Notes on how the Church of Scientology is actually structured.

1. As previously discussed, there is no such entity as “the Church of Scientology.” This is what the Church of Scientology itself told the IRS:

The term “the Church of Scientology” is a term of convenience used to refer to all of the separate and distinct legal corporations that are referred to as “churches” and “organizations” within the Scientology ecclesiastical hierarchy. Example: If you sign a contract for religious services with the Flag Service Organization you agree to the following:

What exactly does the Church of Scientology consist of?

• The Church of Scientology is a franchise system that consists chiefly of five key corporations and two unincorporated membership associations.
• The five key corporations are: CST, RTC, CSI, FLAG, and the IASA.
• The two unincorporated membership associations are the Sea Org and the IAS.
• We briefly outline each in a very simplified manner below.

Before we proceed to our outline, it is necessary to understand that the overarching design purpose of the Scientology franchise system is to make as much money as possible while spending as little money as possible. This money is then used to acquire property, pay for attorneys and private investigators, and buy influence. To accomplish its goal of making as much money as possible, the Scientology franchise system exploits, threatens, and lies to people to the greatest degree possible. It does so while extracting the greatest amount of money and labor from Scientologists and providing as little as possible in return. For example, cheap trophies and applause are given in exchange for large sums of money to the IAS. Sea Org members work 80-100 work weeks and are paid pennies an hour. Scientology is worse than greedy and, among other human rights abuses, uses child labor.

The Scientology franchise system can get away with its atrocious, hyper-predatory, and completely self-serving behavior because it gained 501(c)(3) tax exempt status by lying the IRS while also harassing the IRS and suing key IRS officials. This is the subject of another post for another time.  Bottom line: The Scientology franchise system is a Mafia-style criminal organization that benefits only a handful of people at the top and dozens of lawyers and law firms.

The Church of Scientology International

2. The Church of Scientology International — CSI — is the so-called “Mother Church” of Scientology. What this means is that CSI is an administrative entity only. CSI does not deliver auditing. Rather, CSI licenses and manages “churches of Scientology” the “social betterment groups” of Scientology such as Narconon, WISE, and ABLE. CSI collects licensing and management fees from these groups. CSI is nothing more than a central management and fee collection agency in the Scientology franchise scheme.

2A. CSI operates based upon exclusive licenses it receives from RTC and CSI. These licenses grant CSI the sole and exclusive rights to use the so-called “Religious Technology” owned by RTC and CSI. In exchange, CSI pays RTC and CSI licensing fees. In reality, this is simply a business franchise system whose ultimate goal is to take over and control the global mental health market.  The Scientology franchise system believes that if controls the field of mental health then this will cascade to controlling governments, financial systems, education, and everything else.

2B. In order to further its goals, the Scientology franchise system brainwashes its customers into believing that Scientology is a “religion that can deliver eternal salvation” when it is actually a business that sells a very limited range of repetitive goods and services: How many sec checks can one person buy? How many LRH libraries does one person actually need?

2B1. The main business of CSI is to use its psychological techniques to in order to evoke epiphanies, self-insights, fears, and various other subjective phenomena into its members during the auditing process. These phenomena are then used to “prove” that only Scientology “works” and that all other self-help systems and philosophies are deluded, false, or full of errors.

2B2. The fallacy of gaining any subjective self-insight is to claim that the method by which one gained insight is infallible and the only way to salvation. Scientology offers a highly subjective series of self-help and insight techniques that it falsely promotes as an objective and precision science based upon axioms. However, there is no science in Scientology.

2B3. Scientology axioms are not science; Scientology’s axioms are philosophical notions that apply only to Scientology’s self-focused and narrow worldview. What CSI actually markets and sells, is at best, is an “insight system” that is purposely used to manipulate people to Scientology advantage. Whatever wins a person gets have to be weighed against the losses they suffer. Scientology offers an incredibly expensive insight system that breaks down and offers diminishing returns over time, i.e. the longer a person stays in Scientology the worse off they become. Based upon the consistent testimony of former members, the long-term effect of Scientology is to handicap and cripple people in various ways. OT Andy Porter’s write up is particularly illuminating in this regard.

2B4. Of more importance to the Scientology franchise system than any insight a Scientologist may gain is the fact that auditing allows CSI to discover the deepest secrets of those being audited. These secrets can be later used by the Scientology Mafia to control, threaten, and even destroy the reputation any Scientologists who cause trouble.

2B5. These secrets can also be monetized. The Scientologist must pay large sums of money to “clean up” or “handle in session” their sins, crimes, or ghastly deeds done in this life and in past lives.

2C. When anything goes wrong and Scientology does not deliver on what it promised, the customer is blamed and made to pay for sec checks, redos, ethics handlings, searching for misunderstood words, connections to SP’s or PTS conditions, present time problems, withholds, hidden crimes, etc. The fundamental self-dealing premise of the Scientology franchise system is that it is the fault of others when things do not work as promised.

2C1. In order to spread the risks in lawsuits against the Church of Scientology, CSI is incorporated as a Scientology church that it is legally separate and distinct from all other Scientology churches.

2D. CSI has no members or employees. CSI is actually a holding company staffed by the members of an unincorporated membership association called the Sea Org. Legally speaking, the Sea Org does not exist.

2E. As a principle of its own existence, The Scientology franchise system does everything it can to make itself unaccountable for its own reprehensible, dishonest, and fraudulent behavior. Accordingly, its uses a slave labor force that has no rights, is not paid, and can be horribly punished, even imprisoned, for failing to meet production targets.

2F. As part of its dishonest and bad faith operating basis, CSI makes all Scientologists sign four unconscionable contracts in which they waive their civil rights and legal rights to sue CSI or its related Scientology corporations. This is purposely done to prevent Scientologists from suing for fraud, poor service, abuse, and self-dealing on the part of the Scientology franchise system. The Scientology Mafia makes extensive use of unconscionable contracts to deflect lawsuits and avoid ever having to give refunds. These contracts include a “kidnap contract” that allows CSI to kidnap and incarcerate its own members.

2G. As part of its operations, CSI operates an intelligence, spying, and dirty tricks department called the Office of Special Affairs — OSA. OSA is “the muscle” in the Scientology Mafia. OSA embodies the paranoid, vengeful, and vicious aspects of the Scientology Mafia.

2H. OSA’s goal is to silence any person or group that is critical of the Scientology franchise system. Said another way, the Scientology Mafia only wants good PR and acts to destroy those who speak out against it.

Flag Land Base

2H. Flag Land Base – “Flag” as it is called –is the primary money-maker in the Scientology franchise system. Flag operates based upon a franchise license from CSI. As Sea Org members have said, “As Flag goes so goes the Church.” Hence, if Flag’s sales are down then the overall sales in the Church are also down.

2G. Flag is a series of buildings and hotels in Clearwater, Florida. Scientologists are expected to stay in Flag hotels and eat at Flag restaurants when they travel to Flag. These hotels and restaurants are staffed by Sea Org slave labor.

2I. Stays at Flag can range from a few days to a year or more. It just depends how much money a Scientologist has to spend.

2J. Flag is known to steal paying customers from the other “churches” in the Scientology franchise system.

2K. In order to spread the risks in lawsuits against the Church of Scientology, Flag is incorporated as a Scientology church that it is legally separate and distinct from all other Scientology churches.

The Religious Technology Center

3. The Religious Technology Center — RTC — is another part of the Scientology franchise system. RTC’s claimed duties are to ensure the “ecclesiastical purity” of CSI’s use of the Scientology technology. RTC collects fees from CSI.

3C. RTC is a holding company staffed by the members of an unincorporated membership association called the Sea Org.

3A. RTC owns the “advanced technology” — the OT levels — and licenses CSI to sublicense these levels to Flag and the Freewinds.

3B. RTC is where Captain David Miscavige is situated in the Scientology franchise scheme.

3C. RTC allows Captain David Miscavige to claim that he has nothing to do with running the daily affairs of CSI. This is a lie; Miscavige runs the entire Scientology franchise system. From 1967 until his death in 1986, L. Ron Hubbard also tried to claim that he did not run the Church of Scientology.

3C1. The “Church of Scientology” was found to be the alter ego of L. Ron Hubbard. After Hubbard’s death, the “Church of Scientology” became the alter ego of David Miscavige. One fundamental rule of the Sea Org is the belief that there must be only one Scientology leader and that everyone must align behind him.

3D. In order to spread the risks in lawsuits against the Church of Scientology, RTC is incorporated as a Scientology church that it is legally separate and distinct from all other Scientology churches.

The Church of Spiritual Technology

4. The Church of Spiritual Technology — CST — owns all of the Scientology intellectual property with the exception of the OT Levels.

4A. CST licenses the Scientology copyrights to CSI via RTC.

4B. CST is supposed to have the power to decertify RTC. However, in actual practice Captain Miscavige runs everything as a dictator.

4C. CST is a holding company staffed by the members of an unincorporated membership association called the Sea Org.

4D. In order to spread the risks in lawsuits against the Church of Scientology, CST is incorporated as a Scientology church that it is legally separate and distinct from all other Scientology churches.

4E. CST builds and staffs the nuclear proof vaults. The most notable of these vaults is Trementina Base located in New Mexico.

The Sea Org

5. The Scientology franchise system does not have employees and thus has no payroll. In order to get anything done, the Scientology franchise system exploits a slave labor force called the Sea Org.

6. The Sea Org is an unincorporated religious order with no legal existence. The Sea Org has no legal relationship to any of the churches of Scientology for the simple reason that the Sea Org cannot sign contracts because it does not legally exist. However, individual members of the Sea Org sign a billion year covenant to serve “Scientology.”

7. Upon signing a covenant to serve for a billion years in a legally nonexistent group, Sea Org members thereafter are assigned a job in a particular part of the Scientology franchise system where their labor is required. Sea Org members must sign a contract to serve whatever legally separate and distinct church within the Scientology franchise system to which they have been assigned.

7A. With the exception of Captain David Miscavige, all other Sea Org members are subject to harsh penalties and punishments including sleep deprivation, verbal and physical abuse, and imprisonment in the RPF for years or decades.

7B. To say that the Sea Org does not legally exist and does not run the Church of Scientology is like saying that the Mafia does not exist and does not run organized crime.

7C. The Sea Org runs the entire Scientology franchise system while denying that the Sea Org legally exists.

7D. For decades, the Mafia eluded prosecution by arguing that the Mafia did not exist. It was hard for prosecutors to actually prove the Mafia existed. RICO laws and Mafia members who flipped helped to take down the Mafia. RICO laws and those Sea Org members who flip may yet prove to be the demise of the Scientology Mafia.

7E. The highest ranking Sea Org member runs the entire Scientology Mafia and franchise system. At present, Captain David Miscavige is the highest ranking Sea Org member. Miscavige came to power in a series of internal coups.

 The IAS and the IASA

8. Because the Church of Scientology cannot have any members, all Scientologists must join the “official” Scientology membership association called the International Association of Scientologists — IAS.

8A. Just how “official” is the IAS? The answer is that it is not official. Like the Sea Org, the IAS is an unincorporated Scientology membership association. As such, the IAS does not legally exist and cannot do anything. The IAS cannot even have a bank account. So where does the money Scientologists donate to the IAS go?

8B. Being unincorporated, the IAS can do nothing in and of itself. Therefore, the International Association of Scientologists Administrations — IASA — exists as the sole and exclusive operating arm of the IAS. The money goes into IASA accounts and can, legally speaking, be used for any purpose Scientology Mafia Boss David Miscavige deems suitable. IASA monies can pay for Captain Miscavige’s twenty-two attorneys and his various other pleasures.

8C. The IASA is legally separate and distinct from all Scientology churches. No one knows how much money the IASA has or how its money is spent. No one knows who controls the money in the IASA. Like the rest of the Scientology franchise system, the IASA has zero financial transparency and can therefore be considered a shifty organization with murky purposes that may not, in fact, benefit “Scientologists” at all.

8D. The IASA is not a church and is legally separate and distinct from all Scientology churches.

Scientology “Social Betterment” Groups

9. The so-called “social betterment groups” of Scientology such as Narconon, WISE, and ABLE are not Scientology churches and are all legally separate and distinct nonprofit corporations. None of them have any legal relationship to any of the legally separate and distinct churches within the Scientology ecclesiastical hierarchy. The social betterment groups are business entities that sell “secularized” versions of Scientology technology. The purpose of these social betterment groups is to pour money into Scientology coffers while recruiting new members from whom Scientology can extract money and labor.

Conclusions

10. There is total legal individuation in the Church of Scientology. Legally speaking, there is no “group” and no actual third dynamic anywhere.

11. Any talk of “the group” in the Church of Scientology is pure hogwash. There is no group. There are only individual IAS members being serviced — and this on a contract basis — by members of a legally nonexistent religious order.  The “Church” is the middleman between the two  taking the money.

12. There is no such thing as “Church of Scientology parishioners.” That term is both misleading and an outright lie. Rather, there is only an unincorporated Scientology membership association known as the IAS. The fact is that the Church of Scientology does not exist and so it can have no parishioners.

13. Individual, distinct, and legally separate churches of Scientology exist only to provide facilities inside of which individual IAS members receive contracted services from Sea Org members. The churches collect the money and pass it uplines per their franchise agreements with CSI.

14. As such, these these individual, distinct, and legally separate churches of Scientology can have no parishioners.

15. Services contracted by IAS members may only be delivered when money is paid. Thus, churches of Scientology also act to collect monies to send “uplines” where “uplines” is vague and undefined.

16. Individual “churches” of Scientology are nothing more than money-collecting delivery organizations in rented facilities that operate based upon licenses from RTC. IMO, it can be argued that the “churches of Scientology” are RTC franchisees. In other words, Captain David Miscavige took over the old Mission structure for himself. He concealed this behind the “RTC is the guarantor of ecclesiastical purity” nonsense and blather.

17. David Miscavige essentially killed off CSC and the old Mission system. Miscavige then restructured in order to  create a new and much more legally defensible franchise operation with himself as Franchisor for Life. That is Miscavige’s real title:  Franchisor for Life.

18. RTC is therefore David Miscavige’s very deluxe and lucrative sinecure.

19. The main pretext Captain Miscavige used to destroy the Missions was that Missions funded the Guardians Office. See Miscavige’s 1999 Declaration in the Wolersheim case.

20. Below is shown one of my illustrated guides to Scientology. The chart is intended to be read from the bottom up: