The man who fell to earth

Press, 8 February 1986, Page 18

The man who fell to earth

The Church of Scientology has announced that its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, died on January 24. CHRISTOPHER REED, in San Francisco for the “Guardian,” London, looks at the man who claimed to have visited heaven and leaves behind a cult beset by legal battles, riven by jealousies, and which was once the subject of a Commission of Inquiry in New Zealand.

In 1949 a moderately successful pulp science fiction writer called L. Ron Hubbard, gave a lecture in which he said: "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million, the best way would be to start a religion.” A year later he was well on his way. Now, more than three decades and several hundred million dollars later, the founder of Scientology has died, aged 74. His last years were as bizarre as his own cult, but despite prolonged investigation in several countries into alleged criminal activities by Mr Hubbard and his followers, the “Commodore,” as he was known, remained beyond the law to the end. He is now presumably on his return visit to heaven — he claimed to have been there before — but what he leaves behind is closer to the title of his last book: “Battlefield Earth.” The “Church” is beset by legal battles, accused of fraud, by the F. 8.1.. and United States tax authorities, riven by jealousies, arid split by defectors. More court cases.can be expected. Tax authorities will be pursu- # ing what they believe can be?

millions of dollars taken from the church and put into Mr Hubbard’s private accounts abroad. Although a Scientology spokesman said its leader had died from a stroke on Friday, on a farm in California, that the body had been cremated and the ashes scattered at sea, the public still only has the church’s word for it. Mr Hubbard last appeared in public in 1976 and disappeared completely in 1980. He was said to be writing and pondering spiritual matters in seclusion. In 1983 during a case brought by his estranged son, a court accepted that Mr Hubbard was alive, although he refused the Judge’s challenge to appear personally and did not even speak on the telephone. His publishers accepted that he was still alive when they received a million word manuscript — rather more than most ghost writers are prepared for. Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was born in a small town in the Nebraskan plains. After his hack writing in the 1940 s he achieved fame in 1950 with the publication of “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.” It was the “bible” pf Scientology, .a “religion” with no God

which somehow became established under America’s indulgent laws granting tax exemption to churches.

The book explained that man’s path to religious freedom had been obstructed by negative thoughts accumulated over millions of years. Through a process of “auditing” with a machine called an E-meter — much like a ihodern lie detector — disciples could achieve a “clear state.” '

Using this technique millions of followers over the years subjected themselves tp hours of "auditing” in which they often divulged intimate secrets as well as parting with thousands of dollars each. It has been claimed in court that these confessions were used to prise more money out of the disciples. It was another kind of auditing which challenged the cult in the 19705. Tax officials suspected that Scientology was not entitled to exemption and a protracted battle began. Mr Hubbard had been floating around the world in his sea-going HQ, the converted English Channel steamer, Apollo. But allegations of cult brain washing and suspicions 'of monetary fraud caused authorities in Britain, West Germany, and elsewhere to bar him.

In 1979, his third wife Mary Sue was convicted with ten disciples of breaking into United States Government offices and stealing documents in an attempt to thwart the.investigations. The next year ?’United States tax officials claimed $1.4 million in

unpaid income tax. Mr Hubbard came ashore and disappeared. Documents confiscated by the authorities showed that the cult’s anti-Govemment campaign, called “Snow White,” had been directed from Scientology’s British HQ in East Grinstead. Mr Hubbard believed that the United Kingdom was a central part of a mysterious agency, intent on destroying his church, and that two British-based mental health organisations were involved.

It is significant that the theme of mental health occurred so often in Mr Hubbard’s career. According to court documents he himself worried about his own mental health, before he wrote his best seller. In his first divorce his ex-wife said she believed he suffered from para-noid-schizophrenia. What has become clear is his own fraudulence about his personal history. He claimed to have been a war hero in the United States Navy. The records show that he was removed as commander of his escort vessel when he fired on what he claimed was a Japanese, submarine off the coast of Oregon. It turned out to be a log. He then sailed south and opened fire on Mexico. One epitaph for him was written in 1984 in a California court by Judge Paul Breckenridge. “The evidence,” he said, “portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background and achievements ... he was gripped by egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness.”