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[[Image:Xenu BBC Panorama.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Xenu, as depicted by ''[[Panorama (British television series)|BBC Panorama]]'']]
[[Image:Xenu BBC Panorama.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Xenu, as depicted by ''[[Panorama (British television series)|BBC Panorama]]'']]
'''Xenu''' (also '''Xemu'''), pronounced {{IPA|['zi.nu:]}}, according to [[Scientology]] founder [[L. Ron Hubbard]], was the dictator of the "[[Galactic Confederacy]]" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions<ref name=thmill>Thousands of millions in [[Long and short scales|Long Scale]]</ref> of his people to Earth in [[Douglas DC-8|DC-8]]-like spacecraft, stacked them around [[volcano]]es and killed them using [[Nuclear weapon#Fusion bombs|hydrogen bombs]]. Scientology holds that their essences remained, and that they form around people in modern times, causing them spiritual harm.<ref name=scott1>Scott, Michael Dennis (2004) "Internet And Technology Law Desk Reference", Aspen Publishers, ISBN 0735547432</ref><ref name=lewis1>Lewis James R (2003) "The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements", Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195149866</ref>
'''Xenu''' (also '''Xemu'''), pronounced {{IPA|['zi.nu:]}}, according to the aw-inspiring mind of the prophet and founder of scientology,[[Scientology]] [[L. Ron Hubbard]], was the alien dictator of the "[[Galactic Confederacy]]" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions<ref name=thmill>Thousands of millions in [[Long and short scales|Long Scale]]</ref> of his people to Earth in [[Douglas DC-8|DC-8]]-like spacecraft, stacked them around [[volcano]]es and killed them using [[Nuclear weapon#Fusion bombs|hydrogen bombs]]. Scientology holds that their essences remained, and that they form around people in modern times, causing them spiritual harm.<ref name=scott1>Scott, Michael Dennis (2004) "Internet And Technology Law Desk Reference", Aspen Publishers, ISBN 0735547432</ref><ref name=lewis1>Lewis James R (2003) "The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements", Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195149866</ref>


These events are known to Scientologists as "Incident II", and the traumatic memories associated with them as '''The Wall of Fire'''. The story of Xenu is part of Scientologist teachings on extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in Earthly events, collectively described as ''[[Space opera in Scientology doctrine|space opera]]'' by Hubbard. Hubbard detailed the story in [[Operating Thetan]] level III ('''OT III''') in 1967, warning that this material was <!-- DON'T FIX -->"calculated to kill (by [[pneumonia]] etc) anyone who attempts to solve it."<sup><nowiki>[</nowiki>''[[sic]]''<nowiki>]</nowiki></sup><!-- DON'T FIX That's an exact quote -->
This event is now known to Scientologists as "Incident II", and the extremley traumatic memories associated with them as '''The Wall of Fire'''. The story of Xenu is part of Scientologist teachings on extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in Earthly events, collectively described as ''[[Space opera in Scientology doctrine|space opera]]'' by Hubbard. Hubbard detailed the story in [[Operating Thetan]] level III ('''OT III''') in 1967, warning that this material was <!-- DON'T FIX -->"calculated to kill (by [[pneumonia]] etc) anyone who attempts to solve it."<sup><nowiki>[</nowiki>''[[sic]]''<nowiki>]</nowiki></sup><!-- DON'T FIX That's an exact quote -->


[[Scientology controversy|Criticism]] of the [[Church of Scientology]] often includes details of the Xenu story. The Church has tried to keep Xenu confidential<ref>{{cite web | work = Ruling Scientology vs. providers and Karin Spaink | title = Summary proceedings |date=March 12 1996 | url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/verd1eng.html|accessdate = 2006-08-09}}</ref> and critics say that revealing the story is in the [[public interest]], given the high prices charged for OT III, part of Scientology's secret "Advanced Technology" doctrines taught only to members who have already contributed large amounts of money to the organization.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Sappell | first = Joel | coauthors = Robert W. Welkos | title = The Scientology Story | journal = [[Los Angeles Times]] | pages = page A36:1 | date = [[24 June]] [[1990]] | url = http://www.latimes.com/news/local/inland/la-scientology-sg,1,7389843.storygallery?coll=la-editions-inland-news | accessdate = 2006-08-09}} [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/la90/la90.html Additional convenience link].</ref> The Church avoids making mention of Xenu in public statements and has gone to considerable effort to maintain the story's confidentiality, including [[Scientology controversy|legal action]] on the grounds of both [[copyright]] and [[trade secret|trade secrecy]]. Despite this, much material on Xenu has leaked to the public, largely via the [[Scientology and the Internet|Internet]].
[[Scientology controversy|Criticism]] of the [[Church of Scientology]] often includes details of the Xenu story. The Church has tried to keep Xenu confidential<ref>{{cite web | work = Ruling Scientology vs. providers and Karin Spaink | title = Summary proceedings |date=March 12 1996 | url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/verd1eng.html|accessdate = 2006-08-09}}</ref> and critics say that revealing the story is in the [[public interest]], given the high prices charged for OT III, part of Scientology's secret "Advanced Technology" doctrines taught only to members who have already contributed large amounts of money to the organization.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Sappell | first = Joel | coauthors = Robert W. Welkos | title = The Scientology Story | journal = [[Los Angeles Times]] | pages = page A36:1 | date = [[24 June]] [[1990]] | url = http://www.latimes.com/news/local/inland/la-scientology-sg,1,7389843.storygallery?coll=la-editions-inland-news | accessdate = 2006-08-09}} [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/la90/la90.html Additional convenience link].</ref> The Church avoids making mention of Xenu in public statements and has gone to considerable effort to maintain the story's confidentiality, including [[Scientology controversy|legal action]] on the grounds of both [[copyright]] and [[trade secret|trade secrecy]]. Despite this, much material on Xenu has leaked to the public, largely via the [[Scientology and the Internet|Internet]].

Revision as of 04:00, 1 December 2007

For other uses, see Xenu (disambiguation).
Xenu, as depicted by BBC Panorama

Xenu (also Xemu), pronounced ['zi.nu:], according to the aw-inspiring mind of the prophet and founder of scientology,Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, was the alien dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions[1] of his people to Earth in DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs. Scientology holds that their essences remained, and that they form around people in modern times, causing them spiritual harm.[2][3]

This event is now known to Scientologists as "Incident II", and the extremley traumatic memories associated with them as The Wall of Fire. The story of Xenu is part of Scientologist teachings on extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in Earthly events, collectively described as space opera by Hubbard. Hubbard detailed the story in Operating Thetan level III (OT III) in 1967, warning that this material was "calculated to kill (by pneumonia etc) anyone who attempts to solve it."[sic]

Criticism of the Church of Scientology often includes details of the Xenu story. The Church has tried to keep Xenu confidential[4] and critics say that revealing the story is in the public interest, given the high prices charged for OT III, part of Scientology's secret "Advanced Technology" doctrines taught only to members who have already contributed large amounts of money to the organization.[5] The Church avoids making mention of Xenu in public statements and has gone to considerable effort to maintain the story's confidentiality, including legal action on the grounds of both copyright and trade secrecy. Despite this, much material on Xenu has leaked to the public, largely via the Internet.

Summary

The story of Xenu is covered in OT III, part of Scientology's secret "Advanced Technology" doctrines taught only to advanced members. It is described in more detail in the accompanying confidential "Assists" lecture of 3 October, 1968 and is dramatized in Revolt in the Stars (an unpublished screenplay written by L Ron Hubbard during the late 1970s). Direct quotations in this section are from these sources. (See also Scientology beliefs and practices)

Seventy-five million years ago, Xenu was the ruler of a Galactic Confederacy which consisted of 26 stars and 76 planets including Earth, which was then known as Teegeeack. The planets were overpopulated, each having an average population of 178 billion.[1][2][3] The Galactic Confederacy's civilization was comparable to our own, with aliens "walking around in clothes which looked very remarkably like the clothes they wear this very minute" and using cars, trains and boats looking exactly the same as those "circa 1950, 1960" on Earth.

Xenu was about to be deposed from power, so he devised a plot to eliminate the excess population from his dominions. With the assistance of "renegades", he defeated the populace and the "Loyal Officers", a force for good that was opposed to Xenu. Then, with the assistance of psychiatrists, he summoned billions[1] of his citizens together to paralyze them with injections of alcohol and glycol, under the pretense that they were being called for "income tax inspections". The kidnapped populace was loaded into spacecraft for transport to the site of extermination, the planet of Teegeeack (Earth). The spacecraft were identical to the Douglas DC-8 with the exception of having different engines.

Artist's impression of one of Xenu's space planes, per Hubbard's description.

When they had reached Teegeeack/Earth, the paralyzed citizens were unloaded around the bases of volcanoes across the planet. Hydrogen bombs were then lowered into the volcanoes and detonated simultaneously. Only a few aliens' physical bodies survived. Hubbard described the scene in his film script, Revolt in the Stars:

Simultaneously, the planted charges erupted. Atomic blasts ballooned from the craters of Loa, Vesuvius, Shasta, Washington, Fujiyama, Etna, and many, many others. Arching higher and higher, up and outwards, towering clouds mushroomed, shot through with flashes of flame, waste and fission. Great winds raced tumultuously across the face of Earth, spreading tales of destruction. Debris-studded, and sickly yellow, the atomic clouds followed close on the heels of the winds. Their bow-shaped fronts encroached inexorably upon forest, city and mankind, they delivered their gifts of death and radiation. A skyscraper, tall and arrow-straight, bent over to form a question mark to the very idea of humanity before crumbling into the screaming city below...

— L. Ron Hubbard, Revolt in the Stars treatment

The now-disembodied victims' souls, which Hubbard called thetans, were blown into the air by the blast. They were captured by Xenu's forces using an "electronic ribbon" ("which also was a type of standing wave") and sucked into "vacuum zones" around the world. The hundreds of billions[6] of captured thetans were taken to a type of cinema, where they were forced to watch a "three-D, super colossal motion picture" for thirty-six days. This implanted what Hubbard termed "various misleading data"' (collectively termed the R6 implant) into the memories of the hapless thetans, "which has to do with God, the Devil, space opera, et cetera". This included all world religions, with Hubbard specifically attributing Roman Catholicism and the image of the Crucifixion to the influence of Xenu. The interior decoration of "all modern theaters" is also said by Hubbard to be due to an unconscious recollection of Xenu's implants. The two "implant stations" cited by Hubbard were said to have been located on Hawaii and Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

In addition to implanting new beliefs in the thetans, the images deprived them of their sense of personal identity. When the thetans left the projection areas, they started to cluster together in groups of a few thousand, having lost the ability to differentiate between each other. Each cluster of thetans gathered into one of the few remaining bodies that survived the explosion. These became what are known as body thetans, which are said to be still clinging to and adversely affecting everyone except those Scientologists who have performed the necessary steps to remove them.

The Loyal Officers finally overthrew Xenu and locked him away in a mountain, where he was imprisoned forever by a force field powered by an eternal battery (Some have suggested that Xenu is imprisoned on Earth in the Pyrenees, but Hubbard merely refers to "one of these planets" (of the Galactic Confederacy). He does, however, refer to the Pyrenees as being the site of the last operating "Martian report station", which is probably the source of this particular confusion.[7] Teegeeack/Earth was subsequently abandoned by the Galactic Confederacy and remains a pariah "prison planet" to this day, although it has suffered repeatedly from incursions by alien "Invader Forces" since that time.

Xenu's volcanoes

In OT III, Hubbard names the locations around the world where Xenu's mass murder took place, in addition to the two implant stations located at Hawaii and Las Palmas.[8] In Revolt in the Stars, the volcanoes named differ somewhat from those in OT III; for instance, Etna and Vesuvius are named in Revolt but not in OT III.[9] The volcanoes which Xenu blew up were said to have been situated at: Template:Multicol

Template:Multicol-break

Template:Multicol-break

Xenu is said to have dumped his surplus population around volcanoes, like this one on Hawaii, and blown them up with hydrogen bombs.

Template:Multicol-end

Xenu in Scientology doctrine

Within Scientology, the Xenu story is referred to as "The Wall of Fire" or "Incident II". Hubbard attached tremendous importance to it, saying that it constituted "the secrets of a disaster which resulted in the decay of life as we know it in this sector of the galaxy".[10] The broad outlines of the story — that 75 million years ago a great catastrophe happened in this sector of the galaxy which caused profoundly negative effects for everyone since then — are publicly admitted to lower-level Scientologists. However, the details are kept strictly confidential, at least within the Church.

Hubbard said that he was the first to map a precise route through the Wall of Fire, "probably the only one ever to do so in 75,000,000 years". He first publicly announced his "breakthrough" in Ron's Journal 67 (RJ67), a tape Hubbard recorded on 20 September, 1967 to be sent to all members of the Church. According to Hubbard, his research was achieved at the cost of a broken back, knee and arm. OT III contains a warning that the R6 implant is "calculated to kill (by pneumonia etc) anyone who attempts to solve it." In RJ67, Hubbard then alludes to the devastating effect of Xenu's genocide:

And it is very true that a great catastrophe occurred on this planet and in the other 75 planets which formed this [Galactic] Confederacy 75 million years ago. It has since that time been a desert, and it has been the lot of just a handful to try to push its technology up to a level where someone might adventure forward, penetrate the catastrophe, and undo it. We're well on our way to making this occur.

OT III also deals with Incident I, set four quadrillion[11] years ago (roughly 300,000 times longer than current scientific consensus holds the age of the universe to be). In Incident I, the unsuspecting thetan was subjected to a loud snapping noise followed by a flood of luminescence, then saw a chariot followed by a trumpeting cherub. After a loud set of snaps, the thetan was overwhelmed by darkness. This is described as the implant offering the gateway to this universe, meaning that these traumatic memories are what separate thetans from their static (natural, godlike) state.

Hubbard uses the existence of body thetans to explain many of the physical and mental ailments of humanity which, he says, prevent people from achieving their highest spiritual levels. OT III tells the student to remove the body thetans by bringing them to awareness of themselves as individual beings: "One has to clean them off by running incident II and Incident I." The student is directed to find a cluster of body thetans, address it telepathically as a cluster and take first the cluster then each individual member of the cluster through Incident II, then Incident I if needed. Hubbard warns that this is a painstaking procedure, and OT levels IV to VII continue the long process of dealing with one's body thetans.

The Church has objected to the Xenu story being used to paint Scientology as a mere science fiction fantasy.[12] See: Space opera in Scientology doctrine. Hubbard's statements concerning the R6 implant have been a source of contention. Critics and some Christians state that Hubbard's statements regarding R6 prove that Scientology doctrine is incompatible with Christianity,[13][14][15][16] despite the Church's statements to the contrary.[17] In "Assists", Hubbard says:

Everyman is then shown to have been crucified so don't think that it's an accident that this crucifixion, they found out that this applied. Somebody somewhere on this planet, back about 600 BC, found some pieces of R6, and I don't know how they found it, either by watching madmen or something, but since that time they have used it and it became what is known as Christianity. The man on the Cross. There was no Christ. But the man on the cross is shown as Everyman.

Origins of the Xenu story

Fireball of a nuclear explosion, like the ones said to have been set off by Xenu.

Hubbard wrote OT III in late 1966 and early 1967 in North Africa while on his way to Las Palmas to join the Enchanter, the first vessel of his private Scientology fleet (the "Sea Org").[18] (OT III says "In December 1967 I knew someone had to take the plunge", but the material was publicised well before this.) He emphasized later that OT III was his own personal discovery.

Critics of Scientology have suggested that other factors may have been at work. In a letter of the time to his wife Mary Sue,[19] Hubbard said that, in order to assist his research, he was drinking alcohol and taking stimulants and depressants ("I'm drinking lots of rum and popping pinks and greys"). His assistant at the time, Virginia Downsborough, said that he "was existing almost totally on a diet of drugs."[20] Miller (p290) speculates that it was important for Hubbard to be found in a debilitated condition, so as to present OT III as "a research accomplishment of immense magnitude".

Elements of the Xenu story appeared in Scientology before OT III. Hubbard's descriptions of extraterrestrial conflicts were put forward as early as 1952 and were enthusiastically endorsed by Scientologists, who documented their past lives on other planets (published in 1960 as Have You Lived Before This Life). OT III may not even have been Hubbard's first mention of Xenu, albeit in a different form. In an obscure lecture of 25 July 1958, "The Rock: Putting The PC At Cause", he refers to "Mount Zenu". Xenu, Hubbard says, was imprisoned under a mountain.

The idea that Earth is a prison planet, maintained by "entheta" [evil] beings or Targs who dumped their enemies on Earth, was first publicly put forward in an obscure taped demonstration of Scientology auditing recorded in April 1952 and released as "Electropsychometric Scouting: Battle of the Universes".[21] In many respects, OT III is virtually a retelling of this early tape, delivered in the first month of Scientology's existence. Hubbard describes how entheta beings defeat mutinous "theta" [good] beings and decided that "the battleground is too rough and these things have mutinied so let's put 'em all in one place and lock 'em on to Earth." The entheta beings were "controlled over by religion"; Mary Sue Hubbard asks "Is that when Christianity came into being?" to which Hubbard replies, "That's an entheta operation." Communism is also apparently "their great success" — "anybody who thinks in this society is immediately attacked, you're surrounded by Targs." A steady flow of flying saucers is still dropping off more entheta beings. The "Battle of the Universes" tape is no longer available from the Church of Scientology.

