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| {{Short description|Antisocial personalities in Scientology}} | |||
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| ⚫ | '''Suppressive |
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| ⚫ | '''''Suppressive person''''', often abbreviated '''SP''', is a term used in ] to describe the "antisocial personalities" who, according to Scientology's founder ], make up about 2.5% of the population. A statement on a ] website describes this group as including notorious historic figures such as ].<ref name=reitman-rs>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/inside-scientology-103288/ |title=Inside Scientology |date=February 23, 2006 |first=Janet |last=Reitman |author-link=Janet Reitman |magazine=] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430200426/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9363363/inside_scientology/print |archive-date=April 30, 2009}}</ref> | ||
| The term is often applied to those whom the |
The term is often applied to those whom the Church perceives as its enemies, such as those whose "disastrous" and "suppressive" acts are said to impede the progress of individual Scientologists or the Scientology movement.<ref>Paulick, James "Scientology Wins Court Battle in Germany",Deutsche Welle, 28 April 2008 – According to Hubbard, "a Suppressive Person or Group is one that actively seeks to suppress or damage Scientology or a Scientologist by Suppressive Acts….A Suppressive Person or Group becomes 'fair game.'" – http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1567596,00.html Retrieved 7 October 2008</ref> | ||
| One of the reasons Scientology doctrines portray suppressive persons as such a danger is that they are supposed to make people around them become ''']''' (abbreviated '''PTS'''). Scientology defines a PTS as "a person who is in some way connected to and being adversely affected by a suppressive person. Such a person is called a potential trouble source because he can be a lot of trouble to himself and to others."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scientology.org/feature/glossary/index.html#p |title=Glossary of Terms |publisher=Scientology |access-date=2009-11-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703090534/http://www.scientology.org/feature/glossary/index.html#p |archive-date=July 3, 2008}}</ref> Hubbard suggested that the effects of suppressive persons is amplified to cause 20% of the population to be predisposed against Scientology<!--(2.5% SP, 17.5% PTS)-->.<ref>Sommer, Mark "Breaking In, Breaking Out", Buffalo News, 31 January 2005 – "A PTS is someone from among the 20 percent of the population that Hubbard declared was predisposed against Scientology."</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | ==Origins and definitions== | ||
| ⚫ | == Origins and definitions == | ||
| As with most Scientology terminology, "suppressive person" was coined by L. Ron Hubbard. The concept appears to have first been introduced into Scientology in ], possibly as a response to increasing challenges to Hubbard's authority from discontented members.<ref>Ruth A. Tucker, ''Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions, and the New Age Movement'', p. 313. (Zondervan, 2004)</ref> Many of Hubbard's early writings on suppressive persons focus on their alleged responsibility for poor management within the Church of Scientology.<ref>See e.g. Hubbard, HCO Policy Letter of 7 August 1965, ''Suppressive Persons, Main Characteristics Of''</ref> | |||
| As with most Scientology terminology, "suppressive person" was coined by ]. Ruth A. Tucker writes in her book '']'' that the concept appears to have first been introduced into Scientology in the 1960s "as membership grew and as authoritarian control increased". Tucker notes that many of those who joined Scientology during this period were "well-educated people who prided themselves in independent thinking struggled with the idea of allowing any other individual to completely dominate their opinions."<ref>{{cite book|last=Tucker |first=Ruth A. |title=Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions, and the New Age Movement|page= 313|publisher=Zondervan|date= 2004|title-link=Another Gospel}}</ref> Many of Hubbard's early writings on suppressive persons focus on their alleged responsibility for poor management within the Church of Scientology.<ref>{{cite news|author=Hubbard, L. Ron|title=HCO Policy Letter |date= August 7, 1965|work=Suppressive Persons, Main Characteristics Of}}</ref><ref>Urban, Hugh B. "Fair Game: Secrecy, Security, and the Church of Scientology in Cold War America." ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'' 74.2 (2006): 356-389.</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | The church's official glossary defines a suppressive person as being:<blockquote>a person who possesses a distinct set of characteristics and mental attitudes that cause him to suppress other people in his vicinity. This is the person whose behavior is calculated to be disastrous. Also called '']''.<ref>{{cite web | title = Scientology Glossary | publisher = Church of Scientology International | url = http://www.scientology.org/en_US/feature/glossary/index.html#s | access-date = 2006-07-08 }}</ref></blockquote> | ||
| The Church's official glossary defines a suppressive person as being: | |||
