Free The Church of Fear: Inside The Weird World of Scientology by John Sweeney Page B

And the only way to do that, since nobody would talk to me or nobody would respond to any of my requests for interviews, was to just go up and start filming them. Their events, where they were coming and going, halls or classes down town which is the only time the public sees them. And they took serious offence.’
    How do they register that offence?
    ‘It is almost like they have a mind break. If there is something that they can’t handle effectively, something happens.’
    Shawn explained that he had been filming on the street for three weeks solid when a member of the Church approached him. Shawn said he started yelling obscenities, yelling that he was Nazi, asking him why he didn’t go to the Baptist church and call them all a bunch of ‘n’ words or the Jewish Temple and call them all a bunch of xxxx. He pushed Shawn, who shoved him back, and they ended up scuffling. That was the extreme, said Shawn. ‘Usually, it is just pushing or trying to get to the camera to stop you from filming or cursing at you and verbally assaulting you.’
    I asked him about the sign on his Oldsmobile.
    ‘Xenu.net is one of the websites which reveals a lot of their upper level doctrine, OT I-VIII [Operating Thetan, level 1 – 8] for free, which is their higher levels, which costs the majority of the money that you will find they charge within Scientology. And all those are on the internet for free. And those were on my car downtown. The various levels [that is, OTs of Scientology] would walk around across the campus down here and see that on the car and I was hoping that they would wonder why they were paying so much money for it when it is free on the internet.’
    They say these are confidential scriptures.
    ‘If it is out, deal with it. We had to deal with the bible being out. Others had to deal with the Koran, the Torah, everything is out. I don’t know why you would not want somebody to read a religious scripture of yours especially if it had anything good to say in it.’
    What had Scientology done to Shawn?
    ‘It is more or less what they haven’t done. I was followed continuously for two months, followed by private investigators, followed by several vehicles which I was later able to track back to Scientology owned vehicles. I was yelled at down town numerous times, threatened with death. Cursed at by children in the presence of their parents. I would have never thought that I could stumble upon a scene that was so dramatically absent of peace and goodwill. But then again that seems to be the modus operandi when it comes to doing something that the Church doesn’t like. They all band together and act that way towards you.’
    What about work?
    Shawn got a job in a real estate company but that did not last for long. ‘My boss was called down to Fort Harrison’ – the Church’s main complex in Clearwater – ‘by Pat Harney’ – the PR lady who had blocked me that very morning from going into the Plant City Org – ‘in an effort to try to get me to reveal my motives or stop what I was doing, piecing together footage for the television programme. And almost immediately after that our business went south. I was asked to leave, it was a financial impossibility for me to be there. After that I went to unemployment. There were several calls made saying that I was making money off the books when I wasn’t. It was anonymous phone call after anonymous phone call, to every place where I turned in an application, there was always somebody calling with a threat.’ He gave what he said was an example: ‘“I saw this gentleman in your business filling out an application, I know him to be a religious bigot. I will not shop there, my friends will not shop there if I find out that you have hired this individual…” I am a pervert or I am a criminal, something of that nature.’
    Shawn said that when the anonymous caller was challenged, ‘there was never an answer, there was always a hang-up. And I don’t know too many