Anonymous protests again, but Scientology is ready

(Above, a plane circles overhead, towing a banner that reads: "Honk / Yell if you think Scientology is a Cult")

Along Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood today, in front of the large, blue Church of Scientology building, hundreds of masked Anonymous protesters arrived for a second major picket of the embattled religion.  This time, however, the church had an answer.

Because of a permit secured by the church, multiple roads were closed, including L. Ron Hubbard Way, the street that runs alongside the main church building. Tarps had been hung on the perimeter of the church's parking lot, preventing outsiders from seeing in.

Most noticeable was a series of large metal frameworks that had been erected and decorated with large rainbows of balloons and banners bearing church messages: "Love and Help Children," "Don't be promiscuous" and perhaps most visibly, the name of a Scientology-related book for better living, "The Way to Happiness."  A giant viewing screen had been set up to face out toward the protest, playing an endless series of videos -- accompanied by ear-splittingly  loud audio from speakers that also pointed toward Sunset Boulevard.  The videos playing on the screen espoused better living through the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Down the closed road, the tops of tents could be made out, and a few people appeared to be walking on the street.  Besides that, the nature of the Scientology event was unclear.

The police presence today was notably larger than it was for the first mass protest staged by Anonymous on Feb. 10.  LAPD Sgt. Wayne Guillary said the protests had progressed uneventfully, but noted that Scientology representatives had tried to block off an area of public sidewalk on Sunset Boulevard that would have prevented people from crossing the street in front of the church building. 

"They wanted to block off the crosswalk," said Guillary. "I told them you can't do that."

Guillary also noted that in addition to the road closure permit, it appeared that the church had applied for and received a permit to film on the premises.  Guillary pointed out off-duty LAPD officers who were assisting with the apparent movie shoot.  Again, it wasn't clear what kind of movie was being filmed, or why the church had picked a day in which a large protest had been planned for weeks.

When  I asked a Scientology official for information about the event on the premises, she declined to comment but said a written statement was forthcoming.  I asked if she  could arrange for a brief walk-through of the Scientology event and, after consulting with her supervisors, she said, "No.  The event is for parishioners only."

Members of Anonymous said the church had attempted to close off the entire block of sidewalk running along the front of the church on Sunset. At least one road closure sign had been placed in that area, though it was not covered by the permit, authorities said. (See photo below)   

Among the most peculiar sights of the day was when a small plane appeared overhead, (see photo at top) towing a banner that read, "Honk / Yell if you think Scientology is a cult."  The crowd cheered when the plane came into view and began an hour of circling.

A Scientology parishioner who identified himself as Jimmy and gave his age as 25 was stationed on Catalina Street, to prevent anyone from wandering into the closed area.

When asked if he believed the protesters seemed like terrorists, a term Scientology officials have repeatedly used to describe them, Jimmy replied, "I wouldn't say they're all terrorists.  A lot of them look like high school kids."

"But," he added, "Are you going to wait for them to blow up a church before you say, 'hey look, some terrorists?'"

 

Photos: David Sarno

Comments

[NamelessEnvoy]

Mr. Omary, consider that this IS the Internet columnist that has written this article.

I would also suppose that while being pro-peace is not very controversial, protesting the Church of Scientology, with a history of libelling its critics (See Hill v. Church of Scientology of Toronto for further information), is a little bit more controversial.

[derek]

Instead of the focus on a religion promoting positive issues, why not direct this energy toward
the radical Islamic sects such as al qaeda that are the only groups I see promoting terrorism. They are no different than the Jim Jones or Waco people except they strap on suicide vests
instead of drinking Kool Aid. Seems to me they are the real cult.

[Sophie]

Hey CoS, don't you know only Muslims can be "terrorists"? Christian Serbs who attack American sovereign buildings and U.N. courts are "resisting protestors," Hindu Tamils in Sri Lanka who blow themselves up and attack the government, and civilians are "militant separatists," Buddhist Tibetans who throw rocks against their oppressors are "protestors," and Basques who attack judges and other public officials are "militant separatists." Only if you're Muslim, you're automatically a terrorist.

[Kate]

HONK!

[David Mudkips]

M. Omary Said:

"Shame on you LA Times. For few hundred demonstrators for an issue may or may not affect people yo have and article and video clip. But a demonstration with several thousand peoples also on Hollywood/sunset blvd. for peace and against the war, you have no mention."

I can hardly describe how flawed that logic is. If news organizations only reported on (apparently what you consider to be the "most important") one topic, creepy cults like the Church of Scientology would be left to run amok -- doing whatever they want without fear of it being revealed and critically examined.

The cult of Scientology has had it WAY too easy when it comes to critical reporting of them in the last decade -- mainly because they have an enormous, well paid legal team that tries to sue the living daylights out of any reporter with the guys to pull a few skeletons out of their closet.

Bravo, LA Times. Keep up the good work!

[Two Can Dance]

"... I think you might be surprised by how many of the protestors are family members or hopeful wannabes to the psych industry..."

I lol'd hard. "Psych" is a Co$ word they use for their arch enemies-- dum de dum dum-- the Psychiatrists. Actually what they believe is that psychiatrists are responsible for the Nazi's Final Solution and that the Nazis are pawns of their Evil Lord Xenu and the "4 or 5th Invasion Fleets of the Marcabian Confederacy" and that the Anonymous protesters are paid by the cabal of Nazi Psychiatrist Marcabians. Absurd but true. These are people who have a curious (albeit) dangerously weak grasp on reality.

For the True Believers, any one who opposes Scientology is inherently evil and thus they are breathlessly living in their own fictional Battlefield Earth scenario.

Watch yourselves Anon. And don't forget to report to Commander Xnocknock for your dispensations of much cash and psych meds. ;~)

[GrnApl]

Anonymous is a joke and a sham, but so is every other Anonymous activity. Do kkk'ers really believe those stories about the Blacks? I mean really deep down? Only the small minded ones. Obviously, people are nervous bout what is going to happen to them when they die. So am I. I suspect the sad truth is we will fade away into dust. Don't make yourself believe a fairy tale to feel better about it. Just enjoy life.

[Roscoe]

Of course Scientology is a cult: all "religions" are cults - Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and all the rest are all cults. Why should Scientology be treated any differently?

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Main Entry:
cult Listen to the pronunciation of cult
Pronunciation:
\ˈkəlt\
Function:
noun
Usage:
often attributive
Etymology:
French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate

1: formal religious veneration : worship
2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator
5 a: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b: the object of such devotion c: a usually small group of people

[Copper sulfate]

Oh hey - I'm just stopping by to note that Googling says that a bgodley has been making elaborate speeches in defense of scientology, the defender of the freedoms of speech, religion, information, personal property and all that, in several dozen comment sections whenever online news of Anonymous protests raise their head. It's funny how these things appear.

[MrCHillyAnon]

B Godly in da house!!! How was your vacation? We haven't seen you for a few days on these boards!

Once again pulling the anti freedom of religion speech out of your copypasta folder. Once again we point out this isn't about the beliefs but about the hierarchy of the church and the crap it pulls. Nice move though with the tents and filming permits. Didn't work on the people outside, but I'm sure you shielded the people inside nicely.
Feel free to google Mr B godly and check out the other articles he's posted on. You'll see a nice trend of factless posts. The Co$ has a nice group of people who sit around on the internet all day posting the statements and "heart-warming" lines that are fed to them by the church. Wikileaks has a nice page/download that shows just how this works. Actual emails from the Co$ for their lemmings to attach to any negative posts about itself.

Great job today people... major win...see you next month!

[Robert]

Most people still see Scientology as a slightly wacky cult.
This is unfortunate because the reality is both serious and sinister.
The "religous" aspect is a hodge-podge self-help system of dubious merit, only styling itself a religion, when it became clear that it would otherwise face prosecution for providing medical solutions without a license. The other difficulty that was being legally called into question was the fact that what they were selling was largely snake-oil, (and make no mistake, Scientology really does sell it's services, in addition to their salary, "ministers" receive commission on every bit of "spiritual counselling" they sell).

That's certainly wrong, and doesn't inspire confidence that the non-profit/tax-exempt status they enjoy in the US is any way justified.
But really, it says little more than that they're a pretty scammy operation; and religion or not, I can think of a good few of those.

What really sets them apart, and a large part of the reason they're banned in Germany - a like-minded, modern country - is the hidden agenda the Church has.

