List of Scientology security checks#Security Check Children

A security check is sometimes compared to the practice of confession in other religions, however with its guided questions a sec check is closer to an interrogation than it is to the free-form unburdening of voluntary repentance.

Hubbard described security checking as a remedy for "the compulsion or obsession to commit actions" the person feels must be kept secret.{{r|hubbard-techdict|page=379}} Sec checks are performed on every Scientologist on the Bridge to Total Freedom, and every six months for those on the OT VII level "to make sure they're using the tech correctly",{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/inside-scientology-103288/ |title=Inside Scientology |date=February 8, 2011 |orig-date=February 23, 2006 |first=Janet |last=Reitman |author-link=Janet Reitman |magazine=Rolling Stone |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502021124/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/inside-scientology-20110208 |archive-date=May 2, 2018}} and on staff members who wish to leave staff.{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Farley |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml |title=The unperson: Scientologists who cross their religion can be declared suppressive persons, shunned by peers and ostracized by family |publisher=St. Petersburg Times |date=June 24, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316040646/http://www.sptimes.com:80/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml |archive-date=March 16, 2018}}

Susan Raine observes that the questions asked in security checks show that L. Ron Hubbard was intensely preoccupied with scrutiny, surveillance and betrayal. She notes that this intense form of surveillance makes sense from a bureaucratic perspective as a way of making sure all individuals follow (and internalize) the organisational goals. Bent Corydon compares security checking to the use of thought police in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He writes that Scientologists are punished for having negative thoughts about Hubbard or Scientology and so learn to think only positively. David Mayo reported that sec checks included the question, "Have you ever had any unkind thoughts about LRH?" and that such "discreditable thoughts" could land a follower in trouble.{{r|miller|pages=288–289}}

Jon Atack writes that sec checks could be applied either as a "confidential" confessional or as a non-confidential investigation. He alleges that former members have been silenced by the fear that their "confidential" secrets will be used in blackmail against them.{{r|atack|page=147}}

In response to public outrage towards Scientology and increasing government investigations into its practices, head of Public Relations Bureau of the Guardian's Office David Gaiman issued in 1968 a "Code of Reform" announcing the cancellation of the practices of disconnection, declaring people fair game, security checking as a form of confession, and a prohibition of writing down confessional materials. The PR move was to assure the press and governments that a severe puritanical and punitive approach was no longer necessary and so Scientology was taking a new liberal attitude. However, it changed nothing for practices in the organization. Later Scientology documents refer to the practice, and former members report that it still continues.Hubbard, L. Ron (29 November 1968) "Code of Reform" reproduced in {{Cite book|title = Hubbard Scientology Organisation in New Zealand and any associated scientology organisation or bodies in New Zealand; report of the Commission of Inquiry| first= Sir Guy Richardson |last=Powles |author2=E. V. Dumbleton |date=30 June 1969|oclc=147661 |location=Wellington|page=26 |url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=olbp25106}}{{r|atack|page=190}}{{r|malko|pages=171–172}}

In 1972, the South African Commission of Enquiry published a report on Scientology. It recommended that there should be legislation against sec checks. However, no legislative action was taken as a result.{{r|atack|page=203}}

This check is given to every person applying to start auditing for the first time.{{citation |title=HCOPL 23 October 1961, HGC Preprocessing Security Check |date=23 October 1961|first=L. Ron |last=Hubbard |publisher=Church of Scientology}}{{r|urban}}{{r|wallis|page=149}}

{{blockquote|text=

{{Unbulleted list

|Are you a pervert?

|Are you guilty of any major crimes in this lifetime?

|Have you been sent here knowingly to injure Scientology?

|Are you or have you ever been a Communist?

|Are you closely affiliated to any person or organization violently opposed to L. Ron Hubbard or Scientology?

}}}}

The Johannesburg (also known as "Joburg" or "Jo'burg") Security Check was described by Hubbard as "the roughest security check in Scientology". An amended form continued to be used for some time thereafter.{{r|atack|pages=150–151}} Amongst Hubbard's list of primarily crime-related questions is the question "Have you ever slept with a member of a race of another color?"{{citation |title=HCOPL 7 April 1961, Johannesburg Security Check |date=7 April 1961 |first=L. Ron |last=Hubbard |publisher=Church of Scientology}}{{r|urban}} Other questions include:

{{blockquote|text=

{{Unbulleted list

|Have you ever embezzled money?

|Have you ever been a drug addict?

|Have you ever bombed anything?

|Have you ever murdered anyone?

|Have you ever raped anyone?

|Have you ever had anything to do with a baby farm?

