DAVID MISCAVIGE'S PERJURIES: KEY TO REVOKING SCIENTOLOGY'S IRS TAX EXEMPTION?

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News of the multiple perjuries of David Miscavige, head of the Church of Scientology, in obtaining its charitable tax-exemption have been rife among ex-Scientologists for years. Now Lawrence Brennan has stepped forward to testify in an affidavit to the Church's creation of religious cloaking and corporate obfuscation to avoid having to pay taxes and obey labor laws for its staff, and particularly its elite Sea Organization, the worker bee core of zealous and loyal Scientology employees who form its upper management. Brennan has also laid out Miscavige's multiple perjuries to the IRS upon which its granting of religious tax-exemption was based.

The survival of Scientology and the destruction of its enemies takes priority over absolutely every other consideration and the dictates of common human morality and decency. It overrides the law when they are in conflict. "Under oath doesn't mean shit, " as the Reverend Jeff Quiros, Head of the San Francisco Org said.

The Brennan Affidavit destroys any notion that the Church is a religious organization. Brennan should know. He was in charge of creating the whole elaborate scheme of deception. Brennan is an important figure because he was a high-ranking executive who serve right through the fiasco of Operation Snow White, Hubbard's going into hiding, and the palace coup by the 23-year old David Miscavige who has reigned for nearly 30 years as ecclesiastical head of the Church. It was the careful planning of Miscavige that lured Tom Cruise into Scientology. He has become such a powerful figure that Miscavige will not cross. He has, in effect, become the unofficial head of the church.

Miscavige is officially the Chairman of the Board of the RTC (Religious Technology Corporation), a Californian 501 (c) (3) charitable organization that holds the trademarks and copyrights to Hubbard's writings, considered to be sacred scripture in Scientology's representations to the IRS. Under the Miscavige regime Brennan also created an elaborate complex of corporate entities to channel tax-exempt funds first to Hubbard and then to Miscavige.

A key issue is whether Miscavige's perjuries and misrepresentations to the IRS are sufficient to undermine and invalidate its tax-exempt status. More to come, pro magna justitia.

An anonymous has produced this invaluable YouTube guide to the affidavit which is profitably viewed before reading the affidavit. Video is below the following update.

August 11, 2008 Update:

There are several approaches to eliminating Scientology's religious tax-exempt status in the United States. One is to bring pressure upon the government to have the IRS investigate current violations of tax laws for exempt religious organizations and revoke it on that basis. Another is to have the Justice Department investigate alleged RICO crimes. Another is to agitate for congressional hearings and legislation.

No one wants to get into a protracted fight with CoS, particularly not the IRS who lost corporate Scientology's twenty-five year assault on it, and granted exemption in highly suspect circumstances involving the Church's fair gaming IRS officials. Of late, the IRS has shown less spine in coming down on religious groups engaging in things like partisan advocacy forbidden by religious tax status. It is unlikely they have the courage to revoke exemption based on the cult's current violations, which are manifold.

One significant effect of this approach is that it places the churches and other religious organizations on defensive alert. Any inquiry into CoS's violations brings into scrutiny their own legitimate rights and privileges as authentic religious organizations. They may even in self-interest become amici curiae on behalf of CoS, distasteful as they may find it.

The support of the churches is critical to the success of the movement to unmask what is essentially a multinational corporate enterprise and bring it to justice. The churches alone can make it acceptable to attack another church, something that is a sticking point for many. The churches are major institutions for formation of moral sensibilities for millions, particularly the hunger and thirst for justice.

Social justice requires the dismantling of unjust systems and structures that oppress and victimize people. The intra-totalitarian system of corporate Scientology has victimized and abused individuals within it, and has systematically suppressed free speech in society as a whole in its intimidation and shuddering into silence the government, the media, the mental health professions, and the entertainment industry. And probably the churches. One suspects that one has not heard from them because they have been intimidated by the cult's successful bullying of other important social institutions.

The approach to revoking the tax exempt that places the churches firmly in opposition to corporate Scientology is exposing David Miscavige's perjuries upon which the exemption is founded. This is not just a tax-exemption that is being criminally abused. It is a tax exemption that never should have been granted in the first place. If Miscavige's perjuries are the prime target then the churches are in solidarity with the rest of the pubic in disgust and outrage.

The churches are also in a position to righteously denounce the mendacity, corporate obfuscation, and cynical religious cloaking which allowed a corporation selling delusions to desecrate profound universal human values that ground our culture. The way is opened for them to denounce vigorously in human rights violations in Sea Org and the Miscavige regime.

There is much work to be done in recruiting the churches to the anti-Scientology cause. The issue is barely known and ways and appeals need to be found to persuade them to speak up and show solidarity with the victims of corporate Scientology. That is their vocation.