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From: Hartley Patterson <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: alt.religion.scientology critical FAQ 1.4
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Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 18:40:19 +0100
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Archive-name: scientology/skeptic/faq
URL: http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/faq.htm
Maintainer: Hartley Patterson <[email protected]>
Posting-Frequency: monthly

An Alt.Religion.Scientology FAQ (1.4)

1. What's an FAQ?
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. Newcomers to popular newsgroups,
forums and websites often have the same questions they want answered, a FAQ
is intended to be an aid to those who get bored of repeating the same
answers every week.
This FAQ expresses the author's views, not those of any other ARS poster,
though on occasion he does state what he believes to be the majority view
on issues. FAQs do not require unanimous approval of every word in them,
just sufficient truth not to get buried under a mountain of abuse.
The author is not nor has ever been a scientologist and is a critic of the
Church of Scientology (CoS).

2. What is Scientology?
This is an FAQ for ARS not for Scientology so this will be very brief:

American author L Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), founder of Scientology, first
presented his ideas in the bestselling book "Dianetics - the Modern Science
of Mental Health" (1950). Scientology, an expansion of Dianetics, followed
in 1952, the Church of Scientology appeared in 1954.
CoS headquarters are in Los Angeles and its main training facility is in
Clearwater, Florida. The CoS has branches in 59 countries; about half of
CoS members are believed to be US citizens and another third are in Europe.
The CoS claims to have over 9 million members; this is untrue. Its own data
and independent sources suggest an active membership of 50-100,000. In
addition there are scientologists who practise their faith outside the
Church ('Freezoners'). Some have set up their own organisations, though the
CoS remains the largest group. The CoS considers all Freezoners to be
'squirrels', the scientology term for heretics.
There are a number of enterprises that promote Hubbard's teachings such as
Narconon (anti-drugs), Criminon (anti-crime), CCHR (anti-psychiatry) and
WISE (business). When convenient the CoS claims that these are not
controlled by the CoS; internally circulated documents show otherwise.

There is a wealth of information about Scientology on hundreds of Internet
websites, more than you will ever have time to read. Type 'Scientology'
into a Search Engine such as Google and you'll find them. Please try
Searching first for answers, only when you can't find something specific
should you post questions here.
*** A comprehensive list of websites about Scientology:
http://www.altreligionscientology.org/
As an exercise you might like to open your web browser now and put any
words or phrases you don't understand in this FAQ into a Search Engine.

3. What do scientologists believe?
Scientology is an 'applied religious philosophy'. It is unique; it does not
conform to the stereotypes of 'cult' or 'religion' or even 'scam' portrayed
in the media. This is an important point that newcomers often take some
time to grasp as they try to fit Scientology into preconceptions of whose
existence they are not aware.
Scientology is not derived from Christianity, being an original belief set
devised/researched by L Ron Hubbard. Concepts that are considered important
in some religions such as a personal relationship to God do not exist in
Scientology.
The CoS claims Scientology to be compatible with other religions. This is
untrue.

*** The Internet Encyclopaedia on Scientology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology

4. I have some questions for Scientologists, are there any here?
Ordinary members of the CoS do not usually post here and are discouraged
from doing so. It's also likely that they couldn't answer the questions you
want to ask anyway for doctrinal reasons.

5. Can someone please Email me a copy of the secret scriptures?
You are referring to the unpublished writings of L Ron Hubbard that
constitute advanced courses in Scientology such as the OT (Operating
Thetan) levels. Anyone considering trying out Scientology should be aware
that the CoS holds that these levels should be studied in order and that
premature contact with the secret scriptures can result in serious harm.
According to Hubbard, he almost died whilst researching them.
Copies of the secret scriptures were stolen or reconstituted from memory
and summaries of them can be easily found on the Internet. Exact copies are
said to pop up on websites beyond the reach of CoS lawyers from time to
time.
The esoteric language used is not comprehensible to beginners. Really,
honestly, you should search the Internet for summaries rather than going
for the original texts.

6. What is a newsgroup?
Newsgroups (most of which form Usenet) are part of the Internet. They are
not forums or discussion boards, which use webpage based software.
Specialised newsreader programs include Agent and Gravity; Email programs
such as Microsoft's Outlook Express and Mozilla's Thunderbird have
integrated newsgroup readers.
To access newsgroups you need to connect to a newsgroup server. If your
Internet Service Provider (ISP) does not provide one or does not carry ARS
(most do) then free access to scientology newsgroups is available from
nntp.lightlink.com.
Portals such as Google offer newsgroup access on webpages but this has
certain disadvantages and we don't recommend them unless you have no
alternative.
*** How to set up a newsreader
http://www.daisy.freeserve.co.uk/stolgy_19.htm
If you have technical problems accessing ARS then it is definitely On Topic
to ask for help. We have a team of geeks awaiting your call.

