IT just goes from bad to worse for those poor, beleaguered Scientology nutsters.
After the major hit they took in a court in France recently, and their loss of prominent member Paul Haggis, they are now licking their wounds from a mauling inflicted by an Australian politician.
Senator Xenophon
Senator Nick Xenophon, whose surname suggest that he might be one of them Scientology aliens – (he is NOT!) – had the audacity to accuse the Church of Scientology of being a CRIMINAL ORGANISATION!
NO! Say it isn’t so!
The South Australian parliamentarian said he had been contacted by a number of former Scientologists, after he questioned the organisation’s tax exempt status in a recent television interview.
They have provided long and detailed letters to me about the workings of this organisation. These people rightly see themselves as victims of Scientology.
Senator Xenophon said their correspondence implicated the organisation in a range of crimes, including forced imprisonment, coerced abortions, embezzlement of church funds, physical violence, intimidation and blackmail.
I am deeply concerned about this organisation and the devastating impact it can have on its followers.
Asked about the Senator’s claims, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described them as “grave allegations”.
Many people in Australia have real concerns about Scientology.I share some of those concerns. Let us proceed carefully and look carefully at the material he has provided before we make a decision on further parliamentary action.
When he was questioned about the Church of Scientology’s tax exempt status, Rudd said:
I don’t want to rush into any judgment on this, other than to say he’s (Senator Xenophon) raised concerns and made some serious allegations.
Senator Xenophon said the Church of Scientology had been convicted of fraud in France and was facing similar charges in Belgium.
A number of the organisation’s former high-ranking executives in the US had also recently spoken out against its leader, David Miscavige, saying they had seen him assaulting staff and urging others to do the same.
Senator Xenophon added:
What we are seeing is a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality. On the body of evidence, this is not happening by accident, it is happening by design. Scientology is not a religious organisation, it is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs.
The Church of Scientology immediately issued a statement to the media responding to Senator Xenophon’s comments.
This is an outrageous abuse of Parliamentary privilege from a Senator would not even meet with Church representatives several months ago to discuss his concerns.
Senator Xenophon’s attempt to marginalise Scientologists by saying that they should not be believed, is fascistic and violates freedom of speech and the right to religious beliefs.
Scientology has fought for and upheld religious freedom around the world and is accepted as a religion throughout the world. In a few countries, the Church has been forced to litigate the issue of its religiosity, either affirmatively or in response to outrageous unfounded charges.
Inevitably, the Church has prevailed in these cases and its religious bona fides have been unequivocally recognised.
This is a propaganda campaign that would suit a totalitarian regime not Australia, a country that recognises freedom of religion.
The Church of Scientology internationally has grown from one Church in 1954 to more than 8000 Churches, Missions and groups in 165 countries today. The Church sponsors an international human rights education initiative as well as the world’s largest nongovernmental drug education program. Four new Churches have opened in 2009, most recently the Church of Scientology of Rome on October 24, with a new Church opening in Washington, DC, on October 31. In April, three new Churches were dedicated: in Malmo, Sweden; Dallas, Texas; and Nashville, Tennessee. The Scientology religion has expanded more in the past year than in the past five years combined and more in the past five years than in the past five decades combined.
This absolutely hilarious “must read” piece about Scientology by Marina Hyde appeared recently in the Guardian. Enjoy!
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
November 19th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
I may be being over optimistic but these pebbles could be the start of an avalanche that overtakes these frauds. Probably not in the US, but elsewhere people are lifting up the rocks they hide under.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I read the article in the link and Marina more or less said what I was thinking. The bleating from the Christians in the comment thread was funny and predictable, they couldn’t quite get their heads around the fact that their religion hadn’t been singled out for criticism but merely held up as an example of an established religion that is just as absurd as Scientology.
November 19th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Senator Xenophon ain’t no alien, Barry. Xenophon is the real deal both in the present and in the far past. The ancient Xenophon was born in 431 B.C.; pupil of Socrates, fought with the Spartans who gave him land and property. And as far as I am concerned his Australian namesake does not disgrace his illustrious predecessor.
November 19th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Would that he were saying that, say, the Catholic Church or Islam are criminal organisations. I would have thought that the evidence, both contemporary and historical, is equally as compelling.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Publisher John Campbell was one of many persons to whom Ron Hubbard confessed that his reason for starting his own religion was because “that’s where the money is.” (Google “Hubbard religion money”)
The cult’s apologists persistently claim that Hubbard’s confession is “taken out of context.” I can understand the current beneficiaries of Hubbard’s organized crime syndicate spouting such fatuous nonsense. They are protecting their bread and butter. But how anyone who cannot see such mindless doublethink as a desperate attempt to defend the indefensible, can claim to have a functioning human brain, is beyond me.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
“Scientology is not a religious organisation, it is a criminal organisation”
Do the two things have to be mutually exclusive?
November 19th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
If you haven’t seen the Martin Bashir interview with the lovely Scientologist nutter, check it out. As we all know, there was a time not so long ago when anyone who dared question religion, or indeed question the authority of the scoundrels who enjoyed the power that its cruel enforcement brought, would have been persecuted, tortured and murdered. Today, it seems the best these charlatans can do is throw a hissy fit and storm off TV interviews. Come on people, let’s keep at them. They have no answers – so let’s keep asking those horribly uncomfortable question whenever and wherever we can.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Dude this guy is so “fair game” by now there is probably a task force of devotees with the sole mission of destroying him and every one of his family members out to third cousin.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Marcus. That’s the way to go. They have nothing left when they are confronted. As you so rightly say there was a time when to question religion was, by that very fact, to be regarded as morally suspect. But that was never enough. They then had to put the boot in and keep kicking. They try the same tactics today – the bus adverts and the Northern Ireland billboard fracas for example – but with the internet it is now a very different game.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
And it seems that Thought for the Day, that redoubt of the boring which may not be questioned, may yet fall. I liked John Humphreys’ view that he wanted secularists there not for religious reasons but to introduce some interest into it.