| ⚫ | :a person who possesses a distinct set of characteristics and mental attitudes that cause him to suppress other people in his vicinity. This is the person whose behavior is calculated to be disastrous. Also called '']''. |
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| The |
The church regards these "antisocial personalities" as being those "who possess characteristics and mental attitudes that cause them to violently oppose any betterment activity or group".<ref name="The ASP"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616081621/http://scientologyethics.org/page06.htm |date=2006-06-16 }}. Website accessed 2006-06-04.</ref> This concern with "groups" continues in the official '']'', which states the corollary: "The antisocial personality supports only destructive groups."<ref>{{cite web | author=CSI | title=The Antisocial Personality | work=How Can Scientology Help Me With...? | url=http://www.scientologyhandbook.org/sh11_1.htm | access-date=2006-06-11}}</ref> | ||
| ⚫ | == Policies and practices == | ||
| According to Hubbard, suppressive persons have a number of distinct characteristics: | |||
| According to the Hubbard textbook ''Introduction to Scientology Ethics'' ("the Ethics book"), when an individual is found to be under the influence of a suppressive person, it is believed that this will affect their general well-being. An individual with an SP in their vicinity is likely to be under stress or frequently upset, and this would potentially jeopardize the stability of any treatment or education. Therefore, a parishioner who is found to have such suppressive connections is not permitted to participate in certain Scientology classes and counseling until the situation has been adequately resolved. | |||
| The Ethics book provides a guideline for use in sorting out such a condition. A first step is always to educate the person about the phenomenon of the suppressive person and the effects this is believed to have on the individuals close to the SP. Once the education step is completed, the person can further follow the guidelines to sort out the situation so that the parishioner is no longer negatively affected. | |||
| :1. He or she speaks only in very broad generalities. | |||
| :2. Such a person deals mainly in bad news, critical or hostile remarks, invalidation, and general suppression. | |||
| :3. The antisocial personality alters, to worsen, communication when he or she relays a message or news. Good news is stopped and only bad news, often embellished, is passed along. | |||
| :4. A characteristic, and one of the sad things about an antisocial personality, is that it does not respond to treatment or reform or psychotherapy. | |||
| :5. Surrounding such a personality we find cowed or ill associates or friends who, when not driven actually insane, are yet behaving in a crippled manner in life, failing, not succeeding. | |||
| :6. The antisocial personality habitually selects the wrong target. | |||
| :7. The antisocial personality cannot finish a cycle of action. | |||
| :8. Many antisocial persons will freely confess to the most alarming crimes when forced to do so, but will have no faintest sense of responsibility for them. | |||
| :9. The antisocial personality supports only destructive groups and rages against and attacks any constructive or betterment group. | |||
| :10. This type of personality approves only of destructive actions and fights against constructive or helpful actions or activities. | |||
| :11. Helping others is an activity which drives the antisocial personality nearly berserk. Activities, however, which destroy in the name of help are closely supported. | |||
| :12. The antisocial personality has a bad sense of property and conceives that the idea that anyone owns anything is a pretense, made up to fool people. Nothing is ever really owned.<ref>Hubbard, HCO Policy Letter of 27 September 1966 Issue II, ''The Antisocial Personality - The Anti-Scientologist'', p. 2-3.</ref> | |||
| ] are also common for SP and PTS situations. If reasonable attempts have been made to "handle" the situation to no avail, the parishioner may take the option of "]" from the SP. In ''Introduction to Scientology Ethics'', "disconnection" is defined as a self-determined decision made by an individual that he is not going to be connected to another. It is a severing of communication by one individual against the other. | |||
| Hubbard's definitions of "destructive groups" and "constructive or betterment groups" are, generally speaking, taken by Scientologists to refer to the relationships of such groups or individuals with the Church itself. A group critical of or otherwise seen as opposed to Scientology is automatically deemed "destructive" and the Church is likewise automatically deemed to be a "constructive or betterment groups". It is noteworthy that his criteria do not acknowledge the possibility of principled opposition to the Church, for instance on the grounds of disapproval of its policies. | |||
| The concept of the suppressive person in Scientology has been the source of some controversy, due in some part to aversion to the idea of "disconnecting" from close family members and friends. | |||
| ⚫ | == |
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| Another source of controversy related to the suppressive person policies is the administrative judgment that formally ''labels'' an individual a "suppressive person". This "suppressive person declaration" is known as an "SP declare". Declares are issued as an "ethics order" on ] paper with blue ink and are approved through the executive over the ethics department as well as the office of the ]" (IJC).{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=181}} | |||
| The Suppressive Person doctrine is connected to several of ]. One of these is "]," in which Scientologists are ordered to cease all communication with the declared "suppressive," even if they are immediate family members (See the Misplaced Pages article on ] for further details). | |||
| Non-Scientologists as well as Scientologists can be and have been labelled suppressive persons. A suppressive person is anyone who has been responsible for "suppressive acts", defined by Hubbard as being "the overt or covert actions or omissions knowingly and willfully undertaken to suppress, reduce, prevent or destroy case gains, and/or the influence of Scn on activities, and/or the continued Scn success and actions on the part of organizations actions and Scientologists."{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=509}} Similarly, entire groups can be declared suppressive; suppressive groups, in Hubbard's view, are "those which seek to destroy Scn or which specialize in injuring or killing persons or damaging their cases or which advocate suppression of mankind."{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=509}} Under this broader definition, suppressiveness included more than just publicly opposing Scientology; it also included any group supporting activities to which Hubbard was strongly opposed, especially ]. Specifically, Hubbard considered reporters and government agents to be members of suppressive groups: "There are no good reporters. There are no good government or SP group agents. The longer you try to be nice, the worse off you will be. And the sooner one learns this, the happier he will be."<ref>HCOPL 26 December 1966 "PTS Sections, Personnel and Execs", p. 3.</ref> | |||
| Another controversial policy related to those classified as Suppressive Persons is the "]" policy. This policy, instituted by Hubbard in 1965, stated that a person deemed "Fair Game" ''"may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."'' <ref>''''; A published copy of this can be found in ''Scientology: Basic Staff Hat Book, Number 1'', released 1968, page 26</ref> Under this policy, those declared SP were also officially designated as "fair game." | |||
| ⚫ | The Church of Scientology maintains a central list of ex-members and splinter groups formally declared to be suppressive. In an executive directive of 1992, the Church's "]" lists over 400 groups and over 2,300 individuals considered to be suppressive.<ref>Flag Executive Directive 2830RB of 25 July 1992, "Suppressive Persons and Suppressive Groups" list, exhibited in ''Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz'', No. CV 91-6426 HLH (Tx), April 4, 1994</ref> The list includes individual ex-Scientologists and breakaway groups regarded as hostile or heretical, such as ] (EST). | ||
| The Church claims to have stopped declaring people "Fair Game" in 1968.<ref>L. Ron Hubbard, ''''; see also ''Enquiry into the Practice and Effects of Scientology; Report by Sir John Foster, K.B.E., Q.C., M.P.; Published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, December 1971'', ("]"), , paragraphs 176-77.</ref> However, many critics of Scientology, including former high-ranking Scientologists<ref>{{cite news|first=Tony |last=Ortega |url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/issues/1999-12-23/extra_full.html |title=Double Crossed | work=] | publisher=] |date= 1999-12-23|accessdate=2006-06-05 }}</ref> have claimed that the "fair game" policy has continued until the present in substance, if not in name, especially since the exact wording of the order which supposedly cancelled "Fair Game" stated "FAIR GAME may not appear on any Ethics Order. It causes bad public relations. This Policy Letter ''does not cancel any policy'' on the treatment or handling of an SP ." (emphasis added)<ref>''Organization Executive Course -- An Encyclopedia of Scientology Policy'', vol. 1, p. 429, as cited in {{cite book | last = Atack | first = Jon | authorlink = Jon Atack | year = 1990 | title = A Piece of Blue Sky | publisher = Carol Publishing Group | location = New York, NY | id = ISBN 081840499X}} <!--p. 188--></ref> Adding to the skepticism is the fact that in 1989 and 1994 appeals for ''Wollersheim vs. Church of Scientology'', the Church's position was that "Fair Game" was still a "core practice of Scientology", and therefore protected as "religious expression". (See the Misplaced Pages article on ] for further details). | |||
| ⚫ | === Abuse of the label === | ||
| The formal administrative judgment that labels an individual a "Suppressive Person" is known as an "SP Declare," and is issued as a church "Ethics Order." Presently, an SP Declare needs to be approved by the "International Justice Chief" (IJC), who resides in the Church of Scientology International headquarters in ], ]. | |||
| ⚫ | In a lecture he made on 19 July 1966, L. Ron Hubbard expressed concern about the possible abuse of the "suppressive person" label in respect of those who are otherwise good citizens and contribute to civil society: | ||