7. So who's in charge?
No one. A few newsgroups are Moderated: contributions are diverted to an
Email address where a human moderator removes unwanted posts such as spam.
Most, including ARS, are not - what you post is what everyone will see.
Think before you press Send! That's not to say anarchy rules: normal laws
apply so you can be sued for libel and your ISP may well have a clause in
its Terms of Service (TOS) about causing offence on newsgroups.

8. Can I delete or change my posts?
You can't edit posts once sent, you can try to delete them but some news
servers ignore the Cancel command - another reason for thinking before
posting. Posts are deleted by news servers after a few weeks anyway, though
there is a Usenet archive currently hosted by Google.

9. Can I post anonymously?
Usenet doesn't check to see if you are using a real Email address so you
can post as [email protected] if you like. Please try to pick a unique
nickname and address so you won't be confused with someone else.
There is a normally invisible Header (some newsreaders can display it,
there are two examples below) attached to posts that gives details of where
you posted from, if you want to hide that as well you can use Anonymous
Remailers, a system that bounces your post around the Internet like in
those Hollywood hacker films.
A simpler way is to ask someone you trust to post your message for you.
By default, your ISP customer services department is staffed by idiots who
know nothing about the law. They will reveal your identity to anyone
sending them an Email full of legal phrases.

10. What are all these strange words?
Scientology has a lot of jargon that inevitably gets used here. We're not
going to apologise for this any more than alt.fan.tolkien posters should
apologise for talking about mathoms and ringwraiths.
There are several glossaries available on websites, and one is auto-posted
to ARS monthly.

11. Wasn't ARS started as a joke by someone using a fake Email address?
Yes. Here it is:

* From [email protected] Wed Jul 17 12:46:28 1991
* Path: rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!ai-
* lab!flag !miscaviage
* From: [email protected] (David Miscaviage)
* Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology.ctl
* Subject: newgroup alt.religion.scientology
* Message-ID: 80235@flag
* Date: 17 Jul 91 08:06:31 GMT
* Control: newgroup alt.religion.scientology
* Sender: [email protected]
* Lines: 0
* Approved: [email protected]

ARS was little used for a while, but as the Internet spread ex-
scientologists and the merely curious discovered it. The Church of
Scientology became increasingly concerned about what it saw as the 'false
and derogatory' information and copyrighted material being posted, as
several leaked internal memos indicate.
Around Christmas 1994 forged cancels began to appear. The forger, nicknamed
'Cancelpoodle' after the legitimate spam canceller 'Cancelmoose', attracted
the attention of the wider Usenet and Internet community - no one had
seriously tried to wipe out a newsgroup like this before.
Since that time Lazarus, a robot program, has been checking ARS for
cancelled posts and posting alerts about any it finds.

12. Didn't a CoS lawyer try to delete ARS?
Here you go:

* Control: rmgroup alt.religion.scientology
* Newsgroups: alt.config,alt.lotto.players,alt.lotto.players.ctl
* Path: uunet!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!
* netcom.com!hkk
* From: hkk@netcom
* Subject: cmsg rmgroup alt.religion.scientology
* Message-ID:
* Followup-To: alt.config
* Sender: [email protected] (Helena Kobrin)
* Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
* Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 22:52:23 GMT
* Lines: 17
* Xref: uunet control:1568915
*
* We request that you remove the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup from
* your site.
* The reasons for requesting its removal are: (1) It was started with a
* forged message; 2) not discussed on alt.config; (3) it has the name
* "scientology" in its title which is a trademark and is misleading, as
* a.r.s. is mainly used for flamers to attack the Scientology religion;
* (4) it has been and continues to be heavily abused with copyright
* and trade secret violations and serves no purpose other than condoning
* these illegal practices.
* Please confirm that you have removed this newsgroup from your system.
* Helena K. Kobrin Counsel for trademark and copyright owner

As mentioned earlier 'Path' above reveals that Helena was posting from
Netcom, as is also shown by her Email address.

13. And the CoS is still hostile to ARS?
ARS is nowadays just a minor front in a still expanding 'war' between the
CoS and its critics which includes pickets, media exposure, law suits and
other activities outside the scope of this FAQ.
In 1998-9 another attack on ARS was made, thousands of spam posts each day
that forged the names of regular posters and were dubbed 'sporgeries'. Its
only lasting effect was to attract the attention of more Internet users, as
regular readers quickly learnt how to filter out the spam.

14. This is a hate group trying to destroy the Scientology religion.
Was that a question? The CoS says so, yes. Naturally no one here is going
to admit to being a hatemonger or a religious bigot! You'll just have to
read ARS and make up your own mind on this.
Amongst critics, opinion differs about the 'destroy' bit. Some say they are
here to stop the alleged abuses committed by the CoS and are not concerned
with scientology as a set of beliefs. Others do not believe the two can be
separated - any scientology organisation is bound to end up as bad as the
CoS.
Critics presently have no formal organisation; such bodies have in the past
provided the CoS with targets to infiltrate, undermine and destroy as was
the fate of the Cult Awareness Network and the Lisa McPherson Trust. The
sometimes referred to 'ARS Central Committee' does not exist, being a
humorous reference to CoS paranoia about imagined plots against it.

