The term fair game is used to describe policies and practices carried out by the Church of Scientology towards people and groups it perceives as its enemies. Founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard established the policy in the 1950s in response to criticism both from within and outside his organization. Individuals or groups who are "fair game" are judged to be a threat to the Church and, according to the policy, can be punished and harassed using any and all means possible. In 1968, Hubbard officially canceled use of the term "fair game" because of negative public relations it caused, although the Church's aggressive response to criticism continued.
Applying the principles of "fair game", Hubbard and his followers targeted many individuals as well as government officials and agencies, including a program of covert and illegal infiltration of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other United States government agencies during the 1970s. They also conducted private investigations, character assassination and legal action against the Church's critics in the media. The policy remains in effect and has been defended by the Church of Scientology as a core religious practice.
Starting in the 1980s, for their major branch in Los Angeles, California, the Scientology organization largely switched from using church members in harassment campaigns to hiring private investigators, including former and current Los Angeles police officers. The reason seemed to be that this gave the Church of Scientology a layer of protection in case embarrassing tactics were used and made public.
Background Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, said all opposition came from what he called "suppressive persons" (SPs) – which Scientologists claim are "anti-social people who want to destroy anything that benefits humanity." In written policies dating from the mid-1950s, Hubbard told his followers to take a hard line against perceived opponents. In 1955 he wrote, "The purpose of the suit is to harass and discourage rather than to win. The law can be used easily to harass, and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway, well knowing that he is not authorized, will generally be sufficient to cause his professional decease. If possible, of course, ruin him utterly".Hubbard, L. R. (1955). The Scientologist - A Manual on the Dissemination of Material, reprinted in Quoted in , published in French as
In his confidential Manual of Justice of 1959, Hubbard wrote "People attack Scientology. I never forget it, always even the score." He advocated using private investigators to investigate critics, who had turned out to be "members of the Communist Party or criminals, usually both. The smell of police or private detectives caused them to fly, to close down, to confess. Hire them and damn the cost when you need to." He said that in dealing with opponents, his followers should "always find or manufacture enough threat against them to cause them to sue for peace. Don't ever defend. Always attack." He urged the use of "black propaganda" to "destroy reputation or public belief in persons, companies or nations."
The Church of Scientology has retained an aggressive policy towards those it perceives as its enemies, and argued as late as 1985 that retributive action against "enemies of Scientology" should be considered a Constitutionally-protected "core practice" of Scientology.Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California, Court of Appeal of the State of California, civ.no.B023193, July 18, 1989 (courtesy link)
Policy In 1965, Hubbard formulated the "Fair Game Law", which states how to deal with people who interfere with Scientology's activities. These suppressive persons could be considered "fair game" for retaliation:
In other words, a person who attacked the Church would not be protected by the Church or granted the rights of Scientologists in good standing.
In December of that year, Hubbard reissued the policy with additional clarifications to define the scope of fair game. He made it clear that the policy applied to non-Scientologists as well, declaring:
In his Introduction to Scientology Ethics, published in 1968, Hubbard wrote that no Scientologist could be punished "for any action taken against a suppressive person or Group during the period that person or group is 'fair game'."
He made it clear elsewhere in his writings that the policy would be applied to external organizations, including governments, that interfered with Scientology's activities. He told Scientologists:
In a 1967 policy titled Penalties for Lower Conditions, Hubbard wrote that opponents who are "fair game" may be "deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed."HCOPL October 18, 67 Issue IV, Penalties for Lower Conditions
In a policy letter dated July 21, 1968, Hubbard explicitly cancelled these penalties. The new list of Penalties for Lower Conditions now said that someone in a condition of Enemy "(m)ay be restrained or imprisoned. May not be protected by any rules or laws of the group he sought to injure.[...] May not be trained or processed or admitted to any [Scientology organisation]. The same list says that in a condition of Treason, a person, "May not be protected by the rights and fair practices he sought to destroy for others. May be retrained or debarred.[...] Not covered by amnesties." Another policy letter from October that year announces:
Scientology officials have maintained that the fair game policy was rescinded in 1968 because people had misinterpreted it. Spokesmen said that Hubbard's intended meaning was merely that former members could not appeal to Scientology's legal system for support or protection against anyone who might try to trick, sue or destroy them. Sociologist Roy Wallis commented that this interpretation seemed to be "contradicted by the words on the page, and by actions taken against those regarded as enemies of the movement."
