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Church of Spiritual Technology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) was incorporated in the State of California, USA in 1982.[1] This non-profit organization owns all the copyrights of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard. The CST is doing business as L. Ron Hubbard Library. The CST is unusual in that it has no members or clergy, which is allowed under California law. This church gets its income from royalty fees paid to it by licensing of the copyrighted materials of Dianetics and Scientology to Scientology-connected organizations approved by the Religious Technology Center, and from its wholly owned for-profit subsidiary Author Services Inc. which publishes and promotes Hubbard's fiction works.[2]
Religious Technology Center is the holder of the trademarks and service marks of Scientology and is safeguarding its application. CST is the holder of the copyrights and licenses their use. The Church of Scientology International is the organization providing management services to other Scientology Churches all over the world.
The CST oversees the Scientology scriptural archiving project, which aims to preserve the works of Hubbard on stainless steel tablets and encased in titanium capsules in specially constructed vaults throughout the world.[3] The most famous example is the Trementina Base, an underground vault built into a mountainside near Trementina, New Mexico. It is marked by a CST logo visible only from a high altitude and was built in the late 1980s.[4][5]
For the first 21 years of its existence, few members of the Church of Scientology ever heard the name Church of Spiritual Technology. Its founders included Meade Emory,[6] a non-Scientologist who used to work for the Internal Revenue Service but went into private practice as a tax lawyer. He was hired as a specialist for the complex Internal Revenue Codes. The Church of Scientology International and most Scientology organizations settled with the IRS about 11 years later when the service passed a resolution in 1993 declaring them tax-exempt.
Unlike other Scientology organizations (which require all corporate officers to be Scientologists in good standing), as well as the Scientologist general directors and staff, the Church of Spiritual Technology includes "Special Directors" who are not required to be Scientologists, but who are required to be lawyers "to ensure that CST takes no action to jeopardize its tax-exempt status" (CST vs. IRS, US Claims Court No. 581-88T, June 29, 1992).[7]
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The Way to Happiness and The Way to Happiness symbol are trademarks and services marks owned by the Church of Spiritual Technology, operating as the L. Ron Hubbard Library.
- ^ http://www.americanreligion.org/books/scientology.html
- ^ http://www.asirights.com/aboutasi.htm
- ^ Henderson, Bob (1991-07-25). Vault to get Hubbard's writings. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved on 2007-12-12.
- ^ WashingtonPost.com - 'A Place in the Desert for New Mexico's Most Exclusive Circles', Richard Leiby, Washington Post, p D01 (November 27, 2005)
- ^ Cooper, Anderson (2005-12-02). Inside the Church of Scientology (Transcript). Anderson Cooper 360°. CNN. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
- ^ http://www.law.washington.edu/Faculty/Emory/
- ^ http://www.angelfire.com/blog/suleiman2/cst_vs_irs_1992.html
- Sc-I-R-S-ology.pair.com - 'Church of Spiritual Technology, a "Church" approved by the Department of the Treasury, Owns and Controls all Scientology' (critical website)
- najbjerg.info - Church of Spiritual Technology, an organization approved by Hubbard (website with documents)
- CST vs. IRS 1992 "The Articles of Incorporation require that CST have three such Special Directors, and further requires that they be lawyers in order to ensure that CST takes no action to jeopardize its tax-exempt status. The General Directors and staff of CST are, however, closely linked to other Scientology organizations. The General Directors (the governing body) must be in good standing with the mother church. Staff members are required to be members of the Sea Org. Trustees of the organization are required to have been Scientologists for at least eight years, and must be highly trained in the teachings and technology of Scientology. CST trustees are also required to remain actively involved in giving and receiving Scientology services. They must also participate in at least twelve and one half hours of training per week."
- About.com Definition of Church of Spiritual Technology (CST)