Opinion: Whether you think Scientology is a religion or cult, its power shouldn’t go unchecked

It took ‘Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination’ just nine hours to start plastering my face with the label “bigot” across social media, writes Eilidh Sproul-Mellis.

Jason Horvatic attended the Athena School in the 90s and has since left Scientology. Picture Ross Swanborough

Hello. My name is Bigot.

I wasn’t aware that I had changed my name overnight. Perhaps I did so in some sleep-deprived stupor? I’m not sure how I would’ve penned my signature in that case.

No, it turns out my name hasn’t changed – not legally – but that’s certainly the name the Church of Scientology and its devotees know me by now.

Honesty, fairness and independence are among the core tenets of the Australian journalistic code of ethics, and doing your utmost to give a fair right of reply chief among the standards we’re all expected to abide by.

I take it quite seriously.

Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination (STAND League) targeted education reporter Eilidh Sproul-Mellis on X after The Daily Telegraph published an article about the church’s education affiliates, including Sydney’s Athena School.

If you’re a follower of Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination (STAND) on X, however, you’d be shocked by that admission, because across their accounts on Monday I was branded a “bigot” who “thinks nothing of targeting members of a global religion” and a propagator of “hate”.

Scientology is a recognised religion in Australia, a fact which hasn’t been seriously challenged since the 1983 High Court ruling in Church of the New Faith v. Commissioner of Payroll Tax which cemented its status.

2014: Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige reopens the Church’s refurbished building on Castlereagh St in Sydney.

But whether you think Scientology is a bona fide religion, a cult or something else entirely, religious institutions and the power they wield cannot go unchecked – especially when it comes to the taxpayer-subsidised education they’re offering.

When a Christian school in Sydney’s northern beaches began attracting controversy over its religious bent on an Indigenous Acknowledgment of Country, we reported on that.

When the Parramatta Catholic diocese began teaching students about “recognising sexuality as an exploration in forming personal identity,” we reported on that.

And when one of my colleagues at The Daily Telegraph investigated the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and found its OneSchool Global campuses do not offer students the opportunity to study biology or performing arts in Year 12, we reported on that.

The Daily Telegraph recently published an investigation into the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church aka the Exclusive Brethren, including its OneSchool Global campus.

After researching L. Ron Hubbard’s Study Technology and Scientology’s Applied Scholastics schools, including by speaking to multiple former students and church members on and off the record, I put all relevant claims (as well as some of my own questions) to The Athena School.

I offered the principal a sit-down interview, and when that was declined, sent her detailed questions in writing.

She diligently responded to each point.

I also reached out to the Sydney Church of Scientology – once a source provided me an email address that would actually be answered.

So imagine my surprise when an email from the Los Angeles-based head of “media relations” for the international Church of Scientology landed in my inbox overnight on Saturday claiming I had “failed to contact the Church about this matter”.

David Bloomberg demanded I “do not go forward with your story before contacting me” and so I called him back.

Again, for fair right of reply.

STAND’s ‘code of conduct’ includes a rule that journalists can’t describe Scientology as “controversial” or report on “anti-Scientology hate” as opinion or news.

He had set the gears of the PR machine in motion to dig up a dirt file on my key source, Jason Horvatic, claiming he was “mentally deranged” and had “terrorised staff” at the Sydney church by breaking glass bottles.

He insisted the conversation we were having was “off the record” but when I asked him to respond in writing with a response on the record, he never replied. At time of writing, I haven’t heard from him since.

When I called Jason to ask him about the story he laughed, and explained that his ‘bottle breaking’ incident came near the end of his final stint in the Church, when he was undertaking an “auditing” session called “book and bottle” which encouraged him to exercise his frustrations while moving up the “tone-scale”.

Not once did he threaten anyone with the broken bottles, he said.

It took the STAND League’s Hate Monitor just nine hours from the time the article went live to spread graphics labelling me a bigot across the internet. For what it’s worth, none of the schools, individuals, organisations or interest groups I’ve ever reported on have done that.

I doubt STAND will be thrilled with Tuesday’s edition either.

Originally published as Opinion: Whether you think Scientology is a religion or cult, its power shouldn’t go unchecked