Alt.religion.scientology
Week in Review Volume 6, Issue 13
7/15/2001
by Rod Keller [rkeller@...]
copyright 2001

Alt.religion.scientology Week in Review summarizes the most significant
postings from the Usenet group Alt.religion.scientology for the preceding
week for the benefit of those who can't follow the group as closely as
they'd like. Out of thousands of postings, I attempt to include news of
significant events, new affidavits, court rulings, new contributors,
whatever. I hope you find it useful. Like many readers of a.r.s, I have a
kill file. So please take into consideration that I may not have seen some
of the most significant postings.

The articles in A.r.s Week in Review are brief summaries of articles
posted to the newsgroup. They include message IDs for the original
articles, and many have a URL to get more information. You may be able to
find the original article, depending on how long your site stores articles
in the newsgroup before expiring them.

Free A.r.s Week in Review subscriptions are available. Subscriptions are
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Week in Review is archived at:
http://www.xenu.net/archive/WIR/
http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/ars-summary.html
http://www.uni-bonn.de/~uzs1dc/scientology/wir.html
http://www.religio.de/publik/arsfaq.html

#####

> Clearwater

The St. Petersburg Times reported on July 10th that Scientology celebrity
Chick Corea will not be available to play the Clearwater Jazz Holiday.

"'We have an international flair to our lineup,' said Karen Vann,
Clearwater Jazz Holiday executive director. One more act, scheduled for a
spot from noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 20, is to be announced. Vann was unable to
fill the vacancy with Chick Corea. He tried to book Corea, who lives in
the Clearwater area, but Corea will be playing a solo piano performance in
Bourges, France.

"For years, organizers did not book the prominent Scientologist for fear
they'd lose sponsors or audiences, 'but I don't think we feel the same
concerns and prohibitions we felt at the time,' Garcia said. 'It's not
something that would stop me,' Garcia said. 'If he wasn't in Europe, I
would have loved to have him. The critics are raving about his work. I
book them because they're good artists.'"

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> Europe

Monde Diplomatique published an article in its June, 2001 issue on the
history of efforts in Europe to resist cults from America, including
Scientology.

"In 1996 France passed legislation to protect the psychologically
vulnerable, and the Jospin government established an Interministerial
Mission to Combat Sects, headed by Alain Vivien. In Germany, the main
struggle has been with the Church of Scientology. After a police
investigation in 1997 the Federal government warned the public of its
dangers and the state of Bavaria banned Scientologists from the civil
service.

"With Europe hardening its position, observers expected a counter-attack
from international cults, some of which have assets of several hundred
million francs in France alone. On 27 January 1997 Washington officially
condemned German measures against Scientology. A few days later the State
Department's Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour published its
country reports on human rights practices for 1996. Germany came under
fierce attack, joining China on the list of states violating religious
freedom. The BDHRL report came just at the right time to support the
Scientologists' campaign against Germany, which consisted of
demonstrations, ads in the international press and a complaint to the
European Court of Human Rights.

"Congress then passed the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998. It
then established the US Commission on International Religious Freedom,
which has a representative in every US embassy, and the Office of
International Religious Freedom within the State Department itself. The
office is headed by an ambassador-at-large, assisted by five State
Department staff. The first ambassador was Robert A Seiple, a former
marine who is fond of repeating that 'human rights are universal because
they are granted by God'. The first Annual Report on International
Religious Freedom, released by the BDHRL in September 1999 accused France,
Germany, Austria and Belgium of violating religious freedom.

"In response, the interministerial mission and the French foreign ministry
explained that investigations into the structure and financial flows of
the Scientology organisation had shown it to be a commercial organisation
generating enormous profits. Although the 180 organisations named in the
report claimed to be religious, close examination had revealed their
totalitarian nature and the coercive methods they used on their followers.
The vast majority had already been sentenced by the courts.

"The report published on 9 September 1999 contained an even more vehement
attack on the European countries. On 8 December foreign minister Hubert
Vedrine protested to Madeleine Albright 'Your administration's unwarranted
criticism of French government action at a time of ongoing dialogue
between our senior officials has cast a deep shadow over the discussions.'

"The testimony gathered by these commissions is open to question. The man
appointed by the OCSE to chair the meeting in Vienna in March 1999 was
none other than Massimo Introvigne, an Italian self-styled sociologist and
founder of the Centre for the Study of New Religions (Cesnur). Cesnur is a
Catholic fundamentalist organisation with close links to the Brazilian
neo-fascist cult Tradition Family Property. Introvigne is a frequent
contributor to Scientology publications and testified in favour of the
cult in Lyons in the case brought against its leaders by investigating
magistrate Georges Fenech. French lawyer Alain Garay, a defence counsel
for Jehovah's Witnesses who fights their tax battles, was also invited to
Vienna and Washington. He too is a frequent contributor to Scientology
publications.

"Stacy Brooks is president of the Lisa McPherson Trust, the main American
organisation set up to help victims of Scientology. She was herself a
Scientologist for 15 years. Brooks clearly recalls Reverend George
Robertson, who runs Greater Grace with a rod of iron 'He's in close touch
with the leaders of Scientology. When the Scientologists are loath to
intervene on certain matters that might damage their image, they get
Robertson to do it.' The Cult Awareness Network was once the main support
organisation for victims of religious cults. Greater Grace and the Church
of Scientology set out together to bankrupt it by lawsuits. Then they
bought up its logo and license agreement in the federal bankruptcy court.

"There is another reason for the influence of Scientology and its
followers in the US. In October 1993 the all-powerful US Internal Revenue
Service granted the sect full tax exemption as a bona fide religion, after
doggedly refusing to do so for 25 years - a refusal that had been backed
by all the American courts right up to the Supreme Court. The IRS
turnabout saved the Church of Scientology tens of millions of dollars and
gave it an extraordinary public relations tool by opening the doors of the
American administration. At one time the cult and its members had more
than 50 lawsuits pending against the IRS. It also hired detectives to dig
up the dirt on top IRS officials. One of them told the New York Times he
had gathered information on officials who missed meetings, drank too much
or had extra-marital relations. On express instructions from the IRS
commissioner, the Church of Scientology was granted religious status by a
special decision that circumvented the usual procedures.

"Stephen A Kent, a professor of sociology at the University of Alberta,
Canada, has studied the Washington lobbying strategy of religious groups
and cults in great detail. He has shown how Scientology mounts major
public relations campaigns directed at members of Congress and the White
House. Scientology organisations paid $725,000 to a public relations firm
specialising in political lobbying in 1996 and 1997, plus a further
$420,000 in 1998. Scientologists in the movie business contributed over
$70,000 to Hillary Clinton's Senate election campaign fund. Tom Cruise
personally donated $5,000 to Al Gore's campaign. A group headed by John
Travolta organised a gala dinner to raise funds for the Democrats. One
Scientology lawyer gave $20,000 to the Democrats' election campaign, while
a group of 10 Californian Scientologists including Craig Jensen, corporate
executive officer of Executive Software, donated a total of $7,400 to the
campaign fund of Representative Benjamin A Gilman, chair of the House
International Relations Committee.

"The religious cults have much to gain. If they can penetrate the European
education system and establish schools that are free from all state
control, as in the US, they will expand and consolidate their membership,
since recruitment will become an integral part of the cultural and
psychological development of the individuals under their influence. It
would be an exaggeration to describe the cults' links with the
communications industry as a common front –- their actions are not part of
a jointly defined strategy or directed by a unified general staff. Still,
there is a striking overlap of personnel. The links between ABC, CNN, etc.
and the American religious fundamentalist lobbies are no secret, and nor
is their total commitment to the ruling ideology. Daniel Ichbia, Bill
Gates' first biographer, was a Scientologist. And so is Craig Jensen, one
of Gates' closest collaborators. One of the main firms in the Microsoft
empire, Executive Software, officially declares itself Scientologist. Big
Brother is just behind the screen."

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> France

Reuters reported on July 9th that a U.S Congressman criticized France for
passing a law aimed at preventing abuse by cults and other manipulative
organizations.

"An influential member of the U.S. Congress on Monday branded a new French
law aimed at controlling the activities of sects profoundly intolerant and
said it could spread an 'anti-religious contagion' if allowed to stand.
New Jersey Republican Chris Smith said the bill, adopted by the French
National Assembly in May, was so vague in its provisions that it could in
theory be applied to almost any cult or religion, including the Roman
Catholic Church.

"'This (law) is sowing the seeds for profound religious intolerance in
France. If and when it is exported, it will spread an anti-religious
contagion,' Smith said. Justice Minister Marylise Lebranchu said when the
bill was passed that its intention was to protect the weak and that the
law would not limit freedom of conscience or worship.

"Provisions in the draft that would have made brainwashing, or 'mental
manipulation,' a criminal offence were dropped from the final version
after an outcry from several groups. More than 170 groups are officially
designed as sects in France and remain under government surveillance.
They include the Church of Scientology, founded by the late American
science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, which has said the bill sounds a
'death knell' for French democracy."