The Church continued to pursue an aggressive response to external critics, especially the U.S. Government. The doctrine of "fair game" was a central element of the Guardian's Office's operational policies. The original 1965 "Fair Game Law" is listed as a reference for GO staff in its confidential Intelligence Course,Guardian Order, Confidential – Intelligence Course, September 9, 1974, p.18 which was later entered into evidence in a U.S. federal court case in 1979.United States vs. Mary Sue Hubbard et al., 493 F. Supp. 209, (D.D.C. 1979) During the case, Church lawyers admitted that "fair game" had been practiced long after its supposed cancellation in 1968.
Hubbard said in a 1976 affidavit that he had never intended to authorize harassment:
As revised in 1991, Scientology's policy on the handling of "suppressive persons" states:
In practice An "Ethics Order" dating from March 6, 1968, issued by L. Ron Hubbard aboard his boat the Royal Scotsman, lists twelve Scientologists who were accused of distributing altered versions of upper level materials. Hubbard writes "They are fair game. No amnesty may ever cover them.[...] Any Sea Org member contacting them is to use Auditing Process R2-45." The R2-45 Auditing Process consists of shooting a person with the intent to kill them.
It later emerged that "fair game" had actually continued in use until at least 1980, despite its cancellation, and there have been frequent allegations that it has remained in force since then. During the 1970s the Guardian's Office (GO) of the Church of Scientology, headed by Hubbard's wife Mary Sue, conducted a wide-ranging and systematic series of espionage and intimidation operations against perceived enemies of Scientology. (See Operation Freakout for a noteworthy example.)
According to an American Lawyer investigation, "fair game" tactics had been used to force the withdrawal of the presiding judge in an attempt to "throw" the case."Scientology's War Against Judges", American Lawyer, December 1980 As the US Government's attorneys put it:
The abrogation mentioned above was issued in a policy letter of July 22, 1980, "Ethics, Cancellation of Fair Game, more about", issued by "The Board of Directors of the Churches of Scientology". However, this cancellation was itself cancelled in a subsequent HCO Policy Letter of September 8, 1983, "Cancellation of Issues on Suppressive Acts and PTSes", which cancelled a number of HCOPLs on the ground that they "were not written by the Founder [Hubbard]". In two subsequent court cases the Church defended "fair game" as a "core practice of Scientology", and claimed that it was therefore protected as "religious expression".Frank K. Flinn testimony in Church of Scientology of California, 1984, vol. 23, pp. 4032-4160Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California, Court of Appeal of the State of California, civ. no. B023193, July 18, 1989
Since then, a number of ex-Scientologists who formerly held senior management positions in the Church have alleged that while working for the Church they saw "fair game" tactics continuing to be used. In 1994, Vicki Aznaran, who had been the chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center (the Church's central management body), claimed in an affidavit that:
Janie Peterson, a former Scientologist, testified in a Clearwater City hearing in 1982 that while working in the Guardians Office she had conducted smear campaigns against Church opponents, sometimes using information from confidential confessional files. A lawyer for the Church denounced the hearings as a "witch hunt". The former Scientologist stated that the fair game policy still applied despite the cancellation of the name.
In the United Kingdom
In the UK, targets of fair game and related harassment over the years have included ex-members, authors, journalists, broadcasters, the mental health profession, cult-monitoring groups, government and law enforcement.
Maurice William Johnson was a Scientologist who resigned in June 1966 and successfully sued for his money back. He told a court that after leaving he had received over 100 abusive letters, many of them using violent language. An article in The Auditor, a Scientology publication, was produced to the court, stating outright that Johnson was "fair game" and describing him as "an enemy of mankind, the planets and all life".
Jon Atack, an ex-Scientologist who left in 1983, wrote the book A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed, and the pamphlet "The Total Freedom Trap" as well as providing research for Bare-Faced Messiah. He provided help to other members in leaving the organisation, as well as acting as an expert witness in various cases concerning Scientology. In response, Atack's home was repeatedly picketed by placard-carrying Scientologists over the course of six days. Eugene Ingram, a private investigator employed by the Church of Scientology, made visits to Atack, his elderly mother and other family and friends, spreading rumours that Atack would be going to prison. Scientologists also distributed leaflets entitled "The Truth about Jon Atack", implying that he was a drug dealer who only criticised Scientology for money.Evening Argus. "Victims Who Are Fair Game". April 12, 1994.
Atack eventually went bankrupt due to the cost of defending himself against legal action from the Church.Writer is quizzed by creditors Nottingham Evening Post April 27, 1996 According to Baroness Sharples speaking in the House of Lords, a number of ex-Scientologists "have been both threatened and harassed and a considerable number of them have been made bankrupt by the Church."