Here's an interesting busload of perjury. If organized crime syndicate
ringleaders don't like human rights and freedom of speech activists to
protest against their homicides, they just shouldn't murder
people and then they wouldn't have rights activists protesting against
them.
This ringleader appears to be trying to complain to the court system that
not only do they have the religious right to kill their own followers
(indeed, the killers tried to claim that the "Religious Freedom
Restoration Act" passed in Florida gave them that right) but that
nobody else in America has the Constitutional right to picket and protest
against their homicides.
Finally, note that this ringleader -- as doubtlessly all of them within
that organized crime syndicate -- have doubtlessly been "run"
on what the crime syndicate calls their "TR-L" or "Training
Routine -- Lies" which is a Scientology written policy training crime
bosses to lie -- or, as they call it -- "outflow false data
effectively."
The rhetoric is expected... The syndicate's victims aren't called
"rubes," "marks," or even "customers..." no,
they're called "parishioners" lately in keeping with the crime
syndicate's push to try to rewrite their own criminal history to try to
pretend they're some how a religion. It's no different than the Italian
Mafia trying to escape criminal and civil prosecution by trying to demand
they're some how a religion.
Another amusing claim is that information about the murder of Lisa
McPherson has reached only 50 million people around the world. That's
a bit of wishful thinking on a par with the syndicate's claim that they
have 8 million "members" (they have under 45,000 followers
world-wide, in fact.) In actual fact the information about the murder
of Lisa McPherson has doubtlessly reached over half a billion people
around the world thanks to the exposures in the media and thanks to
human rights activists picketing and protesting the murder around the
world.
Another amusing notion is that "few if any" of the human rights
activists which protest the syndicate's abuses are ex-victims of the
crime syndicate. This ringleader is well aware of the fact that many of
the activists who picket and protest his crime syndicate were long-time
followers of the cult including Arnie Lerma -- one of the individuals who
developed the syndicate's quack medical device called an "e-meter"
-- and Jesse Prince -- once second in command of Scientology
before he couldn't take being a crime boss any longer. This ringleader
is well aware of the fact that a large percentage of the people who picket
and protest are ex-followers -- victims of being swindled and lied to
for countless years.
The lies are far too numerous to comment upon and anyone who's up on what
Scientology is and does is already quite capable of noting the tradition
within this amusing document. The notion that picketers and
protesters are "anti-Scientologists" is the typical insane lies
which the syndicate's ringleaders try to spout to hide the fact that
activists are protesting the swindle and homicides of Scientologists.
If protesters and activists were "Anti-Scientologists," they
wouldn't be protesting crimes and criminal abuses against Scientologists
and would allow their ringleaders free reign to abuse their victims.
And besides, someone doesn't need to be a victim of Scientology before
they're morally motivated to oppose Scientology's crimes.
13 Sep 2000
jeffjacobsen@lisatrust.net (Jeff Jacobsen)
Now at http://www.lisatrust.net/legal/rinder_aff_99.htm
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
AFFIDAVIT OF REVEREND MICHAEL J. RINDER
Reverend Michael J. Rinder, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
1. I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth in this affidavit,
and if called upon as a witness, I could and would competently testify
thereto.
2. I am a director of the Church of Scientology International
("CSI"). CSI is the "mother church" of the
Scientology religion. CSI provides guidance and assistance to Scientology
churches around the world, and is directly concerned with their stability
and vitality, their ability to continue to propagate the religion, and
the spiritual well-being of the parishioners they serve.
3. In my capacity as a CSI director and in furtherance of the purposes
and functions of CSI as set forth in the preceding paragraph of this
Affidavit, I became concerned about the impact that the charges brought
in this case would have on the Scientology religion, on Scientology
churches, including defendant Church of Scientology Flag Service
Organization ("FSO"), and on individual Scientologists throughout
the world. I have witnessed the results of media coverage which has
persistently labeled these proceedings as the prosecution of the entire
religion itself, and the disturbing reactions such characterizations have
engendered.
4. In charging the Church, the impact was predictable and has now been
demonstrated. That impact has stigmatized all Scientology churches
and all Scientologists because of the
1
widespread perception generated that the entire Scientology religion
has been charged. Literally no Scientologist anywhere in the world is
free from or immune to the public impression that those who practice
the Scientology religion are suspect by association.
