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By Root 1075 0

know much. Anything he did would serve to convince the faithful, he said. They fell for the most transparent ruses, many of which were thought up on the spur of the moment, and he and his fellow charlatans laughed themselves silly, at the end of an easy day's work, as they recounted how simple it had been. Keene's book caused a storm in spiritualist circles. Threatened by phone and letter, he moved from place to place to avoid his former friends in the business, who told him they were out to get him. He went into the import trade, changed his name, and hoped to settle down. But his book was not wrongly named. One night, as he emerged from his shop, a car pulled up and shots roared out. Lamarr Keene fell to the pavement, hit in the midsection. As of this writing he is recovering after long hospitalization. His "friends" had attempted to make good their threat.

One voice that was almost silenced by different means is that of Paulette Cooper, a freelance writer. In 1971 she wrote The Scandal of Scientology, a book critical of this cult, founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The book was almost immediately withdrawn by the publisher when the Scientologists sued her for fifteen million in damages. Remaining copies were destroyed, and the Church of Scientology set out on a project code-named "Operation PC Freak Out" to discredit and harass Ms. Cooper. In return for her determination to speak out, she has suffered ever since. She was robbed, threatened with a gun, and vilified in letters sent to her neighbors saying that she was a sexual deviant with venereal disease. As a capper, she says she was framed on the charge of making bomb threats against the church—a federal offense—and came very close to being locked up. Her efforts to defend herself cost her more than $32,000. Then, suddenly, there was a turnabout, as a fresh element was introduced into the case.

Federal warrants fell on the Scientologists like rain when they were discovered rifling the files of government officials who were looking into their affairs. As a result, in October 1979, eight Scientologists were convicted of conspiracy in federal court. The defendants, including the new head of the church, were sentenced to prison. Information about "Operation PC Freak Out" also was discovered, and Cooper made her own trip to the bar of justice with a $40-million suit against her oppressors.

Hubbard, anxious to protect the flimsy foundation upon which he had constructed his quasi-religious, quasi-scientific cult, was quite direct about what means might be used to wage war. He issued a "Policy Letter" (copies of which leaked out) specifying that lawsuits should be used as a weapon against enemies—known to the Scientologists as "SPs" ("suppressive persons")—not with any hope of winning the lawsuits but for the purpose of breaking the SPs financially. Scientology, with its claimed 4 million membership (the actual number is probably about 50,000) has wealth amounting to untold millions in cash and property and is far better able to withstand a lengthy legal battle than its opponents.

Another charming aspect of this "religion" is a directive that announced the policy of "fair game." Under this operating principle, any persons who drop out of the church may be "sued, tricked, lied to or destroyed" by any means. A beautiful thought, don't you think?

In late 1979 a Toronto newspaper reporter was looking through the Scientology files seized by the U.S. government and made available in Washington. These were the records upon which the successful federal case was based. The newsman came upon a sheaf of documents headed (in true science fiction-comic book style) "Guardian Programme Order 1074." It concerned a confidential order issued in England to "WW" (worldwide) offices of the Scientology church and called "Programme: HUMANIST HUMILIATION." This was a plan to handle "terminatedly" the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and The Skeptical Inquirer, the official journal of the CSICOP. Recipients were cautioned in this semiliterate document that