church of scientology response to daily mail, united kingdom

8/6/2019 Church of Scientology Response to Daily Mail, United Kingdom

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5 August 2011

Dear Mr. Horne,

Thank you for coming to us for our input on your planned article.

We are indeed very familiar with the information available in the National Archivefiles. We have ourselves reviewed records dating back to the mid-1960s, andthey detail egregious discrimination against our Church and individual

Scientologists and many acts of gross malfeasance by certain governmentofficials.

I believe it very important to the Daily Mail readers that your characterizationsaccurately reflect the full picture, as I shall detail below.

It is clear that the government files are rife with misinformation on our religionvery purposely designed to fuel public opinion against Scientology and that someof this misinformation was intentionally given to the press, such as the Daily Mail .The records prove that the Church was completely correct back then when weclaimed that we were the target of religious discrimination by the thengovernment. When we first became aware of these documents, we showedsome of them to officials at the Home Office. They were shocked.

In brief, the Church of Scientology's work to try to clean up abuses occurring inmental hospitals in the 1960s caused it to be targeted by the then-Minister of Health Kenneth Robinson who was previously the Chairman of the UK NationalMental Health Association. Robinson’ s bias resulted in an immigration restrictionthat prevented foreign Scientologists from studying Scientology in England.

Starting in 1979, the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took adirect interest in the issue and removed the restrictions as no support or evidenceof wrong-doing could be provided for it.

By way of example of various recognitions of the Church’ s bona fides over thesucceeding years, in 1996 the Independent Television Commission withdrew theiradvertising ban on Scientology (as a religious advertiser) after a High Courtchallenge in 1996.



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"The information in the possession of the Police is really second-hand and therefore of doubtful evidential value." TAB 6

"It will be seen, therefore, that in all three cases any informationcoming into the possession of the Police was mere hearsay evidence, and

would be of very little value.…

" TAB 7

This pattern of discrimination and harassment continued well into the 1970s, as isevidenced by the July 1975 meeting minutes and August 1975 document youreferenced.

Final resolution of the Immigration Restriction

The immigration restrictions were lifted in 1980, but the records show there wasnever any justification for them and it was a matter of concern to the

government for its entire existence. Six months after the UK Scientologyimmigration restrictions went into effect in 1968, the new Secretary of State forSocial Services, Richard Crossman, appointed Sir John Foster to conduct anInquiry into Scientology. Foster completed his report in April 1971. In itsintroduction, he wrote:

"For the reasons set out in detail in Chapter 8 of this Report, I have cometo the conclusion that most of the Government measures of July 1968 werenot justified." [1. Introduction to "Enquiry into the Practice and Effects of

Scientology," Report by Sir John Foster, K.B.E., Q.C., M.P., Published byHer Majesty's Stationery Office, London, December 1971.] TAB 8

Foster stated in later years that "it was a lot of rigged-up nonsense full of lies andseemed to involve pathological personal dislike of Scientology on the part of some involved." TAB 9

The day following the presentation of the Foster Report to Parliament, RichardCrossman (then no longer a government minister), stated on BBC Radio 4:

"I personally very much regretted it [the Scientology immigration measure]had been done without a really thorough investigation...and so I felt it wasabsolutely essential the penalties having been imposed in this way [that] Imust have the thing cleared up...I thought the Scientologists had alegitimate complaint. They had been singled out." (BBC Radio 4 —December 22, 1971) TAB 10

Even so, the government refused to adopt the recommendation. As agovernment official tried to explain to the U.S. Embassy in London: "The

government hopes that the leaders will become so discouraged by immigrationdifficulties as to retreat from their British base." TAB 11Thus, for nine more yearsthe government engaged in interminable "consideration" as a delaying tactic.



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In an August 1975 memo prepared for the Home Affairs Committee, the HomeOffice’ s Minister of State recommended lifting the restrictions and expressed hisconcern at the “embarrassment of continuing to use immigration powers in a way

for which they were not intended.” TAB 12

It was not until 1979, following a Parliamentary Motion signed by no fewer than77 Members of the House of Commons, entitled "Justice for Scientologists," thatthe measure was reviewed in earnest. TAB 13

In response to a November 14, 1979 memo from her Private Secretary briefingthe Prime Minister on the status of the government’ s investigation into whetherto continue the immigration restriction, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wrote:

“We really cannot keep this ban unless we are ready publicly to say whyand to support this conclusion with evidence. The question is not whetherwe “approve” Scientology or not, but what possible justification is there forthis unique ban. M.T.” TAB 14

The measure was revoked in July 1980.

Leslie Chapman, advisor to the Prime Minister, described why the Thatchergovernment cancelled the edict: "I had come to the conclusion that it was

all unfounded gossip rooted in ignorance, prejudice, spite and malice inroughly equal proportions." TAB 9 And the new Home Secretary WilliamWhitelaw acknowledged that there had been no clear and sufficient evidence to

justify what had been done to unfairly and illegally curb the rights and freedomsof Scientologists in England.

Evidence of overriding bias in newly released documents

Consider for a moment these statements being made by our government about areligion because the government has elected, through ignorance or worse to

deny Scientology its rights:

“It might be possible greatly to reduce the financial attractiveness to theScientologists of operations in this country. If that could be done, themovement might well wither away.” 29 April 1971 Department of Healthand Social Security TAB 15

“The Law Officers were indeed unhappy about the report [The FosterReport] as a whole, feeling that the procedure adopted was contrary tonatural justice in that no evidence as to the harmfulness or otherwise of

scientology was collected or assessed, and no opinion on these matters isexpressed; yet recommendations are made without the scientologists or



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anyone else having had an opportunity to comment or attempt to rebutthe conclusions reached.” 18 May 1971 TAB 16

“Publication also has its difficulties —in particular, the scientologists willcomplain about the inadequacies of the report and argue that they should

have been allowed to comment on it before publication. But against this itcould be argued that whatever unsatisfactory features the report has mustbe laid at the door of the previous Government, which chose to set up itsenquiry in a way which was well calculated to cause trouble.” 28 July 1971TAB 17

Simply put, the Government knew it was “causing trouble” and was taking actioncontrary to English law and prejudicial to Scientology and Scientologists andcontinued to do so for years —and Scientology is being harmed to this day bythese uncorrected government false reports.

Beyond that, the Church of Scientology will be studying all newly availabledocuments and using them to attain our rights to practice our religion freely andwithout discrimination to the fullest extent within the law.

Scientology in the United Kingdom Today: A Growing Religion

Today, the Scientology religion is thriving in the United Kingdom, with more than100,000 Scientologists and over 120 Scientology Churches, Missions and groups

throughout the country.

We are immensely proud of what the Church has achieved over the last fewyears. We now have an Ideal Church of Scientology in London on Queen VictoriaStreet and renovated our Life Improvement Centre on Tottenham Court Road.

You can see the opening here: www.scientologynews.org/press-releases/london-grand-opening.html

Our Churches in London, East Grinstead and around the British Isles minister tothousands of parishioners, who, like their fellow Scientologists throughout the

world, translate the precepts of the Scientology religion into action. Theyvolunteer to rehabilitate prisoners; to educate others on the dangers of illicitdrugs; to teach the illiterate and disadvantaged; and to help other charitableorganizations. Specifically:

Narconon: In 1974 Scientologists in the United Kingdom formed anational Narconon organisation that has conducted an extensive publiceducation programme in the dangers of illicit drugs. In 2004, NarcononUK established a drug rehabilitation facility in Hastings, which coordinates

all Narconon drug education activities throughout the UK.

http://www.scientologynews.org/press-releases/london-



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The criminal rehabilitation charity Criminon serves approximately350 prisoners through correspondence courses, including two courses —Learning Skills and Understanding and Overcoming Addiction courses —thatreceived accreditation from the Open College Network (OCN), an

independent charity that gives accreditation to non-mainstream educationalbodies.

Applied Scholastics UK assists schools and tutoring groups usingL. Ron Hubbard’ s study technology. The most active is GreenfieldsSchool in East Grinstead, a school of general instruction utilizing the studymethods of L. Ron Hubbard. In 1981 a group of Scientologists interested inmaking L. Ron Hubbard’ s technology of study available to the public in aformal educational atmosphere established Greenfields School, in ForestRow, West Sussex. Greenfields is registered with the Charity Commission

as an educational trust, has been fully accredited by the Department forEducation, and is a member of the Independent Schools Association.

Citizens Commission on Human Rights UK is headquartered inEast Grinstead. It has been active in the UK since 1969 educatinggovernment leaders and the general public in the dangers of psychiatricabuses.

Say No to Drugs/Drug-Free Ambassadors Groups: The Church

in the UK sponsors 8 active Say No to Drugs groups through a nationalchapter in London and local chapters in Birmingham, Brighton, EastGrinstead, Manchester, Plymouth, Edinburgh, and in Dublin. Campaignvolunteers hold public events, pass out Truth About Drugs booklets andencourage people to sign a drug-free pledge to stay away from drugs. Thegroups promote video Public Service Announcements and a documentaryfilm about drug abuse distributed by the Foundation for a Drug-Free World.

Youth for Human Rights: Youth for Human Rights UK carries outactivities in Birmingham, Brighton, Manchester and Sussex. Youth for

Human Rights uses various educational aids to bring about an increasedunderstanding of human rights. Primary amongst these aids is a series of 30 Public Service Announcements (PSAs) which depict each of the articlesof the UDHR in short films. Tens of thousands of educational bookletshave been distributed by Scientologists in the UK and these have provenvery popular with teachers in several schools, each of whom requestedhundreds of copies.

Religions Working Together is an interfaith group formed by the

Church that works with other faiths on community programs to buildbridges of understanding between members of different faith traditions. It



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is operated out of the Church’ s regional management organization in EastGrinstead.

The Way to Happiness Foundation engages in the distribution of

L. Ron Hubbard’ s common sense moral code, The Way To Happiness, tore-establish higher standards of conduct. To date, the Church estimates

that these individuals have distributed more than 100,000 books in theUnited Kingdom. Copies of the book have been sent to Mayors, MPs, andother government officials, to civic groups and corporations, and to themedia, as well as to the general public.

A Volunteer Ministers Corps is active in the UK with a nationalorganisation coordinated out of our London and East Grinstead Churches,and with volunteers all over the country. In July 2005, 250 Volunteer

Ministers responded to the London bomb attacks, the day of the bombings,and they again were there to give whatever help was needed. VolunteerMinisters also provide help for situations that people face in the day to dayliving of life.

Conclusion

These documents provide a snapshot of the unlawful discrimination andgovernment harassment targeting Scientologists that did exist during this time

period, as Church officials have always maintained.

The government of the United Kingdom owes the Church of Scientology anapology for this atrocious treatment.

It is imperative that the Sunday Mail accurately reflect this unequivocal evidenceof religious discrimination.

Yours sincerely,

Graeme Wilson

church of scientology response to daily mail, united kingdom

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