|
Koppel: I'd like to begin, Mr. Miscavige, with, I guess, the kind of broad question that perhaps folks at home may be asking themselves right now. But let me be the guinea pig for a moment. See if you can explain to me why I would want to be a Scientologist.
Miscavige: Because you care about yourself and life itself. Scientology, the word means study of life, study of knowledge, and that's where it is. It takes up all areas of life itself, things that are integral and maxims that are related to life and very existence. Let me give you an example. It's better if I take that, because it is such a broad-ranging subject covering so many different areas, the subject of communication. This is something that major breakthroughs exist in Scientology, being able to communicate in the world around you. And I think everybody would agree that this is an important subject. Well, there's an actual formula for communication which can be understood. You can drill on this formula of communication, and learn to drill, but moreover, take the person who has trouble communicating, has-- Well, for some reason he can't -- anxiety, whatever.
Koppel: I'll tell you what. Let's stick with me, okay? So far in life I haven't had a whole lot of trouble communicating. Now see if you can communicate to me what it is that you're going to be able to do for me that makes me a better communicator. Miscavige: Well, I don't-- In Scientology you don't do anything for somebody else. Scientology is something that requires somebody's active participation. Koppel: Then, fine, I-- Miscavige: It certainly-- Let me explain something-- Koppel: I want to participate, I want to be active completely. We are looking theoretically-- Miscavige: What in your life, Ted? What in your life do you not feel is right, that you would like help? Koppel: I feel perfectly comfortable with my life. I like my job, I'm happy with my family, I love my wife, I'm healthy. I'm perfectly content, that's why I'm asking you what is it you can do for me. Miscavige: Well-- Well, number one, I would never try to talk you into that Scientology's for you. You see, that's the funny thing about this, as if I'm now going to give a sales pitch to you on Scientology. Believe me, Scientology's valuable enough that it doesn't require any sales pitch. But let's look at it this way, then, what Scientology does. If you look out across the world today, you could say that if you take a person who's healthy, doing well, like yourself, you'd say that that person is normal, not a crazy, not somebody who's psychotic, you look at a wall and they call it an elephant. Would you agree with me on that? Koppel: So far I've got no problem. Miscavige: Okay. And you can see people below that, and crazy people, criminals, that I think society in general will look at and say, "That breed of person hasn't something quite right because they're not up to this level of personality." You can understand that. Well, we in Scientology are not-- You see, all past attempts have been to bring man up to somebody's standard of what's normal. What we are trying to do in Scientology is take somebody from this higher level and move them up to greater ability. You see, we're interested in the-- Koppel: What about those folks "down there"? Miscavige: Well, yes, no, you wouldn't-- We don't ignore them. But my point is this: Scientology is there to help the able become more able. The guy who's going around, he's working, he's trying to make it, these people generally have something in their life that they would like to improve and, in any event, if you can increase that person's ability, the one who's chipping in, the one who's able, and bring him up higher, this sphere of influence that he affects in the world around him can be much greater, and he can get on and do better. Koppel: Now, Mr. Miscavige, when you and I talked the first time, a few months ago, I said to you I was going to come after you on some of these issues. I am a cynic, by nature. I guess that's why I like being a reporter. What you have described to me there fits perfectly with the image that I have of Scientology. Namely, you're interested in folks who are producing. Another way of saying that is you're interested in folks who've got money and who can pay to work their way up the Scientology ladder. Miscavige: Well, you see, that's where you miss the point, because in fact, you know, this subject of money comes up, but you've got the wrong issue there. The subject of money is, where's it going. You see, another part that isn't in that piece, the money in Scientology isn't going to me. It's not going to my colleagues. That's a fact. That's a fact. You can call up the IRS and find that fact out. They've audited our records and seen all of that, and none of that money is going anywhere. As a matter of fact, the officials in the church are paid far less and live far more frugal existences than any other church leader. Our money goes to social causes that we accept. You take these people. We are the largest social reform group in the world, do far more than any other church. For the last two years we have been voted the community outreach group of the year in Los Angeles. Koppel: By whom? Miscavige: By the local city council. The senate of California passed a resolution that's for our work with underprivileged children in California. We work on getting drug addicts off drugs. We support Narconon, which is a drug rehabilitation center using the drug rehabilitation technology of L. Ron Hubbard. There are 33 centers around the world. Over 100,000 people have been gotten off drugs. We sponsor educational programs. Several years ago in just-- Wait, in just one instance, we worked with-- Koppel: I don't want to minimize any of that-- Miscavige: But wait-- Koppel: But how does that make your group the-- How did you put it -- that you do more to help?-- Miscavige: Social reforms, helping people. Koppel: Social reform-- Miscavige: Sure. Koppel: …than any other group in the world. More than the Catholic Church, more than-- Miscavige: Well, no, more accurately is per size. And when you put it in that rate -- in other words, how big Scientology is compared to any others -- the amount that we do on that subject, there's not even anybody comparable. Koppel: Okay. We've got to take a break, we'll continue our discussion with David Miscavige in a moment. ("Dianetics," sales worldwide 14.6 million, languages 22) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) |
カルト
[ リスト | 詳細 ]
コメント（0）
|
Koppel: Joining us live tonight is David Miscavige, whose formal title is chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center, the organization which manages Dianetics and Scientology. Mr. Miscavige took over as the head of Scientology in 1987 following the death of the church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. You've been sitting here very patiently for the first 15 minutes. It's your turn. We're going to take a short segment here to talk, and then we'll take a break, and then we've got the rest of the program to talk. Where would you like to pick up on what many in our audience, I suspect, have seen for the first time about the Church of Scientology?
