Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
A couple years ago a dentist in Chicago was sued -- successfully -- for forcing Scientology on his employees. Now a similar suit has been filed in New Jersey against a businessman who is also a local politician.
Calling a lawsuit brought against his business as "replete with misrepresentations and outright lies,'' a new member of the Borough Council is denying the charges, including one that an employee was fired for not becoming a member of the Church of Scientology.John Buckley, who on New Year's Day was sworn into a three-year term as a councilman after winning a seat in the November election, said he and his company, Open House Direct "will vigorously defend against these unfounded claims and to also demonstrate that this is nothing but an attempt to harass us and to hurt our ability to do business.''
Here are some of the accusations:
Three former employees -- Maurice Grays, John Knapp and Larry Kolakowski -- last month filed suit in Superior Court seeking legal relief, claiming they were victims of a hostile work environment and retaliation at the company on Hamilton Street...Grays began work with the company as an exhibitor sales specialist in January 2006, according to the suit filed by attorney Ronald Wronko of Florham Park. During the hiring process, Grays was required to take several "entrance examinations based on the teachings of the Church of Scientology'' because the company used Scientology-based literature to train employees on sales and business administration, according to the lawsuit.
In 2006, Grays attended several Scientology courses at the Church of Scientology in New York City with the understanding they would assist him in his job.
Two months after receiving a favorable work evaluation and a raise, Grays separated from his wife in November 2007 and Open House Direct loaned him $1,300 to find a new apartment and $1,000 to pay bills. But Buckley and Leamy "began harassing'' Grays to become a Scientologist, the lawsuit charges.
The two owners then tried to compel Grays to take a course called "Purification Rundown'' as a condition of his employment. According to the lawsuit, the purpose of the course, which Grays refused to take, was to remove toxins from the body.
After Buckley and Leamy continued to pressure him to take the course as a "quid pro quo'' of his employment, Grays took the course and the company charged the tuition to Grays as additional debt, the lawsuit alleges.
Grays also was "forced against his will'' to purchase a library of Scientology books and its cost also was added to his debt, according to the lawsuit.
In spring 2008, Buckley asked Grays for a $5,000 donation to the Church of Scientology, but Grays refused and no longer attended any courses outside the work environment that he believed were for "a purely religious purpose,'' the suit contends.
Grays was fired in December 2008 "because of his refusal to become a member of the Church of Scientology,'' the suit alleges.
If true, these charges should not be difficult to prove. It will be interesting to see how the case goes.
Politics
Comments
I wonder: if this guy was, say, a Baptist, would there be people complaining how Christians are being persecuted by being forced to work with non-believers against their will?
Posted by: Chiroptera | January 15, 2010 9:07 AM
If he was a Baptist, then Christian conservatives would write angry blog posts about how this poor guy is being persecuted for not being able to persecute others. But legally, the situation would proceed the exact same way.
Posted by: Brandon | January 15, 2010 9:13 AM
This isn't about Scientology as a religion. It's about Scientology as a business. The guy was forced by his boss to spend tons of money, which is different from getting a free bible or book of Mormon. That's why the lawsuit holds water, and why Scientology is actually a money-driven cult. Members HAVE to buy expensive book sets (and I mean $7500 expensive) for their friends or force their friends to buy them, and it's less costly to just force employees to buy them rather than buy them themselves. I've been approached by many Scientologists asking me to buy expensive book sets they purchased themselves to get their "stats" up in the religion. Craigslist is full of these people.
Posted by: Nick Girrard | January 15, 2010 9:50 AM
A "religion" based upon money, lawsuits, and the space alien Xenu. This will not end well. Google "the truth rundown" Contrast and compare to the Heavans Gate Cult and other instances of cult mass suicide.
Posted by: John Davids | January 15, 2010 9:53 AM
Scientology has many organizations dedicated to "clearing the planet" and aggressively creating converts. These groups position themselves as secular and excel at bait-and-switch. The organization here is their business arm, W.I.S.E. (World Institute of Scientology Enterprises).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Institute_of_Scientology_Enterprises
WISE has especially targeted dentists and chiropractors; it is not unusual to hear a chiropractic patient complain that the office is filled with Scientology literature. In fact, in New York State there is a chiropractor whose office is also listed as a Scientology "church" (in Scientology records and also in the phone book).
A recent murder in Colorado also involves a WISE business, Fowler Software Design. The suspected murderer, who then unsuccessfully attempted suicide, was an Operating Thetan level 7 and a Scientology "minister." The murder victim was the only non-Scientologist on staff, who was collecting his final paycheck from the company after leaving it. Documentation and citations on the Rex Fowler case can be found on a popular anti-Scientology activism forum.
