Amid allegations of human rights abuse and facing the second major protest in five weeks, the Church of Scientology is resorting to a familiar tactic: punitive lawsuits.
A prominent Scientologist, apparently acting on behalf of Church of Scientology, has filed for a restraining order against a nameless, faceless group of peaceful protesters.
Protests are planned in over 100 cities worldwide on March 15, at 11 a.m. local time. The protesters, who organize on a number of Internet sites, refer to themselves collectively as 'Anonymous'. Because of Church of Scientology’s history of defaming and harassing its critics, most protesters say they will wear masks, scarves and other props to protect their identities.
A Long History Of Nuisance Legal Claims
The aggressive legal stance by Church of Scientology is part of the "fair game" policy, described in a 1967 letter by church founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Quoted directly, the policy states that enemies "may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline," or "tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."
In practice, the policy results in personal and litigious harassment of critics or other enemies of the organization. ‘Fair game’ has been used against Emmy award-winning filmmaker Mark Bunker and BBC journalist John Sweeney, amongst many others.
In 1991, a TIME Magazine cover story called the Church of Scientology a “thriving cult of greed and power” and concluded “Scientology poses as a religion but really is a ruthless global scam.” After the article ran, TIME Magazine and its reporters were harassed, defamed and sued by the Church of Scientology. The suits against TIME were eventually thrown out of court, described by the judge as 'spurious.'
The current petition for a restraining order has been filed against "an association of people known as Anonymous." Under Florida law, a petition for a restraining order must have the full name, current address and phone number of the person to be served.
The Church of Scientology has "refused to provide a copy of the lawsuit or discuss who it seeks to restrain", according to news reports in Clearwater.
Filing Shows Disregard For Constitutional Precedent
Analysts say the attempted restraining order is unlikely to be accepted by a judge because of overwhelming federal and state precedents. For instance, Talley v. California (Supreme Court, 1960, case 362) struck down a Los Angeles city ordinance that made it a crime to distribute anonymous pamphlets. In addition, the Florida Constitution guarantees citizens "the right peaceably to assemble, to instruct their representatives, and to petition for redress of grievances."
Anonymous maintains the Church of Scientology continues to act in defiance of citizens' constitutional right to free speech. The self-described "authorities on the mind" made news in January, when a leaked Scientology video of Tom Cruise behaving strangely led to hundreds of cease-and-desist letters to websites hosting the video, from Church of Scientology attorneys. Bloggers claimed defense under the Fair Use policy: Gawker editor Ben Popken refused to remove the video, which has now been viewed over 1.6 million times on YouTube.
Anonymous entered the public eye on February 10, when more than 9,250 people worldwide demonstrated without legal incident outside local Scientology centers [1]. The protest was organized in less than a month and was the largest demonstration against the Church of Scientology to date.
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To contact Anonymous, visit www.enturbulation.org. For an introduction to Anonymous’ global protests against the Church of Scientology, visit www.march15.org [2].