Miscavige: Yeah, well, I think-- You know, I guess the first thing I would like to take up is the fact that the intro piece-- There's no question that there's some controversy surrounding Scientology, but if you want to look at what the real controversy is, there's been stories like this one that we saw here for the past 40 years, and yet during that time period Scientology's continued to grow. In fact, it's 25 times larger today than it was in 1980. I would just like to take up a few of the falsehoods that are in there, because I think this explains a lot why you have the controversy. I don't know that Scientology lends itself so well to the press. In this instance, we did agree that we would have your correspondents come in, and in fact, he did have unlimited access to the church. But then you get a piece like this. For instance, something that isn't mentioned in there is that every single detractor on there is part of a religious hate group called Cult Awareness Network and their sister group called American Family Foundation. Now, I don't know if you've heard of these people, but it's the same as the KKK would be with the blacks. I think if you interviewed a neo-Nazi and asked them to talk about the Jews, you would get a similar result to what you have here. The thing I find disingenuous is that it's not commented upon, and yet, in fact, your correspondent Forrest and Deanna Lee were aware of this fact. And not only that, that is the source of where they, they received these people to talk to. They didn't find them randomly-- Koppel: Well, if I may just interrupt for a moment: You realize there's a little bit of a problem in getting people to talk critically about the Scientology because, quite frankly, they're scared. Miscavige: Oh, no, no, no, no. Koppel: Well, I'm telling you-- Miscavige: No, no, no, no. Let me tell you-- Koppel: I'm telling you people are scared. Miscavige: Let me explain something to you. The most disingenuous thing is that you have those people. Now, let's not give the American public the wrong impression, that these are people that randomly were pulled in from around the world and that they decided to talk against Scientology. Those people aren't scared and they've been loudly speaking in the press. You showed me a book you had before this show that has many detractors, same ones, so they're not really frightened. That's a good story-- Koppel: Actually, that wasn't a book, it was a collection of articles-- Miscavige: Let me finish. Koppel: …that has been written about you and the church. Miscavige: But the same people were quoted. Koppel: No. What I was saying is the reason, perhaps, that we only hear from those folks is that there are a lot of other people who might be considered detractors of the church, and they, who do not belong to any organization, are, quite frankly, afraid to come out and speak publicly. Miscavige: Well, I'm sorry, no, I'm sorry, that story doesn't hold water, because I'll tell you, from my perspective, the person getting harassed is myself and the church. Let me give you an example. We did make access possible for Forrest. That isn't to say that he took advantage of it, Ted. For instance, the subject of money comes up, it comes up routinely, and I'm sure we might bring it up later on in this show. But I, in fact, had the highest contributors of Scientology gathered up so that Forrest could interview them, to ask them why they gave money to the church and how much they had, and believe me, it's larger figures than these people are talking about. He told me he didn't have time. I said, "Please, I mean, they're here." He said, "No, I don't have time, I don't want to see 'em." I offered for him to go down to our church headquarters in Clearwater, Fla., where 2,000 parishioners are there at any given time from all over the world. In other words, he would get a cross-selection of people from Germany, England, California, Florida, Spain, Italy, you name it. Didn't want to go, didn't have time. So to represent also that this is what the church puts forth isn't so. Here's what I find wrong and here's what I find the common mistake the media makes. I can give you a hundred thousand Scientologists who will say unbelievably positive things about their church to every one you add on there, and I not only am upset about those people not being interviewed, they are, too. And the funny thing about it, and why you find this not really being that one who speaks in the media, is because not just myself, any Scientologist, will open up a paper, will watch this program, they're probably laughing right now, saying, "That isn't Scientology." That's what makes media. Media is controversy. I understand that. And if you really looked at the big picture of what's happening in Scientology, it isn't really controversial, certainly to a Scientologist. Koppel: Okay. We are going to have to take a break. Miscavige: Very good. Koppel: I hope you understand that there's a little bit of a paradox in your saying, you know, "We're not going to get a chance to listen to what Scientology is really about"; we have with us, after all, since you were courteous enough to join us-- Miscavige: Oh, absolutely, I'm just trying-- I'm just trying to correct this, that's all. Koppel: I understand, and we're going to be spending the rest of this hour, in which I'll have a chance to talk to you and you can clear up some of the misconceptions we have. Miscavige: Absolutely. Koppel: Okay? Miscavige: Okay. Koppel: We'll continue our discussion in a moment. ("Dianetics," a best-seller for a record 100 consecutive weeks (1986-1988).) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) |
|
A Guru's Journey -- A special report.; The Seer Among the Blind: Japanese Sect Leader's Rise
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF with SHERYL WuDUNN Published: March 26, 1995 http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/26/world/guru-s-journey-special-report-seer-among-blind-japanese-sect-leader-s-rise.html TOKYO, March 25— As a boy attending a school for the blind, Shoko Asahara was weak-sighted but had better vision than his classmates. So he emerged as a king of the school, the one who would lead his buddies off campus when they wanted a restaurant meal. In exchange, they would pay for the meal. Mr. Asahara, now 40, has come a long way since then: He rides a Rolls-Royce instead of a bicycle, and he has built a multinational religious sect, a business empire worth tens of millions of dollars and a stockpile of chemicals sufficient to create enough nerve gas to kill perhaps millions of people. The chemicals have been found during police searches since the gas attack on the Tokyo subway system last Monday, in which 10 people died and 5,500 were injured. The image of the teen-age Shoko Asahara as the manipulative guru of a boarding school -- where he is the one people must depend on, where he interprets the surrounding world, where he makes the money -- seems to hold true today. By some accounts, the communes of Mr. Asahara's religious sect, Aum Shinrikyo, are attempts to recreate the culture of his childhood school for the blind. International concern about terrorism has traditionally focused on political groups with machine guns, plastic explosives and the backing of a pariah government. But Mr. Asahara shows that it is also possible for a bizarre religious figure with no governmental support to acquire in a few years the capability to engage in something closer to war than terrorism. Japanese newspapers have estimated that Aum's chemical stockpile could create enough nerve gas to kill 4.2 million to 10 million people, though how they did their reckoning is not clear. There is no evidence that this was Mr. Asahara's intention, and he has denied it vigorously. But by some estimates he could have created 50 tons of the nerve gas sarin and then achieved the kind of urban Armageddon that he has been predicting. "As we move toward the year 2000, there will be a series of events of inexpressible ferocity and terror," reads one of Aum's booklets, picked up from its Tokyo offices a few days ago. "The lands of Japan will be transformed into a nuclear wasteland. Between 1996 and January 1998, America and its allies will attack Japan, and only 10 percent of the population of the major cities will survive." In his writings and speeches, Mr. Asahara seems to reserve a special animus for the United States Government, and he has accused American military planes of dropping sarin on Aum's communes. But Aum is also bitterly hostile to Japan's Government. Last June the group set up a shadow government with a "Ministry of Finance," "Ministry of Education" and "Ministry of Construction." It is said to have planned to become an independent nation by 1997. Intelligent, soft-spoken, married with six children, Mr. Asahara is a far more complex figure than the cardboard image of a cult leader would suggest. He may wear a long beard, shocking pink robes and a beatific smile, but what is striking about his sect is that it is not a one-man show. He has attracted a core of bright young university graduates and trained scientists to help him in his missions, whether those be attracting recruits or synthesizing chemicals. Mr. Asahara denies any involvement in the subway attack on Monday. The police have not made public any evidence that he was responsible, but the police raids and discovery of chemical ingredients of nerve gas suggest that Aum is a prime suspect. In any case, for a spiritual leader, Mr. Asahara has shown a remarkable fascination with the temporal and the chemical. And his speeches have often mentioned such nerve gases as sarin, which the police say was used in the subway attack. "It has become clear now that my first death will be caused by something like a poison gas such as sarin," Mr. Asahara said a year ago, without explaining what he meant by his "first death." At that time, almost nobody in Japan had heard of sarin. The Beginnings A Younger Son Of a Poor Family Mr. Asahara was born Chizuo Matsumoto in a village in the southern island of Kyushu. The son of a tatami-mat maker, he grew up as the sixth of seven children in a tiny house. One of his older brothers had almost no vision and attended a school for the blind. His parents apparently decided to send Mr. Asahara, who had weak but adequate vision, and his younger brother, who had normal eyesight, to the same school for economic reasons: The children would receive a Government subsidy and free meals. Shoko Egawa, author of a critical biography of Mr. Asahara, suggests that he was obsessed in school with acquiring money and power. Mr. Asahara had saved $30,000 by the time he graduated from high school, and he also ran unsuccessfully for student body president in elementary, junior high and senior high schools. Mr. Asahara did show the first signs of his later mastery of physical fitness and body control, earning a black belt in judo while still in school. Although he spoke of attending medical school, Mr. Asahara reportedly failed exams and never attended college. Instead he moved to a Tokyo suburb to work as an acupuncturist. It was at this time, in 1978, that he met a college student, Tomoko Ishii, and married her. Mrs. Asahara is said to have become a senior executive in Aum Shinrikyo, and one of their children, an 11-year-old girl, is also said to be prominent in the sect. But very little is known of his family life.
Mr. Asahara has been accused by former sect members of making occasional sexual advances against female recruits. "At about midnight one evening, I was called to go to the room of the Venerated Teacher," recalled a woman who later left the sect. She wrote her account in a pamphlet prepared by a lawyers' group critical of Aum. "There were just the two of us in the room, and he asked me if I had had any experience with men," the woman wrote. "And he asked me how many men I knew, and then he asked me to take off my clothes. I didn't think he could do anything wrong, and I was nervous and didn't want to resist, so I did as he said." The woman said that Mr. Asahara told her not to tell anyone about the liaison. Shift to Religion From Fake Drugs To Marketing Yoga In the early 1980's Mr. Asahara opened up a shop selling Chinese medicine. He is said to have made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling potions like tangerine peel in alcohol, and in 1982 he was arrested and fined for selling fake drugs. Mr. Asahara became interested in yoga, and scholars say he became an excellent yoga practitioner, with very good control over his breathing technique. In 1984 he launched a company called Aum -- the name apparently is based on a Sanskrit word -- that ran a yoga school and sold health drinks. An expert in marketing, Mr. Asahara traveled to India and Nepal to study Hinduism and Buddhism, and he came back with photos of himself with senior Tibetan lamas, including the Dalai Lama. He used these photos to portray himself as an internationally respected religious authority, and his yoga school became extremely successful. In 1987, with just 10 followers, Mr. Asahara founded Aum Shinrikyo as a religious sect. It emphasized some Tibetan Buddhist teachings and yoga practices, including meditation and breathing control. But one of the central points of Tibetan Buddhism is compassion -- some Tibetans have trouble digging foundations for buildings, for fear that they will inadvertently slice apart a worm -- and compassion did not play a big role in Aum's theology. Of Japan's 185,000 religious organizations, most are Buddhist or Shinto shrines, but since the 1970's there has also been a growing number of sects like Aum Shinrikyo. Young people turned off by Japan's materialism and searching for something to believe in found a home in such groups. Susuma Oda, a professor of psychopathology at the University of Tsukuba, suggests that one attraction of cults is that they offer young Japanese their first real father figure, because their own fathers were never home when they were growing up but instead were always at the office. Professor Oda also says that religious sects in Japan are to some extent the equivalent of the drug culture in America, offering people relief from stress and the opportunity to develop creative powers. In its pamphlets, Aum says that it can help people develop supernatural powers. It shows photographs of Mr. Asahara and others "levitating" in a yoga position, a few inches off the ground, but videotapes of the group indicate that this is achieved by bouncing energetically on the floor. Aum also emphasizes the use of computers and scientific experimentation, and it offers recruits special headgear of batteries and electrodes so that they can supposedly align their brain waves with Mr. Asuhara's. At each step of the way, followers are asked to donate large sums of money. Perhaps because of the emphasis on science, Mr. Asahara was able recruit bright but discontented university students from such top institutions as Tokyo University. Many were trained in the sciences. "There are many sophisticated people among the members," said Yoshiro Ito, a lawyer who has represented parents trying to recover their children from the sect. "They come from elite families." As a result, Aum is not a one-man operation. Mr. Asahara's deputies are subordinate but still powerful, and there is no doubt about their intellectual prowess. Aum's chief spokesman, for example, is a 35-year-old lawyer named Yoshinobu Aoyama, a graduate of prestigious Kyoto University. He passed the national exam for lawyers as a college junior, becoming the youngest person in his class to do so. Mr. Aoyama took yoga classes from Mr. Asahara and then in 1989 renounced his wife and daughter and became a monk in Aum. Secrets of Success A Mix of Charm And Intimidation Some scholars say Mr. Asahara was a third-rate theologian but a first-rate salesman and expert in mind control. Professor Oda says Mr. Asahara used methods like sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation and food deprivation, and perhaps drugs as well. There have been persistent reports of Aum using drugs, probably primarily as hallucinogens to evoke the supernatural. Practices in Aum emphasized control over natural impulses and the body. One man who said he was abducted into Aum, in part by his daughters, told the newspaper Asahi that he was given an infusion drip of some unknown medication for three months. The man said he was told to drink the equivalent of two and a half gallons of hot water a day and throw it up, apparently to purge his system. He was also forced to undergo a weekly bowel-cleansing procedure. The man was finally allowed to leave only when he pretended that he had been converted and was prepared to turn over his money to the sect, Asahi reported. Despite such experiences, it is clear that most members join Aum voluntarily and apparently believe in the sect with passion. Many find it fulfilling and liberating, and they are appalled by the critical news coverage.
When the police raided Aum's training compound in the village of Kamiku Isshiki a few days ago, they found 50 people in an advanced state of malnutrition and dehydration, some barely conscious. The police were horrified and arrested four doctors who were present on charges of imprisoning the others. But instead of thanking the police for rescuing them, the malnourished followers have remained in the chapel and refused medical attention. Aum demanded that followers live in communes and cut off relations with their families, and this led to clashes and lawsuits with family members. There have also been repeated cases in which Aum has been accused of harassing, attacking, kidnapping or even killing its opponents. Earlier this year, according to Japanese newspaper reports, a woman trying to drop out of Aum was told she would be allowed to do so only if she signed over her property to the sect. She agreed, but her brother strongly opposed the idea. On Feb. 28, the deadline that Aum had set for the property transfer, he was kidnapped off the street. The police subsequently located the rented van used in the kidnapping and found blood matching the brother's, as well as the fingerprint of a senior Aum member. The brother has not been found. Mr. Asahara has denied any involvement in the kidnappings or killings. But the fact that many doubt his denials may offer him some protection, by making journalists afraid to write critical articles. Japanese journalists say that there was some reluctance to write about Aum, because some reporters who had done so received threatening letters at their homes. Telephone taps have been found at the homes of some critics of Aum, although the group denies placing the taps. In any case, Mr. Asahara can be charming as well as intimidating, and that perhaps is one of the secrets to his success. He has a knack for getting away with saying the strangest things. Two years ago, a group of Tokyo residents were furious about an Aum office next door that they said was emitting a stench they described as like that of "burning flesh." One evening, several hundred angry local residents converged outside the Aum office, when Mr. Asahara pulled up in his Mercedes-Benz limousine. He agreed to meet in a nearby park with a neighborhood representative, an electrical supply shop owner named Hirokazu Matsukawa. Mr. Matsukawa recalls that Mr. Asahara spoke politely and calmly and said with an expression of perfect seriousness that the odor came from "soybean oil and Chanel No. 5." "I couldn't smile or laugh when he said that," Mr. Matsukawa said. "But when Asahara left and I explained what he said to the neighbors, everyone laughed." Hints of Mortality As Health Slides, Apocalypse Looms In earlier years, Aum seemed to want to work within the system. In 1990 Mr. Asahara and many of his aides ran for Parliament, although all lost. More recently, Aum appears to have become more radical, and its theology more apocalyptic, and some people believe the reason has to do with Mr. Asahara's deteriorating health. He is said to have a liver ailment, perhaps cancer, but this is impossible to confirm. In public he sometimes seems tired, but he is not obviously ill. In any case, Mr. Asahara has been complaining publicly at least since early last year that his health is failing. "My body is considerably damaged now," Mr. Asahara said in a videotape recorded just a few days ago and broadcast on Japanese television. In the videotape he says he was infected with Q-fever, an obscure ailment first found in Australia, where he says airplanes sprayed his compound with the disease. Mr. Asahara compares Q-fever to the plague, but doctors in Tokyo said that its symptoms are similar to those of pneumonia and that it can be cured. Perhaps because of his declining health, Mr. Asahara may be giving increasing control over Aum to some of his lieutenants. But some people suggest that Mr. Asahara's own illness and his confrontation with his mortality -- if his ailment is that serious -- have encouraged him toward a more apocalyptic vision of the future, and perhaps even toward technologies of extermination such as nerve gas. Mr. Asahara increasingly has come to emphasize a Manichean vision of the world, in which good and evil are in a constant battle. He sometimes seems to see himself cast as the force that will rise up and destroy the evil --represented by the United States and Japanese Governments -- in order to save the world. Many of Mr. Asahara's teachings are drawn from Buddhism and the occult, but he also emphasizes a Hindu god, Lord Shiva, whose role in Hinduism may bear an eerie connection to Aum's present interest in poison gases. Shiva is a god of destruction and creation, and his job is to destroy so that life can be renewed. "Maybe he thinks of himself as a living Shiva," said Shinichi Nakazawa, a professor of religious studies who has met Mr. Asahara several times. "Shiva, you know, has two faces -- one is peaceful and one is destructive." Photos: Shoko Asahara. (Associated Press) (pg. 1); The Aum Shinrikyo religious sect says in its pamphlets that it can help people develop supernatural powers. A promotional booklet shows the sect's leader, Shoko Asahara, "levitating" in a yoga position. (pg. 8) Maps show the location of Kyushu, Japan and shows detail of the area surrounding Tokyo. |
|
COOPER: Swift and furious is a fair way to describe the church of scientology's response to a new book by author Lawrence Wright. The book is called, "Going Clear Scientology Hollywood & the Prison of Belief." As the title suggests, it focuses on scientology's founder and its interest in recruiting celebrities. It also explores allegations of abuse. It's already in its second printing. This isn't, of course, the first time an author, journalist or former scientologist has turned a lens on the church. And it's also not the first time the scientology has tried to discredit the results and threatened legal action. We have felt those tactics first hand here on this program when we've reported on the church of scientology. In a moment, you will hear from author, Lawrence Wright, the author of "Going Clear." But first, some background on how he got here. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER (voice-over): The Church of Scientology was founded by a science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard in 1954. Its stated goals to help people, quote, "live in a civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights." Members paid to take courses designed to help them work through issues of their past and reach a higher state of consciousness. To understand what's holding them back, church members are tested with a device called an e-meter that is used to monitor their feelings and reactions. Elron Hubbard died in 1986 and since then this man, David Miscavage, has been the leader. He, like Hubbard before him, oversees a religious order inside the church. An order that is responsible for church management called the "Sea Organization." Members of "Sea Org" sometimes wear naval style uniforms and dedicate their life to the church promises to remain in the church for reincarnated lives to come. The Church of Scientology says it's opened some 170 churches around the globe and claims 10 million members worldwide, 6 million. In the U.S. in 2009, then church Spokesman Tommy Davis put it this way. TOMMY DAVIS, SCIENTOLOGY SPOKESMAN: David Miscavage is responsible for the current renaissance that the church is experiencing and the fact the church has doubled in size in the last five years and has flourished under his leadership. COOPER: The American religious identification survey, however, cites much lower numbers. According to its survey, the number of self described practicing scientologist in the U.S. actually dropped from 55,000 to 25,000 in the years from 2001 to 2008. The church is a famously vocal critic of psychiatry opposing what it calls brutal and inhumane psychiatric treatments. But for most this is how the public identifies with scientology through high profile believers. The church reaches out to well known performers and caters to their need with a celebrity center in Hollywood. Percy Ali, John Travolta are long time scientologists as is Tom Cruise. TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: When you drive past an accident, it's not like anyone else. As you drive past you know you have to do something about it because you're the only one that can help. COOPER: Cruise is so close to the church leader that he asked him to be best man at his wedding. Here's Cruise praising David Miscavage at scientology event in 2007. CRUISE: We are lucky to have you. Thank you very much. COOPER: In 2010, we met with many former members including Tom Cruise's former counselor or auditor who says that everything is not as it seems within the church leadership. Marty Rathbun who used to work directly under David Miscavage says there's been a culture of violence within the leadership of the church. A culture encouraged by Miscavage himself. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He treats his subordinates in all of international management like slaves in a slave camp and beats them down. COOPER: It's a claim the church vigorously denies. They say that Rathbun is a liar and out to destroy the church. The church spokesman in 2009, Tommy Davis says, yes, there was violence in the church, but he blames Marty Rathbun for it and others making allegations against David Miscavage. DAVIS: The allegations are untrue. There is nothing of the sort as they are describing. COOPER (on camera): David has never kicked somebody? Never punched somebody? DAVIS: Never, never, never, absolutely not. COOPER (voice-over): As CNN was preparing our 2010 report, the church provided us with large stacks of affidavits from current and former church members even ex-wives that remain in the leadership of the church. Some interviewed with us to defend the church saying former husbands and co-workers are liars. JENNY LINSON, SEA ORGANIZATION MEMBER: I never saw one scratch. I never saw one bruise. I never saw one black eye, nothing. Nor did he complain about anything personally. COOPER: Now Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright has written a book titled "Going Clear Scientology Hollywood & the Prison of Belief." He details the church's creation by its founder L. Ron Hubbard and explores these allegations of abuse. Allegations the church continues to strongly deny and they created a web site to refute the book chapter by chapter. (END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: We're making the Church of Scientology's response available on cnn.com. To find it, put the words scientology in the search field in the upper right hand corner. "Going Clear" is based on extensive interviews with former and current church members. Lawrence Wright talked to hundreds of people. I spoke to him earlier. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: So why did you decide to write about scientology? LAWRENCE WRIGHT, AUTHOR, "GOING CLEAR SCIENTOLOGY, HOLLYWOOD & THE PRISON OF BELIEF": I was interested in why people believe one thing and do another especially in this country where you can believe anything you want. That's not true in a lot of places in the world. We have a supermarket of religious beliefs. So why would you choose scientology? Perhaps the most stigmatized religion in this country. COOPER: What do you think it does for people? That's the thing I can't get to the bottom of. What does it give people? WRIGHT: At the beginning level when you go in and get auditing, which is their form of therapy, a lot of people feel like they are helped. That's what draws people in. They ask what is ruing your life? What is your ruin? If you say, well, it's my relationship or my profession or something. They say we have something that can help you. And sometimes that's true. COOPER: Is recruiting celebrities -- they have this celebrity center in Hollywood. Was that a conscious effort by the church and is that for PR reasons? WRIGHT: Absolutely. These are product endorsements. The Church of Scientology was created in Los Angeles. The celebrity center in Hollywood, all of it with the design to take over the entertainment industry, you know, there were people that they were actively recruiting. They were always looking for that figure that would be a prominent member of the entertainment industry. COOPER: A lot of people focus on the origin myth of scientology or the origin story and people make fun of it. My belief is every religion has an origin story. I never focused too much on that. I find the structure of the church interesting though. Is there any other church that you know of that is structured like it in terms of paying to kind of move up through the hierarchy of the church. WRIGHT: Nothing like that comes to mind. It's very expensive. If you want to climb -- if you walk into the door of scientology today and you go all of the way to the top of the pyramid, half a million dollars or more just for -- you get the course work but then you're continually asked for money. COOPER: The church is obviously very upset about the book. They say Mr. Wright showed the church he has no interest in the facts only lies and exaggerations being fed to him by angry, bitter sources with agendas based on hatred and revenge. The result is a biased work more fiction than fact. I should say they basically said the same thing about our reporting. They published an entire magazine devoted kind of attacking us and CNN and myself. WRIGHT: I got one in the "New Yorker" as well. I want to just say about that disclaimer from the church. First of all, you can only talk to the people that will talk to you. I asked repeatedly to talk to upper level executives and the opportunity was foreclosed to me. I spoke to more than 250 people, the majority of them current or former scientologists. It's not just a small group of people. We're talking about more than 150 people. Their stories are very damning, very similar in nature. COOPER: There are a lot of people who were formerly in upper echelons of the church that talk about a culture of violence that they participated in. Some admit they engaged in violent acts, but also point to the leader of the church as someone that would leap across desks and hit people. WRIGHT: It sounds bizarre. I had 12 people tell me that they had personally been beaten up by David and more than 20 witnesses to such events and these accounts are very similar, the hair trigger response. A sudden jumping up and strangling people, beating people out of the blue, no idea what they've done and often times after that they are sent off to one of the re-education camps, sometimes for years. COOPER: We heard Tom Cruise saying that he drives by an accident and he knows that he's the only one or scientologists are the only one that can really help. What is that idea that somehow a scientologist can help with a road accident? WRIGHT: It's a laying on of hands. There's a contact assist. I was talking to josh about this. He once witnessed John Travolta helping Marlon Brando who had stopped to help a motorist on the side of the road and cut his leg. They all show up at a dinner party and he's telling this story and using this dead-on Brando accident. Travolta said I have gone up to a higher level in the church and I think I can help you. If you have powers, John so he reached over and put his hand on Brando's leg and he said it was eerie almost a physical charge between the two of them and Brando said, you know what? I do feel better. Who is to say? In Brando's mind, maybe he was making Travolta feel OK about himself or maybe there was some sort of effect. Essentially it's a mystical idea that you can lay on hands and you can make someone feel better. COOPER: The church cites huge membership, millions and millions of people. Other sources say that the number is actually much smaller in the tens of thousands, 25,000, 35,000, 45,000. Is membership in decline? WRIGHT: Yes. It's hemorrhaging members. COOPER: Why? WRIGHT: Part of is people are becoming aware of what's going on inside the church. Moreover, the secret doctrines of the church it kept secret for years are now all over the internet. They are ridiculed on South Park. Everyone kind of knows what the secrets are inside scientology and you don't have to pay a half million dollars to learn them. COOPER: Fascinating book. Thank you so much, Lawrence. WRIGHT: Always a pleasure. UFO groups sometimes couch traditional religious themes such as apocalypticism and heavenly intervention in the language of modern technology and biological evolutionary theory. Other groups, including the Church of Scientology, fashion spiritual teachings and mythology in the language of modern psychology. Founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard (1911–86), Scientology began as Dianetics, which was Hubbard’s term for a kind of therapy that claimed to eliminate destructive imprints of past experiences, called “engrams,” that had accumulated in one’s unconscious. Hubbard devised a method—employing both discussion with an “auditor” and the use of an electrical device called an “E-meter”—to dissipate such engrams and produce (over a long period of treatment in which one attains and passes through a variety of hierarchical levels) a state of liberation he termed “being Clear.” Over time Hubbard also developed a whole cosmology in which human beings were said to be originally divine beings, called “thetans,” who had fallen into and been entrapped by material existence. The freedom of “being Clear” was equated with regaining one’s status as an eternal, omniscient, omnipotent thetan.
engram, in Scientology, a mental image of a past experience that produces a negative emotional effect in an individual’s life.
