Anons plan 'polite' church protest - 2008-02-10

Anons plan 'polite' church protest February 10, 2008, Murray Whyte, Toronto Star

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Organized online and completely nonhierarchical, the amalgamation of Anonymous is the direct result of a very public gaffe by the very private organization. Last month, an internal promotional video was leaked to the Internet. In it, a wild-eyed Tom Cruise – the organization's marquee adherent among Hollywood brethren like John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson – lionized the church as the saviour of a society.

The religious group countered in a statement late yesterday that "'Anonymous' is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry." It added: "'Anonymous' claims of altruistic purposes are no different than those heard from any terrorist or hate group."

This being the Internet, the protest – or raid, as they prefer to call it – is just one of a vast mobilization effort of Anons. A network of peaceful demonstrations against the church has been planned in 14 countries and dozens of churches.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | first = Murray | last = Whyte | title = Anons plan 'polite' church protest | url = https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2008/02/10/anons_plan_polite_church_protest.html | work = Toronto Star | date = February 10, 2008 | accessdate = May 5, 2019 }}