I’d like to start off by addressing some criticism we’ve recieved since yesterdays posting, about not asking ‘the hard questions’ when interviewing Gerard Ryan yesterday. A phrase comes to mind here: ‘Catch more bees with honey than lemon’. There is already a great wealth of decidely anti-Scientology literature and media (which we linked to in our original post), its necessary sometimes to remember these are real people who really believe in the ‘religion’ created by L. Ron Hubbard. It is our goal to present as much a balanced argument as possible, so we make no apologies for attempting to hear the other side.

What is Scientology?

Scientology is a self-described ‘religion’ based on the writings and talks of the Science Fiction writer, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) [0]. The Church of Scientology defines Scientology as “the study of truth”. However even on a cursary look at the Church of Scientology reveals that such truth comes at a price. Where most other major religious groups share their teachings as ‘absolute truths’, which they believe will stand out on their own merits, it will cost you to ’study truth’ in scientology. Approximately $100,000 to learn the core beliefs. The Church of Scientology argues that the work they do, such as the auditing sessions, are labour intensive and thus justify the fees they charge; in stark contrast to most if not all other religions which survive on optional donations alone. As Gerard Ryan of The Church of Scientology (Ireland) admits, if you dont have the money to pay for the ‘religious services’, your pretty much out of luck - so from the point of view that Scientology is only for those with money seems at least in part to be true. One might reasonably ask, why spiritual enlightenment should carry a monetary levy.

Scientology has in the past, and continues to, protect its ’scriptures’ by protecting its copyright and trademarks, such that when such writings or otherwise religious paraphenalia have been posted on the internet or by other means, the Church has often responded harshly with cease and desist orders [1][2][3]. Most famously, the removal of the Tom Cruise video from the video sharing website YouTube. L. Ron Hubbard is attributed with the formulation of the “Fair Game” policy [4], and was described by L. Ron Hubbard as “[the enemy] May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.” [5], and is used by many to explain the Church’s way of dealing with criticism. It is argued by opponents that the Church of Scientology use this policy of ‘Fair Game’ to discourage any outvertly vocal critics of the church or the religion of Scientology. There are many videos freely available to view on the web which show how such a policy of ‘Fair Game’ may be performed by the Church [6][7][8]. The Church of Scientology vehemently denies these claims.

Did you know:
Of the4-5 churches world wide, only 3 countries recognise Scientology as a religion. In Ireland and many others, Scientology is considered a non-profit organisation. [10]

In Ireland, Scientology boasts “a couple hundred” members and is without doubt one of their less popular branches. Despite such a demure membership, it has already managed to earn itself a bad reputation in Ireland, due in no small part to the legal battle between itself and a Dublin business woman [9]. The lawsuit was settled out of court, but the shadow of this 8 year long battle still looms over the Church. Probing the reaction of the Irish public outside the Churches headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, we asked a few passers by some simple questions about The Church of Scientology. The first question was “Do you know where The Church of Scientology is located?”, to which every person we asked could not answer, despite the fact that we asked people whilst standing across the road from the Church’s Dublin Headquaters. Our second question to the Irish public was “What do you know, if anything about Scientology?”, of the people who stayed long enough for this question, two knew about Scientology - a German man which when asked about whether The Church of Scientology was a recognised religion in Germany, told us he was happy to say that its attempts at being recognised as such have failed to date, saying it was effectively ‘excelent news for Germany’, and a girl who said she was in school with another girl who was in Scientology. Scientology is far from poplular in Ireland.

Sources:
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_and_the_legal_system
[2] http://gawker.com/5002319/church-of-scientology-claims-copyright-infringement
[3] http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/ceaseanddesist.htm
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology)
[5] http://www.xenu.net/archive/co_pls.html
[6] http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-126281853779690652
[7] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLZJBdvqAv8
[8] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPol_m8wm8Y&feature=related
[9] http://www.rte.ie/news/2002/1203/scientology.html
[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_as_a_state-recognized_religion