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Description of video is in italics. VO=VOICEOVER
shot of Church of Scientology, Los Angeles; apparently group of ex-members
VOICEOVER: The Church of Scientology, one of the largest and richest new religious movements, is being sued for a billion dollars by former members for fraud and breach of trust. They regard Scientology as a dangerous cult.
group of Scientologists
VO: Yet the church goes on expanding, making converts and claiming it is "The Road to Total Freedom".
"Panorama" opening credits; while music is playing there are shots of a Scientology cruise ship; woman Scientologist with video camera; Sea Org member; E-meter; Scientologists on a march; "Dianetics" hot air balloon; footage of L. Ron Hubbard; title—"Scientology: THE ROAD TO TOTAL FREEDOM?
outside St. Hill Manor; students in classroom; auditing session
VO: St. Hill Manor in West Sussex, the British headquarters of the worldwide Church of Scientology, where parishioners study the works of L. Ron Hubbard and under a form of psychotherapy called auditing.
Scientologists in library
VO: Scientologists everywhere claim benefits from the techniques Hubbard called "Dianetics" and point to their success in curing drug addiction.
outside Los Angeles church
VO: The church’s headquarters are in Los Angeles, where its leadership proclaims its message.
Ken Hoden--caption, "Rev. Ken Hoden, Church of Scientology"
KEN HODEN: Scientology is a tool that people can use in their lives to achieve their dreams and their goals. It can help people find work when they can’t seem to find any. It can help people eliminate stress in their life. It can help people become more self-confident, and with these tools, people can achieve their dreams. And you know something? Six million people around the world, that consider Dianetics and Scientology to be their religion, have found that it has helped them do that.
Harold and Mary Clarke walking
VO: In Britain, Harold and Mary Clarke see it differently. They feel they have lost their 24-year-old daughter Ruth to Scientology. Since joining the church, their daughter has broken with her family and become a stranger.
pictures of Ruth Clarke
HAROLD CLARKE (voice of): My daughter has changed so completely as a result of being in Scientology that we now no longer know the person she has become. Whereas she was a happy, loving, sparkling girl who it was a joy to have about the house,
caption--"Harold Clarke"
HAROLD CLARKE (on camera): She has now become a cold automaton who can’t think outside the mental strait jacket that she’s in because of Scientology.
caption--"Mary Clarke"
MARY CLARKE: I don’t believe--I don’t believe how evil Scientology can be.
outside London org; inside Scientology org
VO: Ruth Clarke worked here with other young people at Scientology’s London shop, one of 20 Dianetics centers in Britain. Like other religious movements such as the Moonies, Scientology has been accused of wildly exaggerating its membership, using mind control techniques to extort high fees, and breaking up families. But these movements nearly always operate within the law.
body router on street; window of org with "Dianetics" books on display; bust of L. Ron Hubbard
VO: Last year, her family actually kidnapped Ruth Clarke and took her back home, but couldn’t alter her beliefs. Ruth escaped from Norfolk and returned to the Scientologists and the teachings of Lafayette Ron Hubbard.
Cyril Vosper walking down street
VO: Cyril Vosper describes himself as a deprogrammer. Families with grown-up children in the new religions ask him to try to change their minds.
Cyril Vosper ringing a doorbell]
VO: When Mr. and Mrs. Clarke kidnapped their daughter Ruth, Vosper was sent for. He failed then but with many others has succeeded. An ex-Scientologist himself, he brings his understanding of their methods to his deprogramming sessions.
Cyril Vosper sitting across from a young woman
CYRIL VOSPER: How much money have you spent altogether in Scientology?
WOMAN: About £2,000.
VOSPER: How long did it take them to get the £2,000 out of you?
WOMAN: About three days.
VOSPER: Three days.
WOMAN: Yes.
VOSPER: Now that’s good going, isn’t it? And what was your rate--
woman takes a drag off a cigarette
VO: Scientology has been vindictive towards ex-members, hence this girl’s request for anonymity. Vosper has witnessed a proliferation of what he sees as religious cults; but in his view, the most dangerous of them is Scientology.
caption--"Cyril Vosper"
VOSPER: I think it’s probably the worst because it’s the biggest and it’s got more money. It’s been around longer than the other ones have and therefore it’s got its act together better. And I think it basically should be stopped, but it won’t be stopped in the United Kingdom. We’ve got them in here and the authorities here don’t appear to give a damn.
