In the opening pages of Inside Scientology, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, author Janet Reitman writes: “The past fifty-odd years have seen the birth of dozens of religions; many have come and gone without a trace. The Church of Scientology has endured…. It has persevered.” That is an accurate observation. Unfortunately, it is one of only a handful of accurate statements Ms. Reitman makes in her 158,000-word diatribe.

The following are some examples of Janet Reitman's most obvious inaccuracies. Read the complete documentation on Janet Reitman's "Inside Scientology" here.

"Inside Scientology" 

1. Ms. Reitman made claims that “Every bit of information in this book has been checked and cross-checked with multiple sources.” 

As but one example, Ms. Reitman has it wrong from the first page of chapter one, where she states, “When Hubbard died in 1985, the world took note…”  Mr. Hubbard passed away January 24, 1986.  She didn’t even have the dates right starting in Part 1, Chapter 1 of her book. 

2. Ms. Reitman also claims to have interviewed over 100 current and former Scientologists. 

The statement is disingenuous, as only ONE Scientologist appears with any form of interview reflected in the book among dozens of expelled members, several of whom are members of the cyberterrorist group Anonymous—known to be, among other things, a religious hate group. 

During the five years Ms. Reitman researched her book, she never once attempted to contact—by phone, e-mail or in writing—or interview Mr. David Miscavige. Considering she alleges to have written a book about the Church of Scientology and Mr. Miscavige is the ecclesiastical leader of the religion, her lack of interviewing or even attempting to contact him is itself worthy of note. 

It is also notable that in the five long years Reitman claims to have researched her book, she never once approached the Church and never requested nor interviewed a single Church representative. The Church offered her the opportunity to access information to verify any of her facts, but both Reitman and her publisher/editors flatly refused to do so.  

3.  Ms. Reitman claims that the Church of Scientology is “an organization that is on the decline.” 

Contrary to Reitman’s repeated claims throughout the book that the Church is on a decline, the Church of Scientology is enjoying a period of tremendous growth, a fact reflected in ever-increasing media interest and increased global presence.  Parishioners and Church staff members alike have never been happier with the direction of their Church. 

While Ms. Reitman does mention a few of the new Churches of Scientology that have been established, she fails to note the accelerated speed of their opening or the many thousands of parishioners attending services in these Churches. 

Ms. Reitman says she spent five years researching the Church. During those same five years, 17 new Scientology Churches have been acquired, restored and rebuilt, including those in the world cultural capitals of Rome, London, Berlin, Washington, D.C., Mexico City, Moscow and Melbourne. The most recent of these new Churches was dedicated on L. Ron Hubbard’s centennial, March 13, 2011, in Tampa, Florida, by Mr. David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion and the driving force behind this expansion. The Tampa Church moved to new premises, as it had outgrown the facilities it had moved to in 2003, and expanded its parishioner base by four times in those few years.  Please see videos of the grand openings of these new Churches: www.scientology.org/newchurches 

Also, as an example of parishioners’ contribution to the creation of their Church for generations to come, see the video presentation of the opening of the Church of Scientology of Melbourne at: www.scientology.org/melbourne 

The Church has more than 60 additional properties in various stages of design and construction, with many new Churches moving toward completion in the next 24 months, increasing the facilities to minister to parishioners and the surrounding communities. 

____________________________

The Church expansion is measured not only by physical growth. The beginning of 2010 saw the completion of a 25-year program to recover all of L. Ron Hubbard's writings and lectures on Dianetics and Scientology. The massive endeavor involved 2 million man-hours to verify and restore the more than 2,000 recorded lectures, 1,000 written issues and 18 books by Mr. Hubbard that comprise the religion's Scripture. 

In 1984, L. Ron Hubbard set out the goal to provide Scientologists the full legacy of his 50 years of research and discovery into the mind, spirit and life. Mr. Miscavige drove this massive program from its inception, announcing its completion in January 2010.  With full restoration of the written and recorded Scripture of Scientology, the 18 basic books are now available in audiobook format in 15 languages, and the most fundamental books of Scientology have now been translated into 50 languages.  The Scientology religion is available and accessible to more people today than at any time in history.  Please see: www.scientology.org/goldenageofknowledge 

Key components of the increased availability and accessibility are the Church's new all-digital, print-on-demand religious publishing facilities. In the 274,000-square-foot Bridge Publications in Los Angeles and New Era Publications in Copenhagen, Denmark, production volume has grown by 660 percent since 2007. Combined, these facilities can now publish the full Scientology Scripture, much of it in 50 languages, up to 500,000 books per week (26 million a year) and 925,000 CDs per week (48.1 million annually).  They are the largest and only all-digital publishing houses in the world, enabling the Church to provide the Scripture and other religious materials to Churches around the world in the quantities and languages needed for the rapid growth Scientology is experiencing. Please see a video presenting Bridge Publications and New Era Publications at: www.scientology.org/publications-organizations

