infiltrate government agencies (both U.S. and Foreign) and destroy undesirable documents related to the Church of Scientology and its founder, Ron L. Hubbard. The FBI uncovered the operation as apart of a raid on Scientology property in 1977. The documents included plans to not only steal and destroy documents, but to plant false documents, and wiretaps on the IRS. This led to the conviction of eleven of the top ranking members of the Church, including Ronnie’s wife, Mary Sue Hubbard. You can read more about Operation Snow White here.

During the same raid, the FBI uncovered another project, Operation Freak Out, which targeted the journalist and author Paulette Cooper. In the early 1970’s she had written a book on the church which was considered libel by the church. The purpose of Operation Freak Out was to incriminate Paulette Cooper in anyway possible to destroy her credibility. This first began with escalating sexual harassment including subscribing her to pornographic magazines, obscene phone calls, and letters to her neighbors with various unsavory claims about her sex life. Then they forged bomb threats on stationary they had stole from her home and mailed it to the New York Church of Scientology in such a way to make it seem like she sent them. The final phase of Operation Freak Out conspired to frame Paulette Cooper with the Federal crime of making threats on the life of the President of the United States. You can read more about Operation Freak Out here.

Thankfully, the Church of Scientology was raided before they could put this plan into action. However, what I want to point out about this is the timing; these acts of harassment all occurred after the Fair Game policy was supposedly discontinued. All evidence suggests that the Fair Game policy is still in effect. What evidence? The evidence found on Xenu.net - claims of harassment, assault, false imprisonment, extortion, and invasion of privacy backed up by court documents. These are only the people who have come forward.

Now, to be fair, these are individuals who are outside the Church. We should judge the Church of Scientology by the good it does for its members, employees, and their children. You should keep this in mind, while reading the following stories:

Adeline Dodd-Bova describes her time as a teacher in Scientology schools and writes of troubling cases of insufficient sleep and children having little or no food. Even more disturbing is her description of children whose sexual and physical abuse were not reported to Social Services.

Mary Tabayoyon’s sworn affidavit describes several instances of women coerced into having abortions under threat of severe punishment. Note that Scientology considers abortion to be a serious sin, so these women were also being coerced into committing a grave violation of their religious beliefs.

Stacy Young’s sworn declaration states that RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force) “slave labor” is used to build luxury facilities for Scientology celebrities and are paid $5 a week for 70-hour weeks.

Lisa McPherson died in the custody of Scientology in Clearwater, FL. She was treated by a Scientology doctor who was not licensed to practice in Florida. In addition, it appears that Scientology had put Lisa on the Introspection Rundown. Her family is suing Scientology for wrongful death.

The Church charge its members hundreds of thousands of dollars to be treated in this manner. Worse yet, because they have declared themselves a religion, they are not required to pay taxes. The organization known as the Church of Scientology is, in my opinion, the most corrupt cooperate enterprises in the English speaking world today. This is why Scientology deserves to be protested against. A cry for justice must not be misconstrued for religious intolerance.

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written by John \\ tags: Crime, Death, Morality, Religion, Scientology

Photo Above by Bryan Gosline. Photo Below by Vincent Diamante. Last Photo by Todd “Hryckowian”.

Little more than two months ago, I first wrote about the actions of an internet group going by “Anonymous” and their war against the cult of Scientology. At that time my main question was whether or not the actions of Anonymous are religious persecution, or whether they had a valid reason to protest against Scientology. It was my opinion that Anonymous had excellent reasons why we should protest against Scientology. I was one of the first, if not the first, blogger to write about Anonymous and the brewing confrontation. For standing up and voicing my opinion, I was rewarded with a huge influx of traffic and comments to my site.

I would be lying if I said that it didn’t scare me a little. I didn’t want my site to become a strictly Anti-Scientology website. I was afraid that the popularity of that particular article threatened to limit the scope of what people expected of me as a religion and spirituality writer. So, I avoided that topic for the next two months.

Yet, now as I look back upon that article, I realized that there was an awful lot I didn’t explain. Most importantly, I hadn’t properly explained exactly what it is that the Church of Scientology has done to incur the wrath of so many people of the internet community. Sure, there is a long history overly aggressive tactics against copyright infringements and criticism, but the same can be said of the more aggressive international conglomerates.

What has the Church of Scientology done that is so reprehensible? Well let us start from the top. Scientology represents itself as a program of self improvement which relies on techniques that have not been tested in any controlled scientific manner. While the same can be said about holistic practices and new age self improvement, everyone in the holistic or new age community would be quick to say that holistic medicine should be used in conjunction with traditional medicine.

Neither The American Medical Association or American Psychological Association have endorsed Scientology and both actively discouraged treating Scientology as legitimate medicine. Because these organizations failed to acquiesce to Ron L. Hubbard’s ambitions, he declared both psychology and psychiatry to be poisonous unfounded sciences. This would be just another ironic twist if Scientology did not then strongly discourage the use of psychiatric medicine, even for those who desperately need it.

But how is that different than Christian Science, who abstain from medical treatment? It isn’t; of everything that the Church of Scientology does, this is the least of their offenses. There is also the matter of Scientology’s disconnect policy, which has ruined hundreds of families, ended marriages, and separated parents from their children. If the Church deems a particular person to be “suppressive,” that is in opposition to an individual member’s personal development within the Church, they mandate that member to sever all ties with the suppressive person. This, of course, only serves to further isolate their members from the rest of society.

Again, similar policies have been enacted by other young religions, which forces us to ask whether or not Scientology is any worse than these. It is the Church’s “Fair Game” policy that sets Scientology apart from these legitimate religions. The Fair Game policy reads that suppressive persons -

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. (HCOPL 18 October 67 Issue IV, Penalties for Lower Conditions)

The next year after the Fair Game policy was put in place, the Fair Game policy was allegedly canceled. However, pay attention to how the cancellation of this policy was worded.

The practice of declaring people FAIR GAME will cease. FAIR GAME may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations. This P/L does not cancel any policy on the treatment or handling of an SP. (HCOPL 21 Oct 68, Cancellation of Fair Game)

This had left many people wondering if the Church of Scientology had merely canceled the term “Fair Game” and left the actual policy in tact. There is a great deal of evidence that suggests the Church is still operating under the assumption that any non-Scientologist may be deprived of property, injured, tricked, sued, lied to, or destroyed. Tomorrow, I’ll discuss the specific crimes that the Church of Scientology has allegedly committed.

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written by John \\ tags: Anonymous, Cult, Morality, Religion, Scientology

Welcome to the return of the Friday Vibes column on The Pageless Book. I’m not going to promise that we’ll have this column on a weekly basis, but I am going to try valiantly to see if it can be done. There are two pieces of news that I’d like to touch base on this Friday - some religion and some pop culture. It’s a nice mix, as always…

First, I want to talk about Moses and his alleged drug problem. Benny Shanon, an Israeli scholar, recently put forth the theory that the experiences of Moses on Mount Sinai were caused by the hallucinogenic drug, ayahuasca. SoMA Review has an article about this issue, proposing that Shanon’s proposal might be a little too speculative to be given any serious consideration. However, I would contend that Professor Shanon may be on to something.

All religions have their genesis in shamanism - the most primitive form of religion. Every shamanic culture has used extreme methods of altering consciousness, including the use of hallucinogenic drugs. It isn’t too much of a stretch to believe that Moses may have been what we would consider a shaman for the tribes of Israel. In which case the question becomes of which means of altering consciousness did Moses use? Ayahusca is as likely a suspect as fasting, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, and oxygen deprivation.

We have this idea that spiritual experiences that are purposely sought after are some how less important or real that those experiences that occur naturally. I can’t disagree more. The means in which Moses experienced God is little more than a historical note. So long as you find the message meaningful to your own life, how a religion came upon its message is unimportant. What is important is to remain open minded and honest with ourselves so that meaning does not become dogma.

In other news, the father of roleplaying games passed away this week at the age of 69. Gary Gygax, along with Dave Arneson, developed Dungeons & Dragons. This game inspired legions of awkward teenage boys to gather weekly around the gaming table… myself included. Even now, Dungeons & Dragons remains my favorite hobby. I strongly suggest heading over to The Wild Hunt to read Jason Pitzl-Waters’ tribute.

As for myself, I don’t have much to say, except that I am grateful for Gary Gygax’s contribution to gaming. If it was not for Dungeons & Dragons, I would not be half the writer I am today. So in honor of the original Dungeon Master, I present the following video:

Above Photo by Chris Brown.

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written by John \\ tags: Death, Hobbies, Pop Culture, Religion, Shamanism

I recently found this video clip of a guy explaining why he supports Barrak Obama over Hillary Clinton. The cameraman’s intention was to show that Obama supporters chose Obama for emotional reasons rather than logical reasons. The guy he was interviewing, Derrick Ashong, soundly disproved the cameraman’s theory in about five minutes. This made me curious so I dug further and found this video:

In case you don’t have time to watch it, apparently the original video went viral and Derrick had been getting a torrent of e-mails about the views he had expressed and wanted to explain what happened that day and his personal motives. Derrick, a.k.a. DNA, is a naturalized immigrant from West Africa, where people have few rights and almost no say over who governs. As he explains it, voting in this country for a candidate who actually stands for something is so empowering in his view that no one should let their chance slip away. If I was not voting Obama before I saw this video, I certainly would be voting for Obi afterwards.

