Statements against Anonymous and our response

Here we create an effective reply to Scientology's February 10th statements.

The statements:

The following statements were from Pat Harney, CoS Public Affairs Director in Letters to the Editor, St. Petersburg Times, Feb 9 2008 [1]. A slightly different older version was published in the same paper as an official statement on Feb 7: [2]. Note the extra lines (added in () brackets) that the later Feb 9 repeat didn't include.

1. "Anonymous" is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry."
2. "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.")
3. "Anonymous' alleged "free speech" justification is belied by the fact that the video in question has been seen by millions."
4. "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."
5. "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)."
6. ""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,) (t)his group is not just anti-Scientology, it is anti-freedom of religion, anti-free speech and anti-American."

The response:

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.

1. We don't intend to question anyone's religious beliefs. We support the freedom of all individuals to practise their religion, including Scientologists. We take issue with the inhumane and corrupt methods employed by the corporation that calls itself the "Church" of Scientology.
2. The term "initially justified" is correct, and applies to our initial actions. However, this removal of the video brought about the curiosity of more Anonymous concerning the nature and practices of the Church in general, and we have uncovered many, many further reasons to justify our *continued* action. The Church has committed many aggressive and destructive acts, something not generally shared by "television and recording industries" and other typical enforcers of copyright.
3. We would also like to point out that, it was the efforts of non-CoS parties (including Anonymous), indignant at the removal, in disseminating the Tom Cruise video over as many forms of Internet distribution sites as possible that resulted in the video obtaining the accessibility it currently enjoys. On the other hand, the Church made every effort to suppress this.
4. The assault on websites of the CoS occurred for only a few weeks, after which more attention was towards them: xenu.net traffic rankings. Furthermore, Anonymous, and others, such as xenu.net, have released a huge collection of materials originating from the Church of Scientology which the CoS have suppressed, thereby increasing the amount of "information from your church available to people", including your followers. We strongly support freedom of speech, and therefore we will make as much information as possible about the "Church" available to the public.
5. Of course it's true that we initially engaged in prank calls, fax transmissions and emails. But this was only aimed at giving the "Church" a taste of what itself has participated in - systematic harassment of their critics, to a much greater extreme and damaging extent than anything we ever did. Also, the fact that their original February 7 statement was specifically worded as "the Anonymous mailing of white powder", with emphasis on the capital "A" when we had already denied responsibility for the act, seems to imply a certain active intent to place the blame on those who declare themselves Anonymous. That the accusation was removed from the February 9 repeated statement may be a wise decision on their part.
6. Dismissing your opponents as terrorists is a standard method of avoiding answering to their (in this case, our) charges. The word itself has been so misused that it has become meaningless. They claim that we have "publicly proclaimed our guiding materials to be the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf". Given that we have stated this nowhere, it would be interesting to know why the Church made this particular comment. On the contrary, as stated elsewhere, we have a wide range of views. Each of us is guided by what we individually believe in, which may or may not even include the above materials. The only thing we agree on today is that we stand united against this "Church". And of course, we hope to "garner more attention" - attention towards the Church of Scientology and its corrupt leadership. The purpose of Anonymous is not one of hate, only freedom and justice.

Source: Partyvan.Info