From: cultxpt@primenet.com (Jeff Jacobsen) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Kim's declaration; a few errors Date: 6 Nov 1995 07:13:49 GMT Unless Kim is doing some sort of quadruple agent super spy kinda thing, I simply cannot comprehend why she signed the declaration she recently gave the Church of Scientology. I got this declaration from a Scientologist at the CAN conference. It was included in their Dead Agenting packet of the Cult Awareness Network. So apparently the church seems to think there is gold in this document. Since I'm a slow typer, I won't be giving you the whole declaration here, but I picked out some points Kim made which seem to me to be obvious distortions of the truth as we know it on a.r.s.; 1) she says she resigned from FACTNet because it was heading "toward inflaming hatred, which could lead to violence against the Church of Scientology." Please someone, which posts from FACTNet were "inflaming hatred"??? And who on earth was promoting violence except (as Kim's ONLY proof to this allegation) for the henry post that is in dispute at this time? Don't you recall when there was a spat of newbies preaching stupid things like physical harm and such? And don't we all remember that these folks were roundly flamed and then they disappeared? I remember discussing Ghandi's ideas for non-violent actions, and I remember flaming the hot-heads that popped in once in a while. Kim is rewriting the history of a.r.s. here. 2) Kim says that many of us a.r.s. regulars "spend a lot of their time disseminating falsehoods about Scientology" and that "nearly all the information posted about the Church on this newsgroup by those people is stale, outdated and distorted." Man, is there a parallel universe where there is an a.r.s. where the regulars post like that? There are so many people who post on a.r.s. now it's impossible for me to keep up. I read those people who actually have something to say and ignore the bozos and clueless. But I don't recognize anyone doing what Kim is claiming. We talk about the GO here and mention that those who were "kicked out" of the church are actually still in. Is this stale? Irrelevant? And I suppose I'm included in those who are spreading "falsehoods"? Like what? Hubbard's grades (a D average)? I can't believe someone who has read a.r.s. for the past year could write the above. 3) "I have since come to realize that FACTNet's only real purpose is to destroy Scientology." Well, I beg to differ. I have helped out on FACTNet some. What I did was gather information about Jehovah's Witnesses, Rama, UPC and some other cults and place that information in the proper area on the FACTNet bbs. I was working on getting info. on other cults too, but then I trailed off on the project as I was doing other things. FACTNet's bbs had an area for pro-Scientologists to post articles and documents, and there were files in that area, I believe from Mark Pope. So, according to Kim's theory, I was just a dupe helping FACTNet disguise it's real intent. Uh huh. I'll leave that up to you to decide. 4) "I resigned my position as a FACTNet board member on October 10, 1995 after realizing that the hatred being spread on the Internet was progressing to the level of physical violence..." what? what? what? We're back to the parallel universe again. Wasn't it Merchant of Chaos who was assaulted at a picket, and Ron Newman who was physically forced to turn over his picket flyers? What has a wog done to the church??? Was I asleep? Kim mentions the phone call to Nothling by someone claiming they were going to blow up a CoS church in South Africa. Of course this is reprehensible, and I'm sure all of us on a.r.s. would deplore even such a suggestion. Yet Kim believes, apparently, that we somehow support such ideas. Where does she get this notion from??? 5) Kim says that Wollersheim wanted FACTNet supporters to "do postings falsely promoting the line that Scientology is anti-Christian or is linked to black magic." Sorry, Kim, but those connections exist. I think this has been recently discussed with the appropriate Hubbard quotes (excluding the questionable OTVIII), but if need be I can certainly dig them up. Did Kim write the above? When did Kim do the research to show that there was no connection between Hubbard and the occult? why did she miss tape 18 of the PDC series in which Hubbard calls Aleister Crowley "my very good friend"? Didn't she read the PABs bulletin in which LRH calls Christianity "an implant"? IMHO Kim is easily persuaded. She admits she joined FACTNet before researching FACTNet's background and goals. I believe she quit the church because she was persuaded by a.r.s. postings of the bad side of the church. I believe she joined FACTNet because she was persuaded by Bob or somebody that that was a good cause. I believe that she signed this declaration because she was persuaded that us critics are inciting violence against CoS. I believe that if one of us called Kim and explained things to her clearly from our side that she would then switch again. For my own taste, I prefer hanging out with people who are more solid in their beliefs, or alternatively, simply state that they are still gathering information and forming their opinions. Flip-flopping is harmful to one's reputation and dangerous to that person's friends. The stakes are high on a.r.s. and choosing one's friends here cannot be taken lightly. Being a friend should not be taken lightly either. Kim may be a wonderful person. She no doubt has the best intentions on earth for her actions. But one person's actions even though well intended can still hurt others. The Church of Scientology seems to believe strongly that Kim's actions will hurt our side. I hope they are wrong.