Longtime readers will know that I utterly loathe scientology, the faux religion that got its tax-exempt religious status by being the only organization in the world that managed to out-harry the IRS. A little reading up on the so-called church will show you a history of bullying, lawsuits, illegal activities, and attempts to shut down all criticism of scientology. It is one of the only religions in the world that copyrights its holy books. I defy you to find the copyright owner of the Torah, the New Testament, or even the Koran. If you and I wanted to reproduce an entire Bible on a blog, we could do so freely and without penalty. Scientology has a long history of shutting down websites and message boards that use its materials to criticize it.
Keith Henson was arrested and convicted in California of a heinous “hate crime” law: “Interfering with a religion.” He was picketing scientology. In fear of what would happen to him if he went to jail, he fled to Canada instead, but left Canada some time ago (which explains why I could never find an update beyond his arrest in Canada).
The police in Arizona caught him a few days ago, and he was arrested and is now out on bond. He is fighting extradition to California, but it seems the scientologists have already caught up with him in Arizona: He was mistreated by the police while in prison.
There is a Keith Henson Legal Support Fund to which you can donate. But please, click those links above and read up on the history of this “church.”
Every so often, particularly after I write something about scientology, one of their lemmings writes me an email pretending not to be from the group, asking me about scientology and what I’m writing. They are the most paranoid people this side of Kim Jung Il. They are schooled in deception and misrepresentation (let us never forget Tom Cruise’s little appearance on the Today Show, where he opined that he is more knowledgeable about antidepressants than the entire medical industry). They shout down all criticism as “bigotry” (count the number of times “bigot” comes out of Cruise’s mouth when talking about scientology). Germany refuses to recognize them as a church. Our country should take another look at this cult that masquerades as a church, and strip it of its tax-free status.
Free Keith Henson, the blog devoted to news of his fight against the cult, is now a permalink on this blog. It’s going to remain there until Keith goes free for good.
Those links also mention what they’ve done down the road in Clearwater, which makes for interesting reading (i.e., the infamous hotel). These people have TONS of money, and a lot of it goes to funding vicious legal teams.
Given the dates of authorship of the Torah, New Testament, and Qur’an, it is rather silly to speak of them being copyrighted. But go post the entire New JPS translation of the Torah on your blog, Meryl, or the ArtScroll, or Robert Alter’s, or Aryeh Kaplan’s, and you darn well ought to expect to get a letter from the publisher’s lawyers. There are many copyrighted versions of the New Testament and the Qur’an as well. The JPS translation that you see all over the place on the web, such as here, is the 1917 translation whose copyright has expired.
If the Scientologists are claiming that their scriptures are translations, then they are creative works and therefore eligible for copyright. Alternatively, if the scriptures were written by some divine being in English, then the divine being would hold the copyright, and could assign it to the Church.
I’d love to see the leaders of the Church of Scientology busted under RICO, though.
Of course, if the leaders of Scientology actually believed in the world to come, they would feel bad for the punishment to which they are subjecting L. Ron Hubbard. Actually he created the “religion” as a science fiction bet.
I find it frightening that California actually has laws against blasphemy. Just another example of how the left actually does all the things they accuse the right of doing.
Similar to what Ben F said New American Standard bible is copyrighted by Wicliff and I believe New International is as well
Tatterdemalian:
1. What Hanson did was not “blasphemy” nor would actual blasphemy be considered “Interfering with a religion.†You might want to look that word up.
2. The 1st Adm clearly forbids the “abridging the free exercise thereof [of Religion]” (of course, that’s by Congress, not by citizens)
3. How evidence do you have that this law is actually the work of “the left”? I might just as easily say that it’s the Right once again doing what they always do. (of course, I have no evidence of that either).
Scientology must soon be exposed for what it truly is… just one more goofy cult. It is a pyramid scheme for true believers. “Let’s pretend that Im a god, and you are one of my angels… okay?”
1. What Henson did was treat the Scientologist doctrine with irreverence. Blasphemy is defined as treating a religious doctrine with irreverence. It doesn’t matter what string of English words you use to mean “blasphemy,” you’re still using California law to persecute a blasphemer. It’s not Henson’s fault Scientology is based on a pyramid scheme that will collapse if too many members realize it’s a load of hooey.
2. The right to worship freely extends only as far as individual rights to life and liberty are not abridged. It does not grant the right to kidnap and sacrifice children on bloodstained altars, even if it is part of a religious ceremony, nor does it extend to the right to deny people their freedom of speech, even if such speech might lead to the collapse of the religion. In most states, that is, with the apparent exception of California.
3. California government has been extremely biased toward the liberal side of the political spectrum for quite some time now, as Californeans themselves frequently and proudly assert. Take issue with the assessment if you like, but you aren’t likely to win any friends in California by calling them conservative, or even moderate.
Looks like Jamie slipped through the net again. Time to tighten it.
Tat, don’t even bother arguing with him. If I hadn’t been away all day, his comment would have been deleted.
The point isn’t that the Torah or Bibles can’t be copyrighted. The point is that the respective religions aren’t copyrighting their holy books—but scientology is.
As I see it, that’s still not the point. Every Jewish prayer book on my shelf is copyrighted. Do you own anything by ArtScroll? Take a look at the copyright notice, and prepare to be amazed. They bar even the transcibing of their books’ Hebrew text without permission, claiming that it has been corrected.
Consider also that, for centuries, Judaism protected its religious teachings by use of what today would be called “trade secrets,” that is, an unwritten oral law without which its written texts could not be properly understood. (To say nothing of the fact that very few gentiles understood Hebrew. The production of the Septuagint, which allowed gentiles to read the Tanach in the vernacular, was deemed a calamity, and is one of the bases for fasting on the tenth of Tevet.) The oral law was subsequently reduced to writing in the mishnah and gemarra, but there are still Jewish mystical texts whose meaning cannot be understood without assistance.
I maintain that the point, which has nothing to do with copyright per se, is that $cientology attempts aggressively to prevent the dissemination of truthful information regarding its teachings and practices. Copyright is merely one of many tools that the “Church” employs.
Tellya what: You go ahead and make your point, and I’ll make mine.
Come to think of it, $cientology isn’t the only “religion” that attempts to prevent the dissemination of truthful information regarding its teachings and practices. I’ll give you three guesses as to the other religion I’m thinking of, and the first two don’t count.