Actually, the activity
renster is talking about is called
squirreling. The FreeZone is considered to be a "squirrel group" by the
orthodox CoS, but it really isn't - it doesn't pretend that it is anything other than what it is - namely, Scientology minus the orthodox Church of Scientology.
From the Philadelphia Doctorate Course #20, "Formative State of Scientology":
"Scientology will decline, and become useless to man, on the day when it becomes the master of thinking.
Don't think it won't do that. It has every capability in it of doing that." - L. Ron Hubbard
Freezoners would argue that Ron knew that one day the Church could be run by people who were too rules-bound and power-hungry to allow people to experience Scientology for themselves. Freezoners would also argue that this has, in fact, happened.
In 1982, the Religious Technology Center (or RTC) was formed to make sure that the Scientology technology ("tech") was delivered properly. It took over all of the materials of Dianetics and Scientology, and licensed these materials to the orgs. During this process, a number of people were ousted from fairly high positions within the Church - they were declared suppressive persons (SPs). Many of them claimed that the bases for these declarations were false. At the same time, some Scientologists were becoming disaffected with the general course the Church was taking.
These people formed the Free Zone. Their philosophy is this:
- The orthodox Church of Scientology is currently headed down a dangerous path, by way of various counterproductive behaviors that need remediation;
- Dianetics and Scientology have both been demonstrated to produce great benefits to whomever is willing to expend the effort to apply them;
- Scientology itself is no more dependent upon the CoS than a belief in God and/or the Bible is dependent upon the Catholic Church;
Therefore,
- It is not necessary for a person to be a member of the CoS in order to benefit from Dianetics and/or Scientology, and the Free Zone exists for those who wish to partake of the benefits of the science of Dianetics and the religion of Scientology without having to be a part of a Church structure that they don't believe in (or are scared of, or have been expelled from).
Among other things, the FreeZone is for someone who has had a bad experience with the CoS, but does not confuse the CoS with the actual technology itself.
Web sites:
- http://www.freezone.org/
- http://www.fza.org