Scientology Critical Information Directory

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William S. Burroughs

«Burroughs's fixations have led him down the garden path on numerous occasions. He flirted with Scientology, enthralled with its promised vacuuming of infantile traumas and acquired prejudices, until he found it to be precisely the kind of malign authoritarian system he sought to escape.» — Luc Sante, "Invisible Man", New York Review of Books, May 10, 1984; as reported by Chuck Beatty.

LA Free Press (1970): "William S. Burroughs on Scientology"

A separation between Mr. Hubbard's work and his opinions is ruled out by Mr. Hubbard's grandiose claims ... 'Galaxy upon galaxy billions of light years away have no bridge no route to freedom ... Scientology is the one and only road to total freedom and total power ... Scientology has the answers to all the problems of the universe including the method of solution' ... When the Founder, Controller and Guardian of the 'road to total freedom' starts spouting John Birch talk, his road is called in question and we have every right to ask precisely what his 'method of solution' is. If Mr. Hubbard were content to be a technician who has made some important discoveries we could afford to ignore his personal opinions. When he sets himself up as the savior of all possible universes we cannot.

Wikipedia (as of Mar. 2007): "William S. Burroughs"

The 1960s also saw Burroughs join, then leave the Church of Scientology[21]. His subsequent critical writings about the church and his review of a book entitled Inside Scientology by Robert Kaufman led to a battle of letters between Burroughs and Scientology supporters that played out in the pages of Rolling Stone.

Wikipedia (as of Mar. 2007): "Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology"

Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology is the title of a short collection of essays and fiction by William S. Burroughs which was first published in 1978. The short story "Ali's Smile" had previously been published on its own in 1971 and later in the collection, Exterminator!. The collected edition was published by Expanded Media Editions of West Germany.

The contents are a collection of different texts that all have one subject in common: they all deal one way or the other with Scientology (or Dianetics), the controversial science fiction-based religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The original edition of the Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology collection was bilingual, with the text printed in both English and German - the latter in translation by editor Carl Weissner.

Naked Scientology PDF, 647 KiB