Hasn’t there been a long battle between the Church of Scientology and the IRS?
The battle with the Internal Revenue Service was finally and favorably resolved on October 1, 1993. On that day, the IRS issued letters recognizing the Church of Scientology International and its related churches and organizations -- all 150 of them -- as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
This ruling marked the end of a 40-year war between the Church and the IRS. The IRS’s determination followed the most intensive scrutiny in the agency’s history of any organization applying for tax exemption and included a meticulous review of Church activities and financial records. During this examination, an enormous amount of false information that IRS officials had been operating on in relation to the Church was addressed and corrected. Once the facts were established, the IRS came to the only possible conclusion:
- The religion of Scientology is a bona fide religion;
- Churches of Scientology and their related charitable and educational institutions are operated exclusively for recognized religious purposes;
- Churches of Scientology and their related charitable and educational institutions operate for the benefit of the public interest rather than for the interests of private individuals;
- No part of the net earnings of Churches of Scientology and their related charitable and educational institutions inures for the benefit of any individual or noncharitable entity;
- The Churches of Scientology do not violate any public policy.
Why has the Church of Scientology been at odds with the U.S. government in years past? Are they still at odds?
The reason for the attacks against Scientology is basically very simple. Its genesis was not wrongdoing by the Church, but the perceived encroachment on turf claimed by the American medical/psychiatric community.
The conflict dates back to 1950, a time when psychiatry was entrenched among the US intelligence services and living off the fat of government grants. In May of that year, L. Ron Hubbard published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Not only did Dianetics contain the first workable technology of the mind that anyone could apply, but it also labelled their "state-of-the-art" psychiatric drugs as dangerous. Moreover, it decried the inhuman use of electroshock treatment and lobotomy -- then the mainstay of psychiatric "treatment." One cannot overestimate the threat that Dianetics posed to that medical/psychiatric establishment, both in terms of its inherent message and its unprecedented popularity with the American public; for suddenly here was a work that effectively ripped away their pretense of authority.
The response was immediate and considerable. Less than a month after the publication of Dianetics, psychiatrists on government payrolls were denigrating the book as a hoax, while admitting in the same breath that they had never even read it. A handful of influential psychiatrists used their government connections to spread lies and false reports through media and government files, escalating into an all-out attempt to close down the Dianetics foundations which had sprung up across the country and later, after its formation in 1954, the Church of Scientology. The issue was clearly financial: how long could psychiatrists continue to convince the American taxpayer to foot the bill for multi-million dollar psychiatric appropriations when Dianetics provided a means to greater happiness and ability for only the price of a book?
The attacks intensified after 1951, the year L. Ron Hubbard published Science of Survival. In that book, Mr. Hubbard publicly exposed, for the first time, government-funded mind-control experiments in which psychiatrists administered drugs and electric shock to unsuspecting human guinea pigs who were then implanted, while unconscious, with hypnotic commands. Decades later, victims would receive government compensation for the injuries they suffered from such experiments. But at the time these matters were among the best-kept secrets of the U.S. intelligence and psychiatric communities.
Once again the response from the federal/psychiatric circles was considerable. At least half a dozen federal agencies, including the FBI, IRS and FDA, were brought into the effort to suppress Dianetics and Scientology.
The story of the attempts to wipe out Scientology would fill a book, but this war was effectively over in October 1993, when, after its exhaustive scrutiny, the IRS issued a series of rulings expressly recognizing that the Church of Scientology and all its subordinate churches and related charitable and educational institutions in the United States are tax-exempt organizations.
The IRS ruling which encompassed not only every Scientology church in the United States but also several important Scientology organizations outside the United States signified that the IRS -- and the U.S. government -- had formally recognized that the Church of Scientology is a bona fide religious organization and that its activities are beneficial to society as a whole.
Yet, while the war is over, the Church knows there is still much to be done to clear up false data and misinformation spread to other branches of government and the media, both in the US and abroad over the last 40 years. Today, as you can see, the Church is making great efforts to provide the accurate information which tells the true story and corrects the falsehoods that have been circulated in the past.
What is the Guardian’s Office and does it still exist?
The Guardian’s Office, known as the GO, was initially created in 1966 as a unit to deal with the Church’s legal and external affairs. It no longer exists. It was permanently disbanded in the early 1980s by current Church management.
The GO had been infiltrated and set up to fail in its mission to protect the Church. It was influenced to abandon its original mandate and established itself as an independent autonomous unit, answerable to nobody. It was isolated not only from the mainstream activity and management of the Church, but even from the Founder of the religion. Some GO executives actually tried to gain exclusive control over Church corporate and financial affairs.
The first warning that all was not well with the Guardian’s Office came in the late 1970s. Representatives of Church management realized that the GO no longer had the best interests of the Church and its Founder at heart. The GO’s management of the Church’s external affairs was notably deficient and many parishioners and staff began to suspect that matters for which the GO was responsible were not being dealt with in accordance with the teachings of Mr. Hubbard. In fact, by this time, the Guardian’s Office had abandoned any pretense of following the principles described in L. Ron Hubbard’s writings.
It subsequently came to light that a handful of GO staff members had been influenced to adopt an "anything goes" approach in dealing with government discrimination against the Church. These dupes infiltrated and burglarized several US government offices to obtain copies of files maintained and circulated about the Church. Obviously such activity was illegal and directly violated Mr. Hubbard’s policies.
However, while such illegal conduct was afoot, the GO managed to keep its operations secret from Church management, staff and membership. Its autonomy shielded it from accountability. Most Scientologists were altogether unaware of GO clandestine activities. Even the government prosecutor in the later criminal case that arose from this illegal conduct, testified that only a handful of people in the GO had engaged in or even knew about these illegal acts. The rest, including thousands of staff and millions of parishioners, had no involvement or knowledge of such unlawful activities.
When the GO’s criminal activities were discovered by those who today form the core of the Church’s leadership, the GO was disbanded, no small feat since it was the GO officials who held corporate control. Its functions were completely reorganized and brought under the control of the Church’s ecclesiastical management officers. Many of the GO staff were not involved in any of the unlawful activities and, wanting to conduct their affairs in accordance with the Founder’s teachings, abandoned their former GO leaders. They then gave their full support to Church management in the clean out and disbanding of the GO. Those who participated in or knew of the GO’s illegal conduct in any way were removed from Church staff and forever banned from future Church employment.
Sadly, there were also some people in the Church, but outside of the GO itself, who sympathized with the GO because of their own agendas to achieve autonomy and gain control of the Church’s finances. In some cases, it was the Scriptures themselves they wanted to pervert for their own ends. Given these people had proven themselves to be avowed enemies of L. Ron Hubbard and the religion, they were excommunicated.
Today, some of these same people, no longer part of the Church, are loudly and bitterly critical of the Church’s current management. It is these few apostates who are most often the ones who spread vitriol in the media about Scientology and Church leaders. When they make allegations of wrongdoing, they are referring to the acts of the GO, of which many of them were either a part or in sympathy with. They fail to mention their involvement or the fact that they were kicked out of the Church because of their GO involvement -- or the fact that the very people they now try to tarnish with their allegations are the very people who permanently rid the Church of those who committed or supported such misdeeds.
This cleanup of the GO was led by Mr. David Miscavige, who removed all corporate control from the hands of the GO, and dismissed all personnel who had been involved in illegalities or attempts to alter Mr. Hubbard’s technologies. Mr. David Miscavige and a team of church executives then set up an entirely new corporate and administrative structure for the Scientology religion which has since served to keep the religion pure and in accordance with the teachings laid out by its Founder.
Outsiders familiar with these events leading to, and culminating in, the disbanding of the GO, have often commented on the decisive and thorough manner in which the entire situation was managed. Relations with the U.S. government have been restored and the Church obtained from the Internal Revenue Service full recognition and tax-exemption as an exclusively charitable, religious endeavor.
Virtually all major religions have gone through periods of trial and upheaval, especially during their formative years. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, underwent numerous schisms which splintered the faith. Sometimes history lingers. It took its leaders hundreds of years to come to terms with and acknowledge the Inquisition was wrong.
One of the steps taken to ensure that nothing like the GO could ever occur within Scientology again was the formation of Religious Technology Center (RTC). RTC is responsible for ensuring the purity of the religion and the Scientology scriptures, and provides a self-policing mechanism for the Church.
Indeed, the reorganization of the Church in the wake of the GO debacle marked the beginning of a new era. The Scientology religion not only successfully weathered the storm; it emerged stronger, more stable, larger and more influential than ever before. In 1980, there were 328 churches, missions and groups around the world. Today, more than 2,300 such entities span the globe. Dianetics and Scientology books are on bestseller lists all over the world, with Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health having sold four times as many copies since 1980 as it did in the whole of the prior 30 years.
Today, the Church’s executive structure is firmly established and it enjoys the wholehearted support of its membership. Most of the Church’s senior executives have held their positions for more than a decade.
Does the Church of Scientology view the press as hostile?
No. The Church regards the media as an important element of society which, responsibly run and responsibly employed, can do a tremendous amount of good. However, biased and irresponsible reporting can cause enormous harm by circulating and perpetuating misinformation which stokes the fires of prejudice.
The Church has worked with the press on thousands of occasions over the years. A responsible press is a substantial contributor to the cause of social reform, and many of the Church’s exposes of human rights abuses have only become known through the help of the media. In fact, the Church’s Freedom magazine has honored many journalists who, through their dedication and persistence, have uncovered abuses or helped to bring about important reforms.
The Church has a policy of making its spokesmen rapidly available to the media during breaking stories so that media representatives have accurate, reliable information with which to work. The Church has also taken a number of steps to provide the media with basic facts about Scientology, such as publishing this information you read now. In recent years, Church representatives have met with the editorial boards of major media all over the United States and in other countries to brief them on Scientology, its policies and its activities worldwide. These meetings helped to dispel the rumors and counteract the false allegations that have gathered in morgue files and in editors’ minds over the years. Such meetings have been very beneficial for both the Church and the media.
Why has Scientology sometimes been involved in court battles?
To protect the rights of our churches and parishioners.
The Church has gone to court a number of times to defend against encroachment of our civil and First Amendment rights.
The majority of this litigation, most of which started in the early to mid 1980s, has since concluded. The result has been significant court decisions in the United States and abroad which have fully recognized the religious nature of Scientology and which have upheld the rights of the Church and its parishioners to practice their religion. These are rulings which benefit all religions.
A number of cases were brought against the Church by unscrupulous individuals who tried to exploit the fact that the latent prejudices of courts and juries can be inflamed against new and unfamiliar religions and can lead to large, but undeserved sums of cash.
A number of people who filed such opportunistic suits later admitted they made allegations just for money or that they were the beneficiaries of covert government support which allowed the litigation to protract. The simple truth of the matter is that opportunistic lawsuits premised on false allegations and fueled by greed have all but disappeared in the wake of scores of favorable First Amendment judicial decisions, and, finally, the Internal Revenue Service’s 1993 determination fully recognizing the religious nature of the Church and its tax exempt status. Only the false assertions of a malignant but stubborn few seek to perpetrate falsities long since examined by the IRS and found to be unsubstantiated.
The IRS decision followed the most exhaustive examination of any organization ever undertaken by that agency. All of the allegations brought by these civil litigants were not only fully investigated as part of that examination but wholly dismissed.
What about the Church’s involvement in privacy and Freedom of Information Act cases?
The Church has spearheaded the rights of citizens to gain access to government documents and there are literally thousands of cases on file. In the United States, the Church has been one of the foremost proponents of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and in fact, published a very popular booklet on the subject which has empowered citizens across the nation.
Journalists and others have directly benefited from the precedents established by the Church in cases which have held government agencies accountable to release vital documents to the public on a variety of subjects. The Church’s actions have been heralded as vital contributions to the cause of ensuring honesty in government.
Does Scientology engage in brainwashing or mind control?
Not only is this question insulting, it is made even more offensive to Scientology since the exact opposite is true. Scientology makes people spiritually free and enables them to think for themselves. Indeed, one of the maxims used in the Church is that a parishioner should not just believe, but should observe the veracity and workability of Scientology for himself and only accept it when it is true for him.
The people making such accusations hold the opposite view. They seek to change opinion through "deprogramming," a violent form of faithbreaking which frequently involves kidnapping, forcible restraint, food and sleep deprivation, assault, battery and rape. These same people refuse to even allow Church representatives to show them the true information about Scientology or engage in any form of meaningful dialogue whatsoever.
Millions of Scientologists from literally all walks of life have attested to the positive benefits received from their religion. A common theme to their personal success stories is that they are now more in control of their lives than they ever have been.
