Southpinellas: Church of Scientology responds to protest plans

This weekend we do anticipate that some members of this group "Anonymous" will turn up, as they have announced.

We take this seriously because of the nature of the threats this group has made publicly. We will take every step necessary to protect our parishioners and staff as well as members of the community, in coordination with the local authorities.

As to our knowledge of the organizers of the event, they are cyberterrorists who hide their identities behind masks and computer anonymity.

Long before selecting Scientology as its latest target, "Anonymous" hackers crashed the Fox Web site and issued a perverse manifesto in a July 2007 video message on the Internet:

We are the face of chaos... We ruin the lives of other people simply because we can ... Hundreds die in a plane crash. We laugh. The nation mourns over school shooting, we laugh. We're the embodiment of humanity with no remorse, no caring, no love, or no sense of morality.

"Anonymous" is perpetrating religious hate crimes against churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry. "Anonymous" initially justified its attacks by claiming that the church's requests to some Web sites to remove a stolen video of an internal church event somehow constituted an affront to free speech. In fact, the church, as would any copyright owner, had simply sent notices that the video constituted a copyright violation. Similar notices are sent daily by the television and recording industries, as well as the media to those who display pirated, copyrighted works.

"Anonymous" alleged "free speech" justification is belied by the fact that the video in question has been seen by millions. It is "Anonymous" that has repeatedly attempted to suppress free speech through illegal assaults on church Web sites so as to prevent Internet users from obtaining information from the church. They have also engaged in other harassment, including threats of violence in telephone calls, fax transmissions and e-mails, not to mention the Anonymous mailing of white powder to dozens of our churches, requiring the services of law enforcement.

"Anonymous" claims of altruistic purposes are no different than those heard from any terrorist or hate group. We are not the first to be targeted. Using Scientology's prominence, "Anonymous" hopes to garner more attention. "Anonymous" has publicly proclaimed its guiding materials to be the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf. Quite obviously, this group is not just anti-Scientology, it is anti-freedom of religion, anti-free speech and anti-American.

Religious bigotry of any nature is deplorable and profoundly affects the entire community. The hate crimes of "Anonymous" should be condemned.

Anyone desiring information about the church of Scientology or the context of the pirated video should visit the church Web site at www.scientology.org to form their own opinions.

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Comments on this article

by Kevin	03/13/08 02:19 AM
Anonymous? Sounds like they need a name. How about the KKA? Instead of the Klan, it's Anonymous.

by Anonymous	03/11/08 03:29 PM
Your report clearly favors Scientology; you know nothing of Anonymous. You fail in ways the English language cannot even describe.

by YamNoOnus	03/09/08 04:38 PM
Mom, Anonymous really is anyone who chooses to be unknown, I guess you can say its not a popularity contest and we have no care for fame. Because we are Anonymous, it will have its share of racist people, cruel people, etc. We are not an Organization

by balifor	03/08/08 06:42 AM
i can only suggest that you do a little yourself before jumping to any conclusions, consider the time magazines article, or the bbc panorama documentary for mainstream media, or enturbulation.org for ex members of scientology or whyaretheydead.net

by balifor	03/08/08 06:41 AM
the point being that anonymous has found something it cares deeply about. The church of scientology tried to censor the internet, the internet is the last bastion of free speech, and as such anonymous researched their enemy and found alot of dirt

by Fan of Anon	03/07/08 09:30 PM
They are a little of everything "mom". What's funny is that offline I bet the most of them are normal people, but when they are Anonymous they can be everything the wish they could be if they didn't have to worry what people would think of them.

by Mom	03/06/08 10:59 PM
Wow. That's pretty shocking. "We're the embodiment of humanity with no remorse, no caring, no love, or no sense of morality." ... Those guys sound really out of control. I feel sorry for their mothers!!!

by Anonymous	03/05/08 06:07 PM
Scientology is a cult, lol. Biased report is biased.

by Anonymous	03/05/08 12:41 PM
I'm sorry, but your article is clearly biased. Even non-journalists can see it. And that's terrible.

by Anonymous	03/05/08 12:38 PM
I sense biased reporting.

by Richard.	03/05/08 11:09 AM
cult.

by P.D.	03/04/08 09:55 PM
Scientology, of course, is a religion, and this is backed by about 30 studies of experts from universities who by the way were not afraid to put their name and title on it.

by Paul	03/04/08 09:42 PM
The point is that no-one cares what anonymous people say or think - not only anonymous Anonymous but any anonymous. Itò019s a matter of time till you get to jail Anonymous.

by Josh	03/04/08 09:38 PM
Some anonymous people with god knows what education, background and record want to say that... well, anything they say means nothing - not only about Scientology but about anything and anyone. They'd have to come and say "Hi, I am John Smith and ...

by Paul	03/04/08 09:36 PM
Anonymous are worse than all their accusations. They know nothing about Scientology except what comes from an anonymous hater which most of them donò019t know personally and they believe it like a cult of brainwashed sheep. It doesn't need a comment.

by Anonymous	03/03/08 02:49 PM
Anonymous doesn't fight against the religion - people are free to believe in Scientology all they want. What Anonymous wants to expose os the corrupt nature of the RTC and the Organisation behind the Church of Scientology. It's a tax exempt business!

by M.F.	02/28/08 11:38 AM
Anonymous would like to ask the secretive groups within the body of the Church of Scientology (CoS)'s followers to cease polemics against Anonymous and to focus on changing its own methods and mode of action.

by Anonymous	02/27/08 11:19 PM
While you are at it, visit www.xenu.com. Also, reporters shouldn't bring their personal bias into a 'subjective' news report. Ever wonder what the phrase 'responsible reporting' means? Also, obvious troll is obvious.

by Mudkipz	02/25/08 04:55 PM
Biased report is biased.

by Cecil	02/23/08 01:43 PM
If Scientology was a real religion they'd tell you the Xenu story up front instead of charging you thousands of for it.

by D. Miscarriage	02/20/08 02:44 PM
Unbiased reporting should be enforced, this is a negligent report, the scientology website does not include information about the cult and only includes biased information and opinions. Just like this report.

by Anon	02/19/08 07:12 PM
You accuse Anonymous of religious bigotry, yet we have nothing against Scientologists practicing outside of the "Church." It's not the religion we're against. We're against a "Church" (read, scam) whose practices deny its members basic human rights

by Richard C. Mongler	02/17/08 03:29 AM
i think times staff is a pretty cool guy, eh writes propaganda and doesn't afraid of anything.

by Victor	02/16/08 09:52 PM
This is just rubbish. As everyone knows, Anonymous is trying to expose the lies, fraud and harassement. This has to stop.

by Lulloercoaster	02/14/08 09:06 AM
Anonymous doesn't fight against the religion - people are free to believe in Scientology all they want. What Anonymous wants to expose os the corrupt nature of the RTC and the Organisation behind the Church of Scientology. It's a tax exempt business!

by Greenmasked Anon	02/12/08 05:01 PM
www.whyaretheydead.net Anon fights not scientology, but the clandestine administration that runs it. We do not care if you believe in Scientology, but no more people should die for the mad ideals of a pyramid scheme designed to confuse and steal.

by Anontymoussa	02/11/08 09:51 PM
lies

by Rick	02/11/08 02:34 PM
Scientology is a cult, just research what they belive in and compair it to what anonymous is protesting. You will see that anonymous is on the higher moral platform. Xenu, space aliens, DC-9's, thetens. Theres nothing scientific about Scientology.

by Davin	02/11/08 02:19 PM
You feed us, by speaking about us like this and trying to Muddy our public image. It is ruined and we like it that way. The true evil here is that of your church that has taken lives and harasses people far beyond our scope. We should take notes.

by Anonymous	02/11/08 01:44 PM
First please list where you got the FALSE info that our guiding materials are communist manifesto. Second,Anonymous does not condem scientology but the CHURCH/CULT of Scientology. They have gained unlawful tax exemption status.

by Anon	02/11/08 10:41 AM
Post links, i.e. facts, to support your web of lies.

by Anonymous	02/11/08 10:13 AM
I am Anonymous, and I hereby publicly proclaim my guiding materials to be this little book of Subway vouchers and a stuffed penguin.

by An Anon	02/11/08 06:04 AM
They do not understand yet.

by Anon	02/11/08 03:46 AM
"Long before selecting Scientology as its latest target, "Anonymous" hackers crashed the Fox Web site and issued a perverse manifesto in a July 2007 video message on the Internet" The first person to find a video of this wins 1,000,000 dollars.

by Deb = Epicfailtroll	02/11/08 12:39 AM
You have been warped by what you do not know about. Anon's cause is to highlight the abuse Co$ has caused to people. It IS NOT anti-religion & IS NOT anti-free speech. Anon is all about free-speech. Open your mind & don't just follow what you read.

Church of Scientology responds to protest plans

The organizers of the event are cyberterrorists, the church says.