A hearing before the House subcommittee on International Operations and
Human Rights on July 11th included testimony from several prominent
Scientologists. Excerpts from the testimony of Scientology celebrity Isaac
Hayes:

"I hope that by giving a public airing to this issue, we can dispel some
of the dark clouds that are gathering over France - a country where more
members of religious, spiritual and ethnic movements suffer for their
beliefs than in any other democracy in the world. And yet, I am not
optimistic that circumstances will change, unless we, as Americans, take
decisive action to bring about that change.

"Members of minority religions have lost their jobs, they have been denied
access to public facilities, they have been pilloried in the media, their
careers have been destroyed, and their children denied access to
kindergarten - all because of their beliefs. The French government's
official policy and practice of intolerance continues to generate daily
incidents of religious and economic discrimination in both the private and
public sector.

"In addition to artists, French officials and private anti-religious
groups have targeted respected professionals in many different fields.
Such campaigns have had fatal consequences for their victims. For example,
a doctor who ran a highly regarded therapy center, to which a nearby
hospital and courts commonly referred drug addicts for help, killed
himself after officials closed his center following a vicious propaganda
campaign instigated by a local hate group.

"One mother who is a Scientologist unexpectedly discovered that her
13-year-old daughter's sports class had been canceled and replaced by a
mandatory conference on cults. Her daughter was extremely upset by the
bigotry and prejudice spread at this conference, conducted with the
support of the Ministry of National Education and the Interministerial
Mission to Fight Against Sects. The French government, and French
officials such as Alain Vivien of the Interministerial Mission to Fight
Against Sects create a climate that feeds and nurtures such intolerance.

"The French government is undoubtedly the most intolerant in western
Europe. But certain other European governments continue to refuse to
comply with their international human rights commitments. In February, for
the 8th successive year, the U.S. State Department's Annual Human Rights
Report criticized German government discrimination against Scientologists,
as well as against certain Christian groups. Scientologists continue to
suffer harassment, stigma and invasion of their private lives by the
German government's domestic security agency, the Office for the
Protection of the Constitution. Although the German federal government
claims to have relaxed its use of so-called 'sect filters' making
employment or contractual relations conditional on individuals stating
that they are not Scientologists, the public and private sector continue
to use such filters. Moreover, German officials continue to deny American
artists the right to perform at state-sponsored concerts in Germany,
solely because of their religious association.

"The time has come to consider tough-minded action against western
European governments that refuse to respect human rights. We have the
legislation to do it - the International Religious Freedom Act. Let's use
that tool to take a stand for people who may not be able to take a stand
for themselves - individuals of whatever religion or ethnicity who face
extinction of their rights in France."

From testimony by Patrick Hinojosa, an officer of the
Scientology-affiliated Panda Software.

"Panda Software in France has had government and private contracts
canceled, been permanently precluded from future procurements, and has
been the subject of damning and false public accusations by French
officials. Since Panda became the target of such religious and economic
discrimination in France, which has been our third largest market after
the United States and Great Britain, our French subsidiary operation has
suffered a devastating 50% drop in revenue.

"Panda's founder, Mr. Urizarbarrena, and his wife have for many years been
members of the Scientology religion. This French government discrimination
has resulted in the current situation whereby Panda Software is now
effectively barred from access to the French governmental and major
private markets.

"Being forced to investigate the motivation of the French government, I
discovered that various commissions and ministries within the French state
have been engaged in a systematic campaign of discrimination and
intolerance against a wide range of minority religions and their members.
Indeed, there is a list of 172 targeted religious groups, many of them
American.

"Allegations surfaced that Panda's anti-virus software might be able to
somehow access the confidential databases of the French Ministry of
Interior and if this could happen then the information would be sent to
the Church of Scientology. This allegation is patently absurd. All of the
major international anti-virus certifying organizations have rigorously
tested Panda's products and given them their highest available levels of
certification. It was also alleged that buying and leasing Panda's
products was equivalent to funding the Church of Scientology via the
company, another patent falsehood. Panda and the Church of Scientology
have no connection whatsoever.

"The effective ban and boycott of Panda Software by the French government
simply because of Mr. Urizarbarrena's religious association and beliefs
painfully highlights the existence in France of a deliberate government
policy to attack and discriminate against companies, if its leaders have
the audacity to belong to a religion that French politicians don't favor
and have blacklisted.

"I implore you and the U.S. Congress give serious consideration to the
means available under existing legislation or other available instruments
and vehicles to make the French government realize that discriminating
against U.S. companies and persons, based upon the religious affiliation
of their founders or executive staff, is a violation of international
public policy and France's international treaty commitments, and that it
will not be tolerated by the United States."

From the testimony of Scientology celebrity Catherine Bell:

"The new French law to 'Reinforce the Prevention and Repression of
Sectarian Groups' is intentionally designed to deprive hundreds of
thousands, perhaps millions, of people of their right to worship freely.
Essentially, the new law makes it illegal for religions to help those that
they have traditionally helped, i.e., the spiritually afflicted. With this
law, repressive and intolerant French officials and politicians have
engineered the legal instruments to enforce the death penalty on minority
religious groups.

"France is a leader in Europe, a pivotal member of the European Union and
the Council of Europe. If we cannot persuade the French government to
uphold standards of human rights, what must be our chances of success when
dealing with countries like the Sudan or Iraq?

"I believe that the time has come for Congress to take firm and
unequivocal action against western European governments that fail to
comply with international human rights law. We have a responsibility under
the International Religious Freedom Act, and as Americans, to protect the
rights of minority religious members, especially American citizens.
Indeed, the act provides for trade penalties to be taken against
governments that engage in acts of religious persecution. The French
government has now placed on the books a law that is tailor-made to create
persecution, and to deny religious adherents their right to worship in
community with others, freely practice their religion and associate with
their co-religionists. Within the next few months, we can expect French
authorities to move to dissolve targeted religious organizations.

"The time has come for hard-nosed legislation mandating sanctions against
foreign governments that engage in repeated and persistent acts of
religious discrimination. Tough, uncompromising laws by the United States
are needed to drive home that human rights violations such as we have
heard today are completely unacceptable, and that the United States will
not stand by and permit them to continue."

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> Germany

Spiegel magazine published an article on July 10th on the decline of
Scientology in Germany and the efforts of Ms. Ursula Caberta.

"It is difficult for a business to differentiate between harmless
providers and Scientology members. For this reason the Hamburg
Anti-Scientology Crew works closely together with the Chamber of Commerce.
Their goal is to help businesses protect themselves from Scientology's
attempts at infiltration. An important means of doing this is the
so-called 'Technology Statement' developed by Caberta and her team. In
the Statement, companies, staff and seminar directors must declare that
they reject the technologies of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
'That's a genuine mortal sin for Scientologists,' explained Caberta.
Denying Hubbard, together with the technology he propagated, would be
viewed as a 'high crime,' so that signing the statement would not be
possible for members.

"Ursula Caberta has first-hand experience in finding out that the fight
against Scientology is not without adverse effects. For years she has been
spied and informed upon by the organization's intelligence agency.
Telephone calls to her friends and acquaintances or specific questions to
her neighbors have been the daily routine for years, reported the
Scientology opponent with near disinterest.

"In the Administrative Court in Saarland one of the Scientology
organizations members denied responsibility for carrying out 'operative
measures' against the Task Force director. In its decision of March 29,
2001 in which it dismissed the charges, the court nevertheless did
determine that Scientology had authorized the procedural methods being
used against the Task Force director. The State Office for the Protection
of the Constitution said somewhat more clearly how these methods were to
be understood, namely the 'employment of intelligence agency methods.'

"It is exactly with these methods that the organization is currently
trying to silence their highest-profile opponent in Germany. The
accusations against Caberta go up to soliciting for favors and to bribery,
for which the psycho-concern has filed charges. Scientology asserts that
the director of the Hamburg Task Force accepted money from American
businessman and renowned Scientology opponent Bob Minton on a trip to the
USA. Caberta views the charges as part of Scientology's overall strategy
to torpedo the critics it does not like. That strategy would also include
a petition from Scientology to the Hamburg Burgerschaft, the goal of which
is to have her removed from her position.

"In order to be able to counter the organization's measures she is
promoting legislation for Germany - similar to the so-called anti-cult law
passed in France in June. 'We should recognize that psychic bodily harm is
criminal, too,' Caberta demands. And 'The organizations responsible for
their subordinate members' deeds should finally be held accountable.'"

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#####

> Ireland

The Irish Times reported on July 14th that the High Court has refused
Scientology's request to get personal information from a woman suing
Scientology for altering her personality with mind control techniques.

