Editing Scientology controversies (section)

===Disconnection===
{{Main|Disconnection (Scientology)}}
The Church of Scientology has been criticized for their practice of "[[disconnection (Scientology)|disconnection]]" in which Scientologists are directed to sever all contact with family members or friends who criticize the faith. Critics including ex-members and relatives of existing members say that this practice has divided many families.<ref>{{cite news|author=Sarah Collerton |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/12/2844150.htm?section=justin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100315164043/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/12/2844150.htm?section=justin |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 15, 2010 |title=Scientology insider's nightmare childhood |work=ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) | date=12 March 2010 |access-date=2012-09-05}}</ref> The disconnection policy is considered by critics to be further evidence that the Church is a cult. By making its members entirely dependent upon a social network entirely within the organization, critics assert that Scientologists are kept from exposure to critical perspectives on the Church and are put in a situation that makes it extremely difficult for members to leave the Church, since [[apostates]] will be shunned by the Church and have already been cut off from family and friends.<ref>{{cite web | first = