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THE LISA McPHERSON TRUST
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why was The Lisa McPherson Trust formed?
Who is Lisa McPherson? Why was the Trust named after her?
How is the Lisa McPherson Trust structured?
Is the Lisa McPherson Trust non-profit?
Why did you locate in downtown Clearwater, Fla.?
Are you religious bigots?
Why are you picking on the Scientology Organization?
What if I want to help your cause? What can I do?
Are you worried about being attacked by the Scientology
Organization?
Does The Lisa McPherson Trust want to destroy the
Scientology Organization?
What, if anything, has The Lisa McPherson Trust
accomplished?
Why was The Lisa McPherson Trust formed?
For more than 25 years, there have been outcries for the
Scientology Organization to abandon its abusive and deceptive
practices. The Lisa McPherson Trust is the first formal
organization committed to stopping these abuses and calling for
specific reforms of the Scientology Organization.
Who is Lisa McPherson? Why was The Lisa McPherson Trust
named after her?
Lisa McPherson died after being held in the Scientology
Organization's Fort Harrison Hotel for 17 days. As the details
of her tragic and senseless death began to be publicized,
people across the country joined together through the Internet
to oppose the human exploitation and mistreatment occurring in
the Scientology Organization. Lisa's story symbolizes the
dangers of Scientology's practices and the potential danger of
future abuses.
How is The Lisa McPherson Trust structured?
The Lisa McPherson Trust is a corporation with a six-member
full-time staff, an elected board of directors and an advisory
board.
Is The Lisa McPherson Trust non-profit?
No. To protect the privacy of financial supporters of The Lisa
McPherson Trust, we filed as a for-profit company. However, we
do not charge for our services, nor do we sell anything. We are
strictly funded by donations. Due to the transparent nature of
a non-profit organization, we felt it was in our supporters'
best interest to file as for-profit, thereby removing the
possibility of such supporters being subject to harassment by
those who disagree with our mission, objectives and goals.
Why did you locate in downtown Clearwater, Fla.?
Downtown Clearwater, Fla., has become the spiritual mecca for
the Scientology Organization. The residents and government
officials of the city are already acclimated to dealing with
the Scientology Organization and the controversy surrounding
it. We believe we are most effective with our headquarters
strategically located as close to the hub of the Scientology
Organization as possible.
We plan to expand our efforts globally by establishing a
presence in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Calif., Memphis,
Tenn., and several locations in Europe.
Are you religious bigots?
No. The Lisa McPherson Trust firmly believes in religious
freedom for all. But we do not believe that any organization
has the right to engage in behavior that violates human rights
or the law of the land. Scientologists have every right to
participate in the world's religious community by practicing
their sincerely held religious beliefs, so long as those
beliefs do not violate human rights or civil and criminal laws.
Why are you picking on the Scientology Organization?
We are not "picking" on the Scientology Organization. However,
it is our goal to educate the public and our government about
the true nature of the Scientology Organization including its
political agenda, harassment of critics and policies which can
violate its members' human rights. In addition, we work to
assist current and former Scientologists with their personal
struggles involving the Scientology Organization.
We at The Lisa McPherson Trust believe that the Scientology
Organization draws its members from a broad cross-section of
society and uses a sophisticated combination of deceptive
recruiting methods, false promises, hypnosis, behavior
modification, sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation,
information control, phobia indoctrination and other mind
control techniques to entice and control its members. We
believe there is no shame in having been seduced into such an
organization. Likewise, there should be no reluctance to leave
the organization after discovering it is not capable of
delivering on its promise of a "Road to Total Freedom."
What if I want to help your cause? What can I do?
Speak out! Have peaceful protests! Get involved! Be informed
so that you can share your knowledge with others through
Internet discussions, public forums, speaking engagements,
pickets and everyday conversations. Make sure you always stick
to the facts.
Contact your local congress members. Let them know your
concerns about the Scientology Organization.
Encourage others to speak out, join in peaceful, legal pickets
and contact their Congress members.
If you would like to make a financial contribution to the work
of the Lisa McPherson Trust, go here.
Are you worried about being attacked by the Scientology
Organization?
Not worried, although we are aware that the Scientology
Organization by policy attacks its perceived enemies. The
Scientology Organization uses harassment and intimidation in
its attempt to silence critics. We will not be silenced by the
organization's harassment.
Does The Lisa McPherson Trust want to destroy the
Scientology Organization?
No, we do not wish to destroy the Scientology Organization. We
do wish to stop the mistreatment of members and critics and
stop the practice of policies that promote harassing critics
and "off-policy" members. The specific reforms we are calling
for are listed here.
What, if anything, has The Lisa McPherson Trust
accomplished?
Our web site - our web site contains the largest collection
of multimedia regarding Scientology, about 4500 pages of the
Clearwater police investigation into Lisa McPherson's death,
and other useful information about Clearwater, Lisa McPherson,
and court cases. We are continually adding to the resources
available to the public on our site.
Research - we found and documented 18 Scientology security
cameras in Clearwater aimed at Clearwater. We discovered that
the creator of the e-meter developed the device for
psychiatrists.
We daily help individuals who have been hurt by
Scientology.
We are working on reaching the public with the necessary
information about Scientology. We will be giving talks,
distributing a newsletter, and using different media to spread
the word.
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