Washington, USA - An video from "Anonymous" posted on YouTube last year states, "Hello. Leaders of Scientology. We are Anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. The extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided your organization should be destroyed."
It's a declaration of war over the internet.
A loose coalition of leaderless web activists calling their group "Anonymous" launched their attacks last year. The U.S. Attorney's Office began going after some in "Anonymous" for hacking into Scientology computers. The Church of Scientology claims they became the target of several death threats.
A video from the Church of Scientology has recorded death threats reportedly from members of "Anonymous" stating church leaders should "kill themselves" and that "death will come." Bomb threats against Churches worldwide are also recorded in this Scientology video.
Anonymous's war against Scientology centers around their accusation the church is actually a cult.
Put simply, Scientology goes something like this: You walk into one of their churches. There are dozens worldwide. It's one of the fastest growing religions. Church members give you a reading on an e-meter. They believe it reveals people's mental state of being.
A church often looks more like a class inside. People study the books and lectures of L. Ron Hubbard. The former science fiction writer wrote the bestseller, "Dianetics: The Modern Science Of Mental Health" in the 1950's.
Some pay thousands of dollars to continue their classes on how to control "Thetans." They are the spirits troubling the human soul.
Once risen to a rank of "Operating Thetan Level 3", "OT III" for short, one learns the confidential origin story of the Scientology faith.
L. Ron Hubbard's own handwriting written in a Scientology religious work titled, "the Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology," states that a being named Xenu ruled over a galactic confederation of 76 planets.
Xenu threw his people into volcanoes on planet Teegeeack.We call this planet, Earth. The people's spirits, called "Thetans," roamed the Earth, taking over human souls.
The goal of the church is to rid your spirit of these harmful Thetans. If you do the lessons out of order, "free wheeling," Hubbard calls it, an implant in your spirit turns on. You catch pneumonia and die.
Even former scientology members don't talk about OT III.
When News Channel 3 asked former Scientologist Steve Curry, "What OT level did you reach?" Curry response was "It was OT III, I reached OT III in 1980. It's an OT level. That's all I want to say about that. It's a moderate level of beingness."
When asked further if that was when one learned about Xenu and the Scientology origin story, Curry nervously responded, "Well, it's really not my place to say."
As the war between Scientology and a group of protestors heats up, Riverside County Supervisors are taking a stance.
But are they making decisions, based on propaganda? We'll uncover who's getting paid off. Our special series continues Wednesday night at 11.