The influence of OT III on Scientology

The volcano on the cover of Dianetics refers to the Xenu story, according to court statements by Church of Scientology representatives.[citation needed]
File:DianeticsTEoAS.jpg
Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science (1972)

In the wake of Hubbard's revelation of the Wall of Fire, aspects of OT III and reflections of the Xenu story were adopted as symbols by the Church of Scientology. Hubbard is reported to have ordered that Scientology books be reissued with covers based on images from OT III.[22] The 1968 and subsequent reprints of Dianetics have had covers depicting an exploding volcano, apparently alluding to the volcanoes in the Xenu story — "Man responds to an exploding volcano" (Hubbard, "Assists"). Other cover images may reference Xenu as well: the cover of the 1972 edition of Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science shows pictures of uniformed men in white helmets carrying boxes in and out of a spaceship, which may refer to the transportation of Xenu's victims. Some of the cover images are more obscure but are conjectured to refer to other elements of OT III:

A special 'Book Mission' was sent out to promote these books, now empowered and made irresistible by the addition of these overwhelming symbols or images. Organization staff were assured that if they simply held up one of the books, revealing its cover, that any bookstore owner would immediately order crateloads of them. A customs officer, seeing any of the book covers in one's luggage, would immediately pass one on through.

— Bent Corydon, Messiah or Madman?
File:Sea org.png
The Sea Org logo.

Since the 1980s, the volcano has also been depicted in television commercials advertising Dianetics. Scientology's "Sea Org", an elite group within the church that originated with Hubbard's personal staff aboard his fleet of ships, takes many of its symbols from the story of Xenu and OT III. It is explicitly intended to be a revival of the "Loyal Officers" who overthrew Xenu. Its logo, a wreath with 26 leaves, represents the 26 stars of Xenu's Galactic Confederacy.[23] According to the Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary, "the Sea Org symbol, adopted and used as the symbol of a Galactic Confederacy far back in the history of this sector, derives much of its power and authority from that association."

In the Advanced Orgs in Edinburgh and Los Angeles, Scientology staff were at one time ordered to wear all-white uniforms with silver boots, to mimic Xenu's Galactic Patrol as depicted on the cover of Dianetics: The Evolution of a Science. This was reportedly done on the basis of Hubbard's declaration in his Flag Order 652 that mankind would accept regulation from that group which had last betrayed it — hence the imitation of Xenu's henchmen. (This was almost certainly a misinterpretation of what Hubbard meant — he was most likely referring to psychiatrists, whom he believed had played a key role in Xenu's crimes.) In Los Angeles, a nightwatch was ordered to watch for returning spaceships.[24] These measures were discarded after a time. "Captain" Bill Robertson, who instigated these measures, claimed to be second in command to L. Ron Hubbard and for a two month period in 1972 he indeed held a very high rank in the Sea Org. Over the next 10 years his behavior became very erratic. He became obsessed with remembering the words to a galactic marching song and felt the church had been infiltrated with spies.

Then, in 1982 he announced that he was not just Bill Robertson, a normal earthling, but was in fact called Astar Paramejgian, one of three beings who were in reality controlling the lives of trillions of inhabitants of "Sector 9", a collection of thousands of stars and planets in this sector of the galaxy. He was expelled from the Church; he continued to campaign until 1991 against the malign influence of the alien "Markabians". He formed the Galactic Patrol, the FreeZoners and Ron's Org, all squirrel groups. Astar Paramejgian (aka Bill Robertson) ultimately developed a malignant throat cancer which led to his death. A more lasting legacy of OT III was Scientology's organizational structure. The current "org board" is "a refined board of an old galactic civilization [the Galactic Confederacy]. We applied Scientology to it and found why it eventually failed. It lacked a couple of departments and that was enough to mess it all up. They lasted 80 trillion[25] [years]."[26]

"Xenu" or "Xemu"?

The manuscript of OT III contains the only known example of Xenu's name in Hubbard's handwriting.

The name has been spelled both as Xenu and Xemu. The Class VIII course material includes a three-page text, handwritten by Hubbard, headed "Data", in which the Xenu story is given in detail. Hubbard's indistinct handwriting makes either spelling possible, particularly as the use of the name on the first page of OT III is the only known example of the name in his handwriting. In the "Assists" lecture, Hubbard speaks of "Xenu, ahhh, could be spelled X-E-M-U" and clearly says "Xemu" several times on the recording. The treatment of Revolt In The Stars, which is typewritten (presumably by Hubbard), uses Xenu exclusively. Ex-Scientologists have reported that Xenu is the more commonly used form (Touretzky). Hubbard may have two separate names for the "Xenu" figure.

