Carmel
Crusader
As many of you are aware, things are looking up for a Senate Inquiry into the Church Scientology in Australia.
Senator Xenophon and Rohen Wenn his advisor, are determined to do whatever they have to, to prevent the "Church" from continuing to harm as it has been in the past. They have rallied support from the Greens Party and the National Party (whose Senators are being quite vocal now), as well as support from the main media in the country.
Pretty well all the Senators are now aware of the abuses within the "Church" and there is no argument on that issue. There is still debate though, on the best way to tackle it.
As we all know, it takes time after leaving, to front up to authorities about what went on. But that's beside the point! We as exes aren't wanting retribution after the fact, we are wanting the crimes and abuses to be prevented. The question is, what is the govt doing in regard to prevention?
At this time, it would help if the exes who *know*, sent letters and emails to the MP's and to the media (your letters to the MP's can remain confidential). Our letters have had a huge impact so far (the Senators we met with the other day, spoke of the impact all the letters from former Scios have had on them). Another "impact" would come in handy now.
The media and many MP's are supporting this endeavour, but they can do a better job of it and it will happen faster, if and when they get the info from the horses mouth.
Needless to say, I'm trying to do a sell job here. If you're up to it, and/or if ya have a point to make that maybe some of these guys don't seem to get or don't know about, then an email their way from exes (including those overseas) would be a good thing.
Below is a letter I've sent to Senators in the Liberal and Labour Parties, Prime Minister Rudd, and Tony Abbot the Leader of the Opposition. I've also sent other letters to media contacts and those MP's on side, but have included this letter too, for info.
If you want to do the same, then here's the site with all their contacts:
http://www.aph.gov.au/
I'll leave it with ya.
"My name is Carmel Underwood. I wrote one of the letters that Senator Xenophon tabled back in November. I was the Executive Director of the Church of Scientology in Sydney for three years (in the early nineties), I held other senior positions within the Organisation (over two decades), and I was one of a number of *former* Scientologists who met with some of the Senators in Canberra on Thursday March 18th.
I’m not going to reiterate what I’ve already stated about the crimes and abuses within the Church of Scientology, nor what has been stated here in Australia and all over the world by hundreds of others. Although, in light of some of the reasons given for not having an Inquiry into the behaviour of the Church of Scientology (in the Senate on Thursday, March 18th), I do want to shed some light on some relevant issues.
-Since I started waking up to what motivated the Organisation (getting on for two years ago now) and to the fact that what I was subjected to was the rule, as opposed to the exception, I have helped many other Scientologists wake up to the same thing. I know or know of over 500 people in Australia who decided, in the twelve month period prior to September last year, to “get out”. Sadly though, only about 30 of those people had made the fact known to the Organisation, for fear of consequences. Back in September last year, only 6 of those 30 people (including my husband and I) were prepared to “go public” with what we knew.
-The vast majority who want nothing more to do with the Organisation, fear for their livelihood, their personal safety, and/or fear the loss of familial relationships, so they don’t dare let on to the Organisation or their friends where they are at on it, let alone “go public” against it. So much is at stake.
-I know several young people who were brought up in the “Sea Organisation”. They worked for the Sea Org as children, grew up a bit and left. Where are they now? I’ve had some of them cry on my shoulder about much, but they won’t dare speak out about the abuse they received. Their parents are still in the Sea Org and, while they may be heartbroken that their parents have discarded them and put Scientology before them, they still live in hope of love and support from their parents, so *won’t* speak out against Scientology.
-At the time we “left”, back in early ’98, I went through six months of disciplinary actions due to disagreements I had with management and the general modus operandi of the Organisation. With the mindset we had at the time, we couldn’t face being expelled. That would have meant losing all our employees, losing all our friends (through disconnection), and at that time the thought of our kids in the future having to choose between us and Scientology was too much to bear. We did all in our power to “get out” without being expelled, and we did so, but it cost us tens of thousands of dollars for “security checking”, a type of interrogation, and months of our time under “disciplinary” action. We were forced/coerced to pay for the “justice” put upon us (sounds bizarre, but the threat of consequences, if we didn’t, was worse). This cost me serious psychological damage for 10 years. I didn’t get to address or deal with this damage until nearly two years ago when I discovered other former Scientologists on the net and realised that what happened to me was not the exception but the rule within the Church of Scientology, and that I wasn’t such a bad person or failure after all.
-When we distanced ourselves from the Organisation back in ’98, we also moved out of Sydney. While living in Sydney there were numerous times when we had people from the Organisation arrive unannounced at our door wanting money or insisting that we go in to the Premises in Glebe. Many times, this was after midnight. After we moved and up until September 2008, we still had uninvited “Church” officials arrive at our door trying to “recover” us or get money from us, although it was far less frequently. We also had numerous phone calls from numerous people. At certain periods (maybe 9 times a year, sometimes for a couple of weeks), we’d get phone calls every 15 mins from different people within the Organisation. The phone calls kept coming because we didn’t “confirm” that we would be attending a particular function or because we didn’t buy what “every Scientologist needed to purchase”. We were harassed continually by the Organisation, right up until the point that we publicly avowed our disagreement with the Church of Scientology. That was a huge step for us, and many of our friends disconnected from us at this point (we knew that they would). Friends of my sons, who they grew up with, also disconnected from them because they were our children.
-In mid-December ’09, after Senator Xenophon had tabled our letters in Parliament and I had continued to be vocal about my stance on the Church, we had an incident happen at home. One of our dogs was poisoned. We were with her when she started to convulse and got her straight to the vet. We nearly lost her while we were at the vet’s and the vet told us that she nearly lost her during the operation. The vet found a large amount of snail pellets in her stomach. That night, we found a newly open packet of snail pellets in the cupboard directly under our kitchen sink.
We don’t buy nor use snail pellets because of the dogs. If we did, we’d not keep snail pellets under our kitchen sink. They’d be with the other poisons on a shelf in the shed. We live on a rural property and prior to this incident we didn’t close our doors often, let alone lock them. We searched our property high and low for any remains of snail pellets but found nothing. The local police tested the box of snail pellets (newly arrived under our sink) for DNA and finger prints. There was nothing. They said that the box had clearly been wiped clean because there should be at least something on it from the shop where it came from. Our dog survived, but she only did because we got her straight to the vet as soon as she showed signs of being affected. If we hadn’t done that, we would have had a dead dog and a box of snail pellets as a message. A couple of days prior to the poisoning, I had someone follow me to Gosford hospital where I stayed for 20 mins or so, then follow me again from Gosford hospital to Erina.
We couldn’t help but put two and two together. A potential burglar may well poison dogs on a property, but would they put a newly opened box of snail pellets under the sink? We had heard of other Scientology critics being followed and having their pets poisoned. Per reports, it has happened a lot. We didn’t think though, that it would happen in Australia. Our local police were somewhat aghast by the circumstances and made a “case” of the incident, but it hit a dead end. The evidence was “circumstantial”, as was evidence relating to other unusual incidents happening to other Australian critics who spoke out against the Church of Scientology.
-I can’t give you all the details here and now, but we believe without a doubt that we have been “fair gamed” by the Church of Scientology (“fair gaming” of critics is covered in Scientology published policy). After this episode, two family members said “no more”. Our dogs are part of our family, so we were rocked by what happened. It’s also unnerving to have someone in a car sitting outside our property and/or following us. This has caused major conflict on the home front and would be enough for many to close the book on it. Many who have been “fair gamed” do close the door, and many *won’t* act at all for fear of being “fair gamed”. Going to the authorities isn’t something that Scientologists generally do. If they are lucky they get out of the Organisation, and they are aware that, if they don’t want their lives completely wrecked, they’re best to shut up and go into hiding.
As you are well aware, Senator Xenophon is determined to see this matter through. For the record, so are we who have spoken out publicly against the Church of Scientology. We have already done so at huge personal expense and have done so for a reason. As well as Senator Xenophon, we too are determined to stay with this issue until it is resolved.
Last year, we approached every “authority” known to man and God in this country, to look at this situation and help us prevent abuses from happening in the future. Hundreds of letters and appeals fell on deaf ears. The police weren’t interested - it was “hearsay” or past the statute of limitations. Consumer affairs weren’t interested. We hit a dead end. The Dept of Fair Trading wasn’t interested because staff members were “volunteers”. What would be the point in going to the Tax Dept, when the Church of Scientology has already been granted tax free status? Etc, etc, etc. Senator Xenophon listened, has taken up this issue, and we are thankful. Yet we are somewhat dumbfounded, that he was the only one who did.
