Volunteer Ministers
Encyclopedia
The Volunteer Minister program of the Church of Scientology
dispatches groups of Scientologists using techniques developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard
. According to the Church, "It is a worldwide movement that has for more than 25 years [as of 2002] worked across national, racial, political and religious boundaries in more than 150 countries to help people deal with upheavals and has helped them put their lives back together." The activities of the Volunteer Ministers are largely funded by the International Association of Scientologists
, which has sponsored a worldwide advertising campaign with the slogan "Something can be done about it - Call a Volunteer Minister." The Church says that the program constitutes "the only effective steps to arrest and reverse the deterioration of [the] world." Some critics say that the program is oriented towards publicity and promotion for the Church of Scientology as well as recruitment. Reports have shown that a primary goal of the Volunteer Ministers is to prevent disaster victims from receiving professional psychological help. However, some local officials are reported to have welcomed their assistance and in the U.S. the VM Disaster Response team is a National Member of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).
and Scientology
technology into view and into use at the raw public level." The Church of Scientology has compiled instructions on how to use Scientology methods to resolve personal issues into a book, The Volunteer Minister's Handbook. In Hubbard's words, "this book will be broadly distributed on Scn and non-Scientology lines, bought by the man on the street. He'll use some of the data, produce some miracles, save a marriage or two, rescue some kid from drugs, help his next door neighbor who's upset because her child's failing in school and couldn't care less, plus brighten up her yawning of Spring and teach him to study, and handle Aunt Martha's dizziness with assists."
Volunteer Ministers are trained on courses, each of which take approximately 2 weeks, which instruct the individual in how to "do such things as preserve marriages, get delinquent children back in the fold, handle dissident elements in the society, get families out of the red by better cooperation, solve human conflict and other such positive actions."
Hubbard advised that "using his minister's card, an auditor need only barge into any non-sectarian hospital, get permission to visit the wards from the superintendent, mentioning nothing about processing but only about taking care of people's souls." The primary objective was simply to recruit more members for Scientology: "Some small percentage of the persons visited or their families will turn up in his group. Thus he will build a group and naturally from that group he will get a great many individual preclears." This was, however, not how the program was to be presented to the general public: "A great many miracles will follow in his wake and he is later to become a subject of the press himself. However, in handling the press we should simply say that it is a mission of the Church to assist those who are in need of assistance."
The Volunteer Ministers program is also intended to operate as a recruitment activity. As Hubbard puts it,
, Americorps
and United Nations
volunteer programs combined.
The Church has set a target of recruiting as many Volunteer Ministers as there are policemen in each of the principal countries in which Scientology is active. In 2001, the Church announced a number of target quotas for Volunteer Minister recruitment, as follows:
However, an ARIS demographic study by the University of New York estimated in 2000 that there may only be 55,000 Scientologists in the whole of the United States.
and offer therapy that is claimed to calm or relieve pain, using techniques known in Scientology as Assists
, such as "Locationals," "Nerve assists" and "Touch assist
s." They have also undertaken work to improve local facilities and activities such as providing manpower to assist flood defense efforts.
Volunteer Ministers have been sent to the site of relief efforts in Southeast Asia in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami
and to London Underground
stations that were attacked in the 7 July 2005 London bombings
. Eight hundred were sent to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina
and The Volunteer Minister program most heavily promoted by Scientology took place in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Critics of Scientology accused the organization of attempting to take advantage of the disaster in order to promote Scientology to the grief-stricken populace in the area. An intercepted email from a Sea Org "Lieutenant" brags of a deliberate plan to prevent the grief-stricken from receiving counseling from psychiatrists.
The National Mental Health Association issued a public warning in response to the conduct of Scientologists in the immediate aftermath of September 11, claiming that scientologists were "Intentionally confusing [the] public" by presenting themselves as mental health service providers. According to NMHA President Michael M. Faenza, "The public needs to understand that the Scientologists are using this tragedy to recruit new members. They are not providing mental health assistance."
The ministers have also disseminated scientology teachings after the Yogjakarta Indonesian earthquake, Philippines Typhoon Durian, U.S. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Africa's Cyclone Favio, Australia's and Cyclone Larry, the South Africa Table Top Mountain bushfire, the 2007 Victoria, Australia bushfires, Jakarta floods, Soloman Islands tsunami and Greensburg Kansas tornado.
In 2005, the group was honored for their efforts by Florida Governor Jeb Bush with a "Points of Light Award" for "exemplary volunteer service to their community."
The Volunteer Minister program most heavily promoted by Scientology took place in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Critics of Scientology accused the organization of attempting to take advantage of the disaster in order to promote Scientology to the grief-stricken populace in the area. The National Mental Health Association issued a public warning in response to the conduct of Scientologists in the immediate aftermath of September 11, claiming that scientologists were "Intentionally confusing [the] public" by presenting themselves as mental health service providers. According to NMHA President Michael M. Faenza, "The public needs to understand that the Scientologists are using this tragedy to recruit new members. They are not providing mental health assistance."
In Russia, after the Beslan school hostage crisis
tragedy in 2004, the Health Ministry ordered Scientologists out of the area, saying "that various psychological tactics the groups use, including what it called hypnosis, may be harmful not only for adults, but for children that have already suffered severe mental shock."
In the United Kingdom
, Volunteer Ministers played a similar role in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings
, targeting the families of victims and emergency workers. As in the United States in 2001, this resulted in controversy, and it was reported that Volunteer Ministers had been removed from the vicinity of survivors of the bus bombing in Tavistock Square. It later emerged that the Metropolitan Police
had agreed to give the Church of Scientology privileged access to the Police Message Broadcasting System, enabling the Church to dispatch Volunteer Minister rapid-response teams in the event of future emergencies in the capital.
Paul Fletcher, director of the London branch of CCHR and Stefania Cisco, a Director of Special Affairs for Scientology, admitted to an undercover BBC
reporter that the purpose of the volunteer ministeres was to keep the psychiatists away, and called this "spiritual security".
After the Virginia Tech massacre
, April 16, 2007, 20 Volunteer Minister were on the campus. Bulletins to Scientology members said that help had been requested by the university provost, the Salvation Army
and the Red Cross, but these organizations denied that any requests had been made. The activities of the Volunteer Ministers at Virginia Tech was reported to have received strong criticism from local pastors.
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
dispatches groups of Scientologists using techniques developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
. According to the Church, "It is a worldwide movement that has for more than 25 years [as of 2002] worked across national, racial, political and religious boundaries in more than 150 countries to help people deal with upheavals and has helped them put their lives back together." The activities of the Volunteer Ministers are largely funded by the International Association of Scientologists
International Association of Scientologists
The International Association of Scientologists is an English non-profit organization, which was formed in October 1984 by a group of Scientologists, who assembled at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, Sussex, England...
, which has sponsored a worldwide advertising campaign with the slogan "Something can be done about it - Call a Volunteer Minister." The Church says that the program constitutes "the only effective steps to arrest and reverse the deterioration of [the] world." Some critics say that the program is oriented towards publicity and promotion for the Church of Scientology as well as recruitment. Reports have shown that a primary goal of the Volunteer Ministers is to prevent disaster victims from receiving professional psychological help. However, some local officials are reported to have welcomed their assistance and in the U.S. the VM Disaster Response team is a National Member of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).
Objectives
According to Hubbard, the objective of the program is to "put basic DianeticsDianetics
Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body that was invented by the science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and is practiced by followers of Scientology...
and Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
technology into view and into use at the raw public level." The Church of Scientology has compiled instructions on how to use Scientology methods to resolve personal issues into a book, The Volunteer Minister's Handbook. In Hubbard's words, "this book will be broadly distributed on Scn and non-Scientology lines, bought by the man on the street. He'll use some of the data, produce some miracles, save a marriage or two, rescue some kid from drugs, help his next door neighbor who's upset because her child's failing in school and couldn't care less, plus brighten up her yawning of Spring and teach him to study, and handle Aunt Martha's dizziness with assists."
Volunteer Ministers are trained on courses, each of which take approximately 2 weeks, which instruct the individual in how to "do such things as preserve marriages, get delinquent children back in the fold, handle dissident elements in the society, get families out of the red by better cooperation, solve human conflict and other such positive actions."