| ⚫ | <blockquote>You should upgrade your idea of what an SP is. Man, meet one sometime! A real one! A real monster....Well, in all the time we've been around here we only had one SP that I know of. One real SP that was on staff.... And I don't know of another single SP that we've ever had on staff. Isn't that interesting. You see all these SP orders and so on...Don't throw it around carelessly, because this is an—a very exaggerated condition, SP.<ref>Hubbard, "About Rhodesia", lecture, 19 July 1966, Saint Hill Special Briefing Course tape transcripts, Lecture Set 421–434, pp. 223–224</ref></blockquote> | ||
| Non-Scientologists can be and often have been labelled as suppressive persons, subject to the full range of penalties set out in Hubbard's "Ethics" policies (including Fair Game, during the period when it was publicly applied). A suppressive person is one who has been responsible for "suppressive acts", defined by Hubbard as being "the overt or covert actions or omissions knowingly and willfully undertaken to suppress, reduce, prevent or destroy case gains, and/or the influence of Scn on activities, and/or the continued Scn success and actions on the part of organizations actions and Scientologists." <ref>Hubbard, in ''Modern Management Technology Defined'', p. 509</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | Some former Scientologists have alleged that there has indeed been such abuse. For example, ] describes seeing Scientology franchise holder Gary Smith declared suppressive on the spot during the October 1982 Mission Holders' Conference, simply for not obeying a shouted order to change his seat.<ref>{{cite book |last=Corydon |first=Bent |author-link=Bent Corydon |title=L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman? |author2=L. Ron Hubbard Jr. |author-link2=Ronald DeWolf |publisher=Lyle Stuart |year=1987 |isbn=0-8184-0444-2 |location=Secaucus, New Jersey}}, pp. 204–205. An online edition of the book is at .</ref><!--p. 204-5--> | ||
| Similarly, entire groups could be declared suppressive; suppressive groups, in Hubbard's view, were "those which seek to destroy Scn or which specialize in injuring or killing persons or damaging their cases or which advocate suppression of mankind." <ref>Hubbard, ''ibid''. </ref>. Under this broader definition, suppressiveness included more than just publicly opposing Scientology; it also included any group supporting activities to which Hubbard was strongly opposed, especially ]. In 1965, for instance, Hubbard declared the entire government and parliament of the ]n state of ] to be "suppressive persons and they and their families and connections may not be processed or trained and are fair game." <ref>Hubbard, "The Auditor", no. 31, p. 1. (December 1967)</ref>. | |||
| ⚫ | There are also instances where SP declarations have disrupted families and businesses.<ref name="unperson">{{cite news |first = Robert|last=Farley |url = http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml |title = The unperson |publisher = ] |date = 2006-06-24 |pages = 1A, 14A|access-date = 2006-06-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060704214646/http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/25/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml |archive-date=July 4, 2006}}</ref> | ||
| According to a 2006 article in the '']'' titled "SP profiles", one Scientologist found himself declared an SP after he repeatedly challenged the validity of a "patter drill" in which he was instructed to read passages of a course to a wall. He insisted the drill was not based on Hubbard teachings and stated that he had been previously threatened with an SP declaration after a run-in with a Scientology attorney on an unrelated issue.<ref>{{cite news |first = Robert|last=Farley |url = http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/25/Tampabay/Church_spokesman_says.shtml |title = Church spokesman says Times report is unfair |publisher = ] |date = 2006-06-25 |access-date = 2006-06-26}}</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | The Church of Scientology |
||
| == Views by religious scholars on disconnection == | |||
| {{Main|Disconnection (Scientology)}} | |||
| In the third lecture of the Flag Executive Briefing Course "The Org Officer/Product Officer System Part 1", given aboard the ] vessel Apollo on 18 January 1971, Hubbard explained this about certain SP's (in the lecture itself referred to as "insane person"): | |||
| Those who communicate with suppressive persons can face being branded SPs as well. Associates of the branded SP are ordered to disconnect from that person. Religious scholars have taken a negative view of Scientology's disconnection policies, which includes many who have previously testified on behalf of Scientology. For example, religious scholar ] stated, "I just think it would be better for all concerned if they just let them go ahead and get out and everyone goes their own way, and not make such a big deal of it. The policy hurts everybody."<ref name="unperson"/> | |||
| ⚫ | == See also == | ||
| :Like there are a bunch of guys monkeying around with this peace/war button, you know? And should we have a war or should we have peace? Well, they’ve moved in on the button again, and then they go off of it. Well of course, a war would just finish any human communication and cultural lines on which anything can travel. So therefore, we don’t really have all the time there is. We can’t really sit around on our hands and do nothing. Furthermore, the planet could be expected to resist any such movement, because the most resistance you get toward being cured by anyone is an insane person. An insane person will resist being cured harder than anybody ever heard of, because he knows everybody is Martians and they’re all out to get him. And he knows there’s no help, and so on. Of course, that’s what makes him insane. | |||
| * ] | |||
| ⚫ | == References == | ||
| :A certain number of these on the planet, in high positions, bring about the conditions known as war, and so on. Now recently we traced, by the way, how a person moves from the lower stratas of the society up to an executive position or a political position of magnitude. You can see the pattern of it can be seen in your own org. A person cannot hold the job of central files clerk, and he argues and argues, and finally moves himself over to some other portion of the org. There's very few people in that portion of the org, so he gets an I/C, in charge of something, then there isn't anybody else around, and he seems to be active, and he becomes a departmental head. He becomes a departmental head by accident, and he actually is pushing himself up. | |||
| {{Reflist|30em|refs= | |||
| <ref name="hubbard-admindict">{{cite book |title=Modern Management Technology Defined: Hubbard dictionary of administration and management |first=L. Ron |last=Hubbard |author-link=L. Ron Hubbard |publisher=] |isbn=0884040402 |ol=8192738M |year=1976}}</ref> | |||
| :Now he has, he doesn't have the motivation of helping others, he just has the motivation of protecting himself. And the higher he rises on the pyramid, the more he thinks he will be protected. That's part of his insanity. You get up to the top of the pyramid you spend ninety percent of your time ducking bullets. | |||
| }} | |||
| :But the facts of the case are that there is sort of a system by which a person who can't hold any post winds up with a very high post. | |||
| ⚫ | == External links == | ||
| ⚫ | === Abuse of the |
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| ⚫ | * | ||
| * | |||
| ⚫ | In a lecture he made on 19 July 1966, |
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| ⚫ | * | ||
| ⚫ | * | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | * {{cite news |first = Robert|last=Farley |url = http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/25/Tampabay/SP_profiles.shtml |title = SP profiles |work = ] |date = 2006-06-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060814053431/http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/25/Tampabay/SP_profiles.shtml |access-date = 2006-06-26|archive-date=August 14, 2006 }} | ||
| * {{Cite journal |last=Lord|first=Phil|title=Scientology's Legal System |year=2019 |volume=21 |issue=1 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.3232113 |ssrn=3232113|url=https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/articles/9z9034375 |journal=]}} | |||
| ⚫ | Some former Scientologists have alleged that there has indeed been such abuse. For example, ] describes seeing Scientology franchise holder Gary Smith declared |
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| ⚫ | There are also instances where SP |
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| ⚫ | ==References== | ||
| <references/> | |||
| ⚫ | ==See also== |
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| ⚫ | |||
| *] | |||
| ⚫ | ==External links== | ||
| ⚫ | * | ||
| ⚫ | * | ||
| ⚫ | * | ||
| ⚫ | *{{cite news | |
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| *{{cite news |author = Robert Farley |url = http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/25/Tampabay/Church_spokesman_says.shtml |title = Church spokesman says Times report is unfair |publisher = ] |date = ] |accessdate = 2006-06-26}} | |||
| {{Scientology}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 23:14, 20 September 2024
Antisocial personalities in Scientology
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Suppressive person, often abbreviated SP, is a term used in Scientology to describe the "antisocial personalities" who, according to Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard, make up about 2.5% of the population. A statement on a Church of Scientology website describes this group as including notorious historic figures such as Adolf Hitler.
The term is often applied to those whom the Church perceives as its enemies, such as those whose "disastrous" and "suppressive" acts are said to impede the progress of individual Scientologists or the Scientology movement.
One of the reasons Scientology doctrines portray suppressive persons as such a danger is that they are supposed to make people around them become potential trouble sources (abbreviated PTS). Scientology defines a PTS as "a person who is in some way connected to and being adversely affected by a suppressive person. Such a person is called a potential trouble source because he can be a lot of trouble to himself and to others." Hubbard suggested that the effects of suppressive persons is amplified to cause 20% of the population to be predisposed against Scientology.