5. The statistics vividly illustrate my point. Articles characterizing
the scope of these charges and labeling the accused as
"Scientology," "Scientologists," or the generic
"Church of Scientology" have appeared in over 255 newspapers
in the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany,
Japan, the Netherlands and Spain.
Analysis of the international media coverage reveals that 31 percent
reported that "Scientology" was charged with the crime, 66
percent reported that the generalized "Church of Scientology"
was charged, and only 3 percent accurately reported that FSO was the
target of the charges. To illustrate just how broadly this has been
disseminated, a list of the newspapers and wire services where such
articles have been published is annexed to this Affidavit as Exhibit
A, and a representative sampling of such coverage is annexed as Exhibit
B.
6. Together, the newspapers and magazines identified in Exhibit A to
this Affidavit have circulation of more than 48,650,000. The wire
services identified in Exhibit A to this Affidavit supply news
coverage to well over 500,000 subscribing media outlets, and even
accounting for overlapping subscribers to such wire services, their
reports reach millions of additional readers around the world.
7. Similarly, radio and television broadcasts generally stigmatizing
"Scientology" or the "Church of Scientology" with
suggestions of culpability in Ms. McPherson's death and the resulting
criminal charges have reached well over 50,000,000 viewers and listeners.
A list of the radio and television stations which have broadcast such
stories is annexed to this Affidavit as Exhibit C.
2
8. Another tangible result of the entire church being charged is
anti-Scientologists have used the case as a springboard for more
attacks on Scientology churches and their parishioners worldwide.
Anti-Scientology hate groups have organized picketing that has
occurred around the world. These "protests" are not orderly
demonstrations. Instead, they are raucous and provocative assemblages,
marked by taunts, insults, and even threats of violence. Since few, if
any, of the "protestors" are disaffected former Scientologists,
there is no other purported "cause" for their rallies, apart
from the case of State of Florida v. Church of Scientology. Moreover,
the vast majority of such "protests" have taken place at
premises other than FSO, although some of the most provocative have
been in Clearwater.
9. The following is a representative example to illustrate my point.
The Information in this case was filed on November 13,1998. Widespread
media coverage followed. On December 4, 1998, a group of
"protestors" - none of whom even lived in Clearwater - began
their demonstration in Clearwater by convening a press conference which
they commenced by announcing, "Welcome to occupied Clearwater."
Then, having obtained a permit from the Chief M-Police of Clearwater in
an extraordinarily abbreviated application/approval process - of
approximately one business day's duration - these "protestors"
occupied the entire public sidewalk in front of FSO. During the course
of that "protest," they: blocked the path of parishioners
arriving for, and leaving after, religious services with, among other
things, a coffin with "Scientology Kills" painted on it;
shouted anti-Scientology epithets through a bullhorn, disrupting
religious services inside the building; chased the vans which FSO
was forced to provide for the safe transportation of its parishioners;
3
vilified those same parishioners with personal barbs, taunted them and
waved hateful, demeaning placards about their religion, with slogans
such as the following:
"Blood on $cientology Hands" with an autopsy photograph of Ms.
McPherson's hand
"Scientology, The Church With A Body Count"
"Scientology: Doctors of Death!"
"Lisa Macpherson [sic]: Killed by her Church?"
"Thank God L. Ron Hubbard is Dead"
"Honk if you Hate Scientology!"
verbally taunted Church staff with personal insults regarding such
things as their mother's supposed sexual indiscretions; and
made profane threats of physical violence against ecclesiastical
leaders of the religion. (A representative sampling of photographs of
the Clearwater demonstrations is annexed to this Affidavit as Exhibit
D.)
10. In December of 1998, anti-Scientologists purchased advertising
space on Pinellas County buses which they used for anonymous signs
exhorting people, "Don't Walk, RUN ! Quit $cientology," and
"Find Out Why So Many People Oppose Dianetics & Scientology."
(Exhibit E.) The bus ads were so offensive that one of the Pinellas
Suncoast Transit Authority ("PSTA ") commissioners demanded
they be taken down immediately. After they were removed, the
anti-Scientologists appeared at several PSTA board meetings, threatening
legal action against the PSI A for refusing to carry their anti-religious
message.
11. During the last six weeks of 1998, following the filing of the
Information in this case, nearly two dozen such "protests"
took place in the United States (including Washington, D.C.;
4
Atlanta, Georgia; Buffalo, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago,
Illinois; Tustin, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; Minneapolis,
Minnesota; San Francisco, California; San Jose, California; and
Phoenix, Arizona) and in cities around the world (including Toronto,
Canada; London, England; Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; and
Brisbane, Australia). They bore signs imputing responsibility for Ms.
McPherson ' s death to the Scientology religion such as the following:
"Scientology Indicted"
Annexed to this Affidavit as Exhibit F is a representative sampling of
photographs of these protests.
12. In 1999, similar anti-Scientology demonstrations targeting the
religion have been staged throughout the United States (including
Atlanta, Georgia; San Jose, California; Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles,
California; Los Gatos, California; Washington, D.C.; Dallas, Texas;
and Salt Lake City, Utah) and elsewhere in the world (including
Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Sussex, England; and Toronto, Canada). The
slogans printed on protestors' signs in those
5
demonstrations included:
"Scientology hurts people. Who will be next?"
13. The widespread, international demonstrations described above,
which exploit allegations relating to Ms. McPherson' s death to
stigmatize an international religion and its adherents, establish that
the charges in this case are being interpreted as directed against the
entire Scientology religion rather than against the defendant. It is
highly improbable there is a single Scientologist across the globe who
has not been confronted with the allegation his or her religion killed
one of its own members. Indeed, the false attributions of
responsibility to the religion itself have become so widely publicized
that even foreign governments have raised
6
inquiries. In December of 1998, a member of the Danish parliament
asked for an investigation into allegations regarding the Church' s
treatment of Ms. McPherson. The questions raised by the Danish
parliamentarian were directed toward the beliefs and practices of the
Scientology religion, and not the conduct of any corporation or
individuals.
14. So pervasive is the perception that the religion or the entire
"Church of Scientology" has been charged in connection with Ms.
McPherson' s death, that it even appears to have reached into the
courthouse. Exhibit G to this Affidavit is a true and correct copy of
a notice served upon defendant FSO by the Court in which the caption
identifies the defendant as "Church of Scientology" without
reference to "Flag Service Organization" or "FSO."
15. Although I recognize that the State neither writes the stories nor
the headlines, the fact of charging FSO has been interpreted publicly
as a sound denunciation of the Scientology religion and all its
parishioners as criminally complicit. A March 28, 1999 article in the
St. Petersburg Times encapsulates the essence of this perception. At
the conclusion of a two-and- one-half page front-page article, the
Times reporter wrote: "Cranes over downtown Clearwater stand in
testament to the church' s continued growth as the church and its
members change the
7
face of that city. But standing in the way is Pinellas-Pasco State
Attorney Bernie McCabe, the prosecutor and a fresh charge that strikes
at the heart of Scientology's claim that it helps its adherents."
(Emphasis added.)
FURTHER AFFIANT SAYETH NAUGHT.
[signed]
STATE OF FLORIDA )
[signed]
Return to The Skeptic Tank's main Index page.
IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Case No. CRC 98-20377CFANO-S
vs.
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY FLAG
SERVICE ORGANIZATION
SPNNO.01980179
"Scientology Kills"
"Scientology killed Lisa McPherson"
"Scientology HURTS PEOPLE"
"Scientology Hurts People. Who will be next?"
"Scientology is a Scam"
"Scientology Charged [in] Lisa's Death"
"Lisa McPherson is dead"
Don't forget Lisa McPherson, killed by Scientologists"
"Say No to Scientology -What on Earth do $cientologists Believe in
Anyway?"
"Stop hurting people"
"Scientology indicted in death of Lisa McPherson, December 5, 1995"
"Scientology is a Scam"
"Scientology is a cult"
"Scientology didn't believe in God"
"Scientology. Criminal cult of Greed, Fraud, Hate and Abuse"
"Scientology proud to be evil"
"L. Ron Hubbard is dead but his fraud continues!"
"Scientology, threat to democracy!"
"Scientology should not be tax exempt"
"Lisa McPherson killed by her Church"
"Is Scientology practicing medicine without a license?"
"Scientology, Cult of Greed & Power"
"Scientology boasts of brainwashing"
Reverend Michael J. Rinder
) ss.:
County of Pinellas ) "
The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me this 9th day of
May, 1999, by Reverend Michael J. Rinder, who is personally known to
me and who did take an oath.
ASHER SAMUEL GHIORA
MY COMMISSION. CC69144S
EXPIRES October 26.2001
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