My interest and the interests of those who speak out is NOT about what was done to us! Our interest is in the prevention of the same thing being done to others in the future and the prevention of particular harm, going on today, at the hands of the CofS.
In this country, we have rules and agreements that prevent someone who is not an electrician changing a light bulb on a building site. Yet, we have no rules or agreements preventing incarceration, slave labour, coerced abortions, separation of families, suicides, interrogation, financial ruin, sometimes death, and damaging/ lasting psychological damage - if and when it’s done by an Organisation which calls itself a “Church”.
While recourse for wrongs of the past would be a good thing, this is not a solution to the matter at hand and is NOT the issue. The issue is about preventing the same wrongs in the future. Measures are continually being put in place in the workplace in EVERY State in this country to avoid *potential* harm and some would argue that these measures are over the top. Yet when it comes to measures being put in place to prevent the Church of Scientology from continuing to harm as it actually has and *does*, it’s an up hill climb to get any measures or legislation put in place to prevent the crimes and abuses rampant within the Church of Scientology, which are occurring every bloody day!
For every *former* Scientologist, who somehow escapes from the trap and who then speaks out about things which happened in the past, there are a hundred who remain silent. Meanwhile though, there are thousands who don’t get to escape, who are *still* Scientologists, and who are still being financially, psychologically, and sometimes physically abused, AS WE SPEAK.
This issue is not about retribution or justice. It’s about preventing the harm in the first place. We have hundreds of laws in this country preventing harm which is far less harmful than the harm perpetrated by the Church of Scientology. We have laws protecting just about every sector of society. Why not this one?
Thanks to all for attention on this matter. It’s one that I won’t, and many won’t, just let go away or be swept under the carpet. Here’s hoping there’ll be a resolution sooner rather than later, and that the resolution, which is inevitable, won’t be a political nightmare for you folk.
Godspeed to all,
Carmel Underwood"
Senator Xenophon and Rohen Wenn his advisor, are determined to do whatever they have to, to prevent the "Church" from continuing to harm as it has been in the past. They have rallied support from the Greens Party and the National Party (whose Senators are being quite vocal now), as well as support from the main media in the country.
Pretty well all the Senators are now aware of the abuses within the "Church" and there is no argument on that issue. There is still debate though, on the best way to tackle it.
As we all know, it takes time after leaving, to front up to authorities about what went on. But that's beside the point! We as exes aren't wanting retribution after the fact, we are wanting the crimes and abuses to be prevented. The question is, what is the govt doing in regard to prevention?
At this time, it would help if the exes who *know*, sent letters and emails to the MP's and to the media (your letters to the MP's can remain confidential). Our letters have had a huge impact so far (the Senators we met with the other day, spoke of the impact all the letters from former Scios have had on them). Another "impact" would come in handy now.
The media and many MP's are supporting this endeavour, but they can do a better job of it and it will happen faster, if and when they get the info from the horses mouth.
Needless to say, I'm trying to do a sell job here. If you're up to it, and/or if ya have a point to make that maybe some of these guys don't seem to get or don't know about, then an email their way from exes (including those overseas) would be a good thing.
Below is a letter I've sent to Senators in the Liberal and Labour Parties, Prime Minister Rudd, and Tony Abbot the Leader of the Opposition. I've also sent other letters to media contacts and those MP's on side, but have included this letter too, for info.
If you want to do the same, then here's the site with all their contacts:
http://www.aph.gov.au/
I'll leave it with ya.
"My name is Carmel Underwood. I wrote one of the letters that Senator Xenophon tabled back in November. I was the Executive Director of the Church of Scientology in Sydney for three years (in the early nineties), I held other senior positions within the Organisation (over two decades), and I was one of a number of *former* Scientologists who met with some of the Senators in Canberra on Thursday March 18th.