"Mr. Justice Butler found there was no willful refusal by Ms Mary Johnson
to comply with the order for discovery. It 'beggared belief' that the
order involved Ms Johnson having to make discovery of documents relating
to her intimate relationships, he said.

"Ms Johnson, who operates a sports equipment shop at Westwood, Foxrock, Co
Dublin, has sued the COS and three named persons, Mr. John Keane,
described as a 'mission holder', and Mr. Tom Cunningham and Mr. Gerard
Ryan, both described as members of the COS. Mr. Cush argued that some
records were being sought to embarrass Ms Johnson. He said the judge must
also take into account the conduct of the defendants, who were using court
procedures to delay the action. He said Ms Johnson's first affidavit of
discovery was made in 1997, and the first complaint about it was made only
2 1/2 years later.

"Dismissing the application to strike out the action, Mr. Justice Butler
said while the court order for discovery was properly made, he had never
seen such an oppressive order. It included 28 categories of documents with
sub categories, some of which were 'plainly ludicrous,' including
documents relating to any intimate relationships she had had with any
person other than the third named defendant or with whom she had shared a
residence."

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#####

> Joy of Creating

An email from the Celebrity Center in Los Angeles urged Scientologists to
promote a new album featuring several Scientology celebrities, Joy of
Creating.

"This campaign is to get everyone using the 'Joy of Creating' album plus
other promotional items. There is a computer screensaver that is animated
and parts of the painting move and then the art breaks wide open to
display LRH's quote: 'The greatest joy there is in life is creating.
Splurge on it!'

"Why not modify your e-mail 'signature' to include the website link? You
can put a little clip of the screensaver on your e-mail so that they can
SEE the art and invite them to download the screensaver! If you have a
business, consider buying the album so you can put it onto your ON-HOLD
music system. You can purchase the CD through the orgs or through Bridge
Publications.

"If anyone takes off and runs with these projects and by chance gets
something into print, or on the air or something please let Kay Connelly
(AO or through OSA) or Barb Oliver (CC Int) know as this is a statistic
and becomes a win for everybody!"

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#####

> Protest Summary

"Realpch" and "Prignillius" reported a protest in San Francisco on July
7th.

"I was joined at this picket by Prignillius and Arel Henson, and later on
Phr. Prignillius had himself a spiffy new sign. One side said 'Stop
Hurting People' and the other said 'Scientology Lies - www.xenu.net.' I
made myself a new sign, which said 'Stop Hurting People' and 'Scientology
Hates Free Speech'. This sign proved to be difficult to handle in the
brisk winds. I'm afraid I will have to go back to smaller signs. The Org
may have come to a similar conclusion, as the huge anti-psychiatry signs
they used at the last two pickets did not appear, but two smaller signs
did.

"It seems to have boiled down to just the two usual suspects there, Nasty
Mark and Craig, who are willing to go out and insult and bullbait
picketers. Arel sensibly wore a headset to filter them out. Prignillius
spent quite a while chatting with Mark until Mark told him to shut up,
which he did. Which apparently annoyed Mark. Craig taped with a video cam
most of the time, and several times warned me not to hit him with my
picket sign, which of course I had no intention of doing.

"The Org called the police. An officer came out and talked with some
fellow in front of the Org for a bit. During this time, the handlers
stopped harassing us. The man the officer talked with later assumed the
role of Movie Director and stepped in front of me in all seriousness and
directed Craig to get shots of my face. Towards the end of our first
segment of picketing, they resorted to 'Tone 40'ing us. 'Peaches, Leave!
Get Your Ass Out of Here!' Mark shouted. 'Did You Hear Me? I Said Go!' he
elaborated."

"The picket, all in all, was rather uneventful. I had two handlers, who
also tried to handle Arel and Peach part-time. Craig was the guy with the
video camera. Mark walked beside me for the first half hour or forty five
minutes of the picket. After about 1.75 hours, I had to sit down and take
a break. After half an hour or so, we were joined at the cafe by M, a
very lovely young woman whose (now former) boyfriend is a Scientologist.
She apparently discovered the Operation Clambake message board, and has
received quite an education in Scientology since then. It led to her
gaining a much greater understanding of her boyfriend's behavior. He's a
public who's been in for ten or fifteen years, is not yet clear, but is
talking about doing the OT levels. She was very supportive of our
activities, but was unwilling to allow anyone from the org to see her
face.

"We had a lot of acks, horn honks and thumbs-ups throughout the day,
including one from a bus driver. People seemed supportive in general, and
interested in finding out more. I talked to one guy who had worked for
Scientology briefly as a staff member, but got out, as he said, 'as soon
as I realized what a rip-off cult they were.' I encouraged him to tell his
story to others."

