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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT
FOR THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA
IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY
STATE OF FLORIDA,
VS. CRC 98-20377 CFANO-S
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
FLAG SERVICE ORGANIZATION,
AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF
OF THE
EXECS OF THE
CHURCHES OF SCIENTOLOGY WORLDWIDE
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT
FOR THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA
IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY
STATE OF FLORIDA,
vs. CRC 98-20377 CFANO-S
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
FLAG SERVICE ORGANIZATION,
AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF THE EXECUTIVES OF THE CHURCHES OF
SCIENTOLOGY WORLDWIDE
I - INTRODUCTION
Proposed amicus curiae is a member of the Board of Directors of the
Church of Scientology International, the Mother Church of the
Scientology religion, and is joined by the ecclesiastical leaders of the
churches of Scientology in the United States and in more than 100 other
countries. Our religion, our churches, and our congregants have been
directly and adversely affected by a great injustice brought about by
the charges filed in this case. Our churches have been vandalized, our
parishioners assaulted, our reputations defiled, and our faith vilified
because the State of Florida has chosen to target our religion in an
unprecedented prosecution. Criminal acts are committed against us and
our congregants every day by ignorant people who have been inflamed by
lies and
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reassured by a perceived alliance with authority that
these charges have engendered.
That a nation founded on the very principle of freedom from
government oppression of minority religions has chosen this church - in
fact, this religion - to prosecute, is an outrage to its heritage. The
prejudice has spread far beyond Pinellas County, the State of Florida or
even the borders of the United States and fosters the violence and
bigotry our churches and adherents are enduring around the world.
The profound and damaging impact addressed below is not a
mere collection of allegations such as those proffered by the prosecutor
against our religion. Rather, we submit numerous sworn affidavits that
reflect the scope of the hatred unleashed by this prosecution in many
locations in the United States, as well as in Australia, Italy, Germany,
Austria, Denmark, Belgium, France, England, Canada, and in other nations
around the world where our members seek peacefully to practice our
faith.
A great deal of time and effort has been expended just to
maintain relations with our local communities in the face of these
charges. Creating and maintaining an environment where our churches cap
conduct their activities in peace and without constant rebuke and the
threat of physical violence, has been an enormous task not just in the
local area, but as a result of the State's charges, in virtually every
land around the globe.
We file this amici curiae brief to inform the Court of the
repercussions of this prosecution and the harm it has engendered around
the world, and to petition the Court to restore justice and reason to
these proceedings through dismissal of this action.
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• The prosecutor gives a distorted account of the
history of the formation of the Scientology religion itself. Born in the
20th century, Scientology has evolved from its earliest days to what it
is today. There is nothing unusual about that.
Mr. Hubbard's life's work was the search for the ultimate answers to
life, with many discoveries throughout the years. The prosecutor
misinterprets this evolution by pulling individual writings out of
context, giving his interpretation
as to our beliefs and practices and even suggesting he is attempting to
make us comply with our own religious policies. Yet when understood in
context, one sees the evolution of the religion with each new discovery
building upon the previous, from the publication of Dianetics in 1950,
to the end of Mr. Hubbard's life in 1986. See Fundamentals of the
Scientology Religion, page 15.
•
As for our sincerity in our beliefs, Scientologists consider their
religion a much greater part of their life than those who merely worship
on Sunday. In fact, we believe that the decline of civilization can be
traced to the loss of spiritual and religious values across the world.
Unlike many other religions, we believe all religions, even those with
different beliefs than ours, are vital to planetary salvation, since the
decline of all civilization can be traced to times when God and
spirituality have been undermined. See Religious Influence in Society,
page 29.
• While the full route one travels up the Bridge to Total Freedom is
through participation in training and one on one auditing, we also
provide these Scientology services in a group congregational setting.
Sermons covering fundamental Scientology beliefs as well as group
auditing are both a part of our Sunday services, held each week in
churches and missions across the globe in 139 countries. See Scientology
Congregational Services, page 35.
• As with all mainline religions, we have our own ceremonies and
services. These include Naming Ceremonies (for the newborn), pages
52-63, Weddings, pages 70-107, Funerals (which reflect our belief in
life after life), pages 113-129 and
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Ordinations for new ministers, page 134-137.
• As for our beliefs, although the materials of Dianetics and
Scientology are voluminous including 139 separate volumes, containing
over 40 million words and more than 2,000 tape-recorded lectures, one
can find the fundamentals in our
congregational sermons, and that these relate to the ultimate answers to
life. Yes, we believe Scientology is a practical religion, providing
practical answers, but they are premised upon the underlying discoveries
of the spiritual nature of man and the source of life itself. Examples
can be seen in Invitation to Freedom - Man Can Save His Soul, page 152;
The Supreme Being, page 154; Man's Search for His Soul, page 156;
Handling Life With Scientology, page 158; as well as any of the many
others encompassing Scientology and Spiritual Freedom, The Nature of
Life, -Freedom and Happiness, Marriage and the Farnily, Ethics arid
Survival, and Making A Better World.