Origins and definitions
As with most Scientology terminology, "suppressive person" was coined by L. Ron Hubbard. Ruth A. Tucker writes in her book Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions, and the New Age Movement that the concept appears to have first been introduced into Scientology in the 1960s "as membership grew and as authoritarian control increased". Tucker notes that many of those who joined Scientology during this period were "well-educated people who prided themselves in independent thinking struggled with the idea of allowing any other individual to completely dominate their opinions." Many of Hubbard's early writings on suppressive persons focus on their alleged responsibility for poor management within the Church of Scientology.
The church's official glossary defines a suppressive person as being:
a person who possesses a distinct set of characteristics and mental attitudes that cause him to suppress other people in his vicinity. This is the person whose behavior is calculated to be disastrous. Also called antisocial personality.
The church regards these "antisocial personalities" as being those "who possess characteristics and mental attitudes that cause them to violently oppose any betterment activity or group". This concern with "groups" continues in the official Scientology Handbook, which states the corollary: "The antisocial personality supports only destructive groups."
Policies and practices
According to the Hubbard textbook Introduction to Scientology Ethics ("the Ethics book"), when an individual is found to be under the influence of a suppressive person, it is believed that this will affect their general well-being. An individual with an SP in their vicinity is likely to be under stress or frequently upset, and this would potentially jeopardize the stability of any treatment or education. Therefore, a parishioner who is found to have such suppressive connections is not permitted to participate in certain Scientology classes and counseling until the situation has been adequately resolved.
The Ethics book provides a guideline for use in sorting out such a condition. A first step is always to educate the person about the phenomenon of the suppressive person and the effects this is believed to have on the individuals close to the SP. Once the education step is completed, the person can further follow the guidelines to sort out the situation so that the parishioner is no longer negatively affected.
Scientology Security checks are also common for SP and PTS situations. If reasonable attempts have been made to "handle" the situation to no avail, the parishioner may take the option of "disconnecting" from the SP. In Introduction to Scientology Ethics, "disconnection" is defined as a self-determined decision made by an individual that he is not going to be connected to another. It is a severing of communication by one individual against the other.
The concept of the suppressive person in Scientology has been the source of some controversy, due in some part to aversion to the idea of "disconnecting" from close family members and friends.
Another source of controversy related to the suppressive person policies is the administrative judgment that formally labels an individual a "suppressive person". This "suppressive person declaration" is known as an "SP declare". Declares are issued as an "ethics order" on goldenrod-colored paper with blue ink and are approved through the executive over the ethics department as well as the office of the International Justice Chief" (IJC).
Non-Scientologists as well as Scientologists can be and have been labelled suppressive persons. A suppressive person is anyone who has been responsible for "suppressive acts", defined by Hubbard as being "the overt or covert actions or omissions knowingly and willfully undertaken to suppress, reduce, prevent or destroy case gains, and/or the influence of Scn on activities, and/or the continued Scn success and actions on the part of organizations actions and Scientologists." Similarly, entire groups can be declared suppressive; suppressive groups, in Hubbard's view, are "those which seek to destroy Scn or which specialize in injuring or killing persons or damaging their cases or which advocate suppression of mankind." Under this broader definition, suppressiveness included more than just publicly opposing Scientology; it also included any group supporting activities to which Hubbard was strongly opposed, especially psychiatry. Specifically, Hubbard considered reporters and government agents to be members of suppressive groups: "There are no good reporters. There are no good government or SP group agents. The longer you try to be nice, the worse off you will be. And the sooner one learns this, the happier he will be."
The Church of Scientology maintains a central list of ex-members and splinter groups formally declared to be suppressive. In an executive directive of 1992, the Church's "International Justice Chief" lists over 400 groups and over 2,300 individuals considered to be suppressive. The list includes individual ex-Scientologists and breakaway groups regarded as hostile or heretical, such as Erhard Seminars Training (EST).
Abuse of the label
In a lecture he made on 19 July 1966, L. Ron Hubbard expressed concern about the possible abuse of the "suppressive person" label in respect of those who are otherwise good citizens and contribute to civil society:
You should upgrade your idea of what an SP is. Man, meet one sometime! A real one! A real monster....Well, in all the time we've been around here we only had one SP that I know of. One real SP that was on staff.... And I don't know of another single SP that we've ever had on staff. Isn't that interesting. You see all these SP orders and so on...Don't throw it around carelessly, because this is an—a very exaggerated condition, SP.