The Church of Scientology's position on Xenu

In its public statements, the Church of Scientology has been notably reluctant to admit the existence of writings on Xenu and even to mention Xenu's name; court filings and legal correspondence issued by the Church of Scientology in the 1990s frequently struck out the name "Xenu" and replaced it with "Xxxx",[27] a treatment given to no other term. In the relatively few instances in which it has acknowledged Xenu, the Church has stated the story is a religious writing that can be seen as the equivalent of the Old Testament, in which miraculous events are described that are unlikely to have occurred in real life, and assumes true meaning only after years of study. They complain of critics using it to paint the religion as a science fiction fantasy.[12]

Senior members of the Church of Scientology have several times publicly denied or minimized the importance of the Xenu story, but others have admitted its existence. In a BBC Panorama program that aired on May 14 2007, senior Scientologist Tommy Davis interrupted when celebrity members are asked about Xenu, saying: "None of us know what you're talking about. It's loony. It's weird." When John Carmichael, the president of the Church of Scientology of New York, was asked about the Xenu story in the September 9 2007 edition of the Daily Telegraph, he said "That's not what we believe."[28] In "A Conversation with David Miscavige", Nightline episode aired February 14 1992, Koppel directly asked Miscavige about the Xenu Story, David immediately said that this was not a part of current or modern Scientology.[29] However, in a 2006 interview with Rolling Stone, Mike Rinder, the director of the church's Office of Special Affairs, said that "It is not a story, it is an auditing level," when asked about the validity of the Xenu story.[30]

Scientology has many graduated levels through which one can progress. Many who remain at lower levels in the church are unaware of much of the space-opera doctrines, which mostly begin at Operating Thetan level three, or "OT III".[31] Because the information imparted to members is to be kept secret from others who have not attained that level, the member must publicly deny its existence when asked. OT III recipients must sign an agreement promising never to reveal its contents before they are given the manila envelope containing the Xenu knowledge.[30] It is knowledge so dangerous, members are told, that anyone learning this material before he is ready could die. After the Xenu story received considerable mainstream media attention from mid-2005, upper-level Scientologists involved in recent debates with critics have acknowledged the legitimacy of the story.[32] Recent public statements by the Church tend to position the tale as a very small part of the religion.

Xenu and Scientology critics

Critic of Scientology dressed as Xenu

Despite the Church's efforts to keep the story secret, details have been leaked over the years. OT III was first revealed in Robert Kaufman's 1972 book Inside Scientology: Or How I Found Scientology and Became Super Human, in which Kaufman detailed his own experiences of OT III. It was later described in a 1981 Clearwater Sun article by Richard Leiby, and came to greater public fame in a 1985 court case brought against the Church by Lawrence A. Wollersheim. The Church attempted to keep the case file checked out by a reader at all times, but the story was summarized in the Los Angeles Times, November 5, 1985 and detailed in William Poundstone's Bigger Secrets (1986) from information presented in the Wollersheim case.

Church lawyer Warren McShane said in a 1995 court case that the story had never been secret,[33] although maintaining there were nevertheless trade secrets contained in OT III. Notably, McShane discussed the details of the story at some length and specifically attributed the authorship of the story to Hubbard.[34]

On December 24, 1994, the text of OT III was published on the Internet for the first time in a posting to the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, through an anonymous remailer.[35] This subsequently brought on the actions of Scientology lawyers, leading to the online battle described as Scientology versus the Internet. Older versions of OT levels I to VII were brought as exhibits attached to a declaration by Steven Fishman on 9 April, 1993 as part of Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz. The text of this declaration and its exhibits, collectively known as the Fishman Affidavit, were posted to the alt.religion.scientology in August 1995 by Arnie Lerma and on the World Wide Web by David S. Touretzky. This was a subject of great controversy and legal battles for several years, notably a copyright raid on Lerma's house (leading to massive mirroring of the documents) and a suit against Dutch writer Karin Spaink — the Church bringing suit on copyright violation grounds for reproducing the source material, and also claiming rewordings would reveal a trade secret.

