WikiLeaks, the controversial whistle-blower website that publishes highly classified and copyrighted documents, has been in the news in mid-2010 for leaking over 90,000 documents (known as the Afghan War Diary) about the War in Afghanistan.
Though the reports have not received as much media coverage, secret documents and information about religions, cults, and spiritual groups can also be found on the Wikileaks website in a category identified as “Cults and Religious Organizations.” To read about the differences between cults and religions, see article What is a Cult?
There are documents from several religious and spiritual bodies on Wikileaks, with the greatest number of leaks pertaining to the Church of Scientology and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both churches have taken action in an attempt to get Wikileaks to remove the content, but thus far, the efforts have been unsuccessful.
Stated Purpose of Wikileaks
According to the Wikileaks website, a group of journalists, dissidents, and other activists have created an “uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis.” Julian Assange, an Australian journalist and activist, is the director and editor-in-chief of the website.
While the focus of Wikileaks is to cast a glaring spotlight on governmental corruption, the site also works to unmask corruption in other organizations, which include religions. The site states, “Our primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact.”
Wikileaks Information about Religions and Cults
In the “Cults and Religious Organizations” section of the Wikileaks website, there is information about a number of religious and quasi-religious groups. The leaked materials reveal corruption in the organizations, including illegal activities and brainwashing tactics, secret communications and documents regarding the inner workings and beliefs of the groups, as well as financial reports.
The released religion documents pertain to the following groups:
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints;
- Fellowship of Friends;
- Landmark Education;
- Royal Way;
- Scientology;
- Transcendental Meditation; and
- the Vatican.
There are also a few documents classified under Islam, but these reports do not relate specifically to the religion of Islam, but rather to the War on Terror, US military treatment of insurgents, and other political issues.
Reaction of LDS Church and Church of Scientology to Leaked Documents
Wikileaks has a substantial number of documents on its site about Scientologists and Mormons.
The most controversial material about the Church of Scientology includes what Wikileaks termed “the collected secret ‘bible’ of Scientology,” known as the “Operating Thetan Level” documents. The documents explain how Scientologists can achieve the eight levels in the religion.
In his article “Mormons, Scientologists face uphill battle against Wikileaks," Nate Anderson observed that it is clear why the Church of Scientology would want to suppress the leaked documents. He wrote, “The documents are bizarre, and include large chunks of handwritten material by founder L. Ron Hubbard (‘Incident 1 occurred about 4 quadrillion years ago + or -. It is very much earlier than Inc. 2, which occurred only 75,000,000 years ago (a bit less). Incident 2 is only peculiar and general on the planet and nearby stars, whereas Incident 1 is to be found on all Thetans.’).”
The most high-profile material about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Wikileaks includes information about the church’s involvement in California’s Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage; various versions of the official LDS Church Handbook of Instructions, which only certain male leaders in the church are allowed to access; and an audio recording of an LDS temple endowment ceremony. Only Mormons who are worthy (i.e., follow the rules of the church, pay their tithing, and are deemed morally pure) can enter the temple, and these temple-worthy members are sworn to absolute secrecy about specifics of temple ceremonies and rituals.
Both the Church of Scientology and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have taken action to force Wikileaks to remove the information about their organization, but neither has been successful.
In response to Scientology’s demands that the material be removed, Wikileaks responded that it “will not comply with legally abusive requests from Scientology. … Wikileaks will remain a place where people of the world may safely expose injustice and corruption [and] in response to the attempted suppression, Wikileaks will release several thousand additional pages of Scientology material next week," a threat the site followed through on.
The LDS Church’s Intellectual Property Division sent Wikileaks a copyright infringement notice, now published on Wikileaks, regarding the unlawful publishing of its handbook. Wikileaks ignored the notification.
Wikileaks Religion Files Controversy
The question of whether the controversial Wikileaks site is simply inflammatory or is it providing a needed exposé of corruption, deceit, secrecy, and questionable beliefs and practices of religions, spiritual groups, and cult-like organizations is up for debate.
What is clear, however, is that the backlash from various groups will continue. Organizations that have been outed by Wikileaks have and are retaliating using legal threats and other means. These groups face public-relations and image-control difficulties as classified information previously reserved for initiates well versed in the religions is now open to public scrutiny. Taken out of context, these documents often come across as untethered to reality and, in some cases, down-right delusional.
Sources:
Church of Scientology warns Wikileaks over documents, WikiNews.org. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks, TED.com. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
Mormons, Scientologists face uphill battle against Wikileaks, ArsTechnica.com. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
WikiLeaks, WikiLeaks.org. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
Aimee Larsen Stoddard - Aimee is a professional writer/editor. She has a BA in English and is currently completing an MS in Theology.
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