Some former Scientologists have alleged that there has indeed been such abuse. For example, Bent Corydon describes seeing Scientology franchise holder Gary Smith declared suppressive on the spot during the October 1982 Mission Holders' Conference, simply for not obeying a shouted order to change his seat. There are also instances where SP declarations have disrupted families and businesses.
According to a 2006 article in the St. Petersburg Times titled "SP profiles", one Scientologist found himself declared an SP after he repeatedly challenged the validity of a "patter drill" in which he was instructed to read passages of a course to a wall. He insisted the drill was not based on Hubbard teachings and stated that he had been previously threatened with an SP declaration after a run-in with a Scientology attorney on an unrelated issue.
Views by religious scholars on disconnection
Main article: Disconnection (Scientology)Those who communicate with suppressive persons can face being branded SPs as well. Associates of the branded SP are ordered to disconnect from that person. Religious scholars have taken a negative view of Scientology's disconnection policies, which includes many who have previously testified on behalf of Scientology. For example, religious scholar J. Gordon Melton stated, "I just think it would be better for all concerned if they just let them go ahead and get out and everyone goes their own way, and not make such a big deal of it. The policy hurts everybody."
See also
References
- Reitman, Janet (February 23, 2006). "Inside Scientology". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009.
- Paulick, James "Scientology Wins Court Battle in Germany",Deutsche Welle, 28 April 2008 – According to Hubbard, "a Suppressive Person or Group is one that actively seeks to suppress or damage Scientology or a Scientologist by Suppressive Acts….A Suppressive Person or Group becomes 'fair game.'" – http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1567596,00.html Retrieved 7 October 2008
- "Glossary of Terms". Scientology. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
- Sommer, Mark "Breaking In, Breaking Out", Buffalo News, 31 January 2005 – "A PTS is someone from among the 20 percent of the population that Hubbard declared was predisposed against Scientology."
- Tucker, Ruth A. (2004). Another Gospel: Cults, Alternative Religions, and the New Age Movement. Zondervan. p. 313.
- Hubbard, L. Ron (August 7, 1965). "HCO Policy Letter". Suppressive Persons, Main Characteristics Of.
- Urban, Hugh B. "Fair Game: Secrecy, Security, and the Church of Scientology in Cold War America." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 74.2 (2006): 356-389.
- "Scientology Glossary". Church of Scientology International. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
- Scientology Ethics and Judicial Matters: The Antisocial Personality Archived 2006-06-16 at the Wayback Machine. Website accessed 2006-06-04.
- CSI. "The Antisocial Personality". How Can Scientology Help Me With...?. Retrieved June 11, 2006.
- ^ Hubbard, L. Ron (1976). Modern Management Technology Defined: Hubbard dictionary of administration and management. Church of Scientology. ISBN 0884040402. OL 8192738M.
- HCOPL 26 December 1966 "PTS Sections, Personnel and Execs", p. 3.
- Flag Executive Directive 2830RB of 25 July 1992, "Suppressive Persons and Suppressive Groups" list, exhibited in Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz, No. CV 91-6426 HLH (Tx), April 4, 1994
- Hubbard, "About Rhodesia", lecture, 19 July 1966, Saint Hill Special Briefing Course tape transcripts, Lecture Set 421–434, pp. 223–224
- Corydon, Bent; L. Ron Hubbard Jr. (1987). L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?. Secaucus, New Jersey: Lyle Stuart. ISBN 0-8184-0444-2., pp. 204–205. An online edition of the book is at .
- ^ Farley, Robert (June 24, 2006). "The unperson". St. Petersburg Times. pp. 1A, 14A. Archived from the original on July 4, 2006. Retrieved June 25, 2006.
- Farley, Robert (June 25, 2006). "Church spokesman says Times report is unfair". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved June 26, 2006.
External links
- Suppressive Person Defense League
- ConventionalScientology.org: Two Types of People
- Caroline Letkeman Suppressive Person Declare
- Information about Ethics Orders, Declares and Suppressive Persons
- Farley, Robert (June 25, 2006). "SP profiles". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on August 14, 2006. Retrieved June 26, 2006.
- Lord, Phil (2019). "Scientology's Legal System". Marburg Journal of Religion. 21 (1). doi:10.2139/ssrn.3232113. SSRN 3232113.