Then, too, L. Ron Hubbard was one of the first to discover and expose actual mind control and brainwashing experimentation conducted by United States military and intelligence agencies during and after World War II. He called these techniques "pain-drug-hypnosis."
In his 1951 book, Science of Survival, he wrote:
"There is another form of hypnotism ... This form of hypnotism has been a carefully guarded secret of certain military and intelligence organizations. It is a vicious war weapon and may be of considerably more use in conquering a society than the atom bomb. This is no exaggeration. The extensiveness of the use of this form of hypnotism in espionage work is so wide today that it is long past the time when people should have become alarmed about it. It required dianetic processing to uncover pain-drug-hypnosis. Otherwise, pain-drug-hypnosis was out of sight, unsuspected, and unknown."
Not only did Mr. Hubbard uncover and expose such blatantly destructive experimentation, but the technology he developed, Dianetics, can undo the effects of pain-drug-hypnosis and free a person from the grip of mind control.
Years after Mr. Hubbard learned of and exposed these government-sponsored psychiatric mind control experiments, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act detailed the extent to which these techniques were being used -- many of them on unwitting citizens. Release of these documents also resulted in Congressional investigations and actions to ensure necessary safeguards were established to prevent the recurrence of such abuses.
Is Scientology like hypnotism, meditation, psychotherapy, or other mental therapies?
No. There is no resemblance between Scientology and psychotherapy or any other so-called mental therapy.
Prior to publication of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, mental therapy viewed man as a mere collection of chemicals. The traditional view in this field was that man was only the sum of his genes. His IQ and abilities were fixed and there was nothing he could do to change himself.
Psychiatric treatments reflect a brutality Scientologists cannot tolerate. They include such harmful practices as brain-damaging electric shock, dangerous psychotropic drugs and surgical techniques which cause irreparable physical, mental and spiritual harm. In contrast, Scientology deals with man as a spiritual being. It increases self-determinism by providing tools people can use to enhance their abilities and improve their lives. In the field of counseling, Scientology is unique. It relies upon the full consent of the individual, and does not attempt to reshape his opinion in any way.
Does it cost a lot to be a member of the Church and take services?
No.
A person who donates for auditing receives one-to-one personal and effective assistance to solve problems in life, to communicate more freely with others and to handle the upsets of life preventing his true spiritual freedom. Having achieved these lower levels a parishioner moves on to more advanced levels on which he is literally seeking immortality, which is priceless.
An entire team of Scientology staff members is required to deliver auditing, which is always individual, and/or training to a parishioner. Compare this to a church with a single priest or minister who delivers a single sermon to a congregation of perhaps 1,000 and the difference starts to become apparent. It would take about 650 ministers just to audit 2,000 Scientologists (one auditor can counsel three parishioners per day with some administrative assistance), and this does not account for all other staff who provide the services necessary for the Church itself to function.
The training delivered by Churches of Scientology could be compared to taking a course in a school or similar facility. Four years at a typical university would cost between $30,000 and $40,000; four years at a top university would run between $80,000 and $90,000 or even more. And those figures do not include additional costs such as books and supplies.
The most thorough study of Scientology available is the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, which takes more than 50 weeks to complete, at 40 hours per week of study. It provides a student with a full understanding of the mind and life and is the functional equivalent of a complete college education. The requested donation is between a fourth to a tenth of that charged by universities. Yet, the manpower required to deliver such training is very comparable. And Scientology churches provide this service without being supported by any government grants, as many universities are.
Students who are learning to become auditors must audit others as part of their training. In many cases, they coaudit each other and, of course, there is no donation requested for that. A person can receive the majority of his own auditing in this manner.
Furthermore, the donation system is fair. Unlike some religions which tithe the incomes of all parishioners, regardless of how much they participate in religious activities, the Church of Scientology receives donations from those parishioners who avail themselves of the services it offers and in proportion to services actually received.
For parishioners who can afford no donation, there is even a center at every Church where they can still receive auditing from ministers in training. And finally, Churches of Scientology conduct services similar to other denominations each week -- including Sunday services -- and no donation whatsoever is requested.
Is Scientology a secret society?
Not at all.
The Church and its actions are anything but secretive. In fact, the Church published What is Scientology?, a more than 700-page reference book that explains everything one might want to know about the Church. The Church also holds open house events and tours regularly, and many of our churches open their facilities free of charge for use by community and civic groups.
There is nothing mysterious about Scientology or its members and practices. The Church’s leaders are in close touch with the membership and they hold events throughout the year which are attended by tens of thousands.
Scientologists are actively involved in their communities, visible and effective.
The Church has found that those who allege the Church is secret are almost always ones who never bothered to try to communicate or find out anything, had they asked for information, they would have discovered Scientologists to actually be more outgoing with information than adherents of other faiths.
Is information divulged during auditing sessions always kept confidential?
Absolutely and without exception.
Traditionally, all communications between a minister and his parishioners have been privileged and confidential. That is certainly the case in Scientology religion, and this trust is never violated. The confidences given in trust during an auditing session are considered sacrosanct by the Church, and are never divulged. In fact, the Church would invoke all legal protections under its priest-penitent privilege to safeguard this confidentiality.
Can Scientologists come and go as members of the Church if they wish?
Certainly. A Scientologist is free to be as active in participating in Church services as he wishes. Non-practicing Scientologists may return to services at any time. If someone decides he no longer wants to be a member of the Church, he is free to leave.
In fact, normal participation in the Church involves only a few months out of the year during which parishioners receive services. Parishioners otherwise visit or participate in the Church as they wish.
Are Church staff members kept isolated in a commune, unable to speak to friends or family?
Not at all. Most staff commute to work, much like any other job.
Members of Scientology’s religious order, the Sea Organization, do live communally in church-provided accomodations and their food, clothing and medical costs are paid for. Like any other Church staff, they regularly spend time with family and friends. (See: "What is the Sea Organization?")
What is the Rehabilitation Project Force?
The Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) is a rehabilitation program offered only to members of the Sea Organization -- a religious order consisting of full-time staff members who have signed a pledge of eternal service to Scientology and its goals (See: "What is the Sea Organization?"). Sea Organization staff members who would otherwise be subject to dismissal for serious and/or continuous ecclesiastical violations are offered a second chance through the RPF. Personnel "burn out" is not new to organizations, but the concept of complete rehabilitation is.
Those participating in the RPF both study and receive religious counseling on a daily basis to address areas of difficulty in their personal lives.
Along with study and auditing, members of the RPF work eight hours per day as a team on tasks which improve the facilities of the Church by which they are employed and improve teamwork and coordination among the participants. The work allows the individual to regain confidence in himself and the pride of accomplishment.
Some critics of the Church who do not understand the purpose of this program have tried to intentionally misinterpret it as something other than what it is. Those critics, however, cannot speak authentically from personal experience. Those who know -- graduates of the RPF program -- attest to its enormous personal benefit, and express their appreciation for being able to avail themselves of redemption as opposed to dismissal.
How does Scientology view anti-cult groups and deprogrammers?
So-called "deprogrammers" are money-motivated criminals who kidnap and harass for profit. Their methods include imprisonment, food and sleep deprivation and various forms of personal assault, including assault and battery and even rape. Deprogrammers in many countries have been jailed for their involvement in such violent and illegal practices. Such activities are against virtually every principle held by Scientologists.
Where families express concern over another family member’s religious beliefs or practices, the situation can generally be handled with communication. Kidnapping and violence do not resolve upsets. They destroy families.
The Church does not condone the use of violence in any form and holds that each person has an inalienable right to their own beliefs as well as their personal freedom.
Why do some people oppose Scientology?
In the first place, very few do. Of course, as noted earlier, there are those in psychiatry who have long opposed spiritual betterment of any kind, but particularly that offered by Dianetics and Scientology. Then too, behind much opposition to Scientology one will invariably find the covert work of such anti-religious hate groups as the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), feeding off a false hysteria they themselves create.
However, as the Church was obliged to publicly expose, those assembled in CAN have been involved in brutal deprogrammings in exchange for thousands of dollars paid to them by gullible relatives of the victims. A large number of deprogrammers have been caught in the act and gone to jail.
Interestingly, when those who are attacking Scientology lose media support and coverage, their actual numbers turn out to be a very small handful. When these same individuals are no longer connected to CAN, their actual upsets are found to be quite insignificant and are readily handled through communication.
What does the term "fair game" refer to?
"Fair game" is a term which is often intentionally misinterpreted and used by apostate Scientologists and other critics to unfairly tarnish the Church.
"Fair game" was cancelled in 1968, more than 25 years ago, expressly because it was susceptible to misinterpretation and misuse. The term meant that apostate members could not seek protection or refuge under the Church’s internal ethics or justice codes. It had been intentionally and grossly misinterpreted by apostates, when all it meant was that those expelled from the Church could no longer take advantage of the internal ecclesiastical support and justice procedures Churches of Scientology provide to resolve disputes and upsets among parishioners. They would have to make their own way, unaided, with the justice procedures of the society as their only recourse.
This concept is as old as religion itself. Many faiths reserve the right to expel or excommunicate members who refuse to abide by the moral and ecclesiastical codes of the group.
The term does not appear in the Scientology Scriptures and has not existed since 1968. In fact, its only use since then is not by the Church at all, but by a handful of anti-Scientology apostates and their attorneys who have exploited it in efforts to generate anti-Scientology prejudice in the media or courtroom.
The truth is that Church management never has and never would tolerate illegal or unethical actions to be committed in the Church’s name. The scriptures of Scientology are replete with admonitions to its adherents to build their lives on foundations of honesty and integrity. The commission of dishonesties or harmful acts against another is the road to personal misery and destruction of positive interpersonal relationships.
What does "suppressive person" mean?
A suppressive person is a person who seeks to suppress any betterment activity or group. The suppressive person, also called an antisocial personality, works to upset, continuously undermine, spread bad news and denigrate other people and their activities. While it has sometimes been said that a suppressive person is just anti-Scientology, the fact is they oppose anyone doing better in life. Such people are not always easy to identify, however, they can be known by specific characteristics:
1. He or she speaks only in very broad generalities. "They say..." "Everybody thinks..." "Everyone knows..."
2. Such a person deals mainly in bad news, critical or hostile remarks, invalidation and general suppression.
3. The antisocial personality alters, to worsen, communication when he or she relays a message or news.
4. A characteristic, and one of the sad things about an antisocial personality, is that he does not respond to treatment or reform.
5. Surrounding such a personality we find cowed or ill associates or friends who, when not driven actually insane, are yet behaving in a crippled manner in life, failing, not succeeding.
6. The antisocial personality habitually selects the wrong target. If A is the obvious cause, the antisocial personality inevitably blames B or C or D.
7. The antisocial cannot finish a cycle of action. The antisocial becomes surrounded with incomplete projects.
8. Many antisocial persons will freely confess to the most alarming crimes when forced to do so, but will have no faintest sense of responsibility for them.
9. The antisocial personality supports only destructive groups and rages against and attacks any constructive or betterment group.
10. This type of personality approves only of destructive actions and fights against constructive or helpful actions or activities.
11. Helping others is an activity which drives the antisocial personality nearly berserk. Activities, however, which destroy in the name of help are closely supported.
12. The antisocial personality has a bad sense of property and conceives that the idea that anyone owns anything is a pretense, made up to fool people. Nothing is ever really owned.
Fortunately, such individuals are a very small percentage of the population. But because society as a whole has not had any means to identify them, the amount of havoc wreaked by the antisocial personality throughout the centuries is incalculable.
Virtually all the turmoil and conflict in an individual’s life can be traced to contact with such personalities. Individual men and women can usually sort out their differences through communication if they are not adversely influenced, often unknowingly, by an antisocial personality attempting to inflame, instead of resolve, conflicts.
If an individual attempting to improve his life through Scientology is encountering persistent opposition from a close associate, his spiritual advancement is impeded.
In the vast majority of cases, the antagonism is rooted in false information about Scientology and providing the true data ends the matter. As a last resort, when all attempts to sort out such situations have failed, the Scientologist may decide to disconnect from the person until the antagonism ceases.
A person who disconnects is simply exercising his right to communicate or not to communicate with a particular person. This is one of the most fundamental rights of man. Members of other religions have exercised it down the ages when confronted by those who persistently opposed the practice of their faiths. Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Amish practice "shunning" -- a form of disconnection -- and their right to do so has been upheld by courts across the country. Certain Orthodox Jewish congregations practice an extreme form of disconnection in which a mock funeral is held for apostate members. Disconnection in Scientology is neither new nor strange in the annals of religion.
