Arnie Lerma Creating Hate on the Internet

As the world moves into the 21st Century there is a strong need to
promote tolerance, human rights, non-discrimination and religious
freedom as expressed in the universal declaration of human rights.

As a matter of religious conviction, members of the Church of
Scientology fully support human rights. Unfortunately there are still
those in any society who fear others improving themselves or possibly
becoming more powerful and are therefore diametrically opposed to any
betterment activity and can't countenance a tolerant approach to human
relations. Instead, under various guises, they put out a steady stream
of hate filled lies, half truths and propaganda slanted toward the
ultimate destruction of some targeted race or religious group, often
in the name of "patriot" or some other high sounding cause. While
leading pitiful lives themselves, they are yet dangerous because of
the hatred that they create in a society through a steady stream of
defamatory hate propaganda and lies.

Intolerant authoritarians create hate against targeted minorities and
have spread prejudice throughout man's history. Today this is
frequently done through the Internet as an instantaneous way to reach
like-minded extremists and gullible, not-too-bright individuals
inclined to be taken in by fanaticism and prejudice. It does not take
a brave individual to hide behind a computer with an Internet
connection and spew vitriol without ever having to face a real human
being and worry about the consequences of making derogatory slurs to
his face. The subject of this publication is one such self-anointed
"patriot" named Arnaldo "Arnie" Lerma, whose specialty is hiding in
his house in Arlington, Virginia and posting derogatory messages and
putting up web pages with fanatic slurs against Scientology and
Scientologists and sending out unsolicited postcards containing
defamatory anti Scientology rants in hopes he will create enough
prejudice to destroy Scientologists' right to freely practice their
religion in peace. On the surface and in his postings and web pages on
the Internet, Lerma holds himself out to be a bad-ass freedom fighter.
In truth he lives in such fear of Scientologists that his life is
dominated by a belief that he must destroy Scientology and its members
before they get him. No Scientologist has ever said or intimated that
they are out to destroy Lerma. It is a figment of the delusion he
lives in which has caused him to become such a physical and mental
wreck that he infrequently goes out of his house, can't trust any new
person (for fear that they are a Scientologist) and routinely and
falsely accuses anyone who is critical of him of working for the
Church. He sees a Scientologist behind every bush.

Connections

Like any fanatic anti religious extremist, Lerma associates with other
similarly minded individuals who tend to confirm his own distorted,
paranoid view of the world. For "public relations" purposes Lerma has
denied his long-term close association with Neo-Nazi Willis Carto.
However, there is much evidence to the contrary that conclusively lays
bare Lerma's longtime support of Mr. Carto and his anti-Semitic and
anti- Scientology prejudice. Lerma was a member of the Board of Policy
of Carto's anti-Semitic and anti- Scientology mouthpiece The Spotlight
and he spoke at the The Spotlight - Liberty Lobby National Convention.
Lerma also assisted with articles in The Spotlight until its closing
in 2001.

Lerma supports and defends the Neo-Nazi movement of Willis Carto. The
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center have both
condemned this group. Nazi hunter Yaron Svoary, quoted in the Hartford
Courant on November 7, 1994, said about Carto:

"The most notorious Nazi in the world is not German but Willis
Carto."

Lerma tries to keep quiet his connection to Carto and his racist
organization, as demonstrated by this extract from an email Lerma sent
to an associate:

"I was asked to speak at the 40th anniversary convention of
Liberty Lobby... I suggest that we don't promote my relationship with
Willis Carto ... We have the full support of Willis Carto, and the
'patriot' movement in the United States."

Many people will remember Willis Carto for issuing the Institute of
Historical Research (IHR) $50,000 reward if anyone could offer proof
that the Jews had been gassed at Auschwitz. Lerma published this
unique public relations spin in defense of Carto and his bizarre
theories:

"Carto's Institute for Historical Review had just held its first
international revisionist conference, at which it posted a $50,000
reward for proof that Jews had been gassed at Auschwitz. This offer
was made in light of the fact that standards of proof for murder at
the Nuremberg military tribunals do not meet non-wartime standards.
The IHR basically wanted proof that would pass review in a peacetime
criminal court of law. Although those who challenged the IHR won legal
successes, the IHR won the moral victory. For this its founder, Willis
Carto, was and continues to be vilified by fanatics."

Bemoaning the demise of The Spotlight, the nation's leading anti-
Semitic newspaper, Lerma reported:

"Thus, the IHR came to be publicly referred to as 'the spine of
the international Holocaust denial movement.' Of course, a steadfast
deprivation of trust on multiple fronts can predictably result in loss
of status, money, privileges and liberties previously enjoyed.
Although Carto's integrity as a journalist kept him basically intact,
he and the many people who benefited from his speciality (sic) news
over the years lost a source of inspiration."

Whereas Lerma has tried to deny that he is completely in league with
Carto, investigation has revealed that Mr. Carto gave numerous boxes
of files and documents - his personal anti-Semitic and anti-
Scientology hate propaganda files - to Lerma, some of which he made
available on the Internet purporting it to be "truth" in order to
defame Scientology and Scientologists. Further information regarding
Lerma's associate Willis Carto, can be obtained in abundance from the
Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. For
information about Lerma and Carto's Neo- Nazi, racist, and anti-
Semitic and anti-Scientology hate propaganda see www.ReligiousFreedomWatch.org
Lerma's Stint Posing as a Scientologist

Mr. Lerma embellishes his stint as an on again off again Scientologist
and his short-lived career as a staff member of the Church in order to
make himself appear to be more important and knowledgeable. This is a
pattern that he developed early on of using the good name and
reputation of Scientology to try and gain some personal advantage for
himself. However, the facts are much different than Lerma's own
portrayal of his time as a Scientologist and staff member of the
Church. For example:

A Scientologist is expected to act ethically and within the laws of
the land, yet after he supposedly became a member, Lerma was found to
be engaging in behavior unbeknownst to fellow Church members which
lead to his be being arrested for possession of narcotics. He was also
involved in stealing cars. Despite being given a chance and signing a
statement that he would not continue to engage in taking drugs, Lerma
simply lied and was caught several more times for continuing to smoke
marijuana.

