From: lindsay+@cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Xemu
Message-ID: <14029@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: 26 Jul 91 02:17:36 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Lines: 101
Nntp-Posting-Host: gandalf.cs.cmu.edu

The following is a repost for the general edification.
I have never checked up on it, but any large library should
allow you to verify if it is a correct quote of the original
newspaper article. As to whether *that* was correct: perhaps
some of the Church members on the net could comment.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Attack of the Thetans from the Planet Teegeeach!
Date: 07 Nov 85 10:45:18 PST (Thu)
From: jef@lbl-rtsg.arpa

[from the Los Angeles Times, via the San Francisco Chronicle]

SCIENTOLOGISTS SCRAMBLE TO KEEP SECRETS
Los Angeles

    Documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times show that the members of
the Church of Scientology believe that mankind's ills were caused by
an evil ruler named Xemu who lived 75 million years ago.

    Scientologists have been trying to prevent the release of the 
documents, which they consider secret and sacred, and about 1500
church members crammed three floors of the Los Angeles County
Courthouse on Monday, effectively blocking public access to
documents.

    Nevertheless, the Los Angeles Times had already obtained access
to the documents, which were submitted as part of a civil case
brought by former Scientologist Larry Wollersheim, before lawyers
for the Scientologists requested they be sealed.

    Wollersheim charges that the organization defrauded him by
promising him higher intelligence and greater business success
through Scientology courses that cost thousands of dollars.

    In arguing to keep the court documents sealed, the church has
told its members that it could be physically and spiritually harmful
for them to learn about the upper levels of Scientology before they
have mastered the preparatory courses. Scientology attorneys have
argued that disclosure of the material violates the group's
religous freedom.

    Scientology is widely known for its use of "auditing", a form of
one-to-one counselling in which a lie-detector-like instrument called
an E-meter is used to help a person erase negative experiences,
supposedly freeing him to achieve his full potential.

    The group bases its beliefs on the writings of L. Ron Hubbard,
the reclusive science-fiction author who in the early 1950's
published the best-seller "Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental
Health."

    What is rarely discussed, however, is Hubbard's secret
teachings, which disclose his thoughts on why mankind has been
plagued by problems through history, the topic of the disputed
documents.

    Generally, the documents suggest that a major cause of mankind's
problems began 75 million years ago, when the planet Earth, then 
called Teegeeach, was part of a confederation of 90 planets under
the leadership of a tyrannical ruler named Xemu. Then, as now, the
materials state, the chief problem was overpopulation.

    Xemu, the documents state, decided to take radical measures to
overcome the overpopulation problem. Beings were captured on Earth
and on other planets and flown to at least 10 volcanoes on Earth.

    The documents state that H-bombs far more powerful than any in 
existence today were dropped on the volcanoes, destroying the people
but freeing their spirits, called "thetans," which attached
themselves to one another in clusters.

    After the nuclear explosions, according to the documents, the
thetans were trapped in a compound of frozen alcohol and glycol and,
during a 36-day period, Xemu "implanted" in them the seeds of
aberrant behavior for generations to come. When people die, those
clusters attach to to other humans and keep perpetuating themselves.

    Before a Scientologist can learn about thetans and how to 
eradicate them, he must go through a progression of costly programs.

    For hours on Monday, Scientologists swamped workers=20in the 
clerk's office with hundreds of requests to photocopy the documents.

    Superior Court Judge Alfred L. Margolis, over strong objections,
had issued an order Friday making the documents public at 9 a.m.
Monday - on a first-come, first-served basis.

    Scientologists, by snaking the line through three courthouse
hallways, made sure that they were the only ones to buy copies of the
materials.

    Shortly before noon, Margolis, at the request of Scientology
lawyers, resealed the materials, pending a hearing later this week.

    Jeff Pomerantz, a Scientology spokesman, said the strategy was
intended to "keep the materials secure ... Religion is not supposed
to be disseminated from the courtroom."
----------------------------< end of repost >----------------------
-- 
Don		D.C.Lindsay 	Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute