Caleb Dowdy

Professor Lewandowski
ENC 1101
December 1, 2009
Clearwater’s Cult: Scientology

“There is a cancer at the core of Scientology and that has not

changed.”(Childs, 2009) That was an editorial quote from the Truth Rundown, St.
Petersburg Times series. The Church of Scientology is protected in the US by the 1st
amendment giving them the legal immunity they need to be considered a religion,
but Scientology should not be considered a religion because Scientology is a
dangerous cult designed to scam people out of their money and break up families.

The Definition of a religion is a specific fundamental set of beliefs and

practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons. The term “Religion” can
be used when referring to the individual or group practices and goes by several
different names, such as “faith” or “belief system”. As Americans citizens can
believe in what they want to believe in and this is how Scientology was formed and
protected under the first amendment. The first amendment states “Congress shall
make no laws respecting the establishment of religion.” This grants a new religion
the legal immunity to create and establish their set of beliefs. (Convention, 2008)

“If you want to make a little money, write a book. If you want to make a lot of
money, create a religion,” that was a quote from the founder of Scientology L. Ron
Hubbard. Scientology should not be considered a religion because Scientology is a
scam designed to take money from innocent families. Scientology is not designed
for the financially weak, with costs ranging from $16.95 for the Dianetics handbook,
to $220,000 required donation to take a two-year, 16-course upper-level training
program called the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course. Another example of why
Scientology should not be considered a religion is the cost of taking their beginning
auditing sessions on Dianetics through the church. The cost of only a week of
beginning auditing sessions comes with a price tag of $200 (Tobin, 2009)

The most important reason Scientology should not be considered a religion is

because Scientology is a dangerous cult. According to the Scientology doctrine,
people who criticize the Church of Scientology practices or policy are criminals.
Critics of these policies, former members, or people in the church who fall out of
favor with the church are declared “Suppressive Persons” (SP). The following is an
excerpt regarding SPs from HUBBARD COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE POLIC LETTER-
October 18, 1967

ENEMY SP Order. Fair game. 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.

(HUBBARD, 1967)

Scientologists will deny that this policy exists, or they’ll claim that it was cancelled.
In reality only the term “Fair game” was cancelled due to PR reasons, the policy
Caleb Dowdy
Professor Lewandowski
ENC 1101
December 1, 2009
itself remains unchanged and in effect. Another example of why Scientology should
not be considered a religion because of the “Lisa McPherson Trials”. Lisa
McPherson, 36-years-old, spent 17 days in a guarded room at the church’s Fort
Harrison Hotel for being in a little fender-bender. This is because she was
instructed to deny medical attention and use the Churches services instead. But
before she was locked in her containment cell at the Fort Harrison she was taken to
Morton Plant Hospital, where doctors discussed having her committed for
psychiatric evaluation under Florida’s Baker Act. Scientologists consider psychiatry
and psychiatric drugs evil. Instead the church offers a less intrusive and more
humane treatment plan. When this less intrusive treatment plan had all but killed
her Lisa McPherson was ordered to be taken to a hospital and died in the back seat
of a van that was driving her to a hospital in the next county passing 4 hospitals on
their route. The coroner’s report stated Lisa was underweight, severely dehydrated,
and had bruising as well as suffering hundreds of bug bites all over her body. This
was just your average fender-bender; she did not have to die.(Jacobsen, 2008)

As time magazine put it Scientology is “The Thriving cult of Greed and

Power.”(Behar, 1991) So you can see that although the definition of a religion is a
specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices, Scientology should not be
considered a religion for two main reasons. The first reason being Religion should
be free and Scientology isn’t. However the most important reason is Scientology is
a dangerous scam designed to take money from innocent families.

Works Cited
Childs, J., & Tobin, T. C. (2009). Scientology: The Truth Rundown, Part 1 of 3 in a
special report on the Church of Scientology. St.Petersburg Times .

Convention, D. o. (2008, December 5). GPO access . Retrieved November 24, 2009,
from http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/pdf2002/019.pdf

HUBBARD, L. R. (1967). HCO Policy Letter. HCO Policy Letter Issue IV (p. 1). Saint
Hill Manor, East Grinstead, Sussex: L. RON HUBBARD.

Jacobsen, J. (2008, October 3). Lisa McPherson Memorial Page: killed by the Church
of Scientology. Retrieved November 24, 2009, from http://www.lisamcpherson.org/

Tobin, T. C. (2009, June 22). Death In Slow Motion . St. Petersburg Times , p. Not in
consecutive order.