An Australian blog, http://ozsoapbox.com/, has documented the drama of outing a consulting group, Liberty League/Polaris Media Group, as a Scientology front group.
Scientology aggressively uses "secular" methods in forwarding the agenda of their group, which uses a confusing blend of religion and LGAT methods to make it hard to pin them down to traditional definitions.
To drive the point home at a science-based forum, know that Scientology also has a front group called FASE (Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education - sic). http://www.xenu-directory.net/news/library.php?t=Foundation+for+Advancements+in+Science+and+Education+(FASE)
Posted by: Jen | January 15, 2010 10:20 AM
There are now four law suits on foot in California against the Church of Scientology International for breaches of labor laws, human trafficking and (in two of the cases) forcing female employees to have abortions in order to keep their jobs (and families). Scientologists' employment practices warrant careful scrutiny.
Posted by: Linda | January 15, 2010 11:14 AM
Excellent point about using LGAT methods. Many of those same methods are also used in legitimate and successful business training courses to promote things like employee motivation and team building. This really complicates what might otherwise seem to be a straightforward case. (Not necessarily this case, which seems clearly beyond the pale.) Really, what’s the difference between a motivational speaker and an inspirational minister? Is a trust fall indoctrination or team building?
Posted by: Abby Normal | January 15, 2010 11:36 AM
I had to look up LGAT and if wikipedia is correct (a big if I know) it sounds a decidedly suspect movement by itself even without scientology additions.
Posted by: Matty | January 15, 2010 11:48 AM
What is Scientology's "Purification Rundown"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purification_Rundown
Posted by: Jen | January 15, 2010 12:42 PM
There is one important element you neglected to mention. Mentioned by another commenter, but it's important to realize that the company belongs to WISE, the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises.
Businessmen like John Buckley are pressured to join WISE and apply Hubbard's teachings, including recruitment of workers. The tech is punitive and stat-driven, and often doesn't work.
Taking business advice from a pulp fiction writer is about as smart as taking medical advice from one. Grays' health was put at risk by the "purification rundown," and he was forced to take this dangerous program as a condition to keep his job. Given the numerous precedents, such as the dentist mentioned above, it's clear that this sort of aggressive proselytizing is part of the WISE business environment.
Also, who the heck thought it was a good idea to elect a Scientologist to a position in local government? Scientology perpetrated the largest domestic espionage case in American history. Google Operation Snow White to read more about the FBI raids on Scientology in the 70s, and what they found in Scientology files.
Posted by: imominous | January 15, 2010 12:58 PM
It seems to me that the internet is chock full of people looking to tear down Scientology, but that the vast majority of their anecdotes and 'evidences' don't hold water. Overall I think that Scientology is probably even more unjustly persecuted and accused than the Freemasons and the CIA combined in America, probably because there's so much money to be gained by making up elaborate conspiracies, lawsuits, and so on...
Posted by: Gabriel Arthur Petrie | January 15, 2010 2:14 PM
Gabriel,
It is not just the internet. It is also hundreds of people who have left, no, ESCAPED, from scientology that have not only valid claims, but valid lawsuits. It is not unjust persecution - scientology violates very basic human rights along with all sorts of laws in most countries where it has established a presence. Using your assumptions, could it be assumed that that you support their quest of human rights violations as well?
If it's a conspiracy, it's worldwide and most of the conspirators don't even know each other. Rethink and educate yourself. If so many people have come out with their scientology horror stories, don't you think there might be an inkling of truth in there somewhere?
Posted by: Anonymous | January 15, 2010 2:35 PM
Anonymous,
I'm sorry but I just don't believe that Scientology would be allowed to continue to operate by the U.S. government if it was regularly and so obviously perpetrating "violations" of "very basic human rights". As far as "all sorts of laws" (?) let's not forget that Scientologists are, foremost, human beings (since you raise the spectre of human rights abuses, you should understand this) and therefore have the capacity to (astonishingly) break laws, just like the rest of us. If there was any evidence that Scientologists are predisposed to break the law more often than the rest of us, again, the organisation would not be allowed to continue to operate by the government(s).
As far as the mentioned conspiracy against Scientology, there doesn't have to be an organisation structure for the conspiracy to exist; most conspirators would have you believe that there has to be some person or some structure to point the finger at, but conspiracies are by definition nebulous, not centralised.
And, again, your 'horror stories' aren't being told by a majority of the membership, and, again, if there were something greater and more horrific going on in Scientology that deserved prosecution against the entire organisation, it would have already been successfully brought against them.
