International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation ■ Vol. 2, 2021 93
tonyortega.org/2017/10/04/is-scientologys-notorious-prison-detail-
the-rpf-a-thing-of-the-past/).
“What Are the Abrahamic Religions? Christianity, Islam, and
Judaism Are Regarded As the Largest Abrahamic Religions by the
Number of Adherents,” World Atlas (online at www.world
atlas.com /articles/what-are-the-abrahamic-religions.html).
“What Christians Need to Know about Scientology” (1991),
Carnegie Mellon Scientology Archive (online at
www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/christians.html).
“What Is Disconnection?” Scientology (online at
www.scientology.ca/faq/scientology-attitudes-and-practices/what-
is-disconnection.html).
“What Is the Sea Organization?” Scientology (online at
www.scientology.ca/faq/church-management/what-is-the-sea-
organization.html).
Footnotes
i LL.B. (McGill, Dean's List), B.C.L. (McGill, Dean's List),
ACIArb. I am grateful to Prof. Omar Farahat, Olivier Lirette, and
two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on earlier
drafts. I also gratefully acknowledge financial support from
Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
ii Note: We have retained the fundamental formatting of text
citations/footnotes and entries in the Bibliography in this article,
which are based on the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal
Citation. We also have retained Canadian/British spellings of
words throughout.
iii This paper builds upon a paper I recently wrote, which provides a
broad overview of Scientology’s legal system (Phil Lord,
“Scientology’s Legal System” (2019) 21:1 Marburg J Religion 1).
In conducting research on Scientology over the past 2 years, I have
interacted with several Scientologists. I met Scientologists at the
Montreal and Los Angeles churches, all of whom have been
gracious and helpful. I have also been in contact with a member of
the Sea Organisation (Scientology’s most senior order), with
whom I had several conversations. To protect her anonymity, I do
not reveal her name. She has been exceedingly generous with her
time, and I thank her.
iv In this paper, I label Scientology a religion. This taxonomy is
used in its narrow legal sense: Scientology is recognised as a
religion for income taxation, constitutional, and other legal
purposes in most countries of the world see, e.g., Phil Lord,
“Mainstreaming Scientology?” (draft on file with the author), and
“Scientology: A World Religion: International Religious
Recognitions of the Church of Scientology,” online: Scientology
(www.scientologyreligion.org/religious-recognitions/) .The
taxonomy I employ should not be understood as a condonation of
Scientology’s status as a religion (which many contest), or even as
implying that Scientology does meet the relevant legal tests in all
countries.
v James R Lewis, Scientology (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2009) at 21–23. The movement does not have a defined founding
date. It is rooted in the bestseller published in 1950 by the
religion’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics: The Modern
Science of Mental Health (revised ed. Los Angeles: Bridge, 2007).
Hubbard initially intended the book to be a treatise on mental
health. Hubbard and his associates sought to have its contents
published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and
the American Journal of Psychiatry (see, e.g., Russel Miller, Bare-
Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard [Toronto: Key
Porter, 1987], at 151). The mental health community rebuked
Hubbard. The key concepts of Dianetics later morphed into
Scientology. The Dianetics foundation declared bankruptcy due to
issues with its creditors (see, e.g., Miller, ibid at 197–200 and
Ronald B Flowers, Religion in Strange Times: The 1960s and
1970s [Macon: Mercer University Press, 1984], at 96–97). In 1952,
Hubbard published Scientology, A Religious Philosophy (Christian
D von Dehsen, ed., Lives &Legacies: An Encyclopedia of People
Who Changed the World: Philosophers and Religious Leaders
[Phoenix: Oryx, 1999] at 90)—the book appears to have been
republished as Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought (L. Ron
Hubbard, revised ed. [Los Angeles: Bridge, 2007]). In 1953,
Hubbard incorporated the first three churches of Scientology
(Miller, ibid, at 140–142).
vi Other new religious movements, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses
and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were founded
long before Scientology (Andrew Holden, Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement [New York:
Routledge, 2002], at 1 Casey Paul Griffiths, Scott C. Esplin, &E.
Vance Randall, “‘The Glory of God Is Intelligence’: Exploring the
Foundations of Latter-day Saint Religious Education” (2016)
111:2 Religious Education, 153, at 155). All three religions are
called new religious movements or new religions because their age
is compared to that of mainstream religions, such as the Abrahamic
religions, whose founding dates back thousands of years (“What
Are the Abrahamic Religions? Christianity, Islam, and Judaism
Are Regarded as the Largest Abrahamic Religions by the Number
of Adherents,” World Atlas [online at
www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-abrahamicreligions.
html]).
vii Hubbard lived from 1911 to 1986 (“L. Ron Hubbard,”
Encyclopaedia Britannica [online at
www.britannica.com/biography/L-Ron-Hubbard]).
viii See Lord, “Scientology’s Legal System,” supra note iii at 20,
and Rothstein, “Scientology, Scripture and Sacred Traditions,” in
James R Lewis &Olav Hammer, eds., The Invention of Sacred
Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 18 at
24. See also Phil Lord, “Case Comment: Garcia v Church of
Scientology Flag Service Organization” (2020) 86:2 Arbitration
211 [Lord, “Case Comment”].
ix In my first paper on Scientology’s legal system (Lord,
“Scientology’s Legal System,” supra note iii at 21, I give the
counterexample of Islam, a much older religion, whose law was
modernised through judicial decisions and modern statutes, see,
e.g., Ann Elizabeth Mayer, “Law: Modern Legal Reform” in John
L. Esposito, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), online at
www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0473, which
states:
Reforms affecting Islamic law in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries were more far-reaching than any
undertaken previously. The impetus for reform came
both from within the Islamic tradition, as specialists in
Islamic law sought to reform laws in the face of changing
attitudes and social needs, and from without, as political
leaders-imposed changes designed eliminate archaic
features that impeded governmental modernization
programs.
Also see generally Wael B Hallaq, Authority, Continuity and
Change in Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2001), especially chapter 6.
Scientology’s main rule-enforcement mechanism, the Committee
of Evidence, does not allow for a changing interpretation of
Scientology rules. Its role is generally confined to reviewing
evidence and applying a rule to the evidence, using (where
necessary) other Hubbard writings to interpret the rule (see Lord,
“Scientology’s Legal System,” supra note iii at 21–22). There is no
tonyortega.org/2017/10/04/is-scientologys-notorious-prison-detail-
the-rpf-a-thing-of-the-past/).
“What Are the Abrahamic Religions? Christianity, Islam, and
Judaism Are Regarded As the Largest Abrahamic Religions by the
Number of Adherents,” World Atlas (online at www.world
atlas.com /articles/what-are-the-abrahamic-religions.html).
“What Christians Need to Know about Scientology” (1991),
Carnegie Mellon Scientology Archive (online at
www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/christians.html).
“What Is Disconnection?” Scientology (online at
www.scientology.ca/faq/scientology-attitudes-and-practices/what-
is-disconnection.html).
“What Is the Sea Organization?” Scientology (online at
www.scientology.ca/faq/church-management/what-is-the-sea-
organization.html).
Footnotes
i LL.B. (McGill, Dean's List), B.C.L. (McGill, Dean's List),
ACIArb. I am grateful to Prof. Omar Farahat, Olivier Lirette, and
two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on earlier
drafts. I also gratefully acknowledge financial support from
Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
ii Note: We have retained the fundamental formatting of text
citations/footnotes and entries in the Bibliography in this article,
which are based on the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal
Citation. We also have retained Canadian/British spellings of
words throughout.
iii This paper builds upon a paper I recently wrote, which provides a
broad overview of Scientology’s legal system (Phil Lord,
“Scientology’s Legal System” (2019) 21:1 Marburg J Religion 1).
In conducting research on Scientology over the past 2 years, I have
interacted with several Scientologists. I met Scientologists at the
Montreal and Los Angeles churches, all of whom have been
gracious and helpful. I have also been in contact with a member of
the Sea Organisation (Scientology’s most senior order), with
whom I had several conversations. To protect her anonymity, I do
not reveal her name. She has been exceedingly generous with her
time, and I thank her.
iv In this paper, I label Scientology a religion. This taxonomy is
used in its narrow legal sense: Scientology is recognised as a
religion for income taxation, constitutional, and other legal
purposes in most countries of the world see, e.g., Phil Lord,
“Mainstreaming Scientology?” (draft on file with the author), and
“Scientology: A World Religion: International Religious
Recognitions of the Church of Scientology,” online: Scientology
(www.scientologyreligion.org/religious-recognitions/) .The
taxonomy I employ should not be understood as a condonation of
Scientology’s status as a religion (which many contest), or even as
implying that Scientology does meet the relevant legal tests in all
countries.
v James R Lewis, Scientology (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2009) at 21–23. The movement does not have a defined founding
date. It is rooted in the bestseller published in 1950 by the
religion’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics: The Modern
Science of Mental Health (revised ed. Los Angeles: Bridge, 2007).
