The Truth About Scientology

by Trevor Meldal-Johnsen, Patrick Lusey

Who are the Scientologists?

And why are they praised, feared, attacked and revered?

Find out why John Travolta, Karen Black, Chick Korea and John Brodie claim that Scientology has changed their lives.

Can Scientologist remember their past lives? Wht is the mysterious state of Clear? Read why Scientologists claim to have reached previously unattainable states of awareness.

273 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1981

Reviews

[Calle]

This book presents itself as an impartial account of the Church of Scientology. Nowhere does it disclose that the authors are themselves Scientologists. In reality, the book is entirely devoted to promoting the church. Much of it consists of lengthy quotations from L. Ron Hubbard, interviews with Scientologists, and praise for the church’s front groups, such as Narconon, Applied Scholastics, CCHR, and others.

Published in 1980, the book opens with an account of the FBI’s 1977 raid on the church. The book makes no mention of any of the Church of Scientology’s crimes that led up to it (Operstion Snow White), instead portraying the church as the victim of hostile, corrupt government agencies. It quotes Vaughn Young of the Guardian’s Office: ”The FBI’s raid on the Church of Scientology on July 8, 1977 was simply the Bureau’s response to our reform efforts” (p. 210). (Young and this book’s co-author Meldal-Johnsen wrote a book about Interpol together (the CoS considered Interpol an enemy organization run by nazis). Young later became a well known whistleblower against the church and worked with the Lisa McPherson Trust in the 90s.)

Another fun quote that seems to sum up the book’s message:

”Protecting the basic concepts contained in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights appears to be the keystone of all Scientology social reform actions. In doing so, they appear to incur the enmity and the backlash of those government officials and private citizens who have derived power and perhaps wealth from the steady erosion of Constitutionally guaranteed personal freedoms. This is true even when the target of the reform is a non-governmental group, such as the American Medical Association, or the American Psychiatric Association, or the World Federation of Mental Health.” (p. 229)

The book of course doesn’t mention the fact that several leading Guardian’s Office members, including Mary Sue Hubbard, were convicted of crimes and sent to prison, not for ”reform efforts” or humanitarian works but for crimes such as conspiracy, burglary, theft of government property, etc.

This is NOT the book to read if you want to learn ”the truth about Scientology”. The book only tells you what the church wanted the public in 1980 to know.