RELIGION
INC.
The Church of Scientology
Stewart Lamont
[front flap]
The story of Scientology reads like the plot of a bizarre and sensational movie. A science-fiction writer founds a religion, makes millions of dollars in the process and then becomes a recluse. His followers, who dress in naval-style uniforms, engage in a cops and robbers game with the FBI and the American Inland Revenue Service which leads to Watergate style burglaries and multi-million dollar lawsuits for and against the cult. Smear campaigns are conducted against its enemies and accusations of brain-washing are levelled against the church by psychiatrists. A breakaway movement leads to purges and the break-up of families and hundreds of members are declared 'Suppressive Persons'. Then a young lieutenant of the cult leader takes over amid accusations that he has forged the documents which give him power over the cult's millions.
The locations for this 'movie' are a former mansion of a maharaja in deepest Sussex, an ocean-going yacht where punishments akin to keel-hauling are ordered by the cult leader for those who disobey his whim; a sleepy Florida town which is taken over by the church; and sumptuous Los Angeles properties where movie celebrities are lionized by the cult. Behind it all is the guru, described by his estranged son as a sadist, a debauched devotee to occultism, and yet seen by his followers as a genius who discovered a religion that combines the ancient mysteries of the East with Western technology and psychotherapy. He is denounced by judges as a 'charlatan' and in 1980 he disappears with lawsuits pending against him and accusations by his followers that they are being persecuted for their religion.
Incredible as this scenario is, it is the true story of Scientology and its founder Lafayette Ron Hubbard. Previous books have dealt with the early years of the cult, now Stewart Lamont gives the first full account of its controversial history in recent years, drawing on interviews with principal participants in the drama. He reveals the top-secret upper levels of the cult's teachings and discusses the allegations that Ron Hubbard possibly died several years before the 'official' announcement in 1986. This is the book of the movie that has already happened, but has yet to be made...
[title page]
RELIGION
INC.
The Church of Scientology
'...falsehood must become exposed by truth - and truth, though fought, always in the end prevails.'
L. RON HUBBARD,
_My Philosophy, 1965_
RELIGION
INC.
The Church of Scientology
Stewart Lamont
HARRAP
LONDON
First published in Great Britain 1986
by HARRAP Ltd
19-23 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7PD
Copyright (c) *Stewart Lamont* 1986
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means
without the prior permission of Harrap Limited.
ISBN O 245-54334-1
Printed and bound in Great Britain
Illustrations
*Unless otherwise stated, the photographs listed below are from the author's own collection*
*Between pages 64 and 65*
*Between pages 128 and 129*
[photo #27 of Stewart Lamont]
[end flap]
Stewart Lamont is a broadcaster and journalist specializing in religious affairs. He joined BBC Scotland as a radio producer in 1972 and since 1980 has worked as a freelance producer and presenter in radio and television, making programmes for Channel 4, Yorkshire TV, Grampian TV and Thames. He presents the daily morning current affairs programme for BBC Scotland and is Religious Affairs Correspondent of the *Glasgow Herald*, having also filled that position on the *Sunday Times*.
His previous books are *The Third Angle* (a thriller), *Is Anybody There?* (arising from the widely praised six film documentaries he made on the paranormal), and (with Peter Moss) *Religion and the Supernatural*.
He was born in Broughty Ferry, Scotland, in 1947 and was educated at Grove Academy and the University of St Andrews where he was President of the Union and obtained science and divinity degrees.
*Back Cover photo: Nik Wheeler/Sunday Times, London*
ISBN 0 245-54334-1
[photo #28: identical to plate photo #12 in 1st set of plates, except in color of Hubbard sitting on a camera truck wearing a cowboy hat.]
*Lafayette Ron Hubbard*
ISBN 0-245-54334-1
(bar code)
9 780245 543340 00995
HARRAP