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From: Hartley Patterson <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: alt.religion.scientology critical FAQ 1.7.6
Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 14:18:19 +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 (1.7.6)

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.
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).
Internet URLs are signalled by ***. If you cannot use them as links directly,
cut and paste into your browser.

2. What is Scientology?

This is an FAQ for ARS not for Scientology so the answer 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 with another third in Europe.
The CoS claims to have around 10 million members, however 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 CoS enterprises that promote Hubbard's teachings such as
Narconon (anti-drugs), Criminon (anti-crime), CCHR (anti-psychiatry), Applied
Scholastics (schools) and WISE (business). When convenient the CoS claims that
it does not control these groups, 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 to ARS.
*** Wikipedia, the Internet encyclopaedia, has a wide range of articles about
Scientology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
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 or any other religion, 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.

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. Scientologists are not encouraged to discuss
Hubbard's teachings amongst themselves or to explain them to outsiders but to
read them and advise others to do so.

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 could result in serious harm. According to Hubbard, he
almost died whilst researching them. The copyright to all Hubbard's writings
is owned by the CoS.
Copies of the secret scriptures were stolen and summaries of them can be 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.
*** OT III Scholarship Page
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/OTIII

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.
***
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsgroup
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 or robot 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. News servers delete old posts after a few weeks anyway, though there
is a searchable Usenet archive currently hosted by Google. If you posted
something really embarrassing, you can delete it from the archive.

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 or customer care. 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?

The creator had serious intent, but here is his setup post:

* 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
discovered it and the CoS became increasingly concerned about what it saw as
the 'false and derogatory' information being posted. When extracts from its
'secret scriptures' were posted beginning around Christmas 1994 the CoS
retaliated with lawsuits and raids against the suspected posters.
At the same time forged cancels began to hit ARS. 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:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.config/msg/a8bbf4ca497633c6

* 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.

*** Wendy M. Grossman's article 'alt.scientology.war' (1995) covers the early
days:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.12/alt.scientology.war.html
*** and on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_versus_the_Internet

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.

*** Google has some stats on ARS (most frequent posters, monthly number of
posts) at
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.scientology/about

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 based 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. I want to spread the bad news. Is there some simple information I can pass
on to others?

*** What Scientology Won't Tell You: An Information Pack
http://www.xenu.net/archive/infopack/

16. 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.

17.  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 the posters
are not interested in actually discussing psychiatry.

18. 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), 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/support/bin/answer.py?answer=12348&topic=250
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

19. 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.
*** A special killfile minibrowser for Google Groups:
http://holysmoke.org/ggf/index.htm
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.
*** A list of suspected OSAbots:
http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/circlejerk.html
As above, they thrive on attention. Please only reply to them if you have
something new to say ("Scientology sucks!" is not an original concept to this
newsgroup), often they are not actually reading ARS anyway, only posting to
it.

20. Whatever happened to Bob Minton?

*** His Wikipedia entry, neutrality disputed of course and incomplete:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Minton
Since he withdrew from involvement with Scientology in 2002 Mr Minton has not
written or spoken publicly, his whereabouts and circumstances are unknown.
Critics remain deeply divided about what happened, and some (including myself)
suspect that OSAbots deliberately ask this and other questions in order to
reopen old wounds.

21. 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/

22. 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.
free.it.religioni.scientology is in Italian.
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. It has poor distribution but you can access it free
through
http://www.usenet-replayer.com/groups/alt.binaries.scientology.html
There are also a number of web based discussion boards about Scientology, you
may find these more to your liking than ARS as they are moderated to remove
rubbish.
http://beliefnet.com
http://factnet.org
http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/
http://forum.exscn.net mostly ex-members
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/XSO/ is a group for ex-Sea Org members only.

23. Is this the only Usenet Scientology FAQ?

No, there have been a number of them in the past;
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/scientology/ 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.
Reprinting this FAQ is permitted, encouraged even, provided nothing is omitted
including the header which points to the latest version.