This video sank its hooks into me, and wouldn’t let go - I had to know more about this Derrick Ashong guy! So I dug even deeper. Turns out that he’s a member of a seven-man band named Soulfege out of Boston. Turns out that the three individuals who founded the band met in Harvard. They’re listed as Hip-Hop/Reggae, which really isn’t my style, but I won’t hold that against them for a second. The band’s stated purpose is to change how the media views African Americans, and how Africans on both sides of the Atlantic view each other. They have just relocated to Los Angeles and are, in my opinion, well on their way to stardom.

Derrick and his band are heading up an initiative to “take back the mic” from the media and put it back into the hands of the youth of America. In fact he’s challenged those who’ve come across these videos to engage the band members and himself in discussion through the following video:

If I had the power, I’d nominate this man for political activist of the year - and it’s only February! I’m not only inspired by Derrick’s message, but hope to make others inspired by spreading his message. To know more about Soulfege, you can visit their website, and to know more about Derrick Ashong, you can visit his blog. Please help me in spreading this man’s message and give this post a thumbs up on StumbleUpon.

Namaste.

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written by John \\ tags: America, Current Events, Inspiration, Obama, Social Activism

Above Photo by Marcin Wichary. Photo Below by CBS Fan.

Recently, I had found this blog “90 Day Jane,” about a young woman who claimed that she would kill herself in 90 days. She wasn’t deathly ill or depressed - she was claiming to do this because life has no intrinsic meaning. She also claimed to be an atheist. Don’t bother to look for her blog, however… the whole thing was a hoax (excuse me, I meant “art project”) from the start and has been taken down. You can read more about it here.

There’s a lists of reasons longer than my arm as to why I’m disturbed by this recent non-event. First of all, there is the blatant abuse of suicide threats as means of entertainment. Having been suicidal before in my own life, I cannot begin to express how angry this makes me feel. There is also the matter of reinforcing the association between atheism and nihilism. While it may be true that most nihilists are also atheists, the reverse is not true. What most puzzles me, though, is that this even occurred to someone as being a good idea. Chuck Palahniuk and Hunter S. Thompson couldn’t ask for a better example of nihilism.

Why do I think that? Lets pretend for a moment that 90 Day Jane was really going to off herself in grand fashion on her own blog. She claims that her reason for doing this is to demonstrate the meaninglessness of existence. By advertising and making this public, she ironically gives meaning to her own existence - to serve as an example of nihilism. If someone can make their own meaning, that very act proves nihilism to be false. However, if this act becomes a mockery of itself it would serve only as twisted proof (however delusional) of the meaninglessness of existence. This is soundly accomplished through Jane’s half-hearted confession. This ordeal has all the offensiveness of a Nine Inch Nails video but none of the creativity.

It could be argued that I’m over reacting, and I very well may be. But I ask you, what else can you think of that is more of an affront to the principles of Unitarian Universalism? While I am tolerant and open minded, nihilism is not a philosophy that I can accept as being viable to live under or put into practice. It isn’t that I am afraid of the metaphorical abyss of nihilism; I’ve tread that edge before myself. No, I’ve just realized that it isn’t practical or useful. Never has it been said that reality had to be practical or useful, but our understanding of reality should be.

The only time I can think of when nihilism was acceptable is in the movie The Big Lebowski. Something about avowed nihilists beaten up by middle-aged bowlers strikes me as hilarious. If only nihilism was that easy to be rid of…

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written by John \\ tags: Anger, Atheism, Death, Nihilism, Philosophy, Reason, Unitarian Universalism

Photo above by Janine C. Photo below is Public Domain Courtesy of the National Archives.

The first experience with racism was when I was five or six… but it was not as you might think. I accused a black child of drinking my beverage when I wasn’t looking. My so-called proof was the swirling of my own saliva in my cup. I believed, at that time, that what I was looking at was his ‘blackness’ that had come off from his skin. When I told an adult, I felt the squirming warmth of revenge uncoil in my heart and was satisfied that justice had been done.

Later, when my mother had pointed out that it was my own saliva I was looking at, I felt guilty and foolish. However, for a brief moment hatred had taken seed in me. Now, it would be easy to dismiss this childhood memory as a simple misunderstanding. You shouldn’t. That is how any form of bigotry takes root - from the inability or the unwillingness to understand one another.

