Scientology "auditing" is a unique form of personal counseling intended to help an individual look at his own existence and improve their ability to confront what and where they are. It is a precise, thoroughly codified activity with exact procedures. A Scientology counselor is known as an "Auditor". Auditing is assisted by use of a specially designed meter (E-Meter or Electro-psychometer) which they believe helps locate areas of spiritual distress or travail by measuring the mental state or change of state of the person being audited. It does this by continuously measuring the electrical resistance of the person's body. Variations of resistance are shown on a ammeter which are then interpreted by the Auditor. The E-Meter was invented by Volny Mathieson who gave it to L.R. Hubbard. It is covered under US Patent 3,290,589 "Device for Measuring and Indicating Changes in the Resistance of a Human Body", issued on 1966-DEC-6.

An equal part of the practice of Scientology is training in Scientology principles which includes the technology of the auditing process.

The whole purpose of auditing and training is to graduate individuals to a higher state of spiritual existence or to cross "The Bridge to Total Freedom." The goal is to revive the individual as a spiritual being and free him from dependence on the material universe. The metaphor of a bridge has long been used in religious tradition to denote the route across the chasm from where we are now to a higher plateau of existence.

Auditors become ministers, are ordained and wear clerical clothing.

Not being an exclusive religion, members are welcomed to retain their church affiliation when they become Scientologists.

Another Scientology symbol is an eight-pointed cross. The eight points represent the eight Dynamics, described above. The cross also represents the transition from materialism to spirituality and the crossing of that barrier.

Many counter-cult groups accuse the Church of Scientology (and other religious groups with which they disagree on theological grounds) of not allowing members to leave the church, or of endlessly harassing them in an attempt to force them back into the fold. We have found these claims to be false with other religious groups, and we believe that it is also untrue in the case of Scientology. The church's official position is that if a person leaves and asks to be taken off the membership/mailing lists, they are not contacted. Otherwise they might expect to get a phone call or letter of inquiry.

L. Ron Hubbard, "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health", Bridge, Los Angeles (1950, 1978)

L. Ron Hubbard, "Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought", The Church of Scientology of California Publications Organization, Los Angeles, (1973)

"What is Scientology?," an encyclopedia on the basic beliefs, practices and organization of the Scientology religion.

"The Scientology Handbook"; a compilation of the works of Mr. Hubbard and specific Scientology technologies dealing with communication, integrity and honesty, marriage, children, drugs, and education, etc.

Narconon is a rehabilitation program, assisting individuals to overcome their drug dependencies. Their Purification Rundown procedure involves exercise, sauna, vitamins and drills. Narcanon has 37 locations in Canada, United States and other countries. Independent studies have showed that about 75% of Narconon graduates have remained off drugs when they were checked two years after completing the program. This is a success rate that is considerably higher than most programs.

Criminon is a program to rehabilitate criminals through utilizing Hubbard's book, The Way to Happiness, which is a 21-precept modern moral code.

The Way to Happiness Foundation promotes The Way to Happiness throughout society to improve moral and family values.

Applied Scholastics utilizes the educational ideas of Hubbard, which stress complete understanding through the use of unique study principles.

The World Institute of Scientology Enterprises is a religious fellowship made up of businessmen and professionals in numerous fields, who utilize and promote the administrative technology of Hubbard.

The Church has several social reform groups, the most notable being the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights which exposes abuses in the field of psychiatry and mental health. In Canada, the Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life campaign is well known.

March 13: L. Ron Hubbard's Birthday

May 9: The anniversary of the book Dianetics, first published on that date in 1950

September - Second Sunday: Auditor's Day, when the contributions of auditors is acknowledged.

October 7: The International Association of Scientologists Anniversary, which is held in a different city each year.

law suits against Dennis Erlich, Keith Henson, Arnie Lerma, Grady Ward, and other individuals

law suits against Netcom, DGSys, Washington Post, FACTnet (an agency supplying information on groups who allegedly use coercive mind control), XS4ALL and 14 other Dutch Internet Service Providers, and "anon.penet.fi" (a Finnish anonymous remailer).

The Religious Technology Center (RTC) v. Netcom On-Line Communication Services Inc. (Netcom): RTC was one of the copyright owners of writings by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Dennis Erlich was a church minister, but left the organization and became a critic of the religion. He posted part of the church's works on the Usenet news group alt.religion.scientology; this was an illegal act, because he had not first obtained permission from the copyright holder. His posting went through a BBS system owned by Thomas Klemsrud where the files were stored for 3 days. The postings were automatically forwarded to the Internet service provider Netcom, where they were stored for 11 days. Netcom's software made postings available to Usenet servers around the world. Netcom personnel do not monitor or censor any postings; all were processed automatically without human intervention.

The Church asked Erlich to stop the postings; he refused. They then asked Klemesrud to remove the postings and keep Erlich off his BBS. Klemsrud replied by asking the Church to prove that it owned the copyrights for the postings. The Church refused this request as being unreasonable. They then asked Netcom to refuse Erlich access to the Internet. Netcom refused, because the only way for them to accomplish this would be to disconnect hundreds of other BBS users as well. The Church sued Klemesrud and Netcom for copyright infringement. When this suit is settled, it will probably became a landmark case in copyright law on the Internet.

The court recognized that even though the BBS and Netcom files were only saved for 11 days or less, that they were still sufficiently "fixed" to constitute copies under the copyright act. But because there was no actual manual intervention by Netcom, the court considered their involvement analogous to the owner of a public-access copy machine who allows customers to duplicate material. The court held that only the original subscriber can be held liable for "direct infringement" of any posting of a copyrighted work to a Usenet group. But if the Church could prove that Netcom was aware of the copyright infringement in time to prevent its distribution, and that they took no action, then Netcom could be considered liable to "contributory infringement."

The Fishman Documents: Steven Fishman, a former Scientologist and convicted felon was being sued by the Church over comments that he had made to a reporter for Time Magazine. These comments had formed part of an article "Scientology: The Cult of Greed." which Time magazine had published in 1991. Time had called the Church a "hugely profitable global racket." The Church had sued Time for libel. Time won, and the decision was affirmed on appeal. The magazine spent over 7 million dollars to contest the court action. Fishman had included into the trial record about 65 pages of the Church's Operating Thetan (OT) documents - about 10% of the total writings by Hubbard on this topic. Although most of his writings are public, the OT documents are very carefully protected by the Church. A 1993 court ruling recognized that their scriptures are trade secrets. Access is only permitted to members who are judged to be spiritually and ethically fit to handle the material. Fees totaling tens of thousands of dollars are paid by members to read and study all 8 levels of the documents.

The 65 pages were put on the WWW by a Webmaster in Amsterdam. On 1995-SEP, Scientology representatives asked the Dutch XS4ALL ("access for all") Internet Service Provider to delete the documents from their customer's page; the provider refused. When the smoke cleared, duplicate sets of documents had appeared at more than 100 other WWW sites. The Church then sued 3 other service providers; this was later increased to a total of 23 separate parties. The Church lost.

In 1995-JAN, a Church lawyer approached Usenet administrators, unsuccessfully attempting to have the "alt.religion.scientology" newsgroup removed. She argued that the name of the group included their trademarked name "Scientology".

In 1995-FEB, Scientology officials worked through Interpol and the Finnish police to obtain the "True Name" of one user from "anon.penet.fi", an anonymous remailer. In 1996, they asked for two more names. Rather than comply, the owner of the remailer, Julf Helsingius, closed down the facility.

From 1996-MAY-19 to SEP-17, thousands of spam postings from over 20 accounts or pseudonyms have been made to newsgroup "alt.religion.scientology". The postings consist of text taken from the Church's web site. Some newsgroup subscribers blame this on the Church. But there is no indication what individual or group is responsible.

A series of lawsuits against individuals and service providers came to the attention of the Washington Post. They published a story on the dispute, and quoted a total of 46 words from the secret writings by Hubbard. The Church sued the Post and two of its reporters for copyright infringement.

Germany: The government has sponsored an ongoing campaign against new religions for years. New religious movements are being considered as alien to the country's culture by many Germans. Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Jewish religious communities have special legal status in this country. The state collects an income tax surcharge on all members of these faith groups; state governments subsidize Church-affiliated schools. The Church of Scientology, and numerous other small faith groups remain outside these lucrative financial arrangements. In addition, tax officials are attempting to abolish the Church's tax exempt status because they regard it as a business and are concerned with some of its teachings.

The Church has received recognition of its status as a religion from the courts, which should theoretically give it protection under the religious freedom clause of the German constitution. However, persecution of the Church within Germany is ongoing.

France: A Scientology center was closed in France because of tax problems. At the request of the widow of a follower of Scientology, a 5 year investigation was conducted by a French court into the organization's beliefs, practices, global structure and finances. 24 senior members of the French branch of the Church have gone on trial with charges ranging from manslaughter to embezzlement, fraud and complicity. Jean-Jacques Mazier, the former head of the Lyons Mission of the Church of Scientology, was convicted of manslaughter and fraud. He was sentenced on 1996-NOV-22 to 18 months in jail. According to the prosecution, he and Patrice Vic unsuccessfully tried to persuade Vic's wife to lend him money to take a Scientology course. Vic committed suicide by jumping off his apartment building. According to the defense, Vic's suicide was caused by alcohol abuse and depression.

Greece: On 1997-JAN-17, the Church, which has operated in that country as Center of Applied Philosophy was labeled a danger to society and ordered to close by an Athens court. Judge Constandia Angelaki wrote: "It is an organization with medical, social and ethical practices that are dangerous and harmful. It claims to act freely so as to draw members who subsequently undergo...brainwashing by dictated ways of thinking that limit reaction capabilities." Scientology representative Heber Jentzsch wrote: "The case is a sham. It is unfortunately reminiscent of the former junta that ruled Greece as a totalitarian state and the assault today is simply because the mission is not 'orthodox' according to the prevailing vested interests in Greece." In 1999-MAY, the Third Court of Appeals dismissed all charges after the prosecutor asked that they be withdrawn.

Italy: On 1997-JAN-18, 29 members of the Church were sentenced to between 9 and 20 months in prison for criminal association. Fabio Amicarelli, a spokesman for Scientology, said that Scientologists are being persecuted in Italy just as in Germany.

Ron Newman's home page documents conflicts "that are hostile to the spirit of free speech on the Net". The page is titled: "The Church of Scientology vs. the Net" See: http://www2.thecia.net/users/rnewman/scientology/home.html  

Wendy Grossman, "alt.scientology.war", Wired magazine, 1995-DEC

Alison Frankel, "Making Law, Making Enemies", American Lawyer magazine, 1996-MAR

David Post, The State of Nature and the First Internet War: Scientology, its Critics, Anarchy, and Law in Cyberspace", Reason magazine, 1996-APR