Scientology front groups

The Church of Scientology uses front groups to promote its interests in politics and to make itself appear legitimate. Many of the groups are founded on pseudoscience, named disingenuously, and underplay their links to Scientology.

History

Following discovery of the Church's Operation Snow White, the FBI's July 7, 1977 raids on the Church's offices produced, among other documents, an undated memo entitled "PR General Categories of Data Needing Coding". This memo listed what it called "Secret PR Front Groups" which included the group Alliance for the Preservation of Religious Liberty (APRL), later renamed Americans Preserving Religious Liberty.[1]

In 1991, Time investigative reporting identified several other fronts for Scientology, including the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), The Way to Happiness Foundation, Applied Scholastics, the Concerned Businessmen's Association of America and HealthMed.[2] The article The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power resulted in years of litigation.

The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an organization that provided information on cults, as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers. The organisation was founded in 1978 and was eventually overpowered by the Church of Scientology in a series of lawsuits.[3][4][5] In its place, the Church of Scientology created the organisation called the New Cult Awareness Network.

In 1998, the Boston Herald identified Narconon and the World Literacy Crusade as front groups for Scientology.[6] Other Scientology groups include Downtown Medical, Criminon and the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE).

Other organisations with links to the Church of Scientology include EarthLink and Striker Systems.

Known Scientology front groups

Scientology front groups
Group	Founded
Akademie für Management und Kommunikation
ALERT International Inc.	1986
Applied Scholastics	1972
Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE)	1988
Author Services, Inc.
Bigotwatch
Bridge Publications	1981
Citizens for an Alternative Tax System	1990
Citizens Commission on Human Rights	1969
Computer Ethics Institute (CEI)
Concerned Businessmen's Association of America (CBAA)	1983
Criminon	2000
Downtown Medical
Education Alive
Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education (FASE)	1981
International Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance	1997
HealthMed
Hollander Consultants	1983
Hubbard College of Administration
International Academy of Detoxification Specialists	2001
International Executive Technology Inc.
Irons Marcus & Valko Services
Lead the way to a Drug Free USA
Mace-Kingsley Ranch School	1987
Mojave Academy
Narcodex	2006
Narconon	1966
National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA)
New Cult Awareness Network	1996
New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project	2003
Pur Detox and Recovery
Religious Freedom Watch
Second Chance Program	1995
Set A Good Example (SAGE)
Sterling Management
Stop Torture of Mental Patients (STOMP)
The International Hubbard Ecclesiastical League of Pastors (IHELP)
The Way to Happiness Foundation	1984
U-Man Belgium
World Literacy Crusade	1992

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gollark: Hmm, via HIGHLY accursed regexes I could make it detect anyone saying anything is better than something else.

gollark: This is in fact incorrect.

gollark: I guess I *could* make all the negations be dynamically loaded from the database, or move them to config and add a config reloader.

gollark: Done. However, it cannot currently be swapped out at runtime.

References

Kent, Stephen A.; Krebs, Theresa (1988). "When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters". Skeptic. 6 (3): 36–44. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
Behar, Richard (1991-05-06). "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power". Time. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
Knapp, Dan (1996-12-19). "Group that once criticized Scientologists now owned by one". CNN. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
Kent, Stephen A. (January 2001). "The French and German versus American Debate over 'New Religions', Scientology, and Human Rights". Marburg Journal of Religion. 6 (1). Retrieved 2007-05-07.
Russell, Ron (1999-09-09). "Scientology's Revenge - For years, the Cult Awareness Network was the Church of Scientology's biggest enemy. But the late L. Ron Hubbard's L.A.-based religion cured that -- by taking it over". New Times LA. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
Mallia, Joseph (1998-03-03). "INSIDE THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY; Scientology reaches into schools through Narconon". Boston Herald.

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[Kent-1] Kent, Stephen A.; Krebs, Theresa (1988). "When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters". Skeptic. 6 (3): 36–44. Retrieved 2006-06-06.

[2] Behar, Richard (1991-05-06). "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power". Time. Retrieved 2010-05-03.

[3] Knapp, Dan (1996-12-19). "Group that once criticized Scientologists now owned by one". CNN. Retrieved 2007-05-07.

[4] Kent, Stephen A. (January 2001). "The French and German versus American Debate over 'New Religions', Scientology, and Human Rights". Marburg Journal of Religion. 6 (1). Retrieved 2007-05-07.

[5] Russell, Ron (1999-09-09). "Scientology's Revenge - For years, the Cult Awareness Network was the Church of Scientology's biggest enemy. But the late L. Ron Hubbard's L.A.-based religion cured that -- by taking it over". New Times LA. Retrieved 2011-10-21.

[6] Mallia, Joseph (1998-03-03). "INSIDE THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY; Scientology reaches into schools through Narconon". Boston Herald.