The Church's attempts to keep Xenu under wraps have been cited in court findings against it. In September 2003, a Dutch court, in a ruling in the case against Karin Spaink, stated that one objective in keeping OT II and OT III secret was to wield power over members of the Church and prevent discussion about the Church's teachings and practices:[36] "The texts previously quoted show that in its teachings and its structure, Scientology c.s. do not shun the rejection of democratic values. From these texts it is also apparent that one of the objectives of keeping OT II and OT III secret is to wield power over members of the Scientology organization and to prevent discussion about the teachings and practices of the Scientology organization."

Xenu is also widely cited by "Scientology critics": activists and debunkers who accuse the Church of being a scam. The price of the OT III auditing level (US$19500 in 1997) is given as evidence that Scientology peddles bad science fiction for a high price.[37] Operation Clambake, the most popular critical Web site concerning Scientology, uses the Internet domain name xenu.net. Geoffrey Filbert, a Free Zone (non-CoS) Scientologist, wrote a book, Excalibur Revisited, in 1982, containing his own version of OT III. This was the first of several versions available in the Free Zone. Roland Rashleigh-Berry, an ex-Scientologist, wrote a "Xenu leaflet", popular with critics, that summarizes the story of OT III. The leaflet includes part of the first page of OT III in Hubbard's handwriting, mentioning Xenu.

L. Ron Hubbard had apparently intended to publicize the Xenu story to the wider world under the title of Revolt in the Stars, an extended version of the story of OT III, which he wrote in the late 1970s. It has not been officially published, although the treatment was circulated around Hollywood in the early 1980s (Young). Copies of the treatment leaked, and Scientology critic Grady Ward published a summary.[38]

Although the Xenu story first leaked in 1972 and was widely publicized on the Internet and in news stories from 1995 onwards, it only achieved currency in popular culture in mid-2005, when Tom Cruise changed publicists and actively promoted Scientology while doing publicity for War of the Worlds; the press responded by citing the Xenu story in numerous articles.

South Park

Main article: Trapped in the Closet (South Park)
Xenu as depicted in South Park.

In November 2005, "Trapped in the Closet", an episode of the animated television series South Park, satirized Scientology, including an animated retelling of the Xenu story, with the words "THIS IS WHAT SCIENTOLOGISTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE" superimposed on-screen for most of it. In the South Park episode, the aliens are directly dropped into the volcanoes, and the thetans rise in an effort to return but are then captured. The episode had been scheduled to be rebroadcast on 15 March 2006, but Comedy Central instead ran "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls." According to Comedy Central, the substitution was intended to pay tribute to Isaac Hayes. According to the creators of South Park (Matt Stone and Trey Parker), Viacom (who own Comedy Central) replaced the episode because Scientology intervened and, more specifically, because Tom Cruise (who is himself lampooned in the episode) threatened distributor Paramount (also a Viacom property) with refusal to cooperate with the promotional campaign on the upcoming film Mission Impossible 3. This was denied by Cruise's representative. Parker and Stone issued a press release, published in the entertainment newspaper, Daily Variety:[39]

So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for Earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!

— Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Daily Variety

Comedy Central did eventually rebroadcast the episode on 19 July 2006.

Nip/Tuck

File:Xenu nip-tuck.jpg
Xenu appearing with Kimber Henry (Kelly Carlson) in a dream sequence in Nip/Tuck.

Xenu appeared in "Willy Ward", the penultimate episode of season 4 of the FX show Nip/Tuck (first broadcast December 5 2006). In a dream sequence, Scientologist character Kimber Henry (Kelly Carlson) has a vision of Xenu while experiencing hallucinations and doubts about Scientology. Xenu is depicted as a cross between Ming the Merciless and a stereotypical grey alien.[40][41]

See also

References

Notes

Note: HCOB refers to "Hubbard Communications Office Bulletins", HCOPL refers to "Hubbard Communications Office Policy Letters", and SHSBC refers to "Saint Hill Special Briefing Courses". All have been made publicly available by the Church of Scientology in the past, both as individual documents or in bound volumes.