Heber Jentzsch and Ken Hoden sitting in an office
VO: In Los Angeles, the leaders of Scientology dismiss Cyril Vosper’s critical views by attacking him personally.
caption--"Rev. Heber Jentzsch, President, Church of Scientology International"
HEBER JENTZSCH: (laughs) Oh, Mr. Vosper is a man who left his wife, left his children, refused to support them, left many debts. The church took up the wife’s cause, took up the children, and so forth. Mr. Vosper is also a known kidnapper of individuals, which he chooses to call it deprogramming—I think the word is a more a question of kidnapping for profit.
KEN HODEN: We’re talking about adults.
JENTZSCH: Yes.
caption--"Rev. Ken Hoden, Church of Scientology"
HODEN: People like myself, Rev. Jentzsch, people like John Travolta, Chick Corea, Karen Black, Nicky Hopkins, the six million Scientologists across the world that have found in Dianetics a solution to their problems. We’re talking about adults. This is not Nazi Germany. And what happened there should have taught us a lesson, and that is that man has a right to believe what they choose, and the six million Jews that were killed should have been enough of a lesson that we should have learned that by this time man should at least have the conscience to allow other people to believe what they choose—adults, and that’s what we’re talking about is adults, and we’re talking about a terrorism that was perpetrated by Mr. Vosper that is unconsciousable [sic].
cars driving by; Dianetics billboard
VO: Scientology today is a multi-million dollar business. Dianetics are psychological techniques invented by its founder.
"SCIENTOLOGY" lettering on top of the Los Angeles church; Scientology/Dianetics billboard; Dianetics center
VO: They promise enhanced intelligence and better health, and thus Scientology became a huge commercial success in America, where people yearn to improve themselves. But the initiation process is unusual. Becoming a Scientologist entails undergoing a series of training drills designed to instill confidence and obedience.
re-enactment of Tone 40 Training Routine
WOMAN: Stand up!
VOICE OF MAN: Acknowledge as loudly as you can.
WOMAN: Thank you!
VOICE OF MAN: Command as loudly as you can.
WOMAN: Sit down on that chair!
shot of ashtray on a chair
VOICE OF MAN: Very good. Acknowledge as loudly as you can.
WOMAN: Thank you!
shot of both the man and the woman, man holding sheet of paper
MAN: Good. Command as loudly as you can.
WOMAN: Sit down on that chair!
VO: These ex-Scientologists are demonstrating a drill of shouting orders at an inanimate object to develop what they call intention. The mark of a good Scientologist, wrote L. Ron Hubbard, is a fixed, dedicated glare.
woman and man doing TR0 Bullbait
VO: That look must be maintained even through the drill they call "bullbaiting", having to listen to a barrage of insults. If the subject reacts in any way, she flunks, or fails.
MAN: You make me so mad, I’m not gonna drink my tea!
woman smiles
MAN: Laughing, flunk. Relax, start.
sign hanging on doorknob, "IN SESSION"
MAN’S VOICE: Well then I fell down.
auditing session--man holding ends of E-meter
VO: In this drill, the wired-up tin cans detect the electric charge in the subject’s hands.
MAN: And there I was screaming and crying, and my lawyer came out of the house.
VO: A so-called auditor can discover those topics that excite or upset the subject from the needle on a galvanometer that Scientologists call the E-meter.
auditor writing notes; man being audited; E-meter
VO: By pursuing those topics, the auditor can make the subject talk about suppressed fears or worries. That produces a feeling of gratitude and euphoria. Session will follow session and dependency is created. It is perfectly genuine if crude form of psychotherapy. Scientologists even talk through experiences they believe they had in past lives as they approach the condition known as "Clear".
MAN (talking on camera): My abilities to handle life are better. I am not subject any more to bad feelings of the past, see? Auditing gets—has useful to get rid of that bad feelings of the past and be able to, to feel in present time and confront the future and lead a better life, and that’s what I get out of it.
shot through window of woman--camera pulls away to show woman and man
VO: But auditing is largely administered by people unqualified outside Scientology, and there is deep antagonism between Scientologists and professional psychiatrists.
Dr. Louis Jolyon West in his office; e-meter
VO: Dr. Louis Jolyon West is one who is deeply skeptical about auditing’s value.
INTERVIEWER: What promise does a session with an e-meter do?
DR. LOUIS JOLYON WEST: Well, the e-meter doesn’t do anything. If you buy one, you can be sure you’ve paid too much for it.
caption--Dr. Louis Jolyon West, Director, Neuropsychiatric Institute, UCLA
WEST: The e-meter is a gadget used by the purveyors of hocus-pocus to make what they do and say seem respectable because here’s a piece of machinery plugged into the wall.