The next phase of this global dissemination program was the establishment of a new 185,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art printing facility that produces all educational materials for Church-sponsored humanitarian programs, including the world’s largest nongovernmental human rights initiative and the world’s largest nongovernmental drug awareness program. The Church provides these educational materials free of charge to schools, civic groups, government, law enforcement and institutions in the private sector. Inasmuch as all materials are now produced in-house, for the same it previously cost to produce 3.5 million drug education booklets, the Church can now produce 35 million and reach 10 times the number of at-risk youth. Please see the video concerning this Dissemination and Distribution center here: www.scientology.org/dissemination-center

4.  Ms. Reitman questions the Church’s broad-based humanitarian efforts. 

Hand-in-hand with the expansion of our Churches is a dramatic increase in the resources available for our worldwide humanitarian initiatives.  Our new Churches play an integral part in providing a strong base for Scientology-sponsored social and humanitarian programs that have touched the lives of more than 1.5 billion people, including:

• The Scientology Volunteer Ministers program has been active in more than 175 disaster relief efforts around the world, partnering with more than 800 agencies and organizations. The ministry has trained more than 400,000 to provide volunteer assistance, while helping nearly 11 million one-on-one since September 11, 2001. Since the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Japan, hundreds of Volunteer Ministers from around the world have been helping in shelters in Kesennuma, Sendai, Watari, Onagawa, Ishinomaki and Idda, and assisting in the cleanup of towns and villages destroyed by this natural disaster. The volunteers have helped more than 140,000 people, providing Scientology assists (often described as “spiritual first aid”) to help individuals overcome the effects of loss, shock and trauma and speed recovery. Please see: www.volunteerministers.org 

• The Way to Happiness, a Church-sponsored education program based on the nonreligious, common sense moral code written by Mr. Hubbard—The Way to Happiness—includes 21 public service announcements, a new award-winning, feature-length book-on-film, and a comprehensive educator's guide. This program has reached more than 700 million, with 85 million booklets distributed in 94 languages since 1981. The materials are provided free of charge to institutions and groups implementing the program.  The Way to Happiness Foundation, located in Glendale, California,  sponsors and advances global programs based on The Way to Happiness. The Way to Happinesswas entered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most translated nonreligious work. Please see: www.thewaytohappiness.org 

• The Church sponsors the largest nongovernmental anti-drug campaign in the world. The “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” program features public service announcements, an award-winning documentary about real people and the destructive influence of the most commonly abused drugs, and an educator's guide. The campaign also includes information booklets exposing the myths of each drug, all provided at no cost for mass distribution. The program has reached over 435 million through TV sponsorship, 24 million through booklet distribution, and 3.4 million children have pledged to lead drug-free lives through the Church-sponsored Drug-Free Marshals program. Please see: www.drugfreeworld.org 

• The Church sponsors an international human rights public information campaign, broadly publicizing the 30 Articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights with public service announcements for each article, an award-winning film providing the history of human rights, and booklets serving to fill the gap in human rights education. The campaign has reached more than a billion people. The human rights education world tour has traveled 174,000 miles through 45 nations reaching 11 million.  More than 250,000 people have signed petitions calling for mandatory human rights education. The Church of Scientology provides these materials free of charge to groups implementing its solutions. Please see: www.humanrights.com 

5.  Ms. Reitman stated “The traditional religious bedrock—worship, God, love and compassion, even the very concept of faith—is wholly absent from its (Scientology’s) precepts. And, unique among modern religions, Scientology charges members for every service, book, and course offered, promising greater and greater spiritual enlightenment with every dollar spent. People don't ‘believe’ in Scientology; they buy into it.”

The truth is that God, love, compassion and faith are very much a part of Scientology and can be found in the basic books available to anyone.

In the book, Scientology: A New Slant on Life, Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard writes: 

“The hardest task one can have is to continue to love his fellows despite all reasons he should not. 

“And the true sign of sanity and greatness is to so continue. 

“For the one who can achieve this, there is abundant hope. 

“For those who cannot, there is only sorrow, hatred and despair. And these are not the things of which greatness—or sanity or happiness are made. 

“A primary trap is to succumb to invitations to hate. 

“There are those who appoint one their executioners. Sometimes, for the sake of safety of others, it is necessary to act. But it is not necessary to also hate them. 

