Andreas Heldal-Lund

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Andreas Heldal-Lund
Andreas Heldal-Lund
Born	December 10, 1964 Oslo, Norway
Occupation	webmaster, Operation Clambake

Andreas Heldal-Lund (born on December 10, 1964 in Oslo) is the operator of Operation Clambake.

1 Operation Clambake
2 Praised by Tory Christman
3 Criticized on Scientology website
4 Quotes
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Operation Clambake

Operation Clambake is a website about Scientology and the Church of Scientology that (as of July 12, 2006) has the highest Google PageRank for the search term "Scientology" of any site not owned by the Church itself ^[1]. Most of the information presented by Operation Clambake is critical of the Church of Scientology and its leadership, although dissenters are given prominent space to air their differences.^[2] Heldal-Lund began criticizing the Church of Scientology in 1996, after the Church was found liable for fraud in Norway. He has stated many times that he doesn't object to people practicing the religion of Scientology itself, but he objects to the abuse-ridden management of that religion by what he has called the "criminal and corrupt" Church of Scientology.[1]

[edit] Praised by Tory Christman

One of the Church's most high-profile critics, Tory Christman, credits Heldal-Lund with convincing her to leave Scientology after thirty years. According to Christman, she had already had doubts about the Church, due to having been unwittingly drawn into participating in the sporgery attack on alt.religion.scientology, but conversing with Heldal-Lund (whom she had previously decided "must be the devil") led her to conclude that Scientology had been deceiving her, and she made her decision to leave. ^[2] ^[3]

[edit] Criticized on Scientology website

Heldal-Lund appears on a website owned by Scientologist Joel Philips called Religious Freedom Watch where he is listed in a group of "anti-religious extremists," virtually all of whom are critics of Scientology. According to Heldal-Lund, Joel Philips, identifying himself as the publisher of the website Religious Freedom Watch, contacted Heldal-Lund's employer in August 2005, alleging Heldal-Lund to be a "copyright anarchist" who "willfully violate [sic] the copyright law" and alleging that Operation Clambake "hosts death threats against [Church of Scientology] members and even recommendations of specific means by which they should be killed." ^[4]

[edit] Quotes

"People should be free to believe whatever they want, including Scientology. What I have against Church of Scientology is its deceitfulness, its lack of compassion for its members (especially the hard-working staff), its aggressive hard sell, its arrogance, its attack on free speech, its litigiousness, its harassment of its critics, its lack of concern for families, its gross neglect and abuse of children, etc."