Masked group protests to 'dissolve' Church of Scientology

The walls of the Church of Scientology on Beacon Street yesterday pulsed with the chant of more than 100 protesters outside, most of them masked, all of them marking a new battlefront in a loose-knit Internet-based organization's war against the church.

Anti-Scientology group Anonymous has allegedly hacked Scientology's website, mailed envelopes of white powder to its churches, and filled the Internet with internal Scientology material to further its goal, according to a Feb. 8 open letter on "dissolving the Church of Scientology."

In a statement, the Rev. Gerard Renna of the Boston church referred to Anonymous as "a group of cyber-terrorists ... perpetrating religious hate crimes."

Renna cited a July 2007 YouTube video in which an alleged masked Anonymous member intones, "We are the face of chaos ... We're the embodiment of humanity with no remorse, no caring, no love, or no sense of morality."

Said one masked protester, who would not give his name: "We're ready to talk to them," but said no one emerged from inside the church.

In a building alcove, partially sheltered from sudden raw rainfall, 56-year-old Larry Brennan said he drove 70 miles from New Hampshire for the protest - not as a member of Anonymous, but as a former upper-echelon Scientologist attached to church leader David Miscavige from 1973 to 1984.

Brennan said he saw and experienced Miscavige physically abuse members, and that the church financially exploited him, then threatened family members when they tried to leave.

"These people have no idea how abusive," Brennan said.

"That's a lie," Renna replied later. "Maybe he wants his 10 minutes of fame."

Inside, a worshipper who asked her name not be used said church "technology" helped improve her business, and that she wouldn't belong to a church that abused its members.

"I'm actually Catholic, but I also believe in Scientology," she said. "I think people doing something like this is just wrong."

Next door to the church, a half-dozen MIT students watched the protestors cheer for supportive horn-honks from passing traffic.

One student, who asked to identified by his first name, Oscar, said he'd recently taken the Scientologists up on a "personality test."

"They said I was depressed," said the student. "Which I disagreed with. They offered me classes I'd have to pay for, and books. I didn't take them."

Demonstrations
Anonymous protests

Anti-Scientologist group Anonymous declared Feb. 10 a day of global protest against the Church of Scientology. Internet message boards included live video feed from a London demonstration. Other regions, in addition to the United States, on Anonymous' schedule included Ireland, Germany, and Belgium.

On the web
Anonymous speaks

Watch BostonNOW interviews with Anonymous members on Beacon Street during yesterday's demonstration and listen to the American Civil Liberties Union talk about Anonymous and the Church of Scientology.