In Dianetics and Scientology, a subject called a “preclear” reaches clear when he has removed all engrams (bad memories) from his reactive mind through the process of auditing.
- Wikipedia -
I promise not to make any jokes about “audits” and being “cleared.”
Paul Caron (he’s not really an Operating Thetan) reports that more information has been disclosed about a 1993 settlement reached between the IRS and The Church of Scientology:
One of the enduring tax mysteries is the 26-year battle between the Church of Scientology and the IRS (documented here), culminating in a 1993 settlement (during Fred Goldberg’s stint as Commissioner) in which the IRS agreed to grant tax exempt status to the church (Rev. Rul. 93-73, 1993-2 C.B. 75) , which in turn agreed to drop its multi-front litigation “war” against the IRS.
Yesterday’s St. Petersburg Times began a three-part special report on the church, with Part 1 including details of the Scientology-IRS settlement (today’s Part 2 is here).
Here are some of the interesting revelations of fact leading up to the IRS settlement:
- The IRS revoked The Church of Scientology’s tax exemption on the grounds that Scientology was not a religion.
- Scientology stood to lose millions of dollars of contributions as a result of the revocation and, therefore, decided to fight back.
- Scientology sued the IRS for reinstatement of its tax exemption and, in the Discovery process, obtained thousands of documents that it used to accuse the IRS of discrimination and misconduct.
- Over 2,000 contributors to the church also sued the IRS in individual lawsuits demanding that their contributions be considered tax deductible
- A Judge had ruled that Scientology was indeed a religion under the Tax Code’s definition and minutes of a meeting were discovered in which twenty IRS officials, in response to the Judge’s ruling, decided to change the definition to exclude Scientology.
- Scientology published in its magazine, Freedom, several stories about these minutes and other alleged misconduct of IRS officials and put copies of the magazine on the front steps of IRS headquarters in Washington D.C.
It is clear that The Church of Scientology intentionally embarked on a course of action that would, in their own words, “overwhelm the IRS. Force mistakes.”
And it is equally clear that the strategy worked:
The back and forth lasted two years and resulted in this agreement: The church paid $12.5 million. The IRS dropped its criminal investigations. All pending cases were dropped.
On Oct. 8, 1993, some 10,000 church members gathered in the Los Angeles Sports Arena to celebrate the leader’s announcement: The IRS had restored the church’s tax exemption, legitimizing Scientology as a church, a not-for-profit operation.
“The war is over,” [Church leader David] Miscavige told the crowd. “This means everything.”
Many believe that Scientology successfully blackmailed the IRS into reinstating it’s tax exemption.
Here’s Scientology executive Marty Rathbun’s response to that charge:
[C]ontrary to rumor, no bribes were paid, no extortion used. It was round-the-clock preparation and persistence — plus thousands of lawsuits, hard-hitting magazine articles and full-page ads in USA Today criticizing the IRS.
That was enough. You didn’t need blackmail.
Um, Mr. Rathbun, does that mean if you needed blackmail, you would have used it?
In any event, the upshot is Scientology was audited and is now in the clear.
(Okay, I lied.)
Final thought: Scientology must have a lot of money to be able to crush the IRS. The Vatican itself would have been hardpressed to raise the funds needed for such a scorched earth campaign. I guess getting to “clear” isn’t cheap.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Rob // Jun 24, 2009 at 3:42 pm
There’s two more and I find the last Editorial (additional to the 3 from SP TImes) the most interesting, whereas the Editor refuses DM’s rebuttal to what’s being said about him. The rebuttal was Rinder’s, Scobee’s and Rathbun’s confessional records. In Scientology it’s called “confessional” but really it’s interrogation, sometimes with more than one person intimidating and asking the Qs. Then they use the dirt to control (hopefully) the individual.
And you ask…Religion?
I remember back in the 70s we really had to put on the Religion Image when this battle began. All of a sudden we’re have Sunday Services, everyone is walking around with clerical collars, lots of crosses get put up, everyone does a course that takes less than a week and you get ordained.
It was just building a front.
In the 15 years I was in (1970 with Hubbard on the Apollo– Clearwater Base) I never went to a sermon, nor prayed to a God, in fact, if one practiced another religion, like the act of praying, they’d be in trouble.
Religion?
No.
Fraud?
Yes.
I remember in the late 70′s, Hubbard telling his Sea Org “We’re in the business for the buck” and made all the “Salesman” study Les Daine and Big League Sales.
Religion?
Hubbard was getting sent 1-2 Million a week just from Florida alone and something similar internationally in the late 70 early 80s.
It kept going up. And David Miscaviage knows where it all is and is the signatory… scary. I couldn’t guess the value of property he holds all over the world.
I’d go broad public with your articals here. Everyone deserves to know the truth.
Rob
2 Alanzo // Jun 24, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I was a Scientologist during the time that Marty Rathbun and David Miscavige convinced the IRS to grant the Church of Scientology tax exempt status again.
It is long-standing Scientology policy to run “noisy” investigations on its enemies and to use the evidence of any crimes they find to coerce the person or group to do what Scientology wants.
I distinctly remember the Church bragging about one such “noisy investigation” they were running on the IRS. I read about it in their “Freedom” Magazine. They set Scientologists out in front of IRS buildings, asking the employees for knowledge of any crimes.
Marty Rathbun, to my knowledge, ran those investigations for David Miscavige.
Question: What information did they gather?
Did they apply standard Scientology policy to the IRS, present them with those crimes, and get tax exemption in return for not exposing this information?
This would be standard Scientology practice, as per many of L Ron Hubbard’s policies in dealing with his enemies. One such policy is called “Critics of Scientology”. You can look that one up.
If we are just going to go on Mr. Rathbun’s statements in a newspaper article as “proof” that there was no blackmail, I think we need to dig a little deeper than that before we conclude anything.
Especially since this practice is 100% Scientology to apply.
Don’t you?
3 Peter // Jun 24, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Rob,
Thanks for the insider info.
Very interesting.
I am curious to know.
Why would an intelligent, emotionally stable person join an organization like Scientology?
What is the attraction for celebrities like Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley?
And if I were a member, the first time I experienced someone trying to manipulate me or intimidate me I would have hightailed it out of there.
4 Peter // Jun 24, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Alanzo,
Thanks for visiting.
Explain how it is that Scientology is able to recruit so many seemingly intelligent people?
I don’t get it.
And once you’re in, do the make it difficult for you to get out?
5 Alanzo // Jun 24, 2009 at 7:41 pm
That’s a great question, Peter, that takes about 10 years to answer it. At least it has for me.
The best place to get that answer for yourself is to go to the Ex Scientologist’s Message Board, (http://www.forum.exscn.net/) and read a few of the personal stories there.
But to give you the short answer – a cult like Scientology comes along for a person, usually at a vulnerable part of their lives, and answers all their questions for them. It doesn’t even matter at the time if those answers are simplistic. They “work” for whatever reason, and you just start telling yourself you are a Scientologist.
You really want to make the world a better place, and they say they do, too. They convince you that all your donations are actually saving all mankind. And then you get all kinds of suggestion-filled hypnotherapy which is designed to make you feel great.
It just feels so good to believe it. So you do.
It usually takes some kind of long-term visible damage that your involvement in Scientology is obviously causing you. You have to step over it every day. You have to be reminded of the damage often enough for you to begin to feel interested enough in questioning your beliefs in Scientology.
Once you do that with something like Scientology, though, which can not hold up to any scrutiny whatsoever, it all just collapses. And you realize that so much of what you’ve built your self-identity upon is false.
And then you have to start over.
Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder and the others who contributed to that article in the St Pete Times are probably going through that process right now.
But there are a whole lot of other people who are continuing to demand answers from the Church of Scientology. And from law enforcement officials who have not responded to many of the abuses which are being uncovered in the main stream media now.
Thanks for writing about this issue.
Keep following it.
I don’t think it’s a dead issue at all.
6 Alanzo // Jun 24, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Oh, and – do they make it difficult to get out?
Yes.
Read some of those stories on the Ex-Scientologist Message Board.
You’ll get a very good education there.
7 Peter // Jun 24, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Alanzo,
Thanks for the candid and moving response.
I have always thought that Scientology (and organizations like it) targets the emotionally vulnerable and insecure.
Recently, I had a middle-aged widow hire me to do some tax work for her. She had joined Scientology just after her husband died.
She gave all of her assets – everything she had – to Scientology. She stopped paying her taxes and the money that should have gone to the IRS, went to Scientology.
Scientology has not returned a single penny to her. Now she is alone and completely broke.
It seems that many people who join Scientology do so out of a desperate need for community and family. They are alone, afraid and perhaps even depressed.
Scientology seems to prey on the weak.
Hopefully, in your case, you were better off having had the experience.
It certainly sounds like you learned a lot about human nature and yourself.
Thanks for the links.
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