With Andrew Morton's new biography of Tom Cruise making headlines, and the "Tom Cruise on Tom Cruise Scientologist" video making the rounds on YouTube, Scientology is very much in the news these days. Some Second Life residents have taken it upon themselves to bring the group, or at least their protest of the group, to Second Life news as well.

Several Second Life Residents have been contacting SL media outlets, including SLNN, CNN and The Second Life Herald, to inform them of their plans to stage a demonstration against Scientology on February 1st. The protest is intended to be a miniature version of a real life protest that will take place at Scientology Churches throughout the world.

A real life group that calls itself Anonymous has apparently gone to war with the Church of Scientology, and the February 10th  real life demonstration is a part of its war. The February 1st protest is seemingly sponsored by some residents who are supportive of Anonymous and wish to focus attention on the upcoming real life protest.

The goals of Anonymous as a group seem to be to paint the Church of Scientology as a greedy, non-religious entity. Their literature refers to the cost of "sessions" and "audits" that Church members must go through. In Second Life, there is almost no Church of Scientology presence, at least according to search. In this reporter's recent query, there were only two groups dedicated to Scientology, one of which charges L$200 for membership.

The primary goal of the actions of the Second Life residents, seems to be media attention. "The Church of Scientology may have been able to shut down Anonymous' site, but they can't shut down a mass CNN Broadcast on local news or video. Please help anonymous deal with this problem; we are not hackers full of steroids blowing up yellow vans. We are stopping a dangerous cult," reads their appeal to the media.

The February 10th protest is in memory of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist who died in 1995 in Clearwater, Florida. There are many many websites, as well as literature from the Anonymous group, that claim that McPherson was in need to psychological treatment but instead was given treatment by Scientologists that ultimately ended in her death.

As for the in-world protest, some residents plan to bring signs and energy to the Orientation Islands, CNN area in Future, as well as Linden Village at 3:00 p.m. SLT. People seeking more information should contact Hashton Nikitin.

Scientology is a body of beliefs created by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard developed Scientology teachings in 1952 as part of his self-help system, Dianetics. Hubbard later made Scientology the basis for a new religion. After Hubbard's death, David Miscavige succeeded him as the head of Scientology as Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center.