Gerry Armstrong
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- For the former footballer, see Gerry Armstrong (footballer)
| Gerry Armstrong | |
|---|---|
 Gerry Armstrong, July 5, 2004
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| Born | United States |
| Occupation | Activist, Former Scientologist |
Gerry Armstrong is a former member of the Church of Scientology who is now one of the most vocal critics of the Church. In 1980, the Church assigned Armstrong, then a member of the Church's elite Sea Org, to organize some personal papers of L. Ron Hubbard that were to serve as the basis of a new biography of Hubbard. A non-Scientologist, Omar Garrison, had been hired to write the book. As part of his assignment, Armstrong also requested Hubbard's war records from the United States Navy and Hubbard's college transcripts from George Washington University.
While reviewing these documents, both Armstrong and Garrison came to realize that many of the claims Hubbard made about himself were completely at odds with all other evidence: Hubbard had not graduated from George Washington University as a "nuclear physicist," but attended only for two years, failed the only class in physics he took there, and left without graduating. Hubbard's Navy record showed no promotion to "Commander of Corvettes in the North Pacific," but only to Lieutenant.
When Armstrong gave the Church a written report on the results of his work, they responded by expelling him from the Church and declaring him a Suppressive Person. By his own account, Armstrong feared that he and his wife would be targets of Scientology's Fair Game policy, and would face not only harassing lawsuits but physical harm. He placed copies of the documents that he had been given to organize in the custody of his attorney, in order to protect himself from the possibility that the Church would destroy the biographical documents (many of which had, ironically, been uncovered in the course of a document-destruction operation) and then take legal action alleging that Armstrong's description of the documents' contents was maliciously false. He also went public with his story to minimize the risk that Scientology operatives would try to do him physical harm.
Armstrong's transfer of the Hubbard-related documents to his attorney prompted a lawsuit, Church of Scientology of California vs. Gerald Armstrong. The decision in the case, by Judge Paul Breckenridge, found that Armstrong's fears of persecution by the Church were reasonable, and thus his conduct in turning over the documents in his possession to his attorneys was also reasonable:
- ... the court is satisfied the invasion was slight, and the reasons and justification for the defendant's conduct manifest. Defendant was told by Scientology to get an attorney. He was declared an enemy by the Church. He believed, reasonably, that he was subject to "fair game." The only way he could defend himself, his integrity, and his wife was to take that which was available to him and place it in a safe harbor, to wit, his lawyer's custody. (Judge Paul Breckenridge, Los Angeles Superior Court, June 20, 1984)
The Armstrong case was one of at least two in which the Church of Scientology presented a witness (in this case, Dr. Frank K. Flinn) to argue that "fair game" not only still existed, but was a "core practice" of Scientology and thus should be considered Constitutionally protected activity.
[edit] See also
Church of Scientology v. Gerald Armstrong
