In the early 1970s, sociologist Roy Wallis was completing his research project on Scientology eventually published under the title The Road to Total Freedom when he became the victim of the Guardians' paranoia. Ironically the book is now accepted by the Public Affairs office of the Church of Scientology as reasonable and fair (they even loaned me a copy) but at the time an undercover agent was sent to Stirling University where Wallis then taught. Posing as a student, he attempted to get Wallis to tell him if he was involved in the drug scene. Wallis recognized him from Saint Hill, so the student then changed his story, claiming to be a defector from the Church of Scientology. In 'The Moral Career of a Research Project' (published within Doing Sociological Research in 1977) Wallis describes what happened next: 'In the weeks following his visit a number of forged letters came to light, some of which were supposedly written by me. These letters sent to my university employers, colleagues and others, implicated me in a variety of acts from a homosexual love affair to spying for the drug squad. Because I had few enemies and because this attention followed so closely upon the receipt of my paper by the Church of Scientology organization, it did not seem too difficult to infer the source of these attempts to inconvenience me.'

The attack on the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal was ordered shortly after its publication, Zetetic, had carried an article by a British sociologist, Dr Roy Wallis, on dianetics — the pseudo-scientific philosophy which was the forerunner to Scientology.

A lengthy document headed Programme Humanist Humiliation sets out Scientology's planned attack on the committee on a 23-point basis. The "major target" is described as: "To handle terminatedly the Humanist publication Zetetic and the Committee (or Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal so that they never attack Scientology or Dianetics again."

The attack plan includes proposals to spread rumours that the committee was a front group for the Central Intelligence Agency set up "to discredit any and all psychic phenomena in order to keep this subject under CIA control and in order to squash paranormal research outside the CIA." [...]

Scientology has been notable for the extent to which is has come into conflict with the state, medical agencies, and individuals critical of its practices. The author turns to the sociology of deviance to provide a model to account for the development of a 'moral crusade' against Scientology and to explain the way in which the movement reacted and adapted to a hostile environment.

My own experiences, while less dramatic, follow a similar pattern. As a product of research for a doctoral thesis on Scientology, I wrote a paper called "The sectarianism of Scientology," which I sent to the leaders of the movement in East Grinstead for comments, before publication. The comments I received clearly indicated that they did not view the paper favourably, and a very useful body of documentation was supplied to support their views, resulting in slight modifications to the paper.

Shortly after this, a young man arrived at the University of Stirling representing himself as a graduate of Bristol and claiming an interest in Scottish religion. On being sent to see me he asked if he might attend my lectures and tutorials, and also if I could put him up for a few days. This I declined to do, having realised that I had last seen him wearing a staff member's uniform at the Scientology headquarters. I did not reveal my suspicions, being unsure how to react, until the following day, when I learned that he had visited my home in my absence, seeking to gain entry.