15. Will posting on ARS cause the CoS to make trouble for me?
If you are a CoS member, post without permission and disagree with CoS
policy or doctrine you will probably be Declared. If you are not a CoS
member or ex-member then simply expressing your opinion is safe enough, the
CoS has too many critics nowadays to pursue them all.
The CoS has a documented history of attacking its perceived enemies,
sometimes in long term and carefully planned 'dirty tricks' operations.
Before doing anything other than posting you should find out about these.

16.  So what is On Topic for this newsgroup?
Anything connected with Scientology or the Church of Scientology; since
this is supposed to be a newsgroup, news and new information are
particularly on topic.
Posts that are just long reprints from webpages or books about scientology
are on topic but not encouraged, it's better to put in a hyperlink or a
reference.
Some people have been posting here for a long while, have become friends
and can wander off topic and start discussing cats, cookery or life on
Mars. This is normal human behaviour.
You may see posts about psychiatry. Scientology beliefs include a strong
dislike of psychiatry, opinion differs on whether this makes psychiatry a
suitable topic for ARS. The posts seem to be intended as spam, as their
authors are not interested in actually discussing psychiatry.

17. Are there do's and don'ts for posting?
*** A page of Netiquette
http://www.newsreaders.com/guide/netiquette.html
Crossposting (posting to several newsgroups at once) is not encouraged; we
have enough traffic without sharing off topic threads with other
newsgroups. Please trim or do not reply to crossposts unless they serve a
genuine purpose.
The more readable your post, the more people will read it. This means doing
simple things like not reposting the full text of a long article just to
put a short comment at the end of it (or worse, in the middle of it),
quoting at least a few lines so it is clear to what you are replying,
separating your text into paragraphs, etc.
*** Google Groups style guide
http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_style.html
On Google Groups to quote the previous message in your reply click the
"show options" link then the blue "Reply" link at the top of the post. The
full text of the previous message is then included in the composition box,
as it is in newsreaders by default.
Please make allowances for posters who are not native English typists.
Offering fallacious or fraudulent arguments attracts abuse and flaming on
ARS.
*** Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit:
http://www.xenu.net/archive/baloney_detection.html

18. There's a lot of rubbish on ARS, how can I get rid of it?
Newsreaders have a facility for blocking posts from people or about
subjects, this is called killfiling. Google Groups does not. Most ARS
readers have a carefully maintained killfile, this is an unfortunate by-
product of the popularity of the Internet, along with spam filters, virus
checkers and firewalls.
ARS has its share of trolls, the Usenet equivalent of children who throw
stones at windows and then run away. They are best ignored unless in
answering them you have something of interest to say. Some trolls crosspost
as well.
OSA (Office of Special Affairs in the CoS) remains interested in ARS,
maintaining one or more 'OSAbots' here whose posts are intended to confuse
and deter casual readers. When a 'flap' is on (some event upsetting to the
CoS) these posts increase for a few days in the hope that they will swamp
normal traffic.

19. I don't have the time to read ARS, how do I keep up to date with what's
happening?
ARS Week in Review may be for you then, it is a digest of significant
events as posted to ARS. It does not include discussion of such news,
scandal, gossip or flamewars, for those you have to read ARS directly.
*** ARS Week in review archives:
http://www.xenu.net/archive/WIR/
To receive weekly copies of ARS Week in Review send an Email to:
[email protected]
You should receive an Email response within 10 minutes for you to confirm
your membership in the ARSCC group. You will only receive one Email a week
if you sign up to this group and that will be ARS Week in Review. The Email
addresses of members are kept hidden.

20. Is this the only scientology newsgroup?
alt.clearing.technology (ACT) mostly discusses the beliefs and their
application and is mostly used by Freezoners.
de.soc.weltanschauung.scientology discusses scientology in German.
alt.binaries.scientology (ABS) is for pictures and such, the others being
plain text only newsgroups. A post to ARS saying 'new picture of Saint Hill
Manor on ABS' is OK.
There are also web based discussion boards about Scientology such as those
at Beliefnet, Factnet and Clambake. You may find one of these more friendly
and accessible than ARS.

21. Is this the only Usenet Scientology FAQ?
No, there have been a number of them in the past;
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/faqsearch.html archives thirteen of them! Most
date from the mid-1990s and the information in them is nowadays to be found
on web pages or is out of date. At present only one other, Martin Hunt's
ARS Glossary, is still posted regularly.

***************
Special thanks to Deana Holmes for preserving ARS history, Homer Smith for
Lazarus and lightlink and the secret masters of Usenet for keeping ARS
alive and kicking the cult since 1991.

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