The Scandal of Scientology By Paulette Cooper
Some of the people who signed up for Scientology to satiate their curiosity might have done better if they had read the newspapers. They would have read that Scientology is currently being investigated in England. They would have read that Scientology has been banned in Victoria, Australia, Western Australia, and South Australia. They would have read that in Scientology, some people are allowed to listen to the most intimate sexual secrets of other people after just a few months of training. They would have read of the “death lessons” that were once being taught in British schools devised by Scientologists. They would have read of a group called “The Process” that worships sex and the devil and believes in every type of sexual perversion they were started by Scientologists. They would have read of a man named Charles Manson, convicted of murdering Sharon Tate and others; he may have been a Scientologist.
They would have read of a group that tried to “take over” the National Association of Mental Health in England; they too were Scientologists. They would have read about the Scientology “Reverend” who was sleeping with a married woman who had come to him for help with her marital problems, and who was shot by the husband of the woman. They would have read of a group that makes its members hold on to a “Lie detector” while the leaders asked them the most intimate details about their sexual life, and then took these answers and sent them to the leader of the group that is Scientology.
Cooper’s conflict with the Church of Scientology began in 1970 when the Church filed suit against her in British court for an article she wrote that was published in London’s Queen magazine. An expansion of this, her first book, The Scandal of Scientology, came out in 1971; it was a critical exposé of the activities and beliefs of the Church of Scientology.
The book earned her more negative attention from members of the Church, and that same year saw a second lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against her by the church.[3] Further lawsuits and countersuits followed throughout the years, totaling nineteen suits from all over the world that Scientology instituted against Cooper, and three counterclaims that she instituted.
Following Hubbard’s directive of, “If possible, of course, ruin her utterly,” Scientologists smeared Cooper’s reputation, then framed her for a felony. Using stationary she had touched, which therefore contained her fingerprints, they forged a bomb threat against the Church. Upon discovering the plot, called “Operation Freakout,” the prosecutors dropped all charges against Cooper. Besides the emotional anguish and disruption of her life, Scientology’s outrageous, fraudulent persecution of her cost Cooper $26,000 in legal and psychiatric fees. (Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1990, A39).