Disconnection
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Disconnection is a practice in Scientology, in which a Scientologist severs all ties between themselves and friends, colleagues, or family members that are deemed to be antagonistic towards Scientology. [1] [2] The practice of disconnection is a form of religious shunning.
Antagonists to the Church of Scientology are declared by the church to be "antisocial personalities", Potential Trouble Sources (PTS), or Suppressive Persons (SPs). The Church of Scientology teaches that association with such persons impedes one's spiritual growth.
According to Church statements, disconnection is used as a "last resort", only to be employed if the persons antagonistic to Scientology do not cease their antagonism -- even after being provided with "true data" about Scientology, since it is taught that usually only people with false data are antagonistic to the Church. [3]
Disconnection has sometimes ended marriages and separated children from their parents. [4]
- William S. Burroughs, who briefly dabbled with Scientology, wrote extensively about it during the late 1960s, weaving some of its jargon into his fictional works, as well as authoring non-fiction essays about it. He uses the term "Disconnect" in a Scientological context in Ali's Smile/Naked Scientology and other works. In the end, however, he abandoned Scientology and publicly criticized it in an editorial for the Los Angeles Free Press in 1970. [1]
- Gary Numan wrote songs laced with Scientology references, such as Me! I Disconnect From You, Praying to the Aliens, and Only a Downstat, influenced directly by Burroughs' Scientology-based writings.
- ^ Gormez, Michael Scientology disconnect policy destroying families (accessed 4/19/06)
- ^ Snoeck, Michel Scientology: The ‘Practice of Disconnection’ - A detailed study (accessed 4/29/06)
- ^ Church of Scientology What is Disconnection? (archive.org copy of website accessed 4/19/06)
- ^ Robert Farley. "The unperson", St. Petersburg Times, 2006-06-24, pp. 1A, 14A. Retrieved on 2006-06-25.
- Scientologyhandbook.org on PTS handling
- Scientologytoday.org: "What is Disconnection?"
- Articles on disconnection