by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Oct. 30, 2009
All Rights Reserved.

              Opening up another can of worms for the Church of Scientology in France, a French court ruled it defrauded two women, bilking them for phony vitamins and self-help treatments.  Fining the Church 600,000 euros or about $900,000 for “organized fraud,” the French court completed what looked like excessive punishments for the new age church founded by the late fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard [1911-86].  Hubbard wrote numerous pulp fiction novels before he published in 1953, “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health,” an inscrutable hodgepodge of hypnosis and Freudian psychology, literally incomprehensible to the average person.  Sentencing the Church’s French leader to two-years in prison and 30,000 euros fine for fraud, the court came down hard on Scientology, prevented in France from hiding behind its tax-exempt U.S. church status.

            Two women named in the French suit claimed they were defrauded by the Church of thousands and fired from their jobs because they refused to complete Scientology initiations.  Scientology spokesman Tom Davis, a personal trainer to famous Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, insisted the court violated Scientology’s rights and would be eventually exonerated in a French appeals court.  France’s court ruling, on its face, doesn’t change too many minds about Scientology.  Setting up expectations in churchgoers and paying fees for Scientology’s “auditing” classes doesn’t constitute fraud, no matter how much cash was paid out.  Most religions, or cults for that matter, make promises they can’t keep in terms of spiritual and mental health benefits.  Scientology offers a “scientific method” for reversing childhood trauma, much the same as psychoanalysis, Freud’s brand of psychotherapy.

             French authorities have shown little patience for sects like Scientology, giving them less protections than organized religion.  Oscar-winning director of “Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby” Paul Haggis recently embarrassed the Church by publicly resigning his membership.  Haggis, a longtime Church member, blasted Scientology for supporting California’s Prop. 8 [the gay marriage ban], resigning his Church membership.  Haggis wrote his objections to Church policy to official Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis [son of actress Anne Archer] for recently smearing Scientology’s 20-year-long celebrity recruiter Amy Scobee, bringing actor John Travolta into the fold.  Haggis blasted Scientology executives for divulging Scobee’s most private sexual matters in the Scientology newsletter, passing them on to the press and branding her a wicked “adulteress.”

            Haggis shared his disgust with Davis over the routine Scientology practice of “disconnecting,” where recent recruits are urged to sever ties with friends and family.  Citing his own personal experience with his wife, Haggis watched her disown her own parents.  He called the group’s smear campaign against Scobee unconscionable.  “Disconnecting” is a well-known method used by religious cults to isolate members for the purposes of coercive recruitment, something seen in Maoist thought reform camps, where personal identity and human dignity were shredded by scientific brain washing practices.  Haggis apparently had a rude awakening, realizing he was subject to Scientology’s coercive persuasion.  Calling Haggis’ reaction based on “misunderstandings,” Davis tried to reframe his complaints as “misunderstandings” by a disgruntled Church member.

            Davis got into hot water on national TV, overreacting and bolting out of an interview by ABC’s “Nightline” reporter Martin Bashir.  Getting rattled after Bashir asked whether Haggis believed in Xenu, an intergalactic warlord at the heart of L.Ron Hubbard’s way-out theology.   Calling the interview “disgusting perversions” of Scientology, Davis couldn’t handle openly describing some of Scientology’s more controversial ideas.  After bolting the interview, Davis showed up 45-minues later at ABC’s corporate offices, demanding the network pull the interview.  Scientology, which assigned Davis as Tom Cruise’s “personal, full-time assigned Scientology handler,” should have known that Davis lacked the poise to serve as a Church’s main media spokesman.  Davis is now hard-pressed to account for Haggis’ embarrassing public resignation.

            Airing his dirty laundry, Academy Award-winning director Paul Haggis gave the public a rare peak into the sordid underbelly of Scientology.  While glamorized deliberately by high-profile celebrities, the bulk of scientology comes from meager means and broken family backgrounds, much the same as other religious cults promising salvation to disenfranchised souls.  Haggis couldn’t contain his ire after watching the Church smear Amy Scobee for her 20-year commitment to recruiting celebrities.  Going public with her private sexual matters revealed the dark side of Scientology, wiling, no matter what the costs, to trash any former member for stepping out of line.  Whether Tom Cruise or John Travolta bail out of Scientology is anyone’s guess.  Davis’ behavior displays the vindictive side of religious cults, attacking former members for daring to tell the truth.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.