Editing Free Zone (Scientology) (section)

== Introduction ==

The term "Free Zone" or "Freezone" is used for the loose grouping of Scientologists who are not members of the Church of Scientology.{{r|lewis2012|p=141}}{{r|lewis2013|p=262}} Often called "freezoners",{{r|lewis2013|p=267}}{{r|thomas|p=1}} some prefer to describe their practices as "Independent Scientology" because of the associations that the term "Free Zone" has with Ron's Org;{{r|lewis2013|p=265}}

Key to the Free Zone is what scholar of religion Aled Thomas called its "largely unregulated and non-hierarchical environment".{{r|thomas|p=2}} Within the Free Zone there are many different interpretations of Scientology;{{r|thomas|p=ix}} Thomas suggested Free Zone Scientologists were divided between "purists" who emphasize loyalty to Hubbard's teachings and those more open to innovation.{{r|thomas|p=165}} Free Zoners typically stress that Scientology as a religion is different from the Church of Scientology as an organization, criticizing the latter's actions rather than their beliefs.{{r|thomas|p=29}} They often claim to be the true inheritors of Hubbard's teachings,{{r|willms|p=248}} maintaining that Scientology's primary focus is on individual development and that that does not require a leader or membership of an organization.{{r|thomas|p=29}} Some Free Zoners argue that auditing should be more affordable than it is as performed by the Church,{{r|thomas|p=29}} and criticise the Church's lavish expenditure on buildings.{{r|thomas|p=144}}

The Church has remained hostile to the Free Zone,{{r|lewis2013|pp=269-270}} regarding it as heretical.{{r|thomas|p=4}} It refers to non-members who either practice Scientology or simply adopt elements of its technology as "squirrels",{{r|barrett2001|p=451}}{{r|lewis2013|p=264}} and their activities as "squirreling".{{r|reitman|p=158}} The term "squirrels" was coined by Hubbard and originally referred only to non-Scientologists using its technology.{{r|thomas|p=29}}{{Verify source|date=April 2024|reason=Not sure if this is correct; thought term originally referred to Scientologists experimenting, and not applying it standardly.}} The Church also maintains that any use of its technology by non-Church members is dangerous as they may not be used correctly.{{r|barrett2001|p=451}} Free Zoners have also accused the Church of "squirrelling",{{r|thomas|p=121}} maintaining that it has changed Hubbard's words in various posthumous publications.{{r|thomas|p=114}} Lewis has suggested that the Free Zone has been fueled by some of the Church's policies, including Hubbard's tendency to eject senior members who he thought could rival him and the Church's "suppressive persons" policy which discouraged rapprochement with ex-members.{{r|lewis2012|p=141}}{{r|lewis2013|p=263}}

After interviewing 16 Free Zoners in Denmark, Elizabeth Tuxen Rubin noted that they had not renounced the belief system of Scientology despite distancing themselves from the Church of Scientology. James R. Lewis suggests that these "sincerely-held beliefs of Free Zone Scientologists [...] offer the best evidence that Scientology is a religion in the legal sense of that contested term".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lewis |first=J. R. |year=2015 |title=Scientology: Sect, Science, or Scam? |journal=Numen |volume=62 |issue=2/3 |pages=226–242 |doi=10.1163/15685276-12341364 |jstor=24644760 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24644760}}</ref>{{Rp|238}}