And to be completely honest, that isn’t the last time I have had to struggle with my own innate racism, or the racism of others. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard disparaging remarks about African Americans and did nothing. My own cowardice is proceeded only by my arrogance in thinking that I am not racist. No matter how many times I say I am color blind, I still see black and white. No matter how friendly I am towards those who are different than me, there is a part of me that is trying to prove something. And the more sensitive I am about another person’s race or ethnicity, the more I avoid trying to understand them.

February is Black History Month, a month long reminder of the great accomplishments and contributions that African Americans have made despite their struggle against racism in the States. If you haven’t guessed by now, I have a lot of mixed feeling about Black History Month. The fact that we have to attribute a full month to one racial minority is a tribute to how little we understand each other as human beings. That so many other minorities, such as the American Indians, do not have the same distinction also makes my heart uneasy. But it is our history as a species, blighted by so many atrocities, that worries me the most. I’m not entirely sure that we are making progress.

It isn’t enough for individuals to hide their misunderstandings of each other under thin veils of politeness. Race deserves open and honest discourse through which we can come to understand each other. We need to each admit to ourselves our own blind spots and try to broaden our vision. Without that, we are merely ignoring the problem.

Of course none of this is easy. If it were, my parent’s generation would have eliminated racism long before my conception. Its specter still looms over American history, threatening to taint our future and darken our doorstep. I don’t believe that this is a lost cause, but I still have trouble taking anyone who says they are color-blind seriously.

With this in mind, I humbly pray for mutual understanding among all people. God, we are your children; Please make us see!

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written by John \\ tags: America, God, History, Holidays, Morality, Racism

Image above by “reedbiotch”. Photo below by “gutter”.

In case you haven’t heard about the current internet war against Scientology, let me bring you up to speed. Since the days of the usernet in the 1980’s, The Church of Scientology has actively attempted to quiet all criticism of its actives by citing copyright laws, harassing website owners, and allegedly abusing any means possible to silence detractors. Individuals have had their computers confiscated, been sued, and slandered in opposition of Scientology. On January 16th, a four year old video of Tom Cruise ranting about Scientology surfaced on YouTube and went viral. This brought negative media attention to the Church of Scientology, which prompted them to contact YouTube and demand that they take the video down or face legal proceedings.

I guess this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. On the 21st of the month, several groups of hackers joined together and, calling themselves “Anonymous,” declared war against Scientology in a YouTube video. You can see the original video here, as well as a second video addressing the followers of Scientology in particular here, and a video listing the alleged crimes of Scientology here. So far, the war has resulted in numerous denial of server attacks against the Chuch’s websites, the various videos I link to above, and most likely several acts that I am not yet privy.

So why is this important to me? It brings up an important question about religious tolerance, or the lack there of. Is this just bigotry practiced on a large scale by the hackers of the internet or is Scientology truly a sinister organization as Anonymous would have us believe? Where do I stand as a blogger, a citizen of the internet, and a champion of religious tolerance? What should I do, if anything? These are not easy questions for me to answer, but if I am to be honest with myself, they need to be asked.

Let’s assume for a moment that the accusations of illegal activities made against Scientology are all false and consider only the verifiable facts of how this organization has conducted itself in the past. The organization is heavily reliant on litigation as its means of defending itself and is not interested in open dialogue. They charge an incredible amount of money for access to their teachings and openly prevents the sharing of those teachings by others. Scientology rejects the importance of psychological and psychiatric medicine and offer their own scientifically unproved methods as means of overcoming mental illness… Even without mentioning the rumored illegal activities, I have to question the motives of this organization.

I have come to the conclusion that if even a quarter of what Anonymous has said is true, than Scientology is a detriment to society. The thing is, we don’t have to rely on the word of Anonymous to come to this decision; Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Mexico, and the United Kingdom refuse to recognize Scientology as a religion. Germany has even considered a ban on Scientology, and the government of Belgium is currently in the process of prosecuting the Church. You could even read the opinions of the judges who have ruled against the Church in the past, including this ruling from the California Supreme Court in the case of Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology:

“Substantial evidence supports the conclusion Scientology leaders made the deliberate decision to ruin Wollersheim economically and possible psychologically….We do not mean to suggest Scientology’s retributive program… represented a full scale modern day ‘inquisition.’ Nevertheless there are some parallels in purpose and effect. ‘Fair game,’ like the ‘inquisition,’ targeted heretics.

