Recently, reports have circulated that actor Jason Beghe, a former Scientologist, has denounced his religion. Beghe is reported as saying that “Scientology is destructive and a rip off.” He goes on to say “[Scientology is] very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional health and evolution. I think it stunts your evolution. If Scientology is real, then something’s f——ed up.”

The video in which Beghe criticizes Scientology has been removed from YouTube, along with two other prominent anti-Scientology accounts owned by Tory Christman and Mark Bunker. YouTube issued the following statement to Times Online regarding the account suspensions:

YouTube takes these issues very seriously but we don’t comment on individual videos. Our general approach is simple: we have clear content policies about what videos are allowed on the site. For example we prohibit clips that infringe copyright or show extreme violence. Videos that breach these rules are removed and we disable all accounts belonging to repeat offenders.

I scarcely have to point out that this is a non-answer. It says a lot about why accounts in general are suspended, but nothing about why the individual accounts were suspended. Neither Christman nor Bunker received any information from YouTube as to why their accounts were suspended, though Christman’s account is back up. No word yet on when or if Bunker’s will be reactivated.

At the risk of sounding paranoid, I think that the church of Scientology has everything to do with this. It is the policy of their church to target critics, whom they call Suppressives (or SPs). The critics are considered “fair game” to do whatever it takes to destroy their character and stop them from criticizing Scientology. This policy of dead agenting is one component of Scientology’s long standing policy of hate to its critics.

In a world that hates the truth, in a world that love its sin, I can see the need for a firm defense of the truth. But truth doesn’t require bullying, fear-mongering, and hatred. Morally, we can all see these things for evil. If Scientology is true, then it has nothing to fear from critics. However, if it isn’t true, and its upper ranks know that it isn’t true, then the need for “fair game” and “dead agenting” becomes very clear.