Posted by: Gabriel Arthur Petrie | January 15, 2010 2:56 PM
I had barely begun reading this post and I already knew where it was going: that "the Church" was about to attempt a financial swindle on Grays.
Posted by: TheDude | January 15, 2010 3:00 PM
Gabriel--
Your argument is basically that there cannot be a large, harmful organization anywhere in the world, because we would know about it, and have defeated it. I'm not a big conspiracy theorist, but there's a reason we have things like RICO laws to go after organized groups of thieves and scammers.
Also, I don't know where you live, but you may have heard about the organized cover-ups of child rape by priests. The Catholic church still exists and does business in the places where those crimes occurred. At most, some dioceses have declared bankruptcy. The church as a whole isn't held liable for those court judgments. The priests and bishops whose response to accusations of child molestation was to tell the accusers to be quiet, and transfer the accused priests to new churches, were not prosecuted. The entire organization has not been prosecuted, and probably won't be, given the ways that tangles with freedom of religion issues.
Scientology is also organized and presented as a church. (I'm an atheist, I'm not going to tell believers what is or isn't a church.)
Also, a horror story doesn't have to be told by the majority of the members of an organization to be real and important. Consider a hypothetical organization, Great Cthulhu's Starry Wisdom Band. It has a leader, a couple of levels of priests, and thousands of members. Within that, 20 percent of the members are being sexually abused by the priests, and strongly pressured not to talk about it, lest they lose their family and church, and be cast out into the desert for eternity. A few of them eventually come forward, perhaps after losing their faith or because the abuse gets too bad. So, we now have an organization in which 80 percent aren't coming forward with horror stories because they haven't been touched. Another 15-18 percent haven't come forward because they're afraid to. And 2-5 percent are saying "the priests raped and beat me."
Would you dismiss those 2-5 percent who are reporting systematic crimes and human rights abuses on the grounds that if the crimes were real, they must already have been reported? Would you dismiss them because they were "only" five percent of the church membership, and a lot of Starry Wisemen were quietly going to church every week and decorating their mantlepieces with tentacles? Or would you at least consider that maybe the multiple reports of crimes did not indicate a conspiracy by the victims, that any conspiracy might be by the church leadership or some subset thereof?
Posted by: Vicki | January 15, 2010 3:20 PM
Re post number 13, which says if Scientology was so bad the government would have shut it down: Why would you believe that is the case? The US government doesn't have the right to shut down organizations and when the organization purports to be a religious organization the government is even more hands off.
Posted by: martha | January 15, 2010 3:25 PM
Also, a horror story doesn't have to be told by the majority of the members of an organization to be real and important. Consider a hypothetical organization, Great Cthulhu's Starry Wisdom Band. It has a leader, a couple of levels of priests, and thousands of members. Within that, 20 percent of the members are being sexually abused by the priests, and strongly pressured not to talk about it, lest they lose their family and church, and be cast out into the desert for eternity. A few of them eventually come forward, perhaps after losing their faith or because the abuse gets too bad. So, we now have an organization in which 80 percent aren't coming forward with horror stories because they haven't been touched. Another 15-18 percent haven't come forward because they're afraid to. And 2-5 percent are saying "the priests raped and beat me."
Posted by: sikiş | January 15, 2010 3:51 PM
If there was any evidence that Scientologists are predisposed to break the law more often than the rest of us, again, the organisation would not be allowed to continue to operate by the government(s).
Really? By that reasoning, there can't possibly be a Mafia, a Yakuza, Crips, Bloods, MS-13, or any other violent criminal enterprise, because if it ever got as bad as people said it was, the government would crack down on it and it wouldn't exist for very long.
Ever notice how $cientology's pitifully few defenders here NEVER actually have anything positive to say about their precious persecuted church? All poor Gabriel could come up with is the lamest, most bubbleheaded denialism I've ever seen. Seriously, boy, even the cdesign proponentsists sound more credible than you.
Posted by: Raging Bee | January 15, 2010 4:22 PM
Y'all are being unaccountably nice to Gabriel. He's rather obviously a Sc
amientologist, isn't he?Posted by: James Hanley | January 15, 2010 4:30 PM
James: I think you are right about our friend Gabriel. If L. Ron (why do I always think of Enron when I hear that name?) were still around old Gabriel would be standing in line to toss his salad.
Posted by: Budbear | January 15, 2010 4:47 PM
The US government has never been good with organized crime. Look at the Mafia, the drug lords and the bike gangs. When the organized crime is usually fraud, and the people involved defend the fraud, it becomes even more complex. When the fraud is in the name of religion it is as complex as a Gordian knot. Still, in Canada and in France, Scientology is the only criminally convicted church in the histories of the respective countries. Let's see what happens in Belgium, Germany and Australia. Can the US be far behind?
Posted by: Josh Rosencranz | January 15, 2010 5:16 PM
Gabriel,
As someone who once worked in the accounts department of a major Scientology establishment {Advanced Org Saint Hill) I can assure you that the accusations made ring very true. The advancement of Scientology takes precedence over any other consideration, including national laws. The sad thing is that otherwise decent people become so caught up in the cause that they behave in the most mercenary way. The accounts department would be periodically raided by Sea Org members going through the files to find likely members to hard sell gold-plated e-meters and thousand dollar book sets to. If targets weren't met we would all be eating beans and rice for the next week or two.
Scientology policy on perceived enemies is not pleasant and you soon get the impression that any concessions to the law or individual rights are purely down to expedience.
Posted by: ThreeFlangedJavis | January 15, 2010 5:38 PM
"It seems to me that the internet is chock full of people looking to tear down Scientology, but that the vast majority of their anecdotes and 'evidences' don't hold water. Overall I think that Scientology is probably even more unjustly persecuted and accused than the Freemasons and the CIA combined in America, probably because there's so much money to be gained by making up elaborate conspiracies, lawsuits, and so on..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freakout
Unjustly? Lawology is a shameless scam that tries to abuse the law as hard as possible to shut down its critics. It claims /fucking copyright law/ to protect it's 'holy books'. Operation Freakout isn't even the worst thing it's doing. You're aware that it's under fire, in MANY countries, INCLUDING the US, for operating what amounts to prison camps, right?
Posted by: Rutee | January 15, 2010 7:30 PM
I thank you for this great article. It seems that every day staff members who were beaten, forced to have abortions, or worse, are escaping the cult of scientology and speaking out.
Good for these good people for saying NO to being bullied by the cult.
Catholic online:
http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=34810
Baptist Planet:
http://baptistplanet.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/scientologyanonymous-wars-come-to-catholic-online/#comment-1108
Cult:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu
Definition: followers of an unorthodox, extremist, or false religion or sect who often live outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
Posted by: Mark Cabian | January 15, 2010 8:00 PM
>>>This isn't about Scientology as a religion. It's about Scientology as a business.
The lawsuit is the tip of the iceberg. for every person with the courage to come forth, there are 200 who remain afraid and intimidated
Posted by: justice | January 16, 2010 3:40 AM
Check the insider reports and allegations about what goes on on the inside of the business of Scientology.
The blog I've cited has descriptions, people who describe their observations and eye witness reports about "church" involvement in people's careers -- such as Tom Cruise and how the religion has been taken over by a money profit-seeking management that discounts any true spiritual following left by the founder (Hubbard)
Posted by: Reader of Insider Blog | January 16, 2010 3:46 AM
So Gabe, as I see it, you're either an OSA Ronbot trying out a new "reasonable" concern-troll rundown, or you're just a regular guy who can't really believe Scientology could survive all those years if it were really that bad. Surely someone would know about all these abuses and put a stop to them. Well, before the internet, one didn't speak out against the cult for fear of lawyers and private investigators or thugs harassing you. It's taken about ten years for the crimes and abuses in the church to come to be common knowledge. They tried to silence critics on the net, but they failed.
But don't take it from me. Read Hubbard's own words and listen to him speak his own special brand of crazy . . .
Read Hubbard's own words regarding Fair Game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology)
Read his paranoid rants on psychiatry and the government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_and_psychiatry
Listen to his ideas on race, especially Africans. Listen to the whole thing. He was an evil nutter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_gLHV8uykA
And for those who claim there is nothing Space Opera about Scientology, listen to him go on about Fifth Invader Forces secret bases on Earth. Okay, I added the music, but that was it, it's verbatim from the horses, er . . . mouth.
http://www.vimeo.com/1227000
Posted by: Pareidolius | January 16, 2010 4:00 AM
The employee was forced to take the expensive sauna/vitamin/exercise PURIFICATION RUNDOWN which here in the U.S. Scientology calls a "religious ritual," but in countries where scientology is not considered a religion, they market the scam as a health regimen, having nothing to do with religion.
Most of Scientology's terminology for Hubbard's pseudo-psychotherapy got pseudo-religious -- Xenu included -- when they took on religious cloaking to avoid being shut down for practicing unlicensed therapy in NJ, and later gain tax exemption.
Now instead of a just a mind-bender for birdbrained celebrities, they are a hydra-headed business scam, pushing bogus educational methods, business training, drug rehab with all roads leading to getting people in the mind-control cult.
Recently, they threw together some old tapes and other Hubbard crazy they say they found in someone's garage, and are treating it like it is the Dead Sea Scrolls, which incidentally I bought for $1 at a used book store, but Scientology is offering its new book package to their suckers for $7500!
And that's just this one new bargain-priced package. The existing books and courses costs hundreds of thousands. Religion is free. Scientology is neither.
Posted by: Wally | January 16, 2010 10:04 AM
The only reason you are against Scientology is because you have crimes you are hiding. You're probably all pedophiles. Why don't you get information about Scientology from the source? Go to your local Church of Scientology. Learn what it can do for you. It's inexpensive. Only about $100,000 to learn some truly amazing scriptures. Also, no one has to pay. Just sign a lifetime service contract with the Church and you get all your spiritual training for free.
Posted by: Carlton | January 16, 2010 9:50 PM
Scientologists are childish bullies. The show now respect and are not worthy any respect.
Here harrasing Marthy Rathbun ("Marcus Brutus") and his friends. http://www.marcusbrutusrathbun.com/
They refer to Religious Freedow Watch (!) as a source for crimes commited by "Brutus’s Friends".
Posted by: K'Man | January 17, 2010 6:04 AM
[quote]So Gabe, as I see it, you're either an OSA Ronbot trying out a new "reasonable" concern-troll rundown,[/quote]
That was my guess halfway through his first sentence. In all honesty, I'm quite surprised the whole comments section hasn't been flooded by people telling us about their wonderful experiences in "the Church", completely un-coerced and of their own free, unco-ordinated will, of course.
Posted by: LightHorseman | January 17, 2010 9:22 AM
Gabriel:
Are you really as fucking stupid as your posts suggest?
It is a cult, pure and simple. Try losing your oldest child to the cult
and you might see it differently, you dumb fuck.
Don't be so fucking stupid Gabe. The world needs people to wake the
fuck up and pay attention. Stand up to these dangerous criminals.
David Miscavige should be put in a room with a pack of wild dogs and
have raw steak tied to his genitals. After they bite his nuts off, then and
only then should he be shot in the head.
Posted by: G-Anon | January 17, 2010 4:04 PM
For people who wish to exclaim religious persecution consider the following:
There is no debate that people are free to exercise whatever religion they want. However, that does not mean that they can harass and exercise preferential treatment after forcing someone to convert. Yes, there would be a big stink if someone tried forcing others to convert. Why else do evangelicals come under the fire so much?
Further, you will notice that scientology also has a long history of using the court system against people who have simply spoken out.
This issue is over, again, harassment, forced subversion of free will and an equal opportunity violation.
So all the people crying about religious persecution can shove it. Your accusations do not stand up against the truth of the matter.
Operation snow white.
Posted by: VendettaD | January 18, 2010 2:57 PM
Well I'm sold*, more money than I have or a lifetimes unpaid work in return for such amazing insights as Xenu and the Gorilla Goals.
*Why yes this might very well be that thing you call sarcasm.
Posted by: Matty | January 18, 2010 3:09 PM
More on Scientology's business ventures; the classic Time Magazine article that caused them to defend themselves from Scientology in court for years.
Archived by Dr David S Touretzky of Carnegie Mellon University.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thriving_Cult_of_Greed_and_Power
Posted by: Jen | January 19, 2010 8:29 AM
I dig how Gabriel's being here and weakly defending the church alone is causing this huge flood of "entheta" to be posted to this board.
All the better for one of the more moderate and unaware Scientologists to chance across this entry and possibly start thinking criticially for once about their personal affiliations.
One can hope, anyhow.
Posted by: Singe | January 20, 2010 9:27 PM
Here is an update on the murder at WISE company Fowler Software Design. OT7 Scientology "minister" William Rex Fowler has now been charged with first degree murder of his former partner, in a case that involves money troubles due to excessive donations to the cult.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14251372
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/rex-fowler-charged-with-k_n_433782.html
Much better that a case produce a lawsuit than a murder. It's time for non-Scientologists to get out of WISE businesses ASAP.
Posted by: Jen | January 23, 2010 3:22 AM
Frustrating dealing with ronbots like Gabriel, isn't it? For all their tens of thousands of dollars and years of "study" they still cannot recognise the insanity of L Ron Hubbard and his mini-me David Miscavige when it appears before their very eyes every day. The sooner Teegeeack is cleared of $cientology, the better.
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