Disconnection in Scientology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Disconnection is a practice in Scientology, in which a Scientologist severs all ties between themselves and friends, colleagues, or family members that are deemed to be antagonistic towards Scientology. The practice of disconnection is a form of religious shunning.

Antagonists to the Church of Scientology are declared by the church to be "antisocial personalities", Potential Trouble Sources (PTS), or Suppressive Persons (SPs). The Church of Scientology teaches that association with such persons impedes one's spiritual growth.

According to Church statements, disconnection is used as a "last resort", only to be employed if the persons antagonistic to Scientology do not cease their antagonism -- even after being provided with "true data" about Scientology, since it is taught that usually only people with false data are antagonistic to the Church.

Disconnection has sometimes ended marriages and separated children from their parents.

Examples of disconnection

Some notable examples made public include:

• Former Scientologist Troy Miranda posted to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology and described the letter his wife received from her sister after they declared their intent to leave Scientology:

The first letter that we got was from sister X. It was a 'disconnect' letter that was addressed only to me. My wife later called X and told her that we got her letter. X told her that it also applied to her and that her husband was also sending us a letter. Here it is in full (without names): ----------------------------------------------------------- 23 May 1995 Dear Troy, I am writing to you to disconnect from you as you have committed some Supressive acts toward the Church. I do not wish to have any communication with you until you have cleared this up with the church.

— posting to alt.religion.scientology, June 10, 1995 [1]

• In 1995, officials in Greece took actions to shut down the Church of Scientology, and a number of Scientology documents were seized. Among the writings dealing with the handling of "SPs" included a letter directed at a member of Scientology in Greece:

23.5.95 DORA TYPE C HANDLING PROGRAM PGM DORA HAS A PTS SITUATION WITH HER PARENTS. THIS IS NOW CLASSIFIED AS A TYPE C SITUATION DUE TO THE FACT THE PARENTS ARE CONNECTED TO SP (ALEV) AND HAVE ATTACKED THE C OF S IN THE MEDIA. THIS SITUATION NEEDS TO BE IMMEDIATELY ADDRESSED. ...[]... THE MESSAGE TO TR3 TO YR PARENTS IS THAT AS LONG AS THEY REMAIN CONNECTED TO L YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE A NORMAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM. THIS IS YOUR REASON FOR NOT LIVING WITH THEM. THE DISCONNECTION FROM L IS TO BE STRESSED. ...[]...[2]

• Former Scientologist Dave Sweetland's children refuse to speak to him.[5]
• Former Scientologist Grace Aaron's children refuse to speak with her.[5]
• Former Scientologist Tory Christman's husband disconnects and divorces her.[6]

Comments on the disconnection policy by religious scholars

“I just think it would be better for all concerned if they just let them go ahead and get out and everyone goes their own way, and not make such a big deal of it, the policy hurts everybody.” J. Gordon Melton, Institute for the Study of American Religion, Santa Barbara, California

“It has to do with feeling threatened because you're not that big. You do everything you can to keep unity in the group.” Frank K. Flynn, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri

“Some people I've talked to, they just wanted to go on with their lives and they wanted to be in touch with their daughter or son or parent. The shunning was just painful. And I don't know what it was accomplishing. And the very terms they use are scary, aren't they?” Newton Maloney, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California [4]

Scientology "Disconnection" in popular culture

• William S. Burroughs, who briefly dabbled with Scientology, wrote extensively about it during the late 1960s, weaving some of its jargon into his fictional works, as well as authoring non-fiction essays about it. He uses the term "Disconnect" in a Scientological context in Ali's Smile / Naked Scientology and other works. In the end, however, he abandoned Scientology and publicly criticized it in an editorial for the Los Angeles Free Press in 1970. [3]

• Gary Numan wrote songs laced with Scientology references, such as Me! I Disconnect From You, Praying to the Aliens, and Only a Downstat, influenced directly by Burroughs' Scientology-based writings.

References and external links about Disconnection in Scientology

1. Gormez, Michael Scientology disconnect policy destroying families (accessed 4/19/06)
2. Snoeck, Michel Scientology: The ‘Practice of Disconnection’ - A detailed study (accessed 4/29/06)
3. Church of Scientology What is Disconnection? (archive.org copy of website accessed 4/19/06)
4. Robert Farley. "The unperson", St. Petersburg Times, 2006-06-24, pp. 1A, 14A. Retrieved on 2006-06-25.
5. Aaron, Grace Religious shunning interview with Dave Sweetland (accessed 4/18/06)
6. Christman, Tory The Opposite of Christmas: C of S's Disconnection (accessed 4/18/06)

External links on Disconnection in Scientology

• Scientologyhandbook.org on PTS handling
• Scientologytoday.org: "What is Disconnection?"
• Michel Snoeck on Disconnection