I’m not going to reiterate what I’ve already stated about the crimes and abuses within the Church of Scientology, nor what has been stated here in Australia and all over the world by hundreds of others. Although, in light of some of the reasons given for not having an Inquiry into the behaviour of the Church of Scientology (in the Senate on Thursday, March 18th), I do want to shed some light on some relevant issues.
-Since I started waking up to what motivated the Organisation (getting on for two years ago now) and to the fact that what I was subjected to was the rule, as opposed to the exception, I have helped many other Scientologists wake up to the same thing. I know or know of over 500 people in Australia who decided, in the twelve month period prior to September last year, to “get out”. Sadly though, only about 30 of those people had made the fact known to the Organisation, for fear of consequences. Back in September last year, only 6 of those 30 people (including my husband and I) were prepared to “go public” with what we knew.
-The vast majority who want nothing more to do with the Organisation, fear for their livelihood, their personal safety, and/or fear the loss of familial relationships, so they don’t dare let on to the Organisation or their friends where they are at on it, let alone “go public” against it. So much is at stake.
-I know several young people who were brought up in the “Sea Organisation”. They worked for the Sea Org as children, grew up a bit and left. Where are they now? I’ve had some of them cry on my shoulder about much, but they won’t dare speak out about the abuse they received. Their parents are still in the Sea Org and, while they may be heartbroken that their parents have discarded them and put Scientology before them, they still live in hope of love and support from their parents, so *won’t* speak out against Scientology.
-At the time we “left”, back in early ’98, I went through six months of disciplinary actions due to disagreements I had with management and the general modus operandi of the Organisation. With the mindset we had at the time, we couldn’t face being expelled. That would have meant losing all our employees, losing all our friends (through disconnection), and at that time the thought of our kids in the future having to choose between us and Scientology was too much to bear. We did all in our power to “get out” without being expelled, and we did so, but it cost us tens of thousands of dollars for “security checking”, a type of interrogation, and months of our time under “disciplinary” action. We were forced/coerced to pay for the “justice” put upon us (sounds bizarre, but the threat of consequences, if we didn’t, was worse). This cost me serious psychological damage for 10 years. I didn’t get to address or deal with this damage until nearly two years ago when I discovered other former Scientologists on the net and realised that what happened to me was not the exception but the rule within the Church of Scientology, and that I wasn’t such a bad person or failure after all.
-When we distanced ourselves from the Organisation back in ’98, we also moved out of Sydney. While living in Sydney there were numerous times when we had people from the Organisation arrive unannounced at our door wanting money or insisting that we go in to the Premises in Glebe. Many times, this was after midnight. After we moved and up until September 2008, we still had uninvited “Church” officials arrive at our door trying to “recover” us or get money from us, although it was far less frequently. We also had numerous phone calls from numerous people. At certain periods (maybe 9 times a year, sometimes for a couple of weeks), we’d get phone calls every 15 mins from different people within the Organisation. The phone calls kept coming because we didn’t “confirm” that we would be attending a particular function or because we didn’t buy what “every Scientologist needed to purchase”. We were harassed continually by the Organisation, right up until the point that we publicly avowed our disagreement with the Church of Scientology. That was a huge step for us, and many of our friends disconnected from us at this point (we knew that they would). Friends of my sons, who they grew up with, also disconnected from them because they were our children.
-In mid-December ’09, after Senator Xenophon had tabled our letters in Parliament and I had continued to be vocal about my stance on the Church, we had an incident happen at home. One of our dogs was poisoned. We were with her when she started to convulse and got her straight to the vet. We nearly lost her while we were at the vet’s and the vet told us that she nearly lost her during the operation. The vet found a large amount of snail pellets in her stomach. That night, we found a newly open packet of snail pellets in the cupboard directly under our kitchen sink.
We don’t buy nor use snail pellets because of the dogs. If we did, we’d not keep snail pellets under our kitchen sink. They’d be with the other poisons on a shelf in the shed. We live on a rural property and prior to this incident we didn’t close our doors often, let alone lock them. We searched our property high and low for any remains of snail pellets but found nothing. The local police tested the box of snail pellets (newly arrived under our sink) for DNA and finger prints. There was nothing. They said that the box had clearly been wiped clean because there should be at least something on it from the shop where it came from. Our dog survived, but she only did because we got her straight to the vet as soon as she showed signs of being affected. If we hadn’t done that, we would have had a dead dog and a box of snail pellets as a message. A couple of days prior to the poisoning, I had someone follow me to Gosford hospital where I stayed for 20 mins or so, then follow me again from Gosford hospital to Erina.