INTERVIEWER: Doesn’t the needle genuinely represent a moment’s emotional charge, say, in the subject?
close-up of e-meter
WEST (voice of): The needle moves back and forth if the electrical changes in the skin take place, and all sorts of things can cause them to fluctuate, like a hunger pang or a need to go to the bathroom or an intrusive thought about some place else you’d rather be.
WEST (on camera): Or a bit of bad breath on the part of the auditor who’s bending over you or a twinge of guilt on account of what you’ve just said. If you can’t sort that out, then, um, whether or not you have an e-meter I would say makes no difference at all.
e-meter
VO: Scientology was accused of practicing psychiatry without a license. In 1954, it became a church and adopted the costumes and titles of Christian ministers.
Franklin Freedman--caption, "Franklin Freedman, ex-Scientologist"
FRANKLIN FREEDMAN: It was a real farce, if you will. I was in there, I had to become ordained. I mean, I was Rev. Franklin Freedman, but, I mean, I never used it in any religious manner.
Scientologists in clerical garb
FREEDMAN (voice of): In the church, it’s a big joke; I mean, they joke about it all the time how they fool the public thinking that we’re a religion, etc., etc. That was LRH’s idea, you bet.
FREEDMAN (on camera): The purpose was to give the public the image that this was a church, and the Scientology organization is the farthest thing from a church I’ve ever seen.
bust of L. Ron Hubbard
VO: But it’s called itself a church since the 1950s, and its founded is treated with a religious devotion. Most new religious movements have a guru, an author of their sacred text, and Hubbard is Scientology’s. The church stands by all the claims he made about himself.
pictures of L. Ron Hubbard
VO: He was a science fiction writer who reportedly quoted George Orwell in saying that if a man wants to make a million, he should start his own religion. Where his past is undistinguished, Hubbard invented a more impressive life story, making himself a nuclear physicist and decorated war hero. Though Dianetics is supposed to make one healthy, he concealed his many illnesses.
footage of Apollo--caption, "World in Action", Granada TV, 1968
VO: In the late ‘60s, Hubbard took to the high seas in an old channel ferry called the Apollo.
L. RON HUBBARD: I don’t think they could make anything out of my life, [?????] (laughs).
VO: Scientology was becoming increasing unpopular with several governments.
footage of Sea Org members on the Apollo
VO: On the Apollo Hubbard created Scientology’s elite, the Sea Organization or Org, complete with naval ranks and uniforms. Its members sign contracts lasting a billion years, and military discipline prevailed, with harsh punishments for those who offended against the founder’s rules, or "ethics".
picture of L. Ron Hubbard’s "messengers"
VO: Hubbard called him "the Commodore" and was waited upon by a hand-picked team of teenage girls known as the "Commodore’s messengers". Dede Reisdorf became their commanding officer.
pictures of Dede Reisdorf and other Commodore messengers
DEDE REISDORF (voice of): I was actually born into Scientology. When I was 13 we joined the Sea Org. The whole idea of being in the Sea Org was that you were the ones who were here to make the world a safe place. The Sea Org was special
DEDE REISDORF (on camera): As for what we called the "wog world"--
INTERVIEWER: What?
REISDORF: The "wog world".
INTERVIEWER: What does that mean?
caption--"Dede Reisdorf, Former Commodore’s Messenger"
REISDORF: Anything and anybody who wasn’t involved with Scientology was the wog world, what now I like to call "the real world" (laughs). But at that point, that was what we, you know, we considered people out there as the wog world.
picture of Hana Whitfield
VO: Another girl sailor was Hana Whitfield. She was able to observe Hubbard’s character in close detail.
caption--"Hana Whitfield, Former Sea Org Officer
HANA WHITFIELD: There were two distinct sides to him. One was an incredibly compassionate side; he was a very understanding, rather humanitarian man at times. The other side was what I would call bordering on—it’s not a popular word—but bordering on insane or psychotic. He would go into mad, screaming rages, that,--
picture of Hubbard aboard Apollo
HANA WHITFIELD (voice of): Where he would be bellowing at the top of his lungs, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours, on and off.
HANA WHITFIELD (on camera): I’d actually seen it.
clip from "The Shrinking World of L. Ron Hubbard", Granada TV, July 1968
JOURNALIST: Do you ever think that you might be quite mad?
caption--"L. Ron Hubbard, 1968"
HUBBARD: Oh yes! The one man in the world who never believes he's mad is the mad man. (smiles)
car driving down road--caption--"Re-enactment" (man looking in the rear view mirror; woman passenger, holding book that resembles a Bible)
VO: Hubbard spent most of the last 10 years in hiding in America. Only a few close aides knew where he was.
DAVID MISCAVIGE (voice of?): At 2000 hours, Friday the 24th of January, 1986, L. Ron Hubbard discarded the body he had used in his lifetime for 74 years, 10 months and 11 days. The body he had used to facilitate his existence in this universe had ceased to be useful and in fact had become an impediment to the work he now must do outside its confines. The being we knew as L. Ron Hubbard still exists. Although you may feel grief, understand that he did not and does not now. He has simply moved on to his next step.
still re-enactment--screen filled with blurring streaky images; man and woman and another man apparently on a boat; second man is holding what looks like an urn
MISCAVIGE (voice of?): LRH in fact used this lifetime in the body we knew to accomplish what no man has ever accomplished. He unlocked the mysteries of life and gave us the tools so that we could free ourselves and our fellow man
still re-enactment--shot of boat; "minister" reading from book; man and woman listening
VO: Those were the words of the church’s official announcement of Hubbard’s death last year. When alive, Hubbard claimed he had visited Heaven twice, and the second time found it shabby. His Scientology funeral service was one he had written.
"MINISTER": And now here lift up your eyes and say to him, "Goodbye".
BOTH MEN AND WOMAN (saying at the same time): Goodbye, goodbye, our dear Ron, goodbye.
"MINISTER": We’ll miss you, leader.
still re-enactment--second man emptying "ashes" from urn into the ocean; more blurry shots apparently of the ocean water
VO: Hubbard had signed a new will the day before he died insisting that he be cremated at once and the ashes scattered at sea. The fate of his vast but secret fortune was also murky, but power had passed to the young followers who were with him at the end.
title, "Ron’s Birthday"
DAVID MISCAVIGE (voice of): I’d like all of you now to join us in singing "Happy Birthday" to Ron.
VO: One of those heirs was the master of ceremonies here, David Miscavige.
David Miscavige on stage at LRH birthday ceremony, joined by John Travolta
MISCAVIGE: Led by Mr. John Travolta.
audience cheering; shot of people on stage, with big birthday cake
VO: And though Hubbard is dead, this was his memorial birthday celebration last month, an opportunity for the church to parade its star members and salute the late founder.
Travolta and others on stage leading a chorus of "Happy Birthday"; everyone applauding and balloons dropping from the ceiling
VO: Scientology presents a confident image as it marches forward to "clear" the planet, as it says, and offer the only "road to total freedom".
shot of Scientology cross on top of church; woman Scieno with video camera filming "Panorama" camera operator; shot of L.A. Scientology church
VO: But the church can also be secretive and defensive. You are yourself photographed if you photograph its buildings. Investigations by various government agencies have over the years created something of a siege mentality.
man outside Scientology church; another man standing nearby with video camera; sign "Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation"
VO: In the late 70’s, 11 top Scientologists were imprisoned for burglary, robbing American government offices of files. In one of his bulletins, Hubbard instructed church members, "Don’t ever defend—always attack".
man Scieno with camera taking pictures of "Panorama" camera operator; another Scieno with jacket over his head videotaping
VO: Since Scientologists consider themselves the exclusive possessors of the secrets of the universe, anyone outside the church tends to be deemed hostile, or, as they say, "suppressive"; and we were no exception.
outside Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles with ex-Scientologist Frank Notaro
"PANORAMA" TV CREW MEMBER (voice of): Why do think this guy is taking our picture?
Scieno man waving, then taking picture
FRANK NOTARO: Because, they, they’re gonna use it against us later on, supposedly--
"PANORAMA" TV CREW MEMBER: Why is he taking photographs of us? He’s been taking all the pictures--
Scieno man continuing to take pictures
NOTARO: Ron Hubbard says if you take their picture or something you can use it against them or maybe people are intimidated by the picture taking, you know. They were taking my pictures all the time.