Although Lerma claims to have held positions of responsibility in his
staff positions within the Church, he carefully leaves out how he went
AWOL from his staff position on multiple occasions and went back to
taking such drugs as LSD, marijuana, bella donna, hash, opium,
thorazine and Freoa and selling small amounts. His actions were so
contrary to the ethical standards of the Church that he was
excommunicated, but Lerma again managed to worm his way back into the
Church by conning those in charge with assurances of his good
intentions. Lerma was eventually accepted back and given the chance to
rehabilitate himself , which he of course didn't do and once again
departed.
Hate Speech

Although Lerma portrays himself as a champion of free speech
frequently making reference to, "I'd prefer to die speaking my mind
that live fearing to speak," in his hate filled fanatical writings on
the internet, when it comes to other's right to free speech, Lerma has
zero tolerance for the opinions of others if they differ from his own.
Despite his assertions, as soon as anyone speaks favorably toward
Scientology, or mentions how it has helped them or others, Lerma
immediately verbally attacks them. He harasses and tries to intimidate
them with unsolicited hate mail. He also runs an underground anti
Scientology hate channel on the internet where a cell of his
extremists gather to plan deluded acts of mindless destruction against
the Church of Scientology and its parishioners. They pat each other on
the back for their fruitless attempts to destroy the good that
Scientology is doing while they pretend to each other that they are
stopping what has become a rapidly expanding global religion. Because
Lerma cannot create anything and can only destroy - particularly those
who are doing their best to help others - Lerma cannot tolerate anyone
who espouses tolerance. Thus if you are on the chat group that he
controls and you say anything favorable about Scientology or do not
express hate toward Scientology to Lerma's satisfaction, he will
immediate kick you off and ban you from the chat channel so as to
destroy your freedom of speech. Too cowardly to debate in full public
view, Lerma uses authoritarian means to destroy freedom of speech of
others and while trying to destroy freedom of religion for
Scientologists.

In furtherance of a black campaign to create hate and intolerance
toward Scientologists, Lerma has organized and participated in hate
demonstrations - some of which have been known to become violent.
Although he professes his innocence, some of the hate demonstrations
that Lerma has organized attracted various Neo-Nazis, White
Supremacists and Anarchists.

One of these Lerma associates who showed up for one such hate
demonstration was William White, founder and spokesperson for the
Utopian Anarchist Party, the leading US anarchist organization that
seeks to destroy governments and create havoc for law enforcement
agencies in order to prevent then from doing their jobs.

Conspiring to join forces, Lerma and White worked together to
orchestrate anti-Scientology hate demonstrations. Of note is that
White has a criminal record which includes arrests for battery and the
carrying of a concealed weapon. White has, like Lerma, also
contributed articles to Willis Carto's anti-Semitic and anti-
Scientology publications. In January 2002, White formalized his
relationship with Willis Carto by entering into Carto's paid
employment. This announcement was made on White's webpage with the
following statement:

"I met Willis Carto today. Nice guy, a little wacky, but mostly
pretty intelligent and pleasant. Definitely has a Hitler thing, but I
can overlook that...

"...We reached a deal where I will begin writing 750- word pieces
for his latest publication...

"There may be some who wonder if my acceptance of this deal
represents a great ideological change, but it doesn't. I will be
choosing my own topics for writing, and the bottom line is that he
offered me pretty good money to write 'em..."

White's alignment with Lerma and their association with Carto's Neo-
Nazi agenda sheds further light on the true intention behind Lerma's
extremist intolerant propaganda to destroy a religion like
Scientology, which helps millions of people on a daily basis. It is
evidently based on a deep seated fear that Scientologists may find out
and expose what they are really up to.

Lerma is not being incorrectly maligned. There is no excuse for
aligning with someone, like White, who in March 2005, after the murder
of the husband and mother of a Federal Judge who had ordered a white
supremacist group to stop using the name World Church of the Creator,
wrote on his website, "I don't feel bad that Judge Lefkow's family was
murdered. In fact, when I heard the story I laughed." This is exactly
what White did. These callous comments were reported in the Roanoke
Times: White Supremacist Comments on Case.
Lerma's Final Solution for Scientology

In his hate writings against the Church of Scientology, Lerma
encourages other anti-Scientology fanatics with these words

"...we must continue our work until done and then sow the ground
with salt."

This is a reference to the manner in which the Roman Legions massacred
the Carthaginians, demolished their city and harbor, and then sowed
the ground with salt so that nothing would grow on their lands again.
Left unopposed to his own devices and given enough wherewithal this is
the future that Lerma plans for any Scientologist simply on the basis
of their religious beliefs.

As defenders of human liberty and the rights upon which this country
was founded, we feel that the best disinfectant is the subject of
exposure and thus have created Religious Freedom Watch. We hope that
anyone who may feel swayed by some of the hate literature published by
Mr. Lerma will look beyond the anti Scientology clichés and created
misunderstanding about Scientology and its beliefs and practices and
not get caught up in forwarding intolerance and prejudice.

Religious Freedom Watch investigates and exposes individuals who breed
racism and anti-religious intolerance through hate speech. Should you
observe anything illegal or peculiar from the extremists featured in
this publication report them to your local authority.

www.religiousfreedomwatch.org