}}}}

The contents of the Joburg security check were later revised into what became "The Only Valid Security Check". Added to the Sec Check are new questions such as:{{citation |title=HCOPL 22 May 1961, The Only Valid Security Check |date=22 May 1961 |first=L. Ron |last=Hubbard |publisher=Church of Scientology}}

{{blockquote|text=

{{Unbulleted list

|Do you collect sexual objects?

|Do you have a secret you are afraid I'll find out?

|Are you upset by this security check?

|Have you ever had unkind thoughts about L. Ron Hubbard?

}}}}

This sec check, comprising 170 questions, was meant for staff auditors and field auditors.{{Cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Kevin Victor |author1-link=Kevin Victor Anderson |author2=Board of Inquiry into Scientology|title=Report of the Board of Inquiry into Scientology (Parliamentary paper 1-6502/65)|publisher=State of Victoria|location=Melbourne|year=1965|oclc=152418521}}{{citation |title=HCOPL 7 July 1961 II, HGC Auditor's Sec Check |date=7 July 1961 |first=L. Ron |last=Hubbard |publisher=Church of Scientology}}{{r|urban}}

{{blockquote|text=

{{Unbulleted list

|Do you hope you won't be found out?

|Do you think there is anything wrong with having your privacy invaded?

|What do you wish you hadn't done?

|Are you upset by this security check?

}}}}

Designed to be applied to children aged 6 to 12, it includes 100 questions, such as:{{citation |title=HCOB 21 Sept. 1961 Security Check Children |date=September 21, 1961 |first=L. Ron |last=Hubbard |publisher=Church of Scientology}}{{r|atack|page=151}}

{{blockquote|text=

{{Unbulleted list

|What has somebody told you not to tell?

|Have you ever decided you didn't like some member of your family?

|Have you ever taken something belonging to somebody else and never given it back?

|Have you ever pretended to be sick (ill)?

|Have you ever made yourself sick (ill) or hurt yourself to make somebody sorry?

}}}}

This long Sec Check, consisting of hundreds of questions, takes stock of the subject's entire time track, including their "recollections" of any "past lives" they believe they have had. It includes questions such as:{{r|atack|page=151–152}}

{{blockquote|text=

{{Unbulleted list

|Did you come to Earth for evil purposes?

|Have you ever smothered a baby?

|Have you ever enslaved a population?

|Have you ever destroyed a culture?

|Have you ever torn out someone's tongue?

|Have you ever zapped anyone?

|Have you ever eaten a human body?

|Have you ever made a planet, or nation, radioactive?

}}}}

{{Reflist|2|refs=

{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/pieceofblueskysc00atac/ |title=A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed |first=Jon |last=Atack |author-link=Jon Atack |date=1990 |publisher=Lyle Stuart Books |isbn=081840499X |ol=9429654M}}

{{cite book |first=Paulette |last=Cooper |author-link=Paulette Cooper |title=The Scandal of Scientology |title-link=The Scandal of Scientology |year=1971 |publisher=Tower Publications |isbn= |ol=39467941M}}

{{cite book |title=Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary |first=L. Ron |last=Hubbard |author-link=L. Ron Hubbard |publisher=Church of Scientology |isbn=0884040372 |ol=5254386M |year=1975}}

{{cite book |first=George |last=Malko |title=Scientology: The Now Religion |title-link=Scientology: The Now Religion |year=1970 |publisher=Delacorte Press |ol=5444962M}}

{{cite book |title=Bare-faced Messiah : The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard |title-link=Bare-faced Messiah |first=Russell |last=Miller |author-link=Russell Miller |ol=26305813M |isbn=0805006540 |date=1987 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company }}

{{cite book |last=Wallis |first=Roy |author-link=Roy Wallis |title=The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology |title-link=The Road to Total Freedom |year=1977 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0231042000 |ol=4596322M}}

}}

{{Scientology}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scientology Security Checks}}

Security checks

Category:Religion-related lists