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Internet-Based Group Pickets Scientology

Tribune photo by KELVIN MA

A Church Of Scientology member photographs Anonymous pickets Sunday in downtown Clearwater.

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2008

Updated: 02/11/2008 12:12 am

CLEARWATER - Members of an Internet-based group known as Anonymous gathered downtown Sunday to protest the Church of Scientology at its spiritual headquarters.

Protesters, many in their late teens or early 20s, took to the streets wearing wigs, sunglasses, bandanas and goofy hats and carrying signs denouncing Scientology. Organizers said about 180 people turned out.

The gathering here was part of a series of worldwide protests organized by Anonymous, a self-described group of hackers that has promised to destroy Scientology.

Scientologists coerce members into giving the church exorbitant amounts of money, ostracize loved ones they believe pose a danger to the church, harass and stalk critics, said Joshua Nussbaum, a 19-year-old who helped organized Sunday's protest.

Most of the protestors, though, wanted to remain anonymous, fearing Scientologists might hunt them down.

Scientologists took photos of protesters to protect themselves, but they refused to go out and speak negatively to Anonymous members, Scientology spokeswoman Pat Harney said. Instead, they spent their day peacefully practicing their religion, she said.

Harney said her religion is not dangerous and definitely isn't a cult. If anyone is dangerous, she said, it's Anonymous.

"Their stated goal is to dismantle the church," she said. "That's anti-American. That's anti-religion."

Tensions between Anonymous and Scientologists arose after church officials demanded video clips of actor Tom Cruise, a church member, discussing Scientology be removed from YouTube and other sites.

In response, Anonymous posted a video announcing a campaign to destroy the church and calling for worldwide protests Sunday, Nussbaum said. He said Anonymous felt Scientologists' actions regarding the clips encroached on freedom of speech.

Anonymous later claimed responsibility for a series of cyber-attacks that slowed access to church Web sites, he said. "Since then, we kind of realized it's not a good thing," he said. "It was inhibiting their freedom of speech and their freedom to spread their message. We cannot inhibit what they say. ... We did claim responsibility for those acts, but we do not condone them anymore."

A media release from the Church of Scientology said Anonymous' actions amount to religious bigotry and ploys to gain attention. It claimed the group's guiding materials are the "Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler.

"I don't know where they got that from, but I don't think that's true considering that I am a capitalist and a Jew," Nussbaum said.

Harney, a church member since 1979, said she doesn't know why people would protest Scientology, which she described as a study of knowledge and truth. "Some people like to hate," she said.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.

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