IV - THE CHARGES ARE BEING BROUGHT BECAUSE OF OUR
RELIGION AND WOULD NOT BE BROUGHT AGAINST
ANYONE ELSE
The prosecutor alleges we seek to avoid responsibility
by "merely attaching the word "religion" to our
activities and "by blending references to religion" into our
activities to "change essentially commercial or secular
undertakings into religious ones." His conceit is startling and
incredibly offensive.
The effects of this prosecution are known to the prosecutors. They were,
or should have been, aware of how these charges would be perceived and
interpreted by the news media and those who, out of hate, target
Scientology. This case improperly supports the pending civil case, which
had been filed nearly two years before the criminal charges were
brought, by distant relatives of
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Lisa McPherson who never even really knew Lisa,
disagreed with her choice of religion and had not communicated with her
at all for many years before her death. The prosecutors brought their
charges in the midst of a vicious media barrage based on the outrageous
and unsupported allegations made in that case. Though the prosecutor's
charges did not repeat all the lurid allegations made by
anti-Scientologists and the inflamed media, the clear implication in
bringing these charges was that they supported those allegations in
bringing these charges, and the prosecutor knew full well what the
result would be: charging "the Church" over the death of one
of its members would be interpreted as Scientology (the religion)
"kills," we "murdered Lisa." It was predictable
based on the previous media coverage and statements made by hate groups
that the' prosecutor's charges would then seem to say "the State
agrees."
The fact that the prosecutor has not seen fit to
discontinue his criminal prosecution in the face of the amended death
certificate only reinforces this view. An accidental death by pulmonary
embolism would not even give rise to an investigation, let alone a
criminal prosecution, had it been anybody other than a Scientologist in
Clearwater. The magnitude of these assaults demonstrate several things
to us, and we submit they should so demonstrate to anyone who steps back
from these events and views them in context of our numerous and
widespread good works, the unproven nature of the charges, the large
number of happy and active Scientologists, and the discriminatory nature
of the prosecution.
First, the harms which are addressed above result from the
dissemination of the prosecutor's mere allegations far and wide, to
cause disruption to our entire religion.
Second, even if the false allegations were true, the
demonstrations and media are far out of proportion to the alleged wrong
for the very reason the State
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has charged an entire church. One need not look far to find actual
crimes of religious persons of other faiths. Yet, the state has never
prosecuted an entire church in its history nor has there been such a
prosecution in the history of this country. The media have never, to our
knowledge, remotely displayed the fervor of persecution it has embraced
regarding this case.
Third, while our religion has experienced its growing pains
vis a vis acceptance in a world of persons necessarily espousing other
religious views, the type of criminal acts and harassment against our
churches described above were virtually non-existent prior to the broad
dissemination of the allegations in this case.
These acts against our churches are directed, throughout
the world, at who we are, not what any of our members did. We strongly
believe that by holding up the hope and reality of spiritual freedom and
true solutions for the world's travails, we have incurred the wrath and
become the enemy of those who intend the opposite. We are serious about
our desire to help mankind rise above the insanity revealed only too
clearly by how viciously we have been attacked.
V - CONCLUSION
When agents of a branch of government
inflicts damage to a group because of disparity of religious beliefs,
those agents have strayed far from the trust endowed by public office.
As a result of the actions of the prosecutors in this case,
acts of prejudice have been committed not only against this State's own
citizens, but also against all those associated with the target of their
action. The destructive effects of this wild fire of anti-religious
sentiment have reached around the world. For the
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foregoing reasons, amici request the Court dismiss all charges against
our religion.
Dated: March 29, 2000
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Rinder Church of Scientology International, Amicus in pro per,
And the executives of the Churches of Scientology throughout the world
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I HEREBY CERTIFY that a copy of the foregoing has been
furnished by hand this 29th day of March, 2000 to Douglas E. Crow,
Esquire, Assistant State Attorney, Post Office Box 5028, Clearwater,
Florida 33758.
Michael Rinder
6331 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 1200
Los Angeles, CA 90028'
(323) 960-3500
SERVICE LIST
DOUGLAS E. CROW, ESQ.
Assistant State Attorney
P.O. Box 5028
Clearwater, Florida 33758
MORRIS WEINBERG, JR.
FL Bar No. 486401
LEE FUGATE
FL Bar No. 270928
SPN No. 00015107
ZUCKERMAN, SPAEDER, TAYLOR & EVANS, L.L.P.
Suite 2525
401 East Jackson Street
Tampa, Florida 33602
(813) 221 - 1010
ERIC M. LIEBERMAN RABINOWITZ, BOUDIN, STANDARD, KRINSKY
& LIEBERMAN, P.C. 740 Broadway, 5th Floor New York, New York 10003
(212) 674 - 4614 r_
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