THE LISA McPHERSON TRUST
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


bullet  Why was The Lisa McPherson Trust formed?

bullet  Who is Lisa McPherson? Why was the Trust named after her?

bullet  How is the Lisa McPherson Trust structured?

bullet  Is the Lisa McPherson Trust non-profit?

bullet  Why did you locate in downtown Clearwater, Fla.?

bullet  Are you religious bigots?

bullet  Why are you picking on the Scientology Organization?

bullet  What if I want to help your cause? What can I do?

bullet  Are you worried about being attacked by the Scientology Organization?

bullet  Does The Lisa McPherson Trust want to destroy the Scientology Organization?

bullet  What, if anything, has The Lisa McPherson Trust accomplished?



bullet 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.

bullet 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.

bullet 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.

bullet 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.

bullet 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.

bullet 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.

bullet 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."

bullet 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.

bullet 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.

bullet 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.

bullet What, if anything, has The Lisa McPherson Trust accomplished?

bullet 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.

bullet 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.

bullet We daily help individuals who have been hurt by Scientology.

bullet 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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