Is Scientology breaking the law? |
Excerpted from www.dejanews.com . Please see that site for the full text. Emphasis added in red . Editorial comments, when added, are in purple .
Subject: Re: Freedom of Religion
A while ago, an acquaintance of mine, then a minor, was recruited into the "Sea Org." This is a dedicated group within the CoS whose members have signed billion-year contracts and dedicate their lives to "putting in ethics" in the universe. According to what I was told, the recruiter made a number of promises and claims, namely: 4. I'm told the recruiter also promised minimum wage and livable berthing. My acquaintance say he received about $11 per 70 plus hour week and had to live packed in with a dozen or more young men in a smelly, squalid room. My acquaintance became dissatisfied after a short time and announced he was leaving . "Routing out" took another four months or so, during which time he had to continue putting in 12 or more hours of menial labor per work day. He couldn't just leave without permission because if he did, he faced the strong possibility of being declared a "suppressive person," whom other members of the CoS would not be allowed to communicate with. This was unappealing as both his parents and all of his friends were members of the CoS. Besides he still considered himsel a loyal member of the CoS. He continued working as a virtual slave (in my view) until he completed his "security check" (mandatory confession of misdeeds) and was finally allowed to leave. I do not agree that the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution means that certain abuses--exploitive child labor practices for example, or various kinds of deception-- which ought to be illegal generally, ough to be legal when done by a religion, assuming it even qualifies as such. I have more to say on but would like to hear from others, including members of the CoS, before I say more.
This page was last updated on May 8, 1999. |