Believe What You Like: What happened between the Scientologists and the National Association for Mental Health (Andre Deutsch Limited, 1973, ISBN 0-233-96375-8) authored by New Statesman

New Statesman

New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....

director C. R. Hewitt

C. R. Hewitt

Cecil Rolph Hewitt was a police officer, journalist, editor, and author. He served with the City of London Police from 1921 to 1946, rising to the level of Chief Inspector. He then left the force and became a journalist, writing on issues such as censorship and capital punishment. Known as C.R....

 under the pen name C. H. Rolph, details a public dispute between the Church of Scientology

Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...

 and the National Association for Mental Health (now known as Mind) in Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Main points

The book covers the controversy of how, starting in 1969, members of the Church joined the NAMH in large numbers with the intent to change the organization from the inside. The Scientologists attempted to ratify as official policy a number of points concerning the treatment of psychiatric

Psychiatry

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...

 patients, and in so doing, secretly promoted Scientology

Scientology

Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...

's anti-psychiatry agenda

Scientology and psychiatry

Scientology and psychiatry have come into conflict since the foundation of Scientology in 1952. Scientology is publicly, and often vehemently, opposed to both psychiatry and psychology. Scientologists view psychiatry as a barbaric and corrupt profession and encourage alternative care based on...

. When their identity was realized, the Scientologists were expelled from the organization en masse, but later sued the NAMH over the matter in the High Court in 1971 and lost. The case was important in UK charity

Charitable trust

A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...

 law.

The book also covers the origins and activities of the Church of Scientology in the UK and some of their other legal actions in the UK around that time, including:

• The libel case against Geoffrey Johnson Smith
  Geoffrey Johnson Smith
  Sir Geoffrey Johnson-Smith, PC, DL was a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He was a Member of Parliament from 1959 to 2001, with only a brief interruption in the 1960s....
  
  .
• Hubbard's legal difficulties getting Saint Hill Manor
  Saint Hill Manor
  Saint Hill Manor is a country house at Saint Hill Green, Mid Sussex, near East Grinstead, West Sussex, England that serves as the location of the head office for the Church of Scientology in the United Kingdom.-Early history:...
  
   registered as a place of religious worship.
• The Church's libel suit against two Melbourne judges, Justice Kevin Anderson and Judge Gordon Just.
• Scientology front organizations called the Campaign Against Psychiatric Atrocities and AHDA (Association For Health Development And Aid).

See also

• Scientology and psychiatry
  Scientology and psychiatry
  Scientology and psychiatry have come into conflict since the foundation of Scientology in 1952. Scientology is publicly, and often vehemently, opposed to both psychiatry and psychology. Scientologists view psychiatry as a barbaric and corrupt profession and encourage alternative care based on...
  
  
• Enquiry into the Practice and Effects of Scientology
  Foster Report
  The Foster Report is a 1971 report titled Enquiry into the Practice and Effects of Scientology, written by Sir John Foster for the government of the United Kingdom, regarding the Church of Scientology....
  
  
• Kenneth Robinson
  Kenneth Robinson
  Sir Kenneth Robinson PC was a British Labour politician who served as Minister of Health in Harold Wilson's first government, from 1964 to 1968, when the position was merged into the new title of Secretary of State for Social Services.-Early life:The son of Dr Clarence Robinson and a nurse, Ethel...
  
  
• Fair Game
  Fair Game (Scientology)
  The term Fair Game is used to describe policies and practices carried out by the Church of Scientology towards people and groups it perceives as its enemies. Founder L. Ron Hubbard established the policy in the 1960s, in response to criticism both from within and outside his organization...
  
  

External links

• Believe What You Like: What happened between the Scientologists and the National Association for Mental Health (complete text)
• Cecil Hewitt Rolph, British Library of Political and Economic Science