Senator Nick Xenophon says Scientology is 'a criminal organisation'

By staff writers and wires

news.com.au

November 18, 2009 12:01am



Nick Xenophon
Nick Xenophon said letters he has received implicate the organisation in a range of crimes / File

* Xenophon calls Scientology "criminal"
* Says people have told him of crimes
* Church accuses Xenophon of "outrageous abuse"

INDEPENDENT Senator Nick Xenophon has accused the Church of Scientology of being a "two-faced, criminal organisation" hiding behind religious beliefs to get rich.

He has told Parliament he has been contacted by a number of former Scientologists, after he questioned the tax exempt status given to the organisation, which has has said "turns supporters into victims in its pursuit of power and wealth".

"They have provided long and detailed letters to me about the workings of this organisation,'' he told the Senate yesterday. "These people rightly see themselves as victims of Scientology.''

Senator Xenophon has tabled the letters in the Senate. They accuse the organisation of a range of crimes, including forced imprisonment, coerced abortions, embezzlement of church funds, physical violence, intimidation and blackmail.

The Church of Scientology has released a statement accusing Senator Xenophon of an "outrageous" abuse of parliamentary privilege.
Related Coverage

* Response: 'An outrageous abuse'

Accusations

In a letter from Perth man Aaron Saxton, he admits to torture and blackmail while working for the Church of Scientology in Australia and at its US headquarters between 1989 and 1996, The Australian reported.

Another letter from Carmel Underwood, a former executive director of the church's Sydney branch, alleges a child abuse cover-up in the 1980s in which the vicim was "coached" to lie to authorities.

In the third letter, Sydney man Dean Detheridge, part of the church for 17 years, says the church "culled ... embarrassing revelations and confessions" from counselling sessions that could be used against members who turned against the church.

He also says he witnesses and participated in "concerted efforts to extract as much money as possible" from parishioners with "absolutely no regard" for their financial situation.

"I am deeply concerned about this organisation and the devastating impact it can have on its followers,'' Senator Xenophon told the chamber.

Senator Xenophon said the Church of Scientology had been convicted of fraud in France and was facing similar charges in Belgium.

A number of the organisation's former high ranking executives in the US had also recently spoken out against its leader, David Miscavige, saying they had seen him assaulting staff and urging others to do the same, he said.

"What we are seeing is a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality,'' Senator Xenophon said. "On the body of evidence, this is not happening by accident, it is happening by design.

"In my view, this is a two-faced organisation," he told the Senate. "Scientology is not a religious organisation, it is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs.''

Without specifically addressing the allegations made in the letters, the Church of Scientology dismissed Senator Xenophon's claims as "hate speech".

"Senator Xenophon is obviously being pressured by disgruntled former members who use hate speech and distorted accounts of their experiences in the church," the church's statement read. "They are about as reliable as former spouses are when talking about their ex-partner."

The church described the former members' statements as constituting a "propaganda campaign that would suit a totalitarian regime, not Australia, a country that recognises freedom of religion".

Haha, "finally"? People have been speaking out and protesting against Scientology for two years.

Either way, good essay here. I wonder how long it'll take for the CoS to serve this guy with a subpoena for libel.

Not in Australia they havent, not like this, tho Annonymous did some rather news worthy protests.

One of the biggest anonymous protests was in Australia. Also, Epic Beard Guy went to Australia, and he's a pretty big figure from XenuTV who speaks to the press. The dude's been on CNN as well as Fox News.

I have a friend who was at the forefront of the Sydney one, but backed off a little when he found out who some of the people involved were.

Whatever the reason for their bad publicity I am very glad they are getting it tho my first thought on reading this article was " Wonder how long this senator will last before his car blows up?"

What you have to understand about the anonymous protests of Scientology was that anonymous didn't protest because they felt Scientology is a criminal cult. We protested because we thought it was funny to get mainstream media attention. Some people took it way too far and formed Project Chanology, which pretty much killed the joke. While the initial joke was dead, some people, such as myself, went and protested hard because we got to make bad people's lives hell. Not because we were bringing justice to these people.

We didn't peacefully protest. There were a couple of guys who colored paper black and faxed 10,000 copies to a bunch of CoS offices around the country. We hacked their computers, got the leaders' personal information, posted church "secrets" all over the windows of scientology buildings, and pretty much harassed anyone in their respective areas for being affiliated with scientology. Hell, some people even crossed a few lines (not that we cared), and snuck into buildings, vandalizing property and stealing stuff.

The media-heads who supported the protests conveniently never mentioned this stuff. It was portrayed as a bunch of guys standing around with masks peacefully protesting. So they stopped. Anonymous quit.

Scientology lost all its credibility as a religion when they posted the personal information of a minor on their site. The guy who did that is facing serious charges, but of course, Scientology's crack team of attorneys reduced it down to an unknown settlement for no punishment.