Hubbard's famous for having said "If you want to get rich...start a religion", and many people assume this was his main aim. It's true that it was an aim, but what he wanted above all else was power and recognition, and money was merely a means to that end.

The character of the Church has always been, and continues to be, a direct reflections of Hubbard's own personality: paranoid, controlling, secretive, vicously aggressive, entirely without empathy and with an insatiable driving desire for power. Where Hubbard hoped that he would ultimately take over nations, he structured the organisation with this in mind, creating a sophisticate intelligence division in the process. Currently called the Office of Special Affairs, and once described by a former LA head of the FBI as being "one of the most effective intelligence operations in the U.S. rivaling even that of the FBI," it has a long track record of carrying out very serious dirty tricks on Scientology's opponents. At various times these have included attempted assassination, the false framing of individuals for a variety of different crimes, running operations with the express purpose of driving it's target to commit suicide or into insanity; it comprises a veritable chocolate-box of deeply nasty, vicious tricks.

Scientology the belief system, gave Hubbard a pool of willing bodies. Scientology the organisation, gave him a means. The Church's fundamental goal is to take over the role of government in the world at large.
This is why they felt perfectly entitled to infiltrate and burgle their way around 136 different government agencies, foreign embassies and consulates as part of it's "Operation Snow White", and why they no doubt felt equally wronged when more recently they were caught with Top Secret Greek military documents and a plan to take over parts of four countries.
As Tom Cruise put it, "why ask? we are the authorities."

Most people still see Scientology as a slightly wacky cult.
This is unfortunate because the reality is both serious and sinister.

[marc]

Maybe terrorists it too strong a word for Anonymous and their dupes, until they actually blow up something. Propagandists is a more fitting description.

[Emily Guest]

Hello Friends,

Scientology is perhaps one of the biggest worrys in this world today, the fact that news media and companies fear printing anti Scientology Material from fear of law suits and the dangerous methods this 'Religion' uses to make money are far from safe!.

As a Psychologist and Neuro Linguistic Programmer I see lots of wrong from scientology and an outcry of people from all walks of life using the name 'anonymous' to safly protest against scientology. If you believe this is not needed then i'd ask you to talk to the many Hypnotists and others i have met that scientology have pretty much chased away from thier citys to get away from scientology harrasment. I am transgendered and in scientology my happyness means nothing other than i have messed up 'Ethics' if you show anything other than happyness its your fault. In that sense they are opposed to Gays/Transsexuals/Bisexuals and other people with similar problems. Also they have an Anti Psychiatry aproach which is very dangerous I myself think the drugs are over used BUT if you take these drugs away from psychotic or dangerous mentally ill people you will be causing murder on a grand scale.

Scientologys mission is the world wide distruction of psychiatry and psychology and the spreading of thier warped message. If you join scientology which is classifided as a religion yet you can actually be in any other religion and be a scientologist, all you'll be learning is hypnosis and pre dated psychiatric treatments to brainwash yourself into happyness.

My new preposed Tactic to Anon and others like me that Need NOT call themselfs anon, is to start demonstrating outside our government for example at the UK parliment and 10 Downing street, Scientology has proved thier gonna just try to block out our cry to spread awareness about them. So now is the time to take this into the political spotlight. Also in England...Premiership football games are televised so lets get some Anon protestors spreading awareness at big matches etc. We need to raise the profile of this protest as if people feel its going nowhere they will stop trying.

And freedom of religion should Include the Athests rights to believe there is no god. That still takes faith, I feel that critical thinking is something this world needs its VERY dangerous when a group can continue unopposed and un critisied for so long.

Keep up the good fight Anon.

Emily

[Desertphile]

Why in the world does this article call Scientology a religion? L. Ron Hubbard insisted it is not; the IRS insisted and still inists it is not; the United States Supreme Court insists it is not.

[Mary McConnell]

So what, Copper sulfate? bgodley is protesting by keyboard today, just as I am because I could not travel to the nearest org 3 hours away. You scientologists will do anything to suppress the speech of anyone critical, eh? Like your church harassing Jenna Miscavige Hill and her husband Dallas Hill's family because they are speaking yo, hiring PI's to stalk them when the "talks" failed? What is your church so afraid of that makes them so such evil things?
Ex Scientology Kids Forum Index -> Harassment & Threats Notice Board
The Church Contacted Me... by Jenna Miscavige Hill
http://www.exscientologykids.com/eskforums/viewtopic.php?t=384

bgodley is getting the mnesage out, whether you and your church like it or not. So is the media. This is a good article by the LA Times. The protesters were out there in very large number. That makes me very happy. I gave 28 yrs of my life to thinking like you do as a brainwashed scientologist who is not allowed to get both sides of the story and I don't waste another minute lying to myself that way anymore. Get a life, Copper sulfate, before you find out it's too late.

