Scientology, Anonymous: Cyber Wars and Censorship

Monday, June 2, 2008

Scientology, Anonymous: Cyber Wars and Censorship

"Anonymous" protest against Scientology

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.

Join us.

While we go about our daily lives, surfing the web, using it to pay bills or catch up on the latest news and chat with friends and family, little do we realize that just beneath the digital surface of the worldwide web a war is being waged, the first Cyber World War, of a modern day David versus Goliath.

Goliath is the Church of Scientology, a multi-billion dollar enterprise, who is being systematically unmasked by the group known as Anonymous, the modern day David.

Who is Anonymous and why did they declare war against the Church of Scientology?

Tom Cruise is perhaps the most famous Church of Scientology member on the planet. We mention planet because in the "Church" of Scientology, what we would consider science fiction, tales of intergalactic warfare and galaxies play a key role in the shrouded secret world of Scientology.

The origin of Scientology as a "religion" compared to other religions such as Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism is quite recent, founded by L. Ron Hubbard, a prolific science fiction writer in the early 1950's. Hubbard's Dianetics, a self-improvement book based on a mind-body-spirit relationship, was regarded in some circles as a scam and a "lunatic vision of Freudian psychology" while others believed it offered a new way to religious bliss.

Hubbard set up the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in 1950 in New Jersey and then moved to Arizona in 1952 where Hubbard "expanded Dianetics" into Scientology, referring to it as an "applied religious philosophy".

While some may be aware of Hubbard's involvement in Scientology's origins what they don't know is how Scientology "works" as the group shrouds its "church" in secrecy. The secrecy may or may not be related to any sort of "religious" overtones, instead the secrecy may have been devised to cloak Scientology's method of charging its flock quite a bit of money to learn its "secrets" in order to rise up in the rank and file of the "church".

Piece by piece, his (Hubbard's) teachings are revealed to church members through a progression of sometimes secret courses that take years to complete and cost tens of thousands of dollars. Out of a membership estimated by the church to be 6.5 million, only a tiny fraction have climbed to the upper reaches. In fact, according to a Scientology publication earlier this year, fewer than 900 members have completed the church's highest course, nicknamed "Truth Revealed."