The

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious ...

uses front groups to promote its interests in politics, to make itself appear legitimate, and to recruit. Many of the groups are founded on

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

, named disingenuously, and underplay their links to Scientology. According to

Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi ( he, בנימין בית-הלחמי) (born June 12, 1943) is an Israeli professor of psychology at the University of Haifa, Israel. In 1970 Beit-Hallahmi received a PhD in clinical psychology from Michigan State University. ...

, "The majority of activities conducted by Scientology and its many fronts and subsidiaries involve the marketing of secular products such as the "Clear" program, Sterling Management Systems executive training, and self-improvement in scholastics." Some Scientology products are defined as religious in one setting but secular in another. For example, Study Technology is sold in Churches of Scientology but is also taught in some schools under claims of being secular and non-religious. Scientology is unique among religions for its quantity of front groups, which has been part of its policy since its beginnings and was outlined by Hubbard in his 1960 document "Special Zone Plan". Along with their own front groups, Scientology engages in infiltration of civil society groups and government agencies. Their front businesses are a major source of income for Scientology and are used as a way of obtaining funds from government and charity sources. Per Beit-Hallahmi, "This use of fronts has been a major part of the organization's activities, and it indicates an acknowledgement of having something (or more than just something) to hide."

History

Following discovery of the Church's

Operation Snow White Operation Snow White was a criminal conspiracy by the Church of Scientology during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. This project included a series of infiltrations into and thefts from 136 ...

, the FBI's July 7, 1977 raids on the Church's offices produced, among other documents, an undated memo entitled "PR General Categories of Data Needing Coding". This memo listed what it called "Secret PR Front Groups" which included the group Alliance for the Preservation of Religious Liberty (APRL), later renamed Americans Preserving Religious Liberty. In 1991, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' investigative reporting identified several other fronts for Scientology, including the

Citizens Commission on Human Rights The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is a nonprofit organization established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Its stated mission is to "eradicate ...

(CCHR), The Way to Happiness Foundation,

Applied Scholastics Applied Scholastics is a non-profit corporation founded in 1972 to promote the use of study techniques created by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology. Hubbard called his theories on learning and education " study technolog ...

, the

Concerned Businessmen's Association of America The Concerned Businessmen's Association of America (CBAA), founded in 1983, is a Scientology-related movement directed at promoting moral education and "enhanced well-being". The organization uses L. Ron Hubbard's ''The Way to Happiness'' booklet a ...

and HealthMed. The article ''

The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power" is an article, written in 1991 by U.S. investigative journalist Richard Behar, which is highly critical of Scientology. It was first published by ''Time'' magazine on May 6, 1991, as an eight-page cover s ...

'' resulted in years of litigation. The

Cult Awareness Network The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was an anti-cult organization created by deprogrammer Ted Patrick that provided information on groups that it considered to be cults, as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers. It was founded in the wak ...

(CAN) was an organization that provided information on cults, as well as support and referrals to deprogrammers. The organisation was founded in 1978 and was eventually overpowered by the

in a series of lawsuits. In its place, the

created the organisation called the New Cult Awareness Network. In 1998, the ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Puli ...

'' identified Narconon and the

World Literacy Crusade World Literacy Crusade (WLC) was a non-profit organisation formed in 1992 by the Rev. Alfreddie Johnson to fight illiteracy, and supported by the Church of Scientology. The group uses "study technologies" and "drug rehabilitation technologies" d ...

as front groups for Scientology. Other Scientology groups include

Downtown Medical The New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project was founded in New York City in 2003 with the stated purpose of treating rescue workers for toxins inhaled from the smoke of the September 11 attacks. It has two clinics: Downtown Medical on Fu ...

, Criminon and the

Association for Better Living and Education The Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California, established by the Church of Scientology. It states that it is "dedicated to creating a better future for children and co ...

(ABLE). Other organisations with links to the

include

EarthLink EarthLink is an American Internet service provider. It went public on NASDAQ in January 1997. Much of the company's growth was via acquisition; by 2000, ''The New York Times'' described Earthlink as the "second largest Internet service provider ...

and Striker Systems.

Known Scientology front groups

References

{{Reflist, 2, refs= {{cite web , url=http://nydetox.org/the_project.htm , title=A Call For Help , website=New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205001630if_/http://nydetox.org/the_project.htm , archive-date=June 7, 2005 , access-date=February 21, 2023 {{Cite journal , last=Beit-Hallahmi , first=Benjamin , author-link=Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi , title=Scientology: Religion or racket? , journal=

Marburg Journal of Religion The ''Marburg Journal of Religion'' is a peer-reviewed online academic journal that publishes articles on empirical and theoretical studies of religion. The first issue having appeared in April 1996. The original concept was developed by Michael Py ...

, volume=8 , issue=1 , date=September 2003 , url=https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/3724 , access-date=February 21, 2023 , url-status=live , doi=10.17192/mjr.2003.8.3724 , archive-date=November 8, 2006 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108062518/http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/pdf/2003/breit2003.pdf {{cite magazine , first=Richard , last=Behar , author-link=Richard Behar , url=https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,156952,00.html , title=Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power , magazine=

, date=May 6, 1991 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525200902/https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,156952,00.html , archive-date=May 25, 2014 Scientology organizations Front organizations

History

Known Scientology front groups

See also

References