Scientology has long had a veil of secrecy, but that veil was at least partly lifted in March 2008, when the secret “bibles” of Scientology were published by WikiLeaks, outlining various aspects of the religion.
In particular, WikiLeaks published a manual on the eight different Operating Thetan levels, or levels that Scientologists can achieve within the organization. The leaks also gave instructions on some of Scientology’s “drills,” which are somewhat difficult to understand. For example, members were instructed to “Find a tight packed crowd of people. Write it as a crowd and then as individuals until you have a cognition. Note it down.”
After the leak was published, the Church of Scientology sent a letter of warning to WikiLeaks, suggesting the organization had infringed on the church’s intellectual property rights.
WikiLeaks refused to remove the material, claiming the church “aids and abets a general climate of Western media self-censorship.”