[Oliver]

I am proud to be a member of the Curch of Scientology and I am questioning the motives behind the protests. Where are the protests in front of other churches that have bad apples in their mids? I can't remember that there was just one after the lastest sex scandel of another church. I also believe that it seems to be hip and cool at the moment to start a fight against the Curch of Scientology and its memebers.

Please respect my believs and my faith as I respect you and your opinion. Nobody forces me to go to church and I am free to stay away, as I have done in the past due to a lot of work, and return when I was ready.

Your protest will not change my or the faith of other members in the church but bring us closer together.

[John]

Scientology works for me! I have a happier, more fulfilling life thanks to my application of Scientology. If you are curious, come find out for yourself - Ignore the hype, come and THINK FOR YOURSELF!

[Xenu]

How come Scientology uses the Christian crucifix as their symbol when Scientology has nothing to do with Christ, Christianity, the Crucification, etc?

How come Scientology charges obscene amounts of money for their "religious teachings" and no other religion does?

How come Scientology's policy of destroying their enemies by any means possible is the same doctrine espoused by the Church of Satan?

[Anonymous]

I was there and it was AWESOME!

I still cant believe that they went to such insane methods to shield their people from us. I mean, last time it was a few security guys and that weird obvious ice truck with the tinted windows. This time we got a full blown extravaganza complete with failed restraining order attempts, false YouTube bomb threats (which Anons reported to the FBI btw), barricades, walls of security staff, deafening music (great for passing traffic!), dozens of wandering security staff, and that bitchin' TV!

Has any other business or religious organization done this before? Ever!?

Oh well. It worked out quite well. Our protest got the red carpet treatment and tons of perks (the TV and the music were especially helpful to us) free of charge!

Nice!

Thanks again Co$! We hope you are this helpful at all of our protests against you!

[John]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=k9yIBOnbJjY

Yay for the protesters.

But massive congratulations go out to the LAPD for exemplifying L.A.'s finest. If that video doesn't give you at least a small bit of civic pride, there's something wrong.

[Lee]

The sports teams practicing outside at LACC saw the plane overhead and were yelling and waving like crazy. Don't bother us, Scientology; it was the martial arts guys.

[Sky Guy]

Scientology violates child labor laws.

[Marcab]

As usual, the cultists are bombing this comment list. Funny, since they are usually not allowed to read stories like this, or to surf the web.

What are they afraid of? They are afraid that the internet has exposed their wacky cult of greed. They cannot hide anymore. They cannot say that reading OT materials when you are not ready for them will kill you. Get serious. They can't get the new meat into the orgs anymore. Everyone laughs at Tom Cruise and Kristie Alley. For most of America, they are a joke.

For the rest of us, we know they are worse than a joke, they are a mind control cult that has killed people and enslaves people.

$cientology, its worse than you think.

www.xenu.net

[Terryeo]

Heh, the amusing aspect, to me, was some bean renting a plane. It is a tiny hint of the money standing behind critics. DDoS attacks are not real cheap. Xenu net's bandwidth is not real cheap. Renting a banner plane for an hour can't be real cheap. There is money behind the critics and there are two sorts of critics. Peaceful critics and others, the others do the death threats, violence threats, anthrax (probably fake) mailing, DDoS attacks, full time, full out, "we feel sooooooo threatened because Scientology says it is helpful." Shrinks, Big Pharma, and other agents of choas. heh, amusing.

[G]

it all started in a great war of the worlds thousands and thousands of years ago. pay to have alien thetons that cause depression removed. secret society. sounds like a sci-fi movie. scary.

my friend works next door to one of the scientology spots on ivar. the balcony is next to and above there courtyard. late nights they would hear "parishoners" in blue outfits talking in some strange alien language. yes, it's true. they did hear it. definitely a cult with it's leader, hierarchy, rules and secrets. to each is own, but this seems insane!