The Clearwater Hearings were a 1982

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a populat ...

commission that investigated 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 scientology as a business, bu ...

and

Project Normandy Project Normandy was a top secret Church of Scientology operation wherein the church planned to take over the city of Clearwater, Florida, by infiltrating government offices and media centers. Gabe Cazares, who was the mayor of Clearwater at t ...

.Scientology: The 1982 Clearwater Hearings (YouTube Playlist)
/ref>Lermanet.Com: 1982 Clearwater Commission Hearings
/ref> Among the witnesses who testified were Ron DeWolf and various ex-Scientologists. The commission uncovered a number of illegal activities committed by the church, including: * murder of Susan Meister * having Tonja Burden, as a minor, sign promissory notes to the church * negligence and abuse of children * theft of government documents * forging of government ID cards * giving money to its founder,

L. Ron Hubbard Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianetic ...

* harassment of reporters and alleged attackers * harboring of fugitive Mike Meisner * perjury in federal courts The commission likewise found unethical activities committed by the church, including: * lying about the ends and benefits of auditing * fabrication of L. Ron Hubbard's life * forging of evidence for Hubbard's life * unsanitary living conditions for Scientologists * abortions by beating women in the stomach * using a

front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...

to buy Fort Harrison *

false witness ''False Witness'', also known as ''The Diplomat'' internationally, is a two-part Australian television mini-series, produced by Screentime Australia, and broadcast simultaneously on the Australian subscription television channel UKTV (Australia ...

against alleged attackers * "widespread, intercontinental espionage" * justifying all the aforementioned as religion Finally, the commission found the following about L. Ron Hubbard: * had suicidal thoughts after leaving the Navy * continuously wrote to the FBI about alleged Communist plots against him * refused to get help for his mental illness * wrote to a magazine posing as a woman * married three times, and one time practiced

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

* abused and performed

pseudoscientific 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 ...

experiments on Sara Hubbard * performed abortions by beating women in their stomachs * surrounded himself with very young girls who did his every whim * founded Scientology to make money for himself * made extravagant purchases and lacked personal management * was obsessed with blood while making movies

References

{{Scientology Scientology and law