Disconnection

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 teaches that association with these people impedes a member's progress along the Bridge to Total Freedom. In Introduction to Scientology Ethics, L. Ron Hubbard sets out the doctrine that by being connected to Suppressive Persons, a Scientologist could become a Potential Trouble Source (PTS): Hubbard defined 'handling' as an action to lessen a situation towards an antagonistic individual by means of communication, and disconnection as a decision to cut communication with another individual. Hubbard also wrote that Scientology Ethics Officers should recommend handling rather than disconnection when the antagonistic individual is a close relative. He also stated that failure, or refusal, to disconnect from a Suppressive Person is a Suppressive Act by itself. In one case cited by the UK Government, a six-year-old girl was declared Suppressive for failing to disconnect from her mother. Sociologist Roy Wallis reports that Scientologists connected to a suppressive would usually be required to handle or disconnect, although he found some 'Ethics Orders' which ordered unconditional disconnection. According to Church statements, disconnection is used as a 'last resort,' only to be employed if the people 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. Originally, disconnection involved not only ending communication with someone but also declaring it publicly. The Scientology publication The Auditor included notices of disconnection from named individuals. It was also common for Scientologists to send short letters to the suppressive person, to warn them that they were disconnected. Roy Wallis interviewed a number of people who had been declared suppressive, some of whom had received hundreds of these letters.: The Scientologist was also required to take 'any required civil action such as disavowal, separation or divorce' to cut off contact with the suppressive. The policy was introduced in 1965 in a policy letter written by Hubbard. The 'Code of Reform' introduced by Hubbard in 1968 discontinued Fair Game and Security Checks, and cancelled 'disconnection as a relief to those suffering from familial suppression.' In reality, these practices were never discontinued; however, the words 'Fair Game,' 'Disconnection,' and 'Security Checking' were discontinued, as the use of these words caused bad public relations. When the New Zealand Government set up a Commission of Inquiry into Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard wrote to them saying that disconnection had been cancelled and that there was no intention to bring it back. The Commission welcomed the letter, but noted Hubbard did not promise never to re-introduce the practice of disconnection. In his book A Piece of Blue Sky, Jon Atack cites an internal document dated August 1982 that, he alleges, re-introduced the disconnection policy. A belief that disconnection was being used again, and not as a last resort, led a group of British Scientologists to resign from the Church in 1984, while keeping their allegiance to the beliefs of Scientology. Their interpretation was that the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard 'encourage the unity of the family' and therefore that the disconnection policy was 'a misrepresentation or misapplication'. In 1966, UK newspaper the Daily Mail quoted a disconnection letter from Scientologist Karen Henslow to her mother: