“Integrity means honesty, being who you are, not pretending, having the courage to speak and act according to what you believe is right.”
—Delphian Student Parent Handbook, 2018, pg 8
When is a secular school, not?
When it is founded and run by Scientology.
Delphian School in Sheridan, Oregon works hard to convince the parents of potential students that although it teaches the half plagiarized half made up creations of L. Ron Hubbard, they are nonsectarian.
One look at the Student Parent Handbook reveals something quite the opposite to anyone with a passing familiarity of Scientology. Most especially when one reaches chapter 5, Ethics– Surviving Well.
Schools build character. All schools, public or private, day schools or boarding schools, have rules of behavioral expectations established to create a learning environment that is good for the students and for the entire school community in general.
Moving beyond the standard acceptable conduct into rigidly defined morals and ethics of children, according to a spiritual doctrine, begins to infringe upon a family’s rights to raise their child according to their own beliefs, moral standards and civil expectations.
This is where the freedom to choose a religious school comes in.
Predominantly, though not exclusively, it is the members of a particular faith who choose to send their children to schools who embrace and teach the ideology and moral tenets that define their own religion.
Full disclosure by any private educational institution as to the beliefs that their students will be exposed to is not only necessary, but such knowledge is also every parent’s right.
Nonsectarian schools will have a defined set of rules every student is expected to follow. Many have a code of honor that address such things as cheating, stealing and plagiarism. Such a code may even extend to a requirement that other students, upon discovering such misconduct, report the rule breaker to their student or faculty judicial system.
A code of honor system covers basic societal expectations of right and wrong. Learning to live in a community, respecting the boundaries everyone is entitled to and working to be an honest member of the group are vital lessons every child must learn.
Such rules ensure a healthy, smoothly functioning society and this understanding of right and wrong is essential.
Parents who want more, who want their children to understand the spiritual reasons for choosing right, moral behaviors turn to their faith’s established schools. In this way they are assured that their sons and daughters are being raised with tenets that are acceptable to them.
Delphian’s handbook goes far beyond the secular idea of honesty, detailing morals and ethics as defined by L. Ron Hubbard. It is not enough to explain that the school expects there to be no cheating or drug use; Delphian goes further, delving into Scientology spiritual beliefs.
Chapter 5 begins with several quotes by the Scientology Founder from his writings that practicing Scientologists embrace as truths and facts of their “religion”.
“Morals should be defined as a code of good conduct laid down out of the experience of the race to serve as a uniform yardstick for the conduct of individuals and groups….Morals are actually laws.”
L. Ron Hubbard- “Ethics, Justice and the Dynamics”
First it needs to be said that morals are not actually laws. While it is immoral to lie, fortunately for many, Scientology included, it is not illegal. Cheating on a test is immoral but will not land one in prison, though cheating on one’s taxes is another story.
Delphian School again turns to Hubbard’s writings to explain ethics, “Ethics actually consists of rationality toward the highest level of survival for the individual, the future race, the group, mankind and the other dynamics taken up collectively.”
“Ethics are reason….The highest ethic level would be long-term survival concepts with minimal destruction, along all of the dynamics.”
L. Ron Hubbard–“Ethics, Justice and the Dynamics”
It is here that one begins to encounter the religious doctrines of the Church of Scientology.
Scientology is the only “religion” who uses the Eight Dynamics as part of their spiritual belief system. There is no more reason for this information to be included in a secular school’s handbook than would be including the Catholic Sacraments or Islam’s Five Pillars of Practice.
This definition of ethics is solely based upon the teachings and “spirituality” of Scientology as created by their founder, L. Ron Hubbard.
Ethics in Scientology are not just the common behavior parameters proscribed by natural law.
For Scientologists ethics are intrinsically bound to their so called religion and are encountered in their religious text Introduction To Scientology Ethics.
“A new hope for Man arises with the first workable technology of ethics-technology to help an individual pull himself out of the downward skid of life and to a higher plateau of survival. This is the comprehensive handbook providing the crucial fundamentals: Basics of Ethics & Justice; Honesty; Conditions of Existence; Condition Formula, From Confusion to Power; the basics of suppression and its handling; as well as Justice Procedures and their use in Scientology Churches. Here, then, is the technology to overcome any barriers in life and in one’s personal journey up the Bridge to Total Freedom.”
—Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health 2007, Additional Books Containing Scientology Essentials, pg 529
Ethics as determined by Hubbard is part of the religious technology one must embrace in order to achieve higher levels on their Bridge which is their spiritual journey to Clear.
Exposing students of Delphian to Hubbard’s teachings in this way is tantamount to starting them along the path to conversion. There is a domino effect; Ethics as laid out in the handbook leads to The Dynamics, leads to The Gradient Scale, leads to The Bridge to Total Freedom, leads to Scientology.
Any Scientologist choosing to send their child to Delphian will read the handbook and immediately understand every term within its pages.
Non-Scientologists will have no idea what the dynamics are nor what they truly encompass.
No idea what they will be agreeing to expose their child to.
What happens if a precocious youngster asks?
What would that conversation look like?
How could such a discussion be a secular one?
Consider this; found in the same source Delphian quotes in their handbook, Ethics, Justice and the Dynamics, is the following: “An optimum solution to any problem would be that solution which brought the greatest benefits to the greatest number of dynamics.”
Scientologists believe this as a truth.
To the point where it excuses completely immoral, unethical behavior.
Members of Scientology are tasked to Keep Scientology Working at all costs. This means that if a Scientologist must lie about someone, destroy their reputation or even their livelihood in order to stop them from going against the “religion”, then this is acceptable. In their beliefs, destroying one person means providing a greater benefit to Scientology as a whole. Ergo; an optimum solution to their problem that brought the greatest benefit to their “church”.
This is the caveat, the missing piece that non-Scientologists considering Delphian are not privy to.
These ethics are one of three parts of the Scientology religion.
“Church of Scientology International, Form 1023, Attached Statement, pg 2:
…of course a full understanding of Dianetics and Scientology and an actual application of the three zones of its religious technology; Ethics, Technical and Administration is only possible through full study of the scripture itself which is contained in the 40 million written and spoken words on the subject by L Ron Hubbard the founder of Dianetics and Scientology.“
LRH created the Sea Organization to be the highest echelon of Scientology. It was the Sea Org who was charged with ensuring Hubbard’s ethics were implemented throughout the “church”.
As he developed these ethics, Hubbard used them to find young children guilty of ethics violations. Little ones as young as 4 were locked in his ship’s chain locker as punishment where they were left alone for days in the dirt and dark crying for parents who never came.
Delphian’s emphasis on their founder’s version of morals and ethics is not secular. Rather it is a continuation of disseminating Hubbard’s idea of how one must conduct himself in order to achieve Scientology’s spiritual goals. This is what the students of Delphian School are being indoctrinated with.
Further, ethics as promulgated by Scientology are intimately connected with yet another part of their “spirituality”; the Eight Dynamics as noted in the quotes Delphian includes in their handbook.
That the handbook mentions the Dynamics which are foundational “spiritual beliefs” should be questioned in a secular private school who claims no affiliation with the church.
So important are these so called spiritual beliefs to the “religion”; Scientology’s eight pointed cross is representative of the eight dynamics.
In June 2015 an anonymous writer shared what he claims are some of his first hand experiences at Delphian School with readers of Cracked.com.
If what the writer says is true, it sheds light on the realities behind the walls.
“Not only does Delphi teach Hubbard’s Study Technology, it also teaches his Communication Technology and his Ethics Technology, which involves learning about his Eight Dynamics — literally the core belief of Scientology.”
As the ethics tech is printed clearly in the handbook there is no reason to suspect this statement is untrue.
So what separates a secular school from a religious one?
Christian schools use the Bible as the foundation for their teaching. Jewish schools reflect Jewish belief and tradition.
Delphian School includes the spiritual doctrines, practices and beliefs of Scientology and their founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Every child who attends this school will come away having been exposed to the idea of Scientology’s Ethics, Eight Dynamics and the teachings of the religion’s founder.
Delphian claims to be dedicated to integrity yet they mislead the public about what they are teaching the children under their care.
If integrity means “…honesty, being who you are, not pretending, having the courage to speak and act according to what you believe is right”, then what does it mean when one goes to such lengths to hide their affiliation with their so-called religion?
What does one call a group founded by Scientologists, run by Scientologists, provided teaching materials by Scientology sub-groups and whose curriculum includes lessons by the Scientology Founder?
Secular?
Confront And Shatter 