The online presence of the Church Of Scientology has been dramatically overhauled in a campaign to clarify its beliefs and practices, partly as a reaction to worldwide protests by an internet based group, Anonymous.
The Church, highly protective of its media relations and image in the wider community, has launched a series of videos explaining the basic tenants of Scientology.
The revamp comes after Anonymous, a collection of internet “hacktivists”, declared a war on the controversial Church in January, as a reaction to Scientology’s attempts to remove copyrighted video material from the web.
"(Scientology) has been attacked, venerated, questioned and praised... Everyone seems to have an opinion on it... It is talked about in the media, TV and the worldwide web," the introductory clip from the revamped page asserts.
"Whatever you may or may not have heard concerning Scientology, we present the following as a brief overview of our beliefs, who we are, what we do and the many humanitarian programs sponsored by our Church."
The videos detail not only the core principles of the practices of the Church, but also suggest a justification for their protection of their information and image.
“(Scientologists believe) that all men have the inalienable right to conceive, assist, choose or support their own organizations, churches and governments. That all men have the inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others".
Critics of the Church, including the Anonymous group, suggest that the organization exploits weak minded and marginalized members financially by charging fees for information and resources.
The Church of Scientology has called Anonymous "cyber-terrorists" and indicated members of the faceless group had made violent assertions in prank telephone calls, emails and fax messages.
Anonymous has scheduled a third worldwide protest on April 12.
Image and video from scientology.org