Free Zone (Scientology)

Free Zone is a term used by several small groups which practice Dianetics and Scientology but are not part of the official Church of Scientology. The Free Zone is also Pseudoscience. Most of them are former Church of Scientology members who either left or were kicked out in the "church"'s frequent internal purges, especially since the early 1980s. The Church of Scientology's practice of declaring members "SP" on a whim (suppressive persons, referring to somebody declared persona non grata in the organization and effectively making them non-members) led to the inevitable as many of these people continued to believe in and practice the pseudoscience of Scientology.

"Free Zone" adherents vary. With many of them there is a belief that L. Ron Hubbard's writings are infallable and they believe the current Church of Scientology has strayed from Hubbard's teachings; hence, "Free Zone" is a form of fundamentalist Scientology. For others their belief is not so fundamentalist, in that they believe Scientology is valid but mix it with other practices, or try to glean what they see is the good from Scientology while discarding some of it. For many the attraction of "Free Zone" Scientology is simply that they recognize the Church of Scientology organization is a money-sucking cult which they wish to steer clear of, but are attracted to Scientology's teachings as opposed to the organization.

Several "Free Zone" websites exist and they have created their own homebrew alternatives to Scientology's "E-Meter" and a body of writings based on Scientology but which fall outside the copyright to the works held by the Church of Scientology, which is notoriously litigious toward those who attempt to promote Scientology outside the "Org". The Church of Scientology has their own term for the "Free Zone": "squirrels". Free Zone websites invariably have a web page design suggestive of 1997 and split their effort between archived self-published "clearing technology" and heavy criticism of the current Co$ leadership - examples here, here, and here.

From RationalWiki