Hubbard initially intended the book to be a treatise on mental
health. Hubbard and his associates sought to have its contents
published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and
the American Journal of Psychiatry (see, e.g., Russel Miller, Bare-
Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard [Toronto: Key
Porter, 1987], at 151). The mental health community rebuked
Hubbard. The key concepts of Dianetics later morphed into
Scientology. The Dianetics foundation declared bankruptcy due to
issues with its creditors (see, e.g., Miller, ibid at 197–200 and
Ronald B Flowers, Religion in Strange Times: The 1960s and
1970s [Macon: Mercer University Press, 1984], at 96–97). In 1952,
Hubbard published Scientology, A Religious Philosophy (Christian
D von Dehsen, ed., Lives &Legacies: An Encyclopedia of People
Who Changed the World: Philosophers and Religious Leaders
[Phoenix: Oryx, 1999] at 90)—the book appears to have been
republished as Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought (L. Ron
Hubbard, revised ed. [Los Angeles: Bridge, 2007]). In 1953,
Hubbard incorporated the first three churches of Scientology
(Miller, ibid, at 140–142).
vi Other new religious movements, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses
and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were founded
long before Scientology (Andrew Holden, Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement [New York:
Routledge, 2002], at 1 Casey Paul Griffiths, Scott C. Esplin, &E.
Vance Randall, “‘The Glory of God Is Intelligence’: Exploring the
Foundations of Latter-day Saint Religious Education” (2016)
111:2 Religious Education, 153, at 155). All three religions are
called new religious movements or new religions because their age
is compared to that of mainstream religions, such as the Abrahamic
religions, whose founding dates back thousands of years (“What
Are the Abrahamic Religions? Christianity, Islam, and Judaism
Are Regarded as the Largest Abrahamic Religions by the Number
of Adherents,” World Atlas [online at
www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-abrahamicreligions.
html]).
vii Hubbard lived from 1911 to 1986 (“L. Ron Hubbard,”
Encyclopaedia Britannica [online at
www.britannica.com/biography/L-Ron-Hubbard]).
viii See Lord, “Scientology’s Legal System,” supra note iii at 20,
and Rothstein, “Scientology, Scripture and Sacred Traditions,” in
James R Lewis &Olav Hammer, eds., The Invention of Sacred
Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 18 at
24. See also Phil Lord, “Case Comment: Garcia v Church of
Scientology Flag Service Organization” (2020) 86:2 Arbitration
211 [Lord, “Case Comment”].
ix In my first paper on Scientology’s legal system (Lord,
“Scientology’s Legal System,” supra note iii at 21, I give the
counterexample of Islam, a much older religion, whose law was
modernised through judicial decisions and modern statutes, see,
e.g., Ann Elizabeth Mayer, “Law: Modern Legal Reform” in John
L. Esposito, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), online at
www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0473, which
states:
Reforms affecting Islamic law in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries were more far-reaching than any
undertaken previously. The impetus for reform came
both from within the Islamic tradition, as specialists in
Islamic law sought to reform laws in the face of changing
attitudes and social needs, and from without, as political
leaders-imposed changes designed eliminate archaic
features that impeded governmental modernization
programs.
Also see generally Wael B Hallaq, Authority, Continuity and
Change in Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2001), especially chapter 6.
Scientology’s main rule-enforcement mechanism, the Committee
of Evidence, does not allow for a changing interpretation of
Scientology rules. Its role is generally confined to reviewing
evidence and applying a rule to the evidence, using (where
necessary) other Hubbard writings to interpret the rule (see Lord,
“Scientology’s Legal System,” supra note iii at 21–22). There is no
