Scientology believes that the ends justify the means. Scientology is run by statistics. Each member has a measure placed on his or her work, which is compared against the statistics from the previous week. L. Ron Hubbard's policy states that a member who has higher statistics should be rewarded, and lower statistics be punished. Even if a member who is "upstat" achieves his or her success by committing unethical acts, policy states that they are not to be punished.

A training procedure for Scientologists who deal with people outside Scientology is called "TR-L", which stands for "Training Routine - Lie". Deception, lying and telling "acceptable truths" are all part of dealing with the public, the press, and concerned family members. The "Fair Game" policy says that enemies of Scientology may be lied to and tricked.

Scientologists do not lie on their own initiative. It is Scientology policy to lie in order to further the goals of the group.