Subject: 1971: Scientology Sues Satirist over a Joke
From: sheaffer@netcom.com (Robert Sheaffer)
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 06:37:15 GMT

article from THE BERKELEY BARB (famous New-Left radical newspaper), Aug. 6, 1971, p. 8: article, "E-METER TICKET"

"...for truth and the appearance of truth are apprehended by the same faculty." -Aristotle, Rhetoric

For some time now, Paul Krassner has been editing a magazine called "The Realist," dedicated to illustrating - by a mixture of fact and put-on - that the truth is stranger than almost anything else that comes to mind.

The May-June issue turned out to be too strange for the Church of Scientology. On Friday, Krassner held a Los Angeles press conference at which he announced that the church had lodged a $750,000 lawsuit against him.

The suit is based on an editorial announcing the contents of the 13th Anniversary issue - due next month -- in which Krassner had written:

"You will be witness to socio-spiritual scandals; why the Beatles really broke with the giggling Maharishi; the rise of Sirhan Sirhan in the Scientology hierarchy; the transmutation of Richard Alpert into Baba Ram Dass."

The suit based on this statement charges, among other things, that Krassner is part of an enormous conspiracy, involving "established religious, medical, and political organizations presently unknown..."

Said conspiracy has "a conspiratorial party line whereby they harrass, ridicule, defame, and malign any new organizations, regardless of their merits," in order to "protect their established order and economic well-being for their own selfish, economic, social and ideological reasons."

The nine words in Krassner's editorial are essentially construed as "charging, asserting, and imputing that (Scientology) is not involved in a religious movement, but rather some form of unlawful or unethical activity."

"The nature of their lawsuit," says Krassner, "reveals more about them than any Realist could ever print. I never heard of an entire religion suing anybody before. Can you imagine the Quakers accusing me of being part of a conspiracy because I said that President Nixon is a member?

"If I had announced that the Realist was going to publish an article called "The Rise of Richard Nixon in the Scientology Hierarchy," would they still be suing? Or would they be glowing with clear pride instead? Would their reputation be more damaged by association with a single assassin than a mass murderer?

"What's really a threat to Scientology is the kind of consciousness I try to articulate, which they insist can be achieved only by swearing in court on the holy E-meter. The reason Jesus never sued the Philistines was because he was too busy chasing the moneylenders out of the temple."

(end)

I don't know the eventual disposition of this harrassing lawsuit, although it's a safe bet it was thrown out of court. I believe that Krassner is still around and knocking out an occasional "Realist." I wonder what he'd have to say about this today??

Robert Sheaffer - robert@patriarchy.com - Skeptical to the Max!
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