Origins
The program is the successor to earlier Scientology outreach efforts, notably the "Casualty Contact" program for recruiting new Scientologists (called "preclears") from hospitals, the scenes of accidents and other places where people might have experienced trauma. As Hubbard put it, "One takes every daily paper he can get his hands on and cuts from it every story whereby he might have a preclear. [...] He should represent himself to the person or the person's family as a minister whose compassion was compelled by the newspaper story concerning the person. [...]."Hubbard advised that "using his minister's card, an auditor need only barge into any non-sectarian hospital, get permission to visit the wards from the superintendent, mentioning nothing about processing but only about taking care of people's souls." The primary objective was simply to recruit more members for Scientology: "Some small percentage of the persons visited or their families will turn up in his group. Thus he will build a group and naturally from that group he will get a great many individual preclears." This was, however, not how the program was to be presented to the general public: "A great many miracles will follow in his wake and he is later to become a subject of the press himself. However, in handling the press we should simply say that it is a mission of the Church to assist those who are in need of assistance."
The Volunteer Ministers program is also intended to operate as a recruitment activity. As Hubbard puts it,
- As the benefits of the Volunteer Minister program begin to spread throughout the society, a rank and file of people that have been helped will begin to accumulate. These people will begin to feed into missionsScientology Missions InternationalScientology Missions International is a Californian 501 non-profit corporation, which is located in Los Angeles, California. SMI is part of the Church of Scientology network....
and Churches of Scientology from wherever the Volunteer Minister has been at work.
Organizational aspects
In recent years, the Church of Scientology has heavily promoted and greatly increased the profile and size of the Volunteer Ministers program. Church publications say that there are over 95,000 Volunteer Ministers - more than the Peace CorpsPeace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
, Americorps
AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps is a U.S. federal government program that was created under President Bill Clinton by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 and later expanded by 50 percent under President George W. Bush...
and United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
volunteer programs combined.
The Church has set a target of recruiting as many Volunteer Ministers as there are policemen in each of the principal countries in which Scientology is active. In 2001, the Church announced a number of target quotas for Volunteer Minister recruitment, as follows:
| Country | Total inhabitants | Quota for VMs |
| Australia | 18,783,551 | 58,229 |
| Austria | 8,139,299 | 5,231 |
| Canada | 31,006,347 | 6,118 |
| Denmark | 5,356,845 | 6,603 |
| France | 58,978,172 | 82,831 |
| Germany | 82,087,361 | 254,469 |
| Italy | 56,735,130 | 175,878 |
| Sweden | 8,911,296 | 27,624 |
| United States | 272,639,608 | 845,184 |
However, an ARIS demographic study by the University of New York estimated in 2000 that there may only be 55,000 Scientologists in the whole of the United States.
Recent activities
Volunteer Ministers have frequently been sent to the scenes of major disasters, where they distribute copies of a pamphlet authored by L. Ron Hubbard entitled The Way to HappinessThe Way to Happiness
The Way to Happiness is a 1980 booklet written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard listing 21 moral precepts, and distributed by The Way to Happiness Foundation International, a Scientology-related non-profit organization founded in 1984....
and offer therapy that is claimed to calm or relieve pain, using techniques known in Scientology as Assists
Assist (Scientology)
In Scientology, the Assist is described as a "process which is done to alleviate a present time discomfort".Despite the use of assists to treat pain and injuries, the Scientology Handbook states:...
, such as "Locationals," "Nerve assists" and "Touch assist
Touch assist
In Scientology, the Touch Assist is a procedure supposed to help heal illnesses or injuries. It is one of many such Assists.-Theory:Church of Scientology founder L...
s." They have also undertaken work to improve local facilities and activities such as providing manpower to assist flood defense efforts.
Volunteer Ministers have been sent to the site of relief efforts in Southeast Asia in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
and to London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
stations that were attacked in the 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
. Eight hundred were sent to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and The Volunteer Minister program most heavily promoted by Scientology took place in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Critics of Scientology accused the organization of attempting to take advantage of the disaster in order to promote Scientology to the grief-stricken populace in the area. An intercepted email from a Sea Org "Lieutenant" brags of a deliberate plan to prevent the grief-stricken from receiving counseling from psychiatrists.
- "Due to some brilliant maneuvering by some simply genius Sea Org Members we tied up the majority of the psychs who were attempting to get to families yesterday in Q&A, bullbait and wrangling.
[... The survivors] don't know it but they need the Scientologists with LRH's tech to be here right now."
The National Mental Health Association issued a public warning in response to the conduct of Scientologists in the immediate aftermath of September 11, claiming that scientologists were "Intentionally confusing [the] public" by presenting themselves as mental health service providers. According to NMHA President Michael M. Faenza, "The public needs to understand that the Scientologists are using this tragedy to recruit new members. They are not providing mental health assistance."
The ministers have also disseminated scientology teachings after the Yogjakarta Indonesian earthquake, Philippines Typhoon Durian, U.S. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Africa's Cyclone Favio, Australia's and Cyclone Larry, the South Africa Table Top Mountain bushfire, the 2007 Victoria, Australia bushfires, Jakarta floods, Soloman Islands tsunami and Greensburg Kansas tornado.
In 2005, the group was honored for their efforts by Florida Governor Jeb Bush with a "Points of Light Award" for "exemplary volunteer service to their community."
Controversy
As with many of the Church of Scientology's programs, the Volunteer Ministers have generated controversy and criticism. Critics of Scientology accuse the organization of offering medically dubious therapy (Hubbard's "assists" have gained negligible credibility among the medical or psychological professions) and of attempting to take advantage of disasters in order to promote Scientology to a grief-stricken populace.The Volunteer Minister program most heavily promoted by Scientology took place in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Critics of Scientology accused the organization of attempting to take advantage of the disaster in order to promote Scientology to the grief-stricken populace in the area. The National Mental Health Association issued a public warning in response to the conduct of Scientologists in the immediate aftermath of September 11, claiming that scientologists were "Intentionally confusing [the] public" by presenting themselves as mental health service providers. According to NMHA President Michael M. Faenza, "The public needs to understand that the Scientologists are using this tragedy to recruit new members. They are not providing mental health assistance."
In Russia, after the Beslan school hostage crisis
Beslan school hostage crisis
The Beslan school hostage crisis of early September 2004 was a three-day hostage-taking of over 1,100 people which ended in the deaths of over 380...
tragedy in 2004, the Health Ministry ordered Scientologists out of the area, saying "that various psychological tactics the groups use, including what it called hypnosis, may be harmful not only for adults, but for children that have already suffered severe mental shock."
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Volunteer Ministers played a similar role in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
, targeting the families of victims and emergency workers. As in the United States in 2001, this resulted in controversy, and it was reported that Volunteer Ministers had been removed from the vicinity of survivors of the bus bombing in Tavistock Square. It later emerged that the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
had agreed to give the Church of Scientology privileged access to the Police Message Broadcasting System, enabling the Church to dispatch Volunteer Minister rapid-response teams in the event of future emergencies in the capital.
Paul Fletcher, director of the London branch of CCHR and Stefania Cisco, a Director of Special Affairs for Scientology, admitted to an undercover BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reporter that the purpose of the volunteer ministeres was to keep the psychiatists away, and called this "spiritual security".
After the Virginia Tech massacre
Virginia Tech massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...
, April 16, 2007, 20 Volunteer Minister were on the campus. Bulletins to Scientology members said that help had been requested by the university provost, the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
and the Red Cross, but these organizations denied that any requests had been made. The activities of the Volunteer Ministers at Virginia Tech was reported to have received strong criticism from local pastors.
External links
- Official website
- Volunteer Minister official European website
- Scientology Today: VM latest News
- Volunteer Ministers Handbook
- Scientology example of a "locational" to make a drunk person sober in few minutes.
- Danish writer and photographer Thorsten Overgaard followed the Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Asia after the tsunami
- Transcript of BBC Radio Five Live report on Volunteer Ministers, 2 July 2006
- Volunteer Ministers were part of Hubbard's plans for a grassroots movement