L. Ron Hubbard (1911–86), the founder of Scientology, believed that the basic principle of human existence is survival. He argued that actions that support survival are good and yield pleasure, while actions that are destructive, which he called “countersurvival actions,” perpetuate negative states. Each individual, he believed, possesses a mind that under normal conditions operates analytically to make survival-oriented judgments. However, when the mind is not fully functioning, a part of it that Hubbard called the reactive mind takes over, storing images of experiences, or engrams, which contain not only strong negative emotional content but also unrelated elements of the experience. A later encounter with these unrelated elements may bring forth negative emotional reactions from the stored engram and lead to countersurvival actions. thetan, in Scientology, the authentic spiritual identity of an individual. It is similar to the soul, whose existence is taught by many religious traditions.
L. Ron Hubbard (1911–86), Scientology’s founder, spoke of the experience of “exteriorization,” the separation of individual consciousness from the body. His own experience of exteriorization led him to posit the spiritual self, the thetan, as the true self that could exist apart from the body. He also taught that thetans had inhabited other bodies before their present one, a concept not unlike that of reincarnation in Eastern religions. The idea of the thetan led Hubbard to postulate a comprehensive vision of the cosmos that had much in common with Eastern faiths and closely resembled the Western gnostic tradition. Hubbard suggested that thetans had originated billions of years ago with the original Cause, whose entire purpose was the creation of effect. Thetans emerged early in the process of creation, and their interaction led to the creation of MEST (matter, energy, space, and time), thus making the visible universe possible. Over time, the thetans fell into MEST and were trapped. They experienced events that stripped them of their creative abilities. Engrams, or images of these past events, exerted a negative emotional influence on the thetans’ minds, causing them to lose the memories of who they were. Eventually, the thetans’ movements through the MEST universe brought them to Earth as humans.
The Church of Scientology asserts that through training its members come to understand both themselves as spiritual beings and engrams as energy clusters that inhibit the thetan from functioning freely. Hubbard believed that the fundamental purpose of religion is to provide a process of freeing the individual. Consequently, Scientology is concerned with assisting the individual in becoming “clear,” or free from the destructive influence of engrams. An operating thetan (OT) is one who not only is free from engrams but also operates as a fully conscious and functioning thetan according to the church’s most sacred teachings. |
|
AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.
The Church of Scientology is the famous or infamous American-born religion created by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard and best known for its celebrity followers, like Tom Cruise and John Travolta. The church claims millions of members here in the United States and around the world, in virtually every major city -- London, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Johannesburg and more. Scientology is famously litigious, with a phalanx of lawyers keeping an eye on journalists, writers and media companies who set out to cover the church. But now that a number of high-profile and highly placed members have left and are beginning to tell their stories, we're getting rare insight into the inner workings of the church, from Pulitzer prize-winning author Lawrence Wright. His new book is called, "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and he Prison of Belief." His last book, "The Looming Tower," is considered the seminal work on the rise of Al Qaeda and that's the work for which he won that Pulitzer Prize. But before I ask him about "Going Clear," here's what the Church of Scientology has to say about it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AMANPOUR (voice-over): "Lawrence Wright's book is so ludicrous it belongs in a supermarket tabloid. The book is an error-filled, unsubstantiated, bigoted anti-Scientology book." (END VIDEO CLIP) AMANPOUR: Lawrence Wright, welcome to the studio. LAWRENCE WRIGHT, AUTHOR: Thank you, Christiane. AMANPOUR: How does it feel to be introduced with that very clear denunciation, bigoted, unsubstantiated, unfair? WRIGHT: Well, I, first of all, I sure hope we sell it in supermarkets. That would be great. I have tried to be as fair to the church as I can. And I've interviewed more than 260 people, most of them Scientologists or former Scientologists. Many of them have been at the highest levels of the church and at the highest level of their spiritual ladder. So I think I've spoken to the experts. AMANPOUR: You called your book "Going Clear." WRIGHT: Right. AMANPOUR: What does that mean? Is that the heart of the faith? WRIGHT: It's the essential idea and it started in "Dianetics," a book that Hubbard published in 1950, in which he stated that there are two minds in our bodies. One is the rational, thinking mind that is a perfect computer. It remembers things flawlessly. And then there's another mind called the reactive mind. And it's full of the fears and neuroses that control our behavior and cause us to do things wrongly. And those things come from experiences we've had in the past, even in past lives. And if we can bring those things to the surface, those memories, and purge them of the power they have over our behavior, then we eliminate the reactive mind and we go clear. AMANPOUR: Your subtitle is, "The Prison of Belief." WRIGHT: Right. AMANPOUR: What do you mean? What is Scientology? Is it a prison? Is it a religion? WRIGHT: You know, you and I can talk about religion. But there's only one organization that makes the distinction, and that's the IRS. And they determined in 1993 that Scientology was a religious community. AMANPOUR: That obviously came after a huge amount of effort by the Scientologists -- and indeed we have some video that shows the current leader celebrating many years ago when the IRS made this announcement and this decision about Scientology. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID MISCAVIGE, SCIENTOLOGY CHURCH LEADER: The IRS issued letters recognizing Scientology and every one of its organizations as fully tax exempt! The war is over! (APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP) AMANPOUR: The war is over. I mean, it really is an us-against-them sort of attitude. WRIGHT: Yes. You know, when that happened, the church owed a billion dollars in back taxes. It had decided not to pay its taxes. And it didn't have a billion dollars. This was an existential moment for the church. And so in order to save Scientology, David Miscavige, the figure you just saw, the leader of the church, launched 2,300 lawsuits against the IRS, individual agents; they hired private investigators, according to my sources, to follow individual agents around. At conventions, they would see who drank too much, who was fooling around on the road. And all of that is part of the deal that the IRS made. Those lawsuits were dropped. The private investigators were dropped and the religious exemption was granted, on whatever merits. That was the circumstance (inaudible). (CROSSTALK) AMANPOUR: And why was religious exemption important to the church? WRIGHT: It could not exist without it. You know, they -- instead of owing a billion dollars, they paid $12 million. And since then, the unbelievably great protections of the 1st Amendment of religious freedoms surround the church and all of its practices. I'm not questioning the beliefs of the church. It's the behavior inside the organization. AMANPOUR: Did you talk to husbands and wives, parents and children, who had been separated? WRIGHT: Oh, yes, and it's -- I mean, there were a lot of tears in this story. The number of people that have told me about family members that have turned against them, they will never speak to them again. The fear that I've detected in my sources about whether they should talk to me because what's at risk is their relationship with people they loved the most. And they want to talk about it. And many people did talk about, placing those very relationships at risk. AMANPOUR: This is the response about the separation from family members. "The church encourages and helps its members to have excellent family relationships, whether they're relatives of Scientologists or not. Family members of Scientologists are always welcome to visit the church, to meet other Scientologists and to have their questions about Scientology answered." WRIGHT: I've -- I would like to introduce them to the hundreds of family members that are unable to contact the people that were closest to them, we're talking children and -- who have been separated from their parents, husbands from spouses. It's a broad and terrible program. AMANPOUR: The niece of David Miscavige has left the church after many, many years. And she's been talking publicly; she's written about it. Has that affected the church at all? WRIGHT: Jenna Miscavige Hill and others founded a website, called exscientologykids.com, to talk about this phenomenon of family members being forcibly separated and also of children, the exploitation of children. I think it's been a disaster in terms of public relations for the church to have people that are close in to the founders and also to David Miscavige, actually publicly turn their backs on the church, not so much against Scientology, but the way the church is being run now. AMANPOUR: Well, let's talk about the powerful adherents and the very famous ones, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, I mean, you can ask for hours why this is attractive to them. But beyond that, do you think they have a responsibility to -- I don't know; what is their responsibility? WRIGHT: Christiane, I've thought about how Scientology might be able to reform itself, how it might be able to change. It's obviously in a critical moment. Some of these celebrity members, in particular Tom Cruise, who is the most notable Scientologist, could call for change. He, I think, has a moral responsibility. I'm not criticizing his personality or his acting or anything about it. But I'm just saying that the product that he sells -- and he's a most visible spokesperson for the church -- has some problems. And I think it's up to him, since he's representing it to so many people around the world, he's got a moral responsibility to look at what's going on and, in his name, is being sold to people around the world. AMANPOUR: When you decided to write the story for your magazine, "The New Yorker," what was the editors' reaction? What was Scientology's reaction? Did they try to stop you? Did they try to sue you? What happened? WRIGHT: Well, we went into this with our eyes open, because many previous reporters have had difficult experiences with the church. "Time" magazine, for instance, published an expose in 1991, and the church sued "Time," losing at every step of the way, all the way to the Supreme Court. But it was the most expensive suit "Time" ever defended. Other reporters had been tracked down by private investigators, framed for crimes they didn't commit. You know, these are well-established facts. And so we looked at that. On the other hand, this was a great story. This was a really interesting phenomenon. And we wanted to do it. But we do it very carefully. AMANPOUR: Have they come after you? Have they tried to sue you since the book has been out? WRIGHT: No, I -- you know, we've had a number of stern letters from attorneys, from the church and some of the prominent people mentioned in the book. But in this country, you know, we're protected by the 1st Amendment, as is the church. AMANPOUR: But you just said, they lodge many, many lawsuits. WRIGHT: Yes. Well, I think that in order to sue me in this country, they have to prove actual malice, which means that I deliberately misrepresented the facts in order to smear the church. And I have not done that. AMANPOUR: So now you've written the article; you've written the book. After doing all this work on Scientology, after really immersing yourself in it for so long, what is your conclusion? WRIGHT: I think Scientology is having -- at a reckoning point. It reminds me of the Church of Latter-Day Saints in the 19th century, which was the most persecuted sect in our history. AMANPOUR: That's the Mormon Church. WRIGHT: That's the Mormon Church. And in fact, there was a bill in Congress to exterminate the Mormons. It was a very hated organization. And it turned. It evolved into an organization that now can have two Mormons running for president. The -- Scientology might have a future like that. But it won't if it continues on its current path. It's got lots of money and it's got lots of lawyers. But it appears to be hemorrhaging members. And if it doesn't have a change, if it doesn't have a reformation inside it, then no matter how much money and how many lawyers they have, it's going to die. AMANPOUR: Lawrence Wright, thank you very much indeed. WRIGHT: It's been a pleasure. Thank you, Christiane. (END VIDEO CLIP) AMANPOUR: On the question of how Scientology won its religious exemption from the IRS, the church has denied reports that aggressive tactics had any effect on the agency's decision, saying the ruling was based on a two-year inquiry that showed the church was qualified for the exemption. As for the reports that journalists have been harassed, the church has said that this dark chapter in its history was the work of renegade members who broke the law and that it's today's church leaders who are responsible for shutting down the activity. The Church of Scientology's response is available in full at CNN.com. To find it, put the word "Scientology" in the search field in the upper right-hand corner. |