Prignillius also reported protests in San Jose and Los Gatos on July 8th.

"If the San Francisco picket was uneventful, it was still a veritable
three-ring circus compared to the picketing in San Jose and adjoining city
that Arel Lucas and I did on Sunday, July 8. It was a 3-org kind of day in
the South San Francisco Bay area. We finally hit the Los Gatos org - it's
now in Campbell, just south of San Jose, on Bascom - at about 3:00. This
org is very anonymous. I had to drive by it 3 times before I could see it.
It has a sign about 8 inches tall and about 8 feet wide that says
'Scientology.'

"Arel and I walked back and forth in front of the office building for
about 20 minutes. Arel said the Scientologists did sneak out and take our
picture at one point. They must have gotten a good one of my backside,
because I sure didn't see them. I remember 2 horn-honks, 1 of which was
accompanied by a very enthusiastic thumbs-up, and no other activity or
response.

"Next we went over to the tiny San Jose Mission, at the corner of Hedding
and Winchester. If they hadn't had 'Personality Testing' in cheap
construction-paper cut-out letters in the window, I never would have found
this place. They do have a sign, that says 'Scientology,' in multi-colored
letters on a yellow background, so faded as to be illegible from a
distance of more than 2 or 3 feet. The sign is about 18 inches tall by 3
feet wide.

"Arel and I walked back and forth for about 15 minutes. The org was closed
(they're only open 10:00 - 1:00 on Sundays). The only response of any
kind I got was when I was walking across the cross-walk to get from where
I parked to the mission. A guy making a left turn honked and gave me a
thumbs-up. I waved. As he passed me, he said, 'They *do* lie.' I grinned,
and said, 'They do.'

"Lastly we went over to the San Jose org on Rosemary. This org is quite
large, two stories tall, and about half a block long and a quarter of a
block wide. It's at the edge of a residential area where it joins up with
the no-man's-land surrounding the San Jose Airport. Arel and I walked back
and forth in front of it for ten or fifteen minutes. The only
Scientologist I saw was a woman who got out of her car just as we were
starting to picket. Her eyes opened wide in surprise, and she hurried into
the building."

Bruce Pettycrew reported a protest in Mesa, Arizona on July 14th.

"It was about 98 degrees this morning when Kathy and I picketed from 9:00
to 9:45. No one came out or went in during that time. Two drivers took
their hands off the wheel to applaud, something I have mixed feelings
about! We gave away 2 leaflets to pedestrians."

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> Switzerland

Communique reported on July 11th that Scientology lost a case in Lausanne,
Switzerland and will continue to have restrictions on the distribution of
material in public.

"The administrative court confirms the municipality's decision. Lausanne's
Municipality has not abused its rights by limiting the distribution of
printed material by the Church of Scientology on the streets, or by
setting conditions to the establishment of its information booths. The
administrative Court has purely and simply swept the scientologists'
complaints, ruling that the imposed restrictions were based on objective
criteria and were neither disproportionate, arbitrary or contrary to the
equality of treatment.

"The Church of Scientology and related associations are authorised to
install an information booth on place Saint-Francois only and during the
days when the central market takes place, i.e., Wednesdays and Sundays,
excluding any other week day and any other place. Only two authorisations
will be given per month, the choice of the actual days being left to the
Church of Scientology and related associations' discretion. People
animating the booth and distributing free leaflets must stand behind the
booth, only talk to interested people and refrain from harassing passers
by.

"The distribution of printed material will be admitted at most one day per
week, excluding central market days, providing it respects the freedom of
passersby and does not perturbate their circulation or the motorised
traffic."

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> UK

The Guardian reported on July 12th that Scientology has produced a new
brochure against drugs.

"The Church of Scientology has cannily produced a glossy booklet called
Freeing Society From Drugs - quite a departure for a religious group
better known for Freeing Movie Stars From Cash. Graham Wilson said 'We're
very excited.' Indeed. On a minor practical point, how do you propose to
take this fight into the crack houses of Brixton? 'That's a good
question,' says Graham. 'We have Drug Free Kids who wear bright clothes
and literally go to these areas to clean them up. We send them into parks
with pick-up-sticks and gloves, and they pick up the needles.' And
tackling users? 'Well, our booklets are becoming very popular. But it
won't be an overnight thing.' Have these Scientologists never heard of the
power of positive thinking?"

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