Critics of Scientology

On February 18, 1954, The Church of Scientology of California became officially recognized when it was incorporated in Los Angeles.

Prior to the foundation of The Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard published Dianetics; The Modern Science of Mental Health in 1950.

Dianetics received its own criticism from the medical and psychiatric community which is the reason Hubbard forever afterwards targeted psychiatry for annihilation.

Even before Dianetics’ publication, one of Hubbard’s supporters, a medical doctor named Joseph Winter, reached out to the scientific community, submitting ‘a brief resume of the principles and methodology of dianetic therapy’ to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Winter was seeking approval and validity for the methodology created by Hubbard however Dianetics was rejected by both The Journal of the American Medical Association and The American Journal of Psychiatry on grounds of “insufficient evidence”.

Scientology has accrued a long list of detractors since its inception.

Some of these courageous fighters include, but are certainly not limited to:

Ursula Caberta y Diaz.

Considered an expert on the subject of Scientology, though never a member, she has been monitoring the organization since 1992.

In 1995, Caberta became active in handling various controversies related to Scientology in Bjerndrup schools. Bjerndrup is located near the German border. In 1996, Caberta was quoted in an article in The New York Times that she saw similarities between Germany’s prior history with the Third Reich, and the Church of Scientology.

Diaz was Commissioner for the Scientology Task Force of the Hamburg Interior Authority and wrote Schwarzbuch Scientology (The Black Book of Scientology).

Ursula Caberta y Diaz was also involved in the Hamburg Scientology Taskforce who, amongst other things, assisted those wishing to leave the group.

Tory Christman

From 1969-2000 Tory Christman was a member of Scientology.

In 1972 Christman joined the Sea Org, from there she would go on to work in various positions including the Office of Special Affairs reporting directly to OSA vice-president, Janet Weiland.

Tory’s duties of shutting down online critics of Scientology were in conflict with her belief in the freedom of speech and ultimately, after Andreas Heldal-Lund, operator of Xenu.net, reached out to her she decided to leave in 2000.

Tory Christman joined The Lisa McPherson Trust, founded by another dedicated Scientology foe, Robert Minton.

Subsequently Christman’s husband and family disconnected from her and COS attempted to damage her reputation via “dead agenting”. Scientology publicized inaccurate information about her online, tried to get her removed from her position of employment, and filed a lawsuit related to her protesting against the group on church property.

Tory continues to expose Scientology to the present.

Andreas Heldal-Lund

A Never In, Heldal-Lund is best known for Operation Clambake launched in 1996.

Scientology, in usual form, sent harassing letters to his job, investigated his friends and former partners and harassed him.

Interestingly this tactic backfired as every time he’d think about stepping away, the church would do something else to him which motivated him to continue.

Heldal-Lund once noted, “They created me; if they had left me alone and ignored me, I probably would have been doing this for a couple of months.”

Tory Christman told Heldal-Lund, “I honestly thought you were the devil…I was amazed at how kind you were. I thought for sure you would be the meanest and worst of all the critics. So when you were you, it really cracked the shell.” Perhaps kindness has its merits?

Bob Minton

Another Never In who was induced to fight Scientology after reading about its attacks and fair gaming of critics. Minton founded the Lisa McPherson Trust in 1999.

Prior to this he was a public critic of Scientology appearing on the show Dateline in 1998 where he discussed the harassment he was undergoing at the hands of the group.

Bob Minton spent over $10 Million fighting Scientology and was the recipient of two awards for his dedication to exposing the cult.

Minton holds the honor of being the very first to receive the “Alternative Charlemagne Award” from the European-American Citizens Committee for Human Rights and Religious Freedom.
Then in 2001, because of his work on the Lisa McPherson Trust, Bob Minton received the Leo J. Ryan Award from the Leo J. Ryan Education Foundation “in recognition of his extraordinary courage, tenacity and perseverance in the battle against tyranny over the mind of man.”

Paulette Cooper

Paulette Cooper infiltrated Scientology in the late 1960’s, signing up for courses after a strange and disturbing encounter. (See The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper by Tony Ortega for details.)

Subsequently Cooper wrote the first article covering sexual misconduct by Scientology auditors, The Tragi-Farce of Scientology published in London’s Queen Magazine.

From this article was born her book, The Scandal of Scientology.

In 1972 Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs, then known as the Guardian’s Office, launched Operation Lovely, which included flyers accusing her of sexual perversion amongst other things.

The GO stole Cooper’s personal stationary which contained her fingerprints and manufactured bomb threats for which Paulette Cooper was indicted on May 17, 1973.

Scientology’s GO then enacted Operation Freakout which included breaking into her apartment and stealing her diary as well as breaking into her psychiatrist’s office and stealing her files.

The Affidavit of Margery Wakefield , a former Scientologist, alleges that in 1977 the church was plotting to assassinate Cooper.

Paulette Cooper would eventually be saved from life in prison by the timely July 8, 1977 FBI raid on Scientology. Amongst the thousands of documents taken was proof of the campaigns to destroy and imprison Paulette Cooper. All charges against her were subsequently dropped.

Tony Ortega has been exposing Scientology for 20+ years.

Mark “Wise Beard Man” Bunker started Xenu TV in 1999 and was part of The Lisa McPherson Trust.

David Touretzky has been an active critic since the 1990’s for which he was fair gamed by OSA.

Russell Miller, author of Bare Faced Messiah the culmination of two years of research on the life of L. Ron Hubbard in the 1980’s.

Jon Atack who faced OSA’s fair game in the 1990’s for his book A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed.

There are so many other early (pre 2005) critics who bravely faced the vengeance of Scientology to expose it to the world. These are but a very few.

They all are owed a sincere debt of thanks for paving the way for so many others. What they faced at the hands of the Guardian’s Office/Office of Special Affairs cannot be denied, dismissed or diminished.