Interview with a Scientologist: Tom Cruise has attained a level in Scientology known as "Operating Thetan". What does that mean?

Interviewer: Tom Cruise has attained a level in Scientology known as "Operating Thetan". What does that mean?

Scientologist: Operating Thetan is a spiritual state of being above Clear. Thetan refers to the spiritual being, and operating means here “able to operate without dependency on things.” An Operating Thetan (OT) is able to control matter, energy, space and time rather than being controlled by these things. As a result, an OT is able to be at cause over life.

Basic levels of Scientology help a person deal with his personal relationships and day-to-day problems, to free his attention to address higher aspects of existence. At the level of Operating Thetan, one deals with his own immortality as a spiritual being.

Like any other spiritual level in Scientology, the state of OT is attained by proceeding through a series of gradient steps, each one slightly more advanced than the last. The precise sequence is firmly established and variations from that sequence are unproductive. Thus, it would be fruitless to try to move somebody onto the OT levels before he is ready for them. One may as well demand that a baby run before first learning to crawl and learning to walk. Similarly, in Scientology individuals can only receive the benefits of the counseling that brings one to OT after completion of more basic steps.

At the level of OT, Scientologists study the very advanced materials of L. Ron Hubbard’s researches. According to those who have achieved OT, the spiritual benefits obtained are beyond words.

Interview with a Scientologist: I've heard Scientology called a "secret society" - is that true?

Interviewer: I've heard Scientology called a "secret society" - is that true?

Scientologist: Well, let's see, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 million members, thousands of organizations all over the world, and a bunch of tables setup down near Times Square in New York where they give stress tests all day long, telling people about Dianetics and how it can help them, opening discussing their experiences and how lives can be improved - I'd have to say that it is definitely not a "secret society". In fact, the church is really more "unsecret" than it has ever been. And I can assure, secrecy has never been an objective of the Church, never will be.

Interviewer: Okay, good point.

Scientologist: The Church even published a 1,000-page book entitled What is Scientology?, an encyclopedic reference book that explains everything one might want to know about the Church. Another reference work, primarily for scholars, is Scientology: Theology and Practice of a Contemporary Religion. The Church also holds open house events and tours regularly, and many of our churches open their facilities free of charge for use by community and civic groups.

There is nothing mysterious about Scientology or its members and practices. The Church’s leaders are in close touch with the membership and they hold events throughout the year which are attended by tens of thousands.

Scientologists are actively involved in their communities, visible and effective.

The Church has found that those who allege the Church is secret are almost always those who never bothered to try and communicate or find out anything, in which case they would have discovered Scientologists to actually be more outgoing with information than adherents of other faiths.

Interview with a Scientologist: What about black people, does the church have back members?

Interviewer: What about black people, does the church have back members?

Scientologist: Definitely. By the Creed of the Church, “All men of whatever race, color or creed were created with equal rights.” Thus, there are no limitations placed on who may participate in Scientology services.

There are Scientologists of all races, colors and ethnic backgrounds among the Church’s parishioners and staff.

For example, there are Scientology churches or Dianetics organizations in Ghana, Zaire, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone, among other countries and black Scientologists are applying Scientology technology in their communities wherever possible.

L. Ron Hubbard’s study technology is used in many countries to help students and teachers alike. In South Africa, these programs have helped over two million underprivileged black Africans to improve their ability to study, well before their fate became a popular cause and the walls of apartheid came down.

Many churches of Scientology maintain a Department of Ethnic Affairs specifically to interact and work with minorities. One example of this is a literacy project in Compton, California, which with the Church’s effort, successfully turned drug abusers and gang members into responsible members of the community. The program has won endorsements from both community leaders and educators.

Interview with a Scientologist: Okay, and Criminon?

Interviewer: Okay, and Criminon?

Scientologist: Criminon, meaning “no crime,” is a volunteer criminal rehabilitation program which utilizes technologies developed by L. Ron Hubbard to help convicts recover pride and self-esteem.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Criminon grew out of the Narconon prison programs. By the 1980s, with increased drug usage in all sectors of society, the Narconon program shifted its emphasis to community-based activities. At that point, Criminon expanded into correctional facilities.

Criminon provides inmates with the knowledge and skills to change their lives and become productive members of society.

Interviewer: How big is this program? How many people are on it?

Scientologist: Criminon operates in over 750 prisons, assisting some 4,000 inmates weekly, with remarkable results.

A southern California municipal judge alone has sentenced more than five hundred misdemeanor offenders to Criminon instead of jail. In his words, “The efficacy of Criminon has surpassed even our most optimistic expectations.”

Among those who have completed the Criminon program, compliance to conditions of probation—including restitution, fine payment and community service—approximates 90 percent. Recidivism dropped to 1 percent, remarkable when compared to the 80 percent recidivism rate which plagues the general prison population.

Interview with a Scientologist: What is Narconon? Isn't that part of the Church's anti-drug push?

Interviewer: What is Narconon? Isn't that part of the Church's anti-drug push?

Scientologist: Narconon is a highly effective drug-free withdrawal, detoxification and rehabilitation program which utilizes techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard to give drug and alcohol abusers back control of their lives. Meaning “non-narcosis” or “no drugs,” Narconon started as a grassroots movement in the mid-1960s when a prisoner in the Arizona State Penitentiary solved his own drug problem using the principles expounded in one of L. Ron Hubbard’s books. He then used what he learned to help solve drug-related problems of many of his fellow inmates.

Narconon conducts broad public education campaigns to alert the general public, especially school children, to the dangers of drug use and abuse.

Courts refer individuals guilty of drug-related offenses to Narconon instead of jailing them.

Interviewer: So Narconon must be pretty workable then?

Scientologist: Absolutely. One medical doctor who has served as consultant on drug abuse to many sports organizations including the National Football League and now administers a system of 30 neighborhood medical and substance abuse clinics, wrote of Narconon, “Perhaps only a physician like myself can truly appreciate Narconon’s willingness to treat the hardcore addict. Narconon takes people no one else will. If you come to my clinics and I couldn’t help you I don’t have anywhere else to send you except Narconon.”

The Narconon drug rehabilitation program operates 50 centers in 21 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand. Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.

More than a quarter-million drug-free lives have been achieved through L. Ron Hubbard’s technology. In addition, an estimated one million people worldwide have availed themselves of Narconon’s drug education services, including more than 115,000 school children in 1997 alone.