Woman Scieno with video camera filming "Panorama" camera operator; two other women Scienos
VO: Scientology reserves a special distrust for the media; members may not give interviews without the church’s permission.
camera mounted on top of wall of Church building; Heber Jentzch sitting at table leafing through book, surrounded by other Scienos; video cameras set up by Scienos
VO: Despite our long standing invitation, our interview with the church’s was granted only when they were convinced that this program would be broadcast without their participation. When we taped that interview, the church had their own cameras rigged to video us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE: We’re fundamental--
Scienos in ministerial garb; Scieno video cameras filming interview
VO: Scientologists dressed in the style of Christian ministers witnessed the proceedings. American judge Paul Breckinridge said in a recent judgment, "The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder, LRH".
caption--"Rev. Heber Jentzsch, President, Church of Scientology International"
JENTZSCH: Judge Breckinridge is not the first one to say that. A man by the name of Paul Dickhoff disseminated it first, SS number 337259, an SS officer in the Nazi Intelligence systems, who was the head of the Bundeskriminaloff [??], the German federal police in 1970, and the head of Interpol, as a matter of fact. (raising his voice) I do not support a Nazi’s supposed right to disseminate that kind of thing—
INTERVIEWER: But Mr. Jentzsch,--
JENTZSCH: No-no, no-no--
INTERVIEWER: You’ve identified your enemies as the CIA, the IRS, the FBI, NY6, MI5, just about every government--
JENTZSCH: No-no-no, I’m on the IRS enemies’ list--
INTERVIEWER: Paranoid is a mild expression for the church’s attitude to its supposed enemies.
JENTZSCH: You know, our enemies are ignorance, drugs, corruption, criminality and insanity.
shot of lake or ocean with boat going across it; Don Larson playing the cello
VO: But those the church seems to regard as its worst enemies are its most recent defectors, especially those with damaging stories to tell. Near the Canadian border lives Don Larson, who ran the church’s so-called "Finance Police".
DON LARSON (voice of): I was the hatchet man for this financial dictator. If you could force someone to be scared enough of the church, they would cough up the money that you wanted. It was my job to scare people.
caption--"Don Larson, Former Scientology Finance Police"
INTERVIEWER: What methods do you use?
LARSON (on camera): Um, extortion, um, force, threats, duress.
Larson playing the cello
VO: Larson was there when David Miscavige and the new regime took over.
LARSON (voice of): The old management was discharged, the new management was put in its place. And its motto was, "We make no deals with anybody. We’re tough, we’re ruthless, no deals".
LARSON (on camera): It was about 15 of us. We went out and rented three limos, drove up to an organization in San Francisco and did a practice (snaps fingers) beat-‘em-up kind of meeting, you know. We took the CDB Org—the commanding officer of that org, organization. He got thrown into the filing cabinets, he was sec-checked on the meter and, um, you—that’s where you, what, you have to tell the truth. And there’s a whole row of people around the guy, right? And he’s sitting there hanging onto the cans and—this is nothing to do with religion any more, right? This is, "Where’s the money, Jack? I want the money! Where did you put the money?" And he said, "I, you—I don’t know! I don’t have the money." David Miscavige comes up, grabs him by the tie (makes punching motion with his right arm) and starts bashing him into the filing cabinet. And he’s thrown out in the street; his tie is ripped off. Um, this is just a warm-up kind of bash.
banner outside Scientology church--"Scientology Open House"; boat going under bridge
VO: Some of those who left the church sued for restitution of the fees they had paid. Whenever there were court hearings, the church mounted spectacular protest demonstrations. This one was in Sacramento.
Scieno cruise ship with banner "THE SUN NEVER SETS ON SCIENTOLOGY", members waving; Scienos marching down street at rally
VO: Scientology maintains that an ex-member suing the church for fraud is an attack on religious freedom. And even some Christian churches spoke out in its support. The big names were there, too.
caption--"John Travolta"
TRAVOLTA: It’s worked for me for 10 years and it’s worked for thousands, millions of people. And, and I just feel that, that nothing can and should threaten that.
candlelight vigil with shot of a big picture of L. Ron Hubbard
VO: But courts found against the church. Last year one ex-Scientologist was awarded $30 million damages. The church is appealing.
partygoers
VO: This party in Los Angeles is to launch a billion-dollar class act, that is, a collective lawsuit, against the Church of Scientology. The plaintiffs’ attorney is Lawrence Levy.
LAWRENCE LEVY: --before we found out what any other religion is.
two women ex-members talking; more partygoers
VO: There were 400 ex-Scientologists, some living in Britain, that combined to sue the church for restitution of their fees and to stop what they allege is church harassment. The lawsuit has a long way to go through the courts and may indeed fail. But it is an expression of these embittered ex-members’ anger and resentment. The lawyer they’ve retained, Lawrence Levy, has won similar cases against other religions.
LEVY (giving speech): --been displayed by the church, more lies, more subterfuge, more machinations. They do everything except address the truth. What is the truth? If you joined Scientology right up until yesterday, you’ve been defrauded.
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