  1. ^ a b c Thousands of millions in Long Scale
  2. ^ a b Scott, Michael Dennis (2004) "Internet And Technology Law Desk Reference", Aspen Publishers, ISBN 0735547432
  3. ^ a b Lewis James R (2003) "The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements", Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195149866
  4. ^ "Summary proceedings". Ruling Scientology vs. providers and Karin Spaink. March 12 1996. Retrieved 2006-08-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Sappell, Joel (24 June 1990). "The Scientology Story". Los Angeles Times: page A36:1. Retrieved 2006-08-09. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) Additional convenience link.
  6. ^ A billion in Short Scale is a thousand million in Long Scale.
  7. ^ Hubbard, Scientology: A History of Man
  8. ^ "Operation Clambake presents: A Scientific scrutiny of OT 3". June 7 1996. Retrieved 2007-04-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "The Forbidden Story of Xenu". Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  10. ^ Hubbard, Mission into Time
  11. ^ Four thousand billion in Long Scale.
  12. ^ a b Doward, Jamie (May 16, 2004). "Lure of the celebrity sect". The Observer. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  13. ^ "Gerry Armstrong--HCOB 05-11-1963 Routine 3 Heaven". Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  14. ^ Veenker, Jody (9/8/00). "Why Christians Object to Scientology". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2006-10-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Branch, Craig (1996). "Hubbard's Religion". The Watchman Expositor. 13 (2). Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  16. ^ "Scientology and Christianity Examined". Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  17. ^ "Scientology and Other Practices". Church of Scientology of Michigan. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  18. ^ Miller, ch. 16, p. 266, "Launching the Sea Org"
  19. ^ Corydon, pp58–59, 332–333; letter filed as evidence in Church of Scientology v. Gerald Armstrong, 1984, Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. C420153
  20. ^ Atack, part 4, ch. 1, "Scientology at Sea"
  21. ^ "Complete List of LRH Lectures: Tapes of 1952". Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  22. ^ Atack, Jon. "References". Hubbard and the Occult. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  23. ^ Hubbard, "Ron's Talk to Pubs Org World Wide", tape of April 1968
  24. ^ Atack, p. 190
  25. ^ Billion in Long Scale
  26. ^ Hubbard, SHSBC 57, "Org Board and Livingness", 6 April 1965
  27. ^ "Unsorted harassment reports". Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  28. ^ "Friends, thetans, countrymen". Seven. The Daily Telegraph. 2007-09-09. p. 2. Retrieved 2007-09-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ "ABC News, Nightline: A Conversation with David Miscavige"". February 14, 1992. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  30. ^ a b Reitman, Janet (2006-02-23). "Inside Scientology". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-09-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ "Operation Clambake Presents: OT Levels". Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  32. ^ "The Humanist Society of San Diego Meeting". 2/20/05. Retrieved 2006-10-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  33. ^ O'Connor, Mike (28 August 1998). "Re: Ron's Journal 67" (TXT). alt.religion.scientology. lepton-2808981630510001@lepton.dialup.access.net. Retrieved 2006-10-05. (testimony under oath by Warren McShane of the Church of Scientology in RTC v. FactNet, Civil Action No. 95B2143, United States Courthouse, Denver, Colorado, 11 September 1995)
  34. ^ "Trade Secrets?". Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  35. ^ "Affidavit of Dennis Erlich" (TXT). 16 November 1995. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  36. ^ "Uit de hiervoor onder 8.3 vermelde teksten blijkt dat Scientology c.s. met hun leer en organisatie de verwerping van democratische waarden niet schuwen. Uit die teksten volgt tevens dat met de geheimhouding van OT II en OT III mede wordt beoogd macht uit te oefenen over leden van de Scientology-organisatie en discussie over de leer en praktijken van de Scientology-organisatie te verhinderen."Translation by Spaink[citation needed]
  37. ^ Heldal-Lund, Andreas (30 November 1997). "FWD: Re: Another part of the "Bait and Switch"" (TXT). alt.religion.scientology. 3481749c.387609633@news.sol.no. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  38. ^ "Revolt In The Stars by L. Ron Hubbard, Summarized by Grady Ward". Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  39. ^ "South Park' Cooks Up Plan For Chef In Season Premiere". MTV News. 2006-03-21. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  40. ^ "Looking for a change, 'Nip/Tuck' heads west", Arizona Republic, December 16, 2006
    ..Christian and Dawn Budge's (O'Donnell) sexual tryst, sexy Kimber's faceoff with the Scientology figure Xenu..
  41. ^ "TELEVISION; `Nip/Tuck' warms up to Scientology; The FX drama", Los Angeles Times, October 1 2006
    ...that most human problems can be traced to lingering spirits of an extraterrestrial people massacred By their ruler, Xenu, over 75 million years ago..

Sources

Other references

  • Dawson, Lorne L. (2004-04-01). Religion Online. Routledge (UK). pp. 261 et. seq. ISBN 0-415-97022-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessyear=, |origmonth=, |accessmonth=, |chapterurl=, and |origdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Template:Harvard reference
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