[Ir-l] HELP! Please lobby against the criminal cult of Scientology getting new poowers against critics

[Dave Bird]

 HELP! Please lobby against the criminal cult of Scientology 
  getting new powers against critics!


 
 PROBLEM: THE SCIENTOLOGY CULT HAS THREATENED, IN THE GUARDIAN, TO USE
 AN 'INCITEMENT TO RELIGIOUS HATRED' CLAUSE TO SHUT DOWN CRITICISM.

 WHAT WE WANT: CONFINE THE PROTECTION TO 'SINCERE & ETHICAL' RELIGION.
 VIA WHIM:  MEDIA, 'THE TIMES' ESPECIALLY; MEMBERS OF THE LORDS. 

 =======================================================================
 
 WHAT TO DO:  Please write to your press and political contacts,
 e.g. asking for your signature to be added to this letter in the Times.

 =======================================================================



 TO: 
  Lord Avebury..........................................................
  Baroness Blatch ......................................................
  Lord McIntosh.........................................................
  Baroness Sharples ....................................................

 "The House of Lords, London, SW1,  England" is their political address.

 CC:
  Lord Tordoff .........................................................
  J....H................................................................
  Keith HENSON<hkhenson at cogeco.ca>......................................
  (Bishop of Birmimgham's office).......................................
  Letters at TheTimes.CO.UK +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 RE: Your concerns re whether Scientology is a Religion,
  Lords Hansard vol 576 for 1996/dec/10th,  and its relevance 
  to 'Incitement to Religious Hatred' in the Anti-Terrorism Bill:
  this is an open letter to the LibDem whips and any interested peers.  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Your Lordships, 

 Scientology representative Graeme Wilson has said in the Guardian
 that he will use any new Incitement to Religious hatred clause
 for prosecuting human rights activists who lay into his organisation's
 awful record of deaths and frauds.  

 Activists will be demonstrating against Scientology this Saturday
 in half a dozen cities worldwide -- in a way Mr Wilson seeks to 
 have made illegal --- to commemorate the death of Lisa MacPherson
 who died at the Scientology headquarters building in Florida,
 on 5th Dec 1995: she was held for 17 days without adequate food
 and water until she died of consequent dehydration.  The Scientologists
 have pretty much succeeded in closing down both the criminal and
 civil cases, and the former Medical Examiner the pressured to
 change her testimony now lives in hiding in another state.

 We do not want that in Britain.  Mr Wilson's soi-disant Church
 does not deserve protections afforded to the decent and ethical 
 practices of a religious belief.  I therefore propose a clause such
 as the following modify any 'Incitement to Religious Hatred' offence.  

  (Number). The offence of Incitement to Religious Hatred shall
  protect only the decent and ethical practice of religious faith
  defined as follows.   A group is religious either if it has a 
  belief in an immaterial spirit world or has long been accepted
  as spiritual, and bases its understanding of the world and code
  of behaviour on that belief, and which [presumably, unless
  the defendant can prove more-likely-than-not otherwise] is:
   (a) a sincerely held belief, where there are not statements by
   the founder or current leaders that religious nature is 
   being pretended for some ulterior motive, nor does it have 
   far less paid or voluntary staff delivering religious instruction
   than carrying out administration or finance; and
   (b) one which respects the rights if outsiders by respecting 
   the secular government's right to govern secular matters and have
   basic protections against thefts or assaults, moreover one where the
   founder or current leaders have openly & regularly called on members
   to commit or conceal  basic crimes against property or persons; and 
   (c) one which respects the human rights of its parishioners to, for
   example, privacy and data protection in confessional material, and
   does not keep it after they leave or use it for improper pressure.   
  Further, the remarks are objected to are  [presumably, unless
  the defendant can show more-likely-than-not otherwise]
  simply designed to rouse unreasoning hatred against the group
  concerned, and not a legitimate complaint of harassment 
  or fraud which has occurred against the defendant or is facilely
  likely to happen to persons who get involved with the group.

 I hope your Lordships will see fit to pursue such an amendment,
 and protect us from a group such as Scientology, which is 10%
 organised religion and 90% organised crime, from exploiting 
 such a law against honest and needed protest.

 Yours Sincerely,

 Dave Bird <Dave at Xemu.demon.co.uk>


             "Graeme Wilson, director of public affairs for the UK
 Church of  Scientology, says:  [Guardian, 6th November 2001: ]
             "'Many people are walking around asleep: Scientology wakes
 them up and  puts them in control of their lives. It is a very
 practical religion and I believe it is better for students to get into
 religion - any religion -  than drugs and excessive alcohol.  There is 
 a lot of inaccurate propaganda about Scientology, and 
 ######################################################################
 some people make a living from stirring up fear and inciting religious 
 hatred - fortunately this will soon become a criminal  offence.'"
 ######################################################################

 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::PUBLICATION:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 I have submitted this to LETTERS at THETIMES.CO.UK with EMBARGO 00:01 FRI,
 though of course I have no idea whether they will use it or not.
 Anyone wishing to add their signature to it should send a copy with 
 their TelNo and digital signature, or a paper copy with their 
 physical signature, to the Letters desk at The Times.
 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

-- 
' ' ' .:::. ' :: ' ' 'what do Scientologists say  when ' http://www.
'    (o\ /o) .::.  '  you ask why their money-grubbing ' xemu.demon.
'     \ " /  XEMU  '  killed  a woman  by  starvation? ' co.uk     '
'      '-'   ::::  ' - - - -http://www.lisatrust.net - ' ' ' ' ' ' '
'      :v:   \'''| '        BIGOT    BIGOT     BIGOT               '
'   ;;\:::/;;\/ /  '     OO  /       /         \               ?   '
'   ;;;;;;;;;BEER  '    (~~)      .00           @@-._           \  '
'   WithAKick\/    '   (    )    (  =)         (O    )     ( ") (" )
' 'LikeAnHBomb ' ' ' '  ^^^^ ' ' ^^ ^^ ' ' ' '  ^^ ^^  ' '  "" ' ""
   see the famous frogs at http://members.home.net/bwarr1/Movie2.html