“Other testimony established Scientology is a hierarchal organization which exhibits near paranoid attitudes toward certain institutions and individuals — in particular the government, mental health professionals, disaffected members, and others who criticize the organization or its leadership… 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…

“Using its position as religious leader, the church and its agents coerced Wollersheim into continuing auditing even though his sanity was repeatedly threatened by this practice… Thus there is adequate proof the religious practice in this instance caused real harm to the individual and the appellant’s outrageous conduct caused that harm… Church practices conducted in a coercive environment are not qualified to be voluntary religious practices entitled to first amendment religious freedom guarantees…

“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.”

-California appellate court, 2nd district, 7th division, Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California, Civ. No. B023193 Cal. Super. (1986)

So are the actions of Anonymous religious intolerance? Regardless of whether I believe the Church of Scientology to be a religion or not, no person or organization should be allowed to abuse the rights of others. No, Anonymous acts not out of religious intolerance, but instead of outrage at injustice. They seek only to work against a corrupt organization, not against the beliefs of others. Despite the fact that I do not agree with their methods, I have a great deal of respect for their purpose and will support them in the one way I can - by adding my voice to their choir.

ARTICLE 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
~The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, in Paris.

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written by John \\ tags: Individuality, Information, Mental Health, Religious Tolerance, Scientology, Websites

Photo by Jonathan Thorne.

I just signed the First Freedom First petition — about the importance of safeguarding separation of church and state and protecting religious liberty. The founders of our nation believed that all Americans should have the right to worship according to their own beliefs, or not to worship at all. It was so important to them that they placed it in the first sentence of the Bill of Rights.

I believe that religion is a deeply personal matter and that Americans must be free to practice their religion without coercion. Simply put, there must be a separation of church and state. I know that we agree about the importance of these issues, so I hope that you will ACT NOW, like I just did. Be a part of First Freedom First.

Sign the petition and encourage others to join you. Together, we will send a powerful and resounding message — safeguard the first freedom! Please watch the videos below, and then visit the website to join me in standing up for this fundamental American freedom. If you are a blogger like I am, take the time to write about this important movement to protect our first freedom.

Click on one link below.

written by John \\ tags: America, Freedom, Religion, Religious Tolerance

This week in our corner of the blogosphere, politics seems to be on everyone’s mind. The big question is whether you support Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama; the Republican candidates just are not getting much press.

So, Hillary cried. Rev. PeaceBang asked on her blog whether it was even that big of a deal. 83% of her readers responded that either that they didn’t care, or that they were voting for Barack regardless of how much she cried. Ouch… UU Momma also weighted in on the tearful moment and even posted a link to the video. I have to agree with UU Momma - Hillary Clinton seemed genuinely choked up. The injection of emotion into the campaign is inspiring in my opinion; I have a much better understanding of her as a person than what I did last week.

My buddy, Shelby, from Looking for Faith, is feeling positive about Clinton’s win in New Hampshire, while Rev. Sean points out a number of hopes raised by the recent turn of events. I have to admit in sharing this encouraging feeling that this time will be different. Perhaps that’s because I’m an eternal optimist, which is true even when things seem back sliding in this country.

Cathy Crovis, from Ripples of Improvement, wrote an article this week about her anger with the present state of the United States. It’s important for me to point this out, because we need to be reminded of why we are building up this hope for our candidate. There are a lot of problems in the U.S., and if we are to have the strength to solve these problems, we cannot lose sight of what is at stake.

How do you weigh in? Which candidate are you looking forward to supporting? What issues matter the most to you? I could continue to observe my fellow bloggers and write about their opinions or even tell you my opinion, but neither are as important as your own.

Photo of Flag by Existentist. Photos of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama by Seiu International.

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written by John \\ tags: Clinton, Current Events, Faith, Obama, Politics, Religion

Photo by foundphotoslj

A Jewish man was beaten in the New York Subway yesterday for saying “Happy Chanukah” in response to a group of Christians saying “Merry Christmas.” A Muslim college student came to the man’s aid and helped fight off his attackers. You can see the Associated Press news report HERE.

It puts religion in perspective, doesn’t it? All three - Jewish, Christian, and Muslim - worship the same God, yet each group is guilty of religious hatred against the others. This is why I feel so strongly about Religious Tolerance. It pains me to hear of something like this happening.

The good news is that someone had heart enough to help this man fend off their attackers. Let not the irony that it was a Muslim man who came to his aid go unnoticed. God bless both men - and I continue to pray for religious tolerance among all religions.

Namaste.

Click on one link below.

written by John \\ tags: Chanukah, Christian, Christmas, God, Holidays, Jew, Muslim, Religion, Religious Tolerance