L. Ron Hubbard

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13 1911 – January 24 1986), better known as L. Ron Hubbard, was a prolific American author and the controversial founder of Dianetics and Scientology. In addition to philosophical works and self-help books, he wrote fiction in several genres, business management texts, essays and poetry.

Controversial episodes

L. Ron Hubbard's life is embroiled in controversy, as is the history of Scientology (for more on that, see Scientology controversy). His son, L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. claimed in 1983 that "99% of what my father ever wrote or said about himself is totally untrue." http://members.cox.net/batchild1/transcript/pbs1.htm

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Some documents written by Hubbard himself appear to suggest that he regarded Scientology as primarily a business, not a religion. In one letter dated April 10, 1953, he says that calling Scientology a religion solves "a problem of practical business", and status as a religion achieves something "more equitable...with what we've got to sell". In a 1962 official policy letter, he said "Scientology 1970 is being planned on a religious organization basis throughout the world. This will not upset in any way the usual activities of any organization. It is entirely a matter for accountants and solicitors." http://www.ezlink.com/~perry/Co$/Christian/barwell2.htm. A Reader's Digest article of May 1980 quoted Hubbard as saying in the 1940s "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion." http://www.skeptictank.org/readdig.htm

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In a 1983 interview, L. Ron, Jr. said "according to him and my mother", that he was the result of a failed abortion and recalls at six years old seeing his father performing an abortion ritual on his mother with a coat hanger. In the same interview, he said "Scientology is a power-and-money-and-intelligence-gathering game" and described his father as "only interested in money, sex, booze, and drugs". http://www.lermanet.com/scientologynews/penthouse-LRonHubbardJr-interview-1983.htm

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One controversial aspect of Hubbard's early life revolves around his association with Jack Parsons, an aeronautics professor at Caltech and an associate of the British occultist Aleister Crowley. Hubbard and Parsons were allegedly engaged in the practice of ritual magick in 1946, including an extended set of sex magick rituals called the Babalon Working, intended to summon a goddess or "moonchild." (Among occultists today, it is widely accepted that Hubbard derived a large part of 'Dianetics' from Golden Dawn occult ideas such as the Holy Guardian Angel.) The Church of Scientology insists that Hubbard was acting as a US government intelligence agent, on a mission to put an end to Parsons' magickal activities and to "rescue" a girl Parsons was "using" for magickal purposes. Critics of Scientology dismiss the Church's claims as after-the-fact rationalizations. Crowley recorded in his notes that he considered Hubbard a "lout" who made off with Parsons' money and girlfriend in an "ordinary confidence trick." Discussions of these events can be found in the critical biographies Bare-Faced Messiah, A Piece of Blue Sky and in The Marburg Journal of Religion.

Related Topics:
Jack Parsons - Caltech - British - Occultist - Aleister Crowley - Magick - Babalon Working - Golden Dawn - Holy Guardian Angel

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Hubbard later married the girl he claimed to have rescued, Sara Northrup. This marriage was an act of bigamy, as Hubbard had abandoned, but not divorced, his first wife and children as soon as he left the Navy (he divorced his first wife more than a year after he had remarried). Both women have alleged that Hubbard physically abused them. He is also alleged to have once kidnapped his and Sara's infant daughter, Alexis, taking her to Cuba. Later, he disowned Alexis, claiming she was actually Jack Parsons' child.

Related Topics:
Bigamy - Physically abused - Cuba

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Hubbard has been interpreted as both a savior (Scientologists refer to him as "The Friend of Mankind") and as a criminal con-artist. These sharply contrasting views have been a source of considerable tension and hostility between Hubbard's supporters and his critics. A California court judgement in 1984 involving Gerald Armstrong, who had been assigned the task of writing Hubbard's biography, highlights the extreme opposition of the two sides:

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:"In addition to violating and abusing its own members' civil rights, the organization over the years with its "Fair Game" doctrine has harassed and abused those persons not in the Church whom it perceives as enemies. The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and the bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder LRH . The evidence portrays a man who has been virtually a pathological liar when it comes to his history, background, and achievements. The writings and documents in evidence additionally reflect his egoism, greed, avarice, lust for power, and vindictiveness and aggressiveness against persons perceived by him to be disloyal or hostile. At the same time it appears that he is charismatic and highly capable of motivating, organizing, controlling, manipulating, and inspiring his adherents." -- Superior Court Judge Paul Breckinridge, Church of Scientology of California vs. Gerald Armstrong, June 20 1984. http://www.planetkc.com/sloth/sci/breck.html

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The "Fair Game" doctrine was introduced by Hubbard, and incites Scientologists to use criminal behavior, deception and exploitation of the legal system to resist "Suppressive Persons", i.e. people or groups that "actively seeks to suppress or damage Scientology or a Scientologist by Suppressive Acts". He defined it "Fair Game" as:

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ENEMY ? SP Order. Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.

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Conflicting interpretations of Hubbard's life are presented in the online version of Russell Miller's biography of Hubbard, Bare Faced Messiah; this largely critical version includes links to Scientology's official accounts of Hubbard's past, embedded within Miller's description of the same history.

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Several issues surrounding Hubbard's death and the disposition of his estate are also subjects of controversy — a swift cremation with no autopsy; the destruction of coroner's photographs; coroner's evidence of the drug Vistaril present in Hubbard's blood; questions about the whereabouts of Dr. Eugene Denk (Hubbard's physician) during Hubbard's death, and the changing of wills and trust documents the day before his death, resulting in the bulk of Hubbard's estate being transferred not to his family, but to the Scientology organization.

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