Scientology in INDIA. US CULT GO HOME

As she strolls down Dadabhai Naoroji Road in Mumbai, Aussie Marion Whitta gets a tap on the shoulder from a tall Indian fan. "I bought Dianetics (the first book of a post-modern faith called Scientology) in 1987 in Melbourne," he says. He is in a yellow polo shirt inscribed with the Scientology logo on the back. He walks with her for about 50 paces, interrupting the conversation she is trying to have with friend. He recounts the moment he first encountered Scientology, never once wiping the loyal puppy-dog grin off his face.

Whitta, who is over 50 and has a smoker's husky voice, is a leader of Scientology and a veteran at handling the Scientology fan base. She tells this reporter the gushing gratitude of the devout, "happens to us all the time."

The late L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology in the 50s. Hubbard was investigated by U.S. government agencies for fraud and Russell Miller, who wrote an unofficial biography on Hubbard, described him as "one of the most successful and colorful confidence tricksters of the twentieth century." Over the decades, Scientology has amassed numerous fans and controversies. Today, it is best identified as Tom Cruise's religion.

Scientology trainers from France and the United States practice Scientology techniques on a Mumbai resident. The trainers incite reactions from the student through taunts and insults with the aim of helping student maintain their peace and composure in the face of adversity.

To promote the ideas of Scientology in India, scores of its prophets, from countries like America, France and Australia, have landed in Mumbai to officially introduce their brand of fool-proof "science" of self-improvement. They haven't set up an official church in Mumbai yet, but the Church of Scientology has operated in Delhi for some time. There are other Scientology branches or "missions" in Patiala, Mysore and Kolkata, where training is conducted.

Scientologists count between 4,000 to 5,000 Indians as members, most of whom have been impressed by the all-souls-compatible philosophy of the religion - you don't have to renounce an old faith to become a Scientologist. It works as a complimentary religion that supplements a person's faith. As a religion, it "provides exact principles and practical technology for improving self-confidence, intelligence and ability," according to its official book, What is Scientology, a 1000-page tome weighing 7 lbs.

It's basically a self-improvement scheme that allows people to "become more themselves," says Whitta. But Scientologists don't usually offer a direct understanding of what it is. Scientology trainer, Felix Lange, a boyish, blond man from Germany with innocent eyes says, "When I'm asked what it is, I usually ask the other person about himself, ask about what's going on in his life and find out which issues he is dealing with. Scientology can help you with those, I say."

The core fundamentals of the ideologies put forth by Hubbard in Dianetics are derived not from divine inspiration, but from bits and pieces of religious texts and world study, stitched together by the former writer of science fiction novels. The four trainers and their leader, Whitta, who are in India to spread the word, have reached out to the Bombay Municipal Corporation staff (Mumbai's version of city council), various branches of the fire brigade and Jai Hind College among other organizations.

Scientology offers many courses, whose de scri ptions read like the wish-lists of people afflicted with a common problem known as "living life." Everyday problems can be solved, like achieving new levels of practical life abilities, communication, concentration, stress-reduction, studying, etc. The Super Power course promises, "Twelve individual rundowns can put a person into fantastic shape unleashing the Super Power of a Thetan." The New Life Rundown course will, "address the main block or the area of irrationality. It can bring a new start, a new viewpoint of sanity and rationality."

The first step in becoming a Scientologist is to read Dianetics, a book that includes the understatement: "This volume has made no effort to use resounding or thunderous phrases, frowning polysyllables or professorial detachment. When one is delivering answers which are simple, he need not make the communication any more difficult than is necessary to convey the ideas."

A Scientology trainer from Germany practices a hands on healing technique on a Mumbai Scientology member

The next step is to undergo "auditing," a name given for one-on-one therapy sessions. Through working out negative memories from the past, one moves from a state of "pre-clear" to "clear" in about a year's time with an investment of about Rs 14,000 ($350) to Rs 22,000 ($450), says Shalini Sharma of the Delhi centre. A pre-clear is someone who still has a "reactive mind," someone who is sensitive to negative experiences and reacts accordingly. A clear is someone who no longer has the "reactive mind." Next step is becoming an "operating Thetan," one who invests much more to achieve "total freedom," a state not unlike experiencing enlightenment. With "total freedom" an operating Thetan is "able to control himself and his environment, he becomes more powerful, stable and responsible," according to Scientology's texts.

When the yellow uniformed disseminators of information aren't flitting around town, headed to various training locales, they conduct training on themselves, and on drop-in groupies in a small windowless room in a nonde scri pt hotel in the Fort neighborhood of Mumbai. The room is also where the prophets are staying.

People like 24-year-old Sonia Makwani are here through word-of-mouthreferral. She is the founder of NGO, Touch One Life, who has completed courses in holistic healing, has a master's degree in clinical psychology and a doctorate in hypnotherapy. Then there are people who have accidentally fallen into Scientology, like the 24-year-old drop-out from the University of Pennsylvania who has moved back in with his parents in Colaba. He stumbled upon Scientology in Nariman Point one day when its apostles had set up a tent near the fire brigade. "I've stayed in the program this far only because nothing has driven me away," he says with an American accent.

Whitta had found Scientology after suffering through debilitating juvenile arthritis. When she was nine, she was walking with the help of a cane, and even moving in a wheel chair. She was in and out of the hospital until her mother finally tried Scientology. "All I know is it worked. Scientology worked for me. I walked in with a walking stick and I walked out without it."

The Dianetics book is replete with such stories of triumph. Scientologists also talk fondly of the peculiar, "silent birth" of Suri Cruise, the revered daughter of Katie Holmes and the most famous fan of Scientology, Tom Cruise. Scientologists believe that anything said around a person who is unconscious, whether from an accident, sickness or by the virtue of being in the birth canal, can negatively affect that person, by way of the power of suggestion.

The claims of Scientology have long been contested by mainstream science. The French government has been in court battles for years over limiting the practice of Scientology in the country. It wanted to bring Scientology under the arm of legislation it had passed against "fraudulent abuse of a state of ignorance or weakness," which is punishable with a maximum sentence of a three-year jail term. A Scientologist in that country was recently convicted of involuntary homicide for the death of a member who went into heavy debt from paying for Scientology courses and eventually committed suicide. The faith has also been investigated by the European International Police Organization (Interpol), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S Post Office. In Clearwater, Florida, a wrongful death case against the Church of Scientology for the death of Lisa McPherson, who died of pulmonary thrombosis while under its care, was settled out of court in 2004.

The most contentious part of Scientology is that it considers homosexuality a perversion, an incendiary view today in the West. "The sexual pervert (and by this term Dianetics includes any and all forms of deviation like homosexuality, sexual sadism, etc.,) is actually quite ill physically...he is so far from normal and so extremely dangerous to society that the tolerance of perversion is as thoroughly bad for society as punishment for it." Whitta says in a reassuring tone, "We know how to deal with it though." Scientologists can audit a pre-clear to reduce the influence of homosexuality in a person. Of course, some argue that it's Scientologists who need help.

The Jean-Luc Barbier Affair

Foreword

The story of Jean-Luc Barbier is without a doubt the ultimate cause célèbre among the various tales and scandals that involve the Church of Scientology in Switzerland.

In 1989 Jean-Luc Barbier moved through the Upper Levels of Scientology in Clearwater, Florida, until his progress came to an unceremonious halt after he adamantly refused membership in WISE , a Scientology affiliation seeking to run each business owned by Scientologists as if it were franchises and which exact a 15% commission of the business income. His subsequent demands for refund of Scientology service were met by 10 years of stalling tactics from the Church. When the monies were finally paid, the Church publicly labeled him as psychotic, but Jean-Luc Barbier won a court case against the Church for slander in late 2006.

I have read numerous documents published by Mr. Barbier on the Internet and I can testify that according to my experiences and personal observations all the declarations that he has made concerning his experiences with the Church of Scientology between 1989 and 1990, are entirely accurate.

I know this for a fact, because I was not only there, but I was also his auditor. (An auditor is a Scientology practitioner or therapist)

An affair that turned sour

I first met Jean-Luc Barbier at Scientology's most advanced Center located in Clearwater, Florida, in early spring of 1989. Because I spoke French and was one of the qualified auditors to provide upper Level counseling that he would soon require, I started upon a program of sessions with Jean-Luc.

I do not believe I am revealing any personal secrets of Jean-Luc if I state that he had always appeared to me to be "normal” and “balanced". I also liked him. According to Scientology's own criteria and in sharp contrast to the outrageous statements made by official spoke-persons of the Church of Scientology, he had to be in good mental condition, in good spirits and most certainly not mentally sick, in order to be invited to do Scientology's Upper Levels. The adjudication of the mental state and hence preparedness for the Scientology Upper Levels is never granted by the auditor, but rather by a group of "Case Supervisors", who are viewed as the most technically advanced individuals in a Scientology organization. Unanimously and according to their own criteria, in 1989 Scientology Case Supervisors declared Jean-Luc Barbier to be "mentally healthy".

Things moved along, at least according to my perception at the time, in a rather normal fashion until the moment when a number of Church salesmen, called registrars in Scientology lingo, prompted by a demonic fervor to increase the Church’s already significant wealth, put considerable pressure to extort from its parishioners, including Jean-Luc, the greatest possible amount of money they would be able to squeeze, stopping just short of beggaring them. The extraction of large sums of money from its adherents, frequently described as bilking, is a routine procedure undertaken by the Church of Scientology. Experienced and ruthless salesmen are used to subject those perceived as potential income donors to the strongest of sales pressure tactics until they eventually crack and empty their bank accounts, or they borrow up to the limits of their credit availability, and even beyond, through a number of devious schemes.

Having had to deal over and over with the upsets and nightmarish wake that follows such unethical behavior, I frequently wrote it up, hoping that something would eventually get done about it, but it nothing ever. I eventually reached the conclusion that the entire infrastructure of the Church of Scientology is based on greed rather than serving others.

Toward the end of his trip, Jean-Luc was deeply perturbed. The reason seemed amply clear to me: he had been pointlessly threatened by arcane curses and eternal damnation by labeling him as a Suppressive Person, and was repeatedly accused of selfishness and egotism because he had challenged the idea of cleaning up all of his bank accounts in the Church's favor.

To the degree that my limited means allowed, I sought to comfort Jean-Luc, but merely seeking to handle an upset without addressing its underlying cause, obviously could not lead to any significant relief. In actual practice, the Church of Scientology currently considers itself to be not only a true jewel but also the only organization in the entire universe, capable of saving or rehabilitating Mankind.

Imbued with such beliefs, the official representatives of the Church of Scientology, a good number of whom I have personally known for years, feel completely offended at the mere suggestion that the Church of Scientology should ever redress the slightest wrong it may have caused or make any apologies, no matter how vile the treatments it may have inflicted upon those now seeking justice.

Upon return to his native Switzerland, Jean-Luc evidently came to his senses and became seriously disillusioned with the Church of Scientology.

Whenever the Church is confronted by disgruntled customers or legal threats, the Church of Scientology adopts the “Safe Solution” that both the Church of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard are infallible. Consequently, it will always retroactively deem any unpleasant outcome to be the product of “irresponsible” and unauthorized action by members who had nothing but malice on their minds. In other words they make a profuse use of scapegoats. These scapegoats are evidently never among who continue to cram more and more funds into their already brimming coffers. One of the notable exceptions occurred when the fundraisers created havoc of such magnitude that calls were made by Governments to put a cap on Scientology activities. Such happened in Sweden in 1986 and in France in 1987.

