Scientology Critical Information Directory

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William Barwell

Long time critic.


Is Scientology a religion? Hubbard says "No"

«While L. Ron Hubbard (and Scientology organizations) make numerous claims to be a bona-fide religion, it can be shown that the claim is really being made for business purposes. Religious status affords many advantages, among them being a positive public perception, a legal shield for Hubbard's shabby science and false medical claims, and most importantly in the United States, tax-free status and Constitutional protection from Government scrutiny. Hubbard redefined the business of Scientology to be the religion of Scientology, cynically wrapping a cloak of subterfuge around a set of procedures that were originally sold as an alternative mental healing therapy. Unfortunately for Hubbard, he failed to amend previous claims regarding the efficacy of Scientology processing, it's "scientific" underpinnings, or that Scientology is not based on religious principles. Scientologists are bound by Hubbard's instructions to not alter his previous statements. Therefore there are some rather glaring inconsistencies between the present religious claims and Hubbard's earlier statements.»

Management by Statistics

«Management by statistics. 5 year plans and the whole bit, managed from the top down. Nothing gets done, but you must reach your goal, make your stat? Two kinds of cheating. The out and out manipulation of the statistics and loss of quality control. The latter became the Russian trademark. Shoes that did not fit and fell apart quickly. Shoddy clothing, poorly made of inferior materials. Cars that were poorly built. Tractors that died in the field and were left where they were because you couldn't get parts anyway, and when you did they quickly broke. Bricks that crumbled because they were not fired properly, but they sent them on to make the stats. They all made their yearly stats.»

Wired (1995): "alt.scientology.war"

«It was Barwell who discovered a bit of law, United States Code Title 18, section 2701 concerning "unlawful access to stored communications." The law includes provisions prohibiting unauthorized access to and malicious destruction of an electronic message; it also prevents unauthorized access to or alteration of electronic communications. Barwell felt all three of these applied to the forged cancellations. At the beginning of March, Barwell wrote a letter to the FBI asking the agency to enforce the code, and he sent copies to Netcom, where most of the cancel commands were originating, as well as his own service provider, NeoSoft.»

OT3 Claims — Put up or Shut up!

«Put up or shut up!

1. The OT III materials as seen above, make some some rather big claims that are easily testable. Let us consider an easy test that can conclusively prove this if true.

2. Consider a test where there are two rooms.

3. The OT III test subject is in one room at a desk in a comfortable chair.

4. In a second room, on a white wall, there is mounted a piece of paper. It is colored say, yellow, red or blue. On it is a word chosen at random. The room is well lighted.

[...]»

The Clam FAQ

«Warning! Top Secret Clam facts are about to be exposed. This may cause jaw pain and extreme cases of uncontrolled laughter.

All over the internet, the latest question due to well known controversies originating from alt.religion.scientology seems to be, "What is this bit about clams?" "Why do people on ARS think this is funny?", and the ever popular, "Can I be in on the joke?"»

 

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