From: harringtonj-smtc@nova.novanet.org (harringtonj-smtc) Subject: Re: 8 million members still??? Date: Thu, 23 Mar 1995 06:35:00 +0000 8 MILLION members indeed! More OSA falsehoods. According to FACTNET records, a 1987 internal Church document indicated less than 50,000 members. I have personal knowledge that in 1990 the Central Files at the Flag Service Org (FSO) contained about 40,000 names. Per Church policy, the names of any person who purchases services at a lower org are forwarded to the FSO, for inclusion in their central files. Many of these names were duplicates, the same people with previous or incorrect addresses. Many had not purchased services for over ten years, some were deceased. In 1991, the total annual worldwide income of the Church of Scientology International was reported to be approximately 300 million dollars. Based on simple mathematics, I believe 40,000 ACTUAL members is a more realistic estimate. Assuming there were 8 million members: 300 million dollars annually/8 million members = $37.50 expended by each member. $37.50 a year, per member, would not even cover the cost of printing and postage for the numerous bulk mailings that the Orgs send out. Assuming there are ACTUALLY 40,000 members: 300 million dollars annually/40,000 members = $7500.00 expended by each member. At an average price of $300 an hour for auditing, each member could afford 25 hours of auditing a year. All the indications are that the membership is falling, not rising. Scientology Inc. is a California phenomena, and the majority of members and organizations are located in Los Angeles County. The income brackets in Southern California, and the Hollywood celebrities, make that area a lucrative market for Scientology services. Most, if not all, of the Church members and OSA agents posting on ARS are located in LA county. There are NO organizations in Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire. There are very few in the Southern USA. There are NO organizations in the Canadian Maritime provinces. Recent court decisions in Germany point to the likelihood that all Scientology "Churches" will have to register as commerical enterprises and will not be recognized as operating for religious or charitable purposes. Scientology in France is reportedly in receivership for tax purposes. Spain does not recognize Scientology as being organized for religious and charitable purposes and 22 org staff and OSA members are facing criminal prosecution later this year. The "Growth" of NEW organizations is mere paper shuffling. Most if not all of the "Social Action" and "Community Service" corporations are empty shells, "front" groups with the "Central Office" located at some empty desk in a large building in Los Angeles. After 40 years in existence, the fall 1994 issue of the "Auditor" newsletter listed a total of 49,150 "Clears" worldwide. However, with just the interest from all the laundered money that LRH squirreled away in foreign bank accounts in the 70's, Scientology Inc. can continue this charade for a long time, and Miscavige and his cronies can enjoy quite lucrative, and perfectly legal, salaries and perks. Deception under the cloak of religion is apparently acceptable in this country. Joe ======== Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Just 100,000 scientologists From: an274865@anon.penet.fi (Andrew McPherson) Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 17:42:22 UTC In a 1991 publication for staff members the IAS writes: "Therefor we set the 1991 goals as follows: "* Build the membership to 100,000 active members. "* Establish Membership Committees in each major area with the purpose of launching and completing major projects set out in HCO Bulletin 25 June 1969 Special Zone Plan. "* Hold ceremonies to sign the Pledge to Mankind in every major city to acknowledge the great strides forward that have been made since the Association was formed. "* Change the order of magnitude on the Free Membership Program by getting all new Scientologists signed up as Free Members as soon as they purchase their frst book or service and increasing this membership to 200,000 members. "* Double the size of the "War Chest" so that the future of Scientology can be guaranteed without question. "* Eradicate Interpol. Now this finally confirms it and should end the scieno rumour of 8 million plus members. Woody, stop counting BTs as full members, will you please?! Further, and this should be understood: While the scienos constantly quote a so-called public price and IAS member price for their services they will NOT permit anyone onto a major service without that person being an IAS member. Membership in the IAS is mandatory! No member = no service. If your membership has run out and you have not taken any services recently, then lack of membership (if your are a yearly member) becomes an ethics matter. If your are a lifetime meber then you constantly get pushed to achieve the next membership level. Once you are a lemon (or was it patron?) they push you for patron notorious (sorry, should read: meritorious). So maybe the rumours are true that some very wealthy people shoved millions of dollars into the organization to keep it afloat. A friend once told me that while at Flag (Clearwater, Florida) he met a wife/the wife of Adnan Kashoggi. That would be a good money source indeed. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been targetted as the next country to be taken over. They take it real easy there. Just introducing their "management" tech into university through WISE. [snipped Interpol comment] Andrew BTW: "Old" Saint Hill had, if I recall correctly, roughly 250 staff members. And the place was crowded (wasn't real big then - the castle had not been built yet). At its peak probably around 250 to 300 students there. A good chunk of the money was generated by FSMs bringing in their friends (my guess around 30% to 40%). Sort of a different atmosphere, more adults than young people. ElRon was quite visible, as was at times his temper. Memory is fading ...... guess I audited all my "pictures" away. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help@anon.penet.fi. If you reply to this message, your message WILL be *automatically* anonymized and you are allocated an anon id. Read the help file to prevent this. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin@anon.penet.fi. From: cultxpt@primenet.com (Jeff Jacobsen) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: 4.5 million Scientologists in '83 Date: 13 May 1995 18:27:41 GMT I have a letter of resignation from the Church of Scientology from the Center for Personal Achievement, a church that split off from the CofS. In it is a list of 618 people declared Suppressive Persons by Scientology. Interestingly, it says Scientology's lawsuit against the Church of Scio-logos in Omaha (another split-off) includes the charge that one of the Omaha people "used the words 'suppressive person' in reference to a top church official. The top church official is calling this derrogatory and slanderous." The CPA people did a survey in the US to try to determine how many Scientologists there actually were (they were trying to determine how close the 618 declared number was to 2 1/2 percent of the church). They concluded that there were 6582 active Scientologists, at the same time the church was claiming 4.5 million members in the US. Now this 4.5 million in the US is interesting. I see in What Is Scientology that 50% of the staff in CofS is in the US. So, if we then say that 50% of SCientologists are in the US (I don't see any reason to doubt this), then the church in 1983 was claiming 9 million worldwide. >From 1991 through today the church has claimed 8 million members worldwide. So, by the estimate above the church has lost 1 million members since 1983. Of course, I believe there are probably 70-100,000 Scientologists worldwide. -- "You only create hate. You are seeking to destroy freedom of religion. Woody" ------------ cultxpt@primenet.com Jeff Jacobsen PO Box 3541 Scottsdale AZ 85271 For Info on Scientology anonymous ftp.primenet.com /users/c/cultxpt OR http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/rnewman/scientology/home.html OR http://www.sky.net/~sloth/sci/sci_index.html