We couldn’t help but put two and two together. A potential burglar may well poison dogs on a property, but would they put a newly opened box of snail pellets under the sink? We had heard of other Scientology critics being followed and having their pets poisoned. Per reports, it has happened a lot. We didn’t think though, that it would happen in Australia. Our local police were somewhat aghast by the circumstances and made a “case” of the incident, but it hit a dead end. The evidence was “circumstantial”, as was evidence relating to other unusual incidents happening to other Australian critics who spoke out against the Church of Scientology.
-I can’t give you all the details here and now, but we believe without a doubt that we have been “fair gamed” by the Church of Scientology (“fair gaming” of critics is covered in Scientology published policy). After this episode, two family members said “no more”. Our dogs are part of our family, so we were rocked by what happened. It’s also unnerving to have someone in a car sitting outside our property and/or following us. This has caused major conflict on the home front and would be enough for many to close the book on it. Many who have been “fair gamed” do close the door, and many *won’t* act at all for fear of being “fair gamed”. Going to the authorities isn’t something that Scientologists generally do. If they are lucky they get out of the Organisation, and they are aware that, if they don’t want their lives completely wrecked, they’re best to shut up and go into hiding.
As you are well aware, Senator Xenophon is determined to see this matter through. For the record, so are we who have spoken out publicly against the Church of Scientology. We have already done so at huge personal expense and have done so for a reason. As well as Senator Xenophon, we too are determined to stay with this issue until it is resolved.
Last year, we approached every “authority” known to man and God in this country, to look at this situation and help us prevent abuses from happening in the future. Hundreds of letters and appeals fell on deaf ears. The police weren’t interested - it was “hearsay” or past the statute of limitations. Consumer affairs weren’t interested. We hit a dead end. The Dept of Fair Trading wasn’t interested because staff members were “volunteers”. What would be the point in going to the Tax Dept, when the Church of Scientology has already been granted tax free status? Etc, etc, etc. Senator Xenophon listened, has taken up this issue, and we are thankful. Yet we are somewhat dumbfounded, that he was the only one who did.
My interest and the interests of those who speak out is NOT about what was done to us! Our interest is in the prevention of the same thing being done to others in the future and the prevention of particular harm, going on today, at the hands of the CofS.
In this country, we have rules and agreements that prevent someone who is not an electrician changing a light bulb on a building site. Yet, we have no rules or agreements preventing incarceration, slave labour, coerced abortions, separation of families, suicides, interrogation, financial ruin, sometimes death, and damaging/ lasting psychological damage - if and when it’s done by an Organisation which calls itself a “Church”.
While recourse for wrongs of the past would be a good thing, this is not a solution to the matter at hand and is NOT the issue. The issue is about preventing the same wrongs in the future. Measures are continually being put in place in the workplace in EVERY State in this country to avoid *potential* harm and some would argue that these measures are over the top. Yet when it comes to measures being put in place to prevent the Church of Scientology from continuing to harm as it actually has and *does*, it’s an up hill climb to get any measures or legislation put in place to prevent the crimes and abuses rampant within the Church of Scientology, which are occurring every bloody day!
For every *former* Scientologist, who somehow escapes from the trap and who then speaks out about things which happened in the past, there are a hundred who remain silent. Meanwhile though, there are thousands who don’t get to escape, who are *still* Scientologists, and who are still being financially, psychologically, and sometimes physically abused, AS WE SPEAK.
This issue is not about retribution or justice. It’s about preventing the harm in the first place. We have hundreds of laws in this country preventing harm which is far less harmful than the harm perpetrated by the Church of Scientology. We have laws protecting just about every sector of society. Why not this one?
Thanks to all for attention on this matter. It’s one that I won’t, and many won’t, just let go away or be swept under the carpet. Here’s hoping there’ll be a resolution sooner rather than later, and that the resolution, which is inevitable, won’t be a political nightmare for you folk.
Godspeed to all,
Carmel Underwood"
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