In the case of Jean-Luc Barbier, I was made the scapegoat in 1989. As described above, the current philosophy of the Church of Scientology is that L.Ron Hubbard and the Church he created are infallible. A blind faith in that infallibility leads to the unavoidable conclusion that for any non-optimum result on a person they process, both the auditor and the case supervisor have deliberately sabotaged the individual case through a combination of recklessness and malice. Any objection to the effect that the auditor and Case Supervisor have nothing to gain and everything to loose by acting in such a maliciously is countered by the explanation that non-optimum results actually prove that the case Supervisor has an evil streak and that the auditor has been busily making false session reports.

The Scientology Justice System

The Justice system in Scientology, as it is being currently practiced in the Church of Scientology, not only presumes guilt by the accused, but views any pleas of “not-guilty as "evidence of guilt and of non-responsibility". This doctrine is based on the aberrant notion that since people are entirely responsible for their condition, they are also responsible for any mishap that ever happens to them. Hence because this means that everything is their fault, anyone daring to reject the "Scientology Justice System" or denounce the Church of Scientology or those that extort funds in its name is guilty of the most heinous of crimes and worst possible calumny. This is actually the required frame of mind of those who must operate as representatives of the Church of Scientology. Anyone operating on different premises would be ineligible to represent the position of the Church.

The current Scientology Justice concept of Jurisprudence is deeply anchored in concepts and ideas that have fallen out of use in the Western World since the Middle Ages and the days of the Inquisition. According to those barbaric concepts, any irreverence or disagreement with the doctrine that is judged a priori to be orthodox by the inquisitor (the Ethics Officer or its delegates in Scientology lingo), is an automatic demonstration of guilt. The heretic so found is liable to the most excruciating of punishments. A rebellion against the Inquisitor (or his Superiors) is perceived as the ultimate blasphemy. Depending upon the disposition of those called to punish the guilty, cruelty and sadism may be used. Therefore should come as no great revelation to say that in 1989, I was made entirely responsible for what happened to Jean-Luc Barbier and the entire wake that followed the inept handlings done by the Office of Special Affairs.

For weeks, I was subjected to tortuous and cruel punishments with the view of humiliating me rather for the purpose of extracting from me even more than the 80 to 90 hours of work I was already subjected to every week for less than $30 pay.

Naturally those who abused Jean-Luc and treated him like dirt, were rewarded promotions and large bonuses later that year. To my knowledge, they are still doing the same thing have the same job.

Three years later it was my turn to leave the Church of Scientology for good. By then I was acknowledged as the top Class XII auditor which is not as grandiose an accomplishment as it sounds, because over thirty Class XIIs had already left, including all the most experienced. I was the best that remained. Class XII is the most advanced training level in Scientology. I had reached a level such that there was nobody left in the entire Church that could still teach me anything about Scientology. Anyone else had been conveniently been removed by the leadership.

Ultimately faced with the entire knowledge of what is Scientology and what it is not, I was finally able to see everything that was good with it as well as everything that evil.

Epilogue

I have fully turned the page to a very successful and rewarding life since those horrible days in the Church of Scientology. I remain a firm believer in the development and evolution of self and one's intellectual abilities. I view ultimate enlightenment and awareness as only achievable in the presence of honesty, integrity and respect for others. I now see an insurmountable chasm separating the philosophy originally proposed by Scientology in 1952 and its current application by extremists or organizations which have vested servitude and control of others as part of their agenda.

I feel no bitterness about my twenty years as a staff member in the Church of Scientology. I still have fond memories of Jean-Luc Barbier. Sometimes, I hope that he feels the same. Because I know the details of a many abominations that occurred in the Church and most of them with the sanction of its leadership, I will always view the Church of Scientology as one the vilest organizations existing on this planet.

Pierre Ethier
Trained as Class XII auditor by the Church of Scientology

Pierre Ethier
Class XII

Tribal Instincts