“To do one's task without becoming furious at others who seek to prevent one is a mark of greatness—and sanity. And only then can one be happy.” 

Mr. Hubbard goes on to explain that the real lesson is to learn to love. This and other information on the beliefs and practices of the Scientology religion can be found at: www.scientology.org/what-is-greatness

The Creed of the Church of Scientology, which states what we of the Church believe, can be found at www.scientology.org/creed

____________________________

Ms. Reitman contends there is something wrong with religions seeking funds from their membership to propagate the faith.  There are no religions which do not obtain funds from their members. In fact, courts that have examined this issue have determined that the method of fundraising used by Scientology Churches is in substance no different from fundraising practices of other religions. 

This was one of the critical issues the United States Internal Revenue Service addressed to its satisfaction before ruling that the Church and its related organizations were tax-exempt. The IRS investigated and examined details about the Church’s fundraising practices in reaching its conclusion that no funds inure to the benefit of any Church leader or individual and that the Church serves “exclusively religious and charitable purposes.”  

Many of the major religions require financial payments as a prerequisite for participating in their “core” religious services:

• In Judaism, synagogues have fixed membership dues and access to High Holy Day services is based on payment of a fixed fee.

• Numerous Christian denominations, including the Church of Latter- day Saints (Mormons) and fundamentalist Christian churches, including Seventh-Day Adventists, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and the Worldwide Church of God, require parishioners to pay a 10% tithe of their gross income to participate in religious services.

• In the Catholic Church, a payment is usually required for the celebration of a Mass for a special purpose or special intention. 

• In the Church of England, marriage, funeral, memorial and dedication services are subject to a fixed charge.  In addition, regular churchgoers are asked to covenant £400 or more a year to the Church.  Approximately 400,000 parishioners do so.

• Hindus set fixed payments for sacred rituals performed by the priest in the temple (pujas), considered an exact science in which the priest is trained. Hindu temples provide a price list for different types of pujas.  The typical price for a puja is £100, and typically a Hindu will purchase two a month.

            An average Scientologist donates about $1,000 a year to his church, comparable to Baptists and Presbyterians.

There are also many ways the Church of Scientology offers parishioners to engage in religious activities without making any monetary donations.  Every Church of Scientology makes available charity auditing and a Free Scientology Centre that ministers services without donations. In addition, scholarships are offered for those wishing to participate in training services.  Moreover, donations are never requested for attendance at Sunday services and other congregational gatherings, including international religious events. 

The Church’s Volunteer Ministers provide tens of thousands of hours of auditing every year, often providing life-changing benefits, at no cost.

6. Claims by Reitman to have engaged in “serious” or “extensive” research for her book are disingenuous.  Of the 158,000 words printed, far less than .0001% could be found to be true. The few specific statements Ms. Reitman made which are true follow:

• “The past fifty-odd years have seen the birth of dozens of religions; many have come and gone without a trace.  The Church of Scientology has endured.  It has persevered.”

• “Scientology is considered by some academics within the field of comparative religion to be one of the most significant faiths born in the past century.”

• “Mr. Miscavige’s role is the steward who would consolidate Hubbard’s movement and guide it into a new age.” 

• “Since 2004, the church has purchased seventy buildings in cities around the world, many of them faded gems that have been meticulously restored.” 

• “The church is in some ways more accessible than ever. Since 2009, the Church of Scientology has significantly upgraded its online presence, to explain its beliefs and its connection to other religions and philosophies; it even offers a virtual tour of a Scientology organization. A separate Scientology video channel presents scores of testimonials to Scientology’s effectiveness in handling life’s problems.” 

• “(The Church’s) missionaries, known as “volunteer ministers,” tour the developing world and are sent, en masse, to deliver aid in familiar disaster zones such as earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince or New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.” 

• “Scientologists live in virtually every major city in America and in numerous smaller cities and suburbs as well: they can be found in every age group and vocation.” 

• “...the vast majority of Scientologists are people you have never heard of. Many work in various parts of the entertainment industry, but still more of them write, teach, create art, build houses, trade stock, manage hedge funds, own businesses, and invent new forms of technology. They run schools and drug rehabilitation programs, work in prisons and inner cities, and lobby Congress and federal regulators.” 

• “Scientology is experiencing unprecedented expansion, its worldwide membership ‘growing faster now than at any time in its history.’ ... And to be sure, Scientology has expanded its reach in the developing world, where the church is opening missions in such far-flung locales as Kazakhstan.”

Read the complete documentation on Janet Reitman's "Inside Scientology" here.