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From: gerdw@cougar.vut.edu.au (David Gerard)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Xenu The Magazine: CoS reply to go in NoName #6
Date: 23 Oct 1995 18:54:10 +1000
Organization: Prestige Elite(tm) Research Church of the SubGenius
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Well, I told 'em they could do 2500 words, and they gave us just 2000.
Whatever.

It isn't an attack on me or anyone else, nor *directly* addressing the
disputed points. It's got some bits that any experienced CoS critic
will giggle at. There's also a plug for 'Freedom' and the Church's
human rights work near the end.

My analysis: it's a public relations reply, designed to give the Church
slant for the uninformed. I actually don't mind printing this at all.

Preprinted from 'NoName' (student paper of Victoria University of
Technology, Footscray), October/November 1995.



-----begin-----



CYBERSPACE IS STILL ON PLANET EARTH



As my own college years are now a distant memory, I must admit I'm not a
regular reader of campus newspapers. However, my attention was drawn to
the Intercampus edition for 1995 by some concerned citizens and
parishioners of my Church who had taken exception to an article by a David
Gerard. 

David Gerard states that he has "nothing against Scientology as a religion
per se. You can do what you want. Not my business," but as he follows this
disclaimer with a full page attack, it appears that Mr Gerard is far from
unbiased and does not understand what Scientology is and what it
practices.  He can have his prejudices, but he is not entitled to spread
disinformation. 


REAL PRACTICES OF SCIENTOLOGY

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology wrote: the "attack on the practice
of Scientology by indentifying it with all its research notes is a
completely aberrated action ... the practice of Scientology today is a
very routine action.  It consists of drills which: 

1. Better one's ability to communicate. 

2. Give one intelligence to handle his problems. 

3. Make a being able to be a social being without committing antisocial
acts. 

4. Bring one to abandon explanations of his failures and to get on with
being successful ... 

5. Handle all one's reactiveness ... These drills are quite unfrightening. 
If psychology had them it would use them and be a great success." 


SUCCESS

Scientology is a great success. Along with Buddhism it is one of the
fastest growing religions in the world today. Why? Because Scientology is
an applied religious philosophy which addresses the individual spirit --
and it is workable. 

Billy Sheehan, internationally renowned Rock Bassist, in the book: What is
Scientology? states: 

"I have been in Scientology for over 21 years. In those years I have
worked very hard to make my dreams a reality. Very few dreams have escaped
me and I am extremely thankful now for my successes both professionally
and personally. 

"The role Scientology has played in my life has been vital. Without it I
simply cannot imagine where I would be right now. It has been the source
of answers and resolution for every conceivable problem, upset, fear and
obstacle life has thrown at me. I have found amazingly that the answers
were simple yet totally effective, the resolutions easy and completely
workable. 

"Life is not easy. Sometimes life is cruel -- even vicious -- I've been
there, I've felt it. But I've also felt hatred, anger, upset and pain lift
off me and go away forever with Scientology auditing [counselling]. I've
seen the worst possible dilemmas evaporate with the application of
Scientology technology -- just like magic. But it's not magic -- it's
Scientology. Easy to understand and apply by anybody, anywhere, anytime. 

"Scientology works." 


COPYRIGHTS

In regard to copyrights and trade secrets; yes, the Church does protect
its legal rights and will continue to do so. 

And yes, this does apply to unauthorised publication on the Internet as
well as other forms of publication: the net does not encompass a parallel
universe with different laws. 

Church of Scientology organizations have filed suit against a number of
individuals and organizations for copyright and trade secrets violations
on the Internet. Trade secret and copyright laws are the secular vehicle
to protect the core religious precepts of the Church. When these trade
secret rights and copyrights are violated, so are the rights of all
Scientologists. 


FREEDOM OF SPEECH

To work for freedom of speech in the world is a part of the Church's
Creed.  And it does have to be worked for. Unless free speech and other
basic liberties are constantly fought for and made real, they exist only
on paper and will eventually be trampled by vested interests. 

But the Church also recognises that with freedom comes responsibility:
these rights were not developed to protect wrongdoers from the
consequences of their unlawful actions. Otherwise an extortionist could
hide behind "freedom of speech," an obscene phone caller could hide behind
"freedom of speech."  People phoning in bomb threats could hide behind
"freedom of speech," to give but a few examples. 

The advanced scriptures of the Church have been confidential scriptures
from the moment the information they contain was discovered and recorded
in writing by Mr. Hubbard. He created these works for religious use by a
few advanced Scientology churches and their parishioners, only when those
parishioners had attained a specific level of spiritual progress. 

[BOX]"The Net does not encompass a parallel universe with different laws." 

It is not at all uncommon for religious organizations to copyright their
texts in order to protect them from alterations and misuse. For example,
the Gideon Bible commonly found in hotel rooms carries a copyright notice.
In the preface to the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, you will find
the following: 

Because of unhappy exerience with unauthorised publication in the two
decades between 1881 and 1901, which tampered with the text of the English
Revised version in the supposed interest of the American public, the
American Standard Version was copyrighted, to protect the text from
unauthorised changes. 

The Church of Scientology has the same motive for copyrighting its own
religious works: to safeguard the integrity of its scriptures. 


INTEGRITY OF WORKS

It is a central belief of all Scientologists that people must be properly
prepared -- spiritually and ethically -- to receive these materials and
that premature exposure would impede the spiritual development of
individuals so exposed; an outcome that is inimical to the goal of
Scientology: the achievement of spiritual freedom for everyone living on
this planet. 

To gain access to these materials, more is expected of a Scientologist
than spiritual advancement. Access is not automatic, nor is it dependent
solely upon donations. It is by invitation only. That invitation is
extended to parishioners who have demonstrated a high level of ethical
responsibility as well as completed certain prior steps of spiritual
attainment. This is so that people of ill-will with motives antipathetic
to Scientology cannot use the materials for purposes contrary to the goal
of spiritual freedom which proper use of these religious works brings
about. 


COMMON PRACTICE

It is far from unprecendented for religious organizations to go to court
to defend the purity of their message and materials. Religions which have
done so include the Methodist Church, Church of Christ, Scientist, and the
Seventh day Adventist Church. In a 1986 case involving the First Church of
Christ, Scientist, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia noted
that "Religious works are eligible for protection under general copyright
laws, and for decades Science and Health [the central theological text of
the Christian Science faith] was unproblematically the beneficiary of that
security, as more than thirty editions and translations of the Bible
currently are." 

[BOX] "It is the long term ensurance of free speech that the Church is
defending." 

Although most of Scientology literature is available to be read and
studied by anyone, the materials covering the most advanced levels of
religious counselling are restricted to those who have already attained
certain specified, earlier levels in their spiritual progression. 


SUPPORT FROM RENOWNED SCHOLARS

As religious scholars have pointed out, the Church's practice of keeping a
segment of its materials confidential has well established precedents in
other religions. In this context Dr. Lonnie Kliever of Southern Methodist
University USA cites ancient Judaism, early Christianity, some forms of
Hinduism, Zen Buddhism and Gnostic groups. Dr Kliever characterises the
Church of Scientology as having "a religious duty and legal right" to keep
some of its materials confidential. 

Dr. Bryan Wilson, Reader Emeritus in Sociology at Oxford University points
to numerous historical examples of religions which maintain scriptures
that are accessible only to selected initiates. He interprets this
practice as "a broad educational principle of not exposing to advanced
ideas those who have not yet demonstrated their mastery of the elemental
principles." Dr Wilson concludes that to introduce advanced Scientology
materials prematurely to the Scientology student would be "disruptive of
his progress in attaining the enlightened consciousness towards which all
his endeavours are directed." 

Other than its confidential unpublished materials, which comprise a small
fraction of the scriptures of the religion, the Church encourages the
widest possible dissemination of Scientology publications. It has have
donated thousands of copies of Scientology books and material to public
libraries.  This has been done to make it possible for persons with
limited financial means to learn and apply Scientology principles to their
lives without having to pay anything. The Church's library donation
program has proved extremely successful. In fact, it has been calculated
that every 29.5 seconds, somewhere in the world, a reader checks out a
Scientology book from a library. 

To suggest that copyright and trade secrets violations are best ignored
and that critical organisations or individuals should "just keep quiet" is
naive to say the least. It is the responsibility of intellectual property
owners to enforce their rights or risk losing them and if no action were
taken in the face of patently illegal conduct, then crime would soon reach
uncontrollable proportions leading eventually to chaos and/or the
implementation of unnecessarily harsh controls on the use of the Net. 

Failure to pursue copyright violations and other unlawful actions on
Internet can only result in the destruction of the very Net itself in the
long run and act to the detriment of all. It is the long term ensurance of
free speech that the Church is defending. 


HUMAN RIGHTS & CHELMSFORD HOSPITAL

Violators of copyright and trade secret laws commonly try to hide behind
"free speech" and invalid "fair use" claims. The Church of Scientology is
a strong proponent of free speech accompanied by responsibility and has
defended human rights all over the world. We have been publishing our own
investigative magazine, Freedom, since 1968. When in the 1970's we exposed
human rights atrocities committed against blacks in South Africa, Freedom
was banned by the then white South African government. 

However, independent investigation by the World Health organisation (WHO)
confirmed what Freedom had reported. In Australia, Scientologists fought
for more than a decade to expose atrocious human rights abuses in a
psychiatric hospital in Chelmsford NSW. Their dogged persistence in the
face of psychiatric opposition and official apathy was the decisive factor
in eventually bringing about a Royal Commission into Chelmsford Hospital. 
The two-year inquiry uncovered the possibility of 183 patient deaths and
recommended a thorough shake-up of mental health care in NSW, along with a
mental health bill of rights. 

The Church has taken no action against critical messages about Scientology
posted on the Internet -- it has only taken action where postings have
violated its copyrights and trade secrets. There is a tremendous desire
among people both on and off the Internet to know more about Scientology.
In response to this demand, Leisa Goodman, Media Relations Director for
the Church of Scientology International, has put up her own "home page"
which contains the basic information about Scientology. This site is
located at http://www.theta.com/relfreedom. 

Freedom of expression is good and desirable but it must be tempered with
responsibility. This includes accurate reporting of facts and respect for
others' rights. 

Rev. Mary Anderson
Church of Scientology
Melbourne



----- end -----



--
Reverend Doctor David Gerard, KoX, SP 4.03 (awaiting verification of SP 5)
Prestige Elite(tm) Research Church of the SubGenius
"Servicing the Prestige Elite(tm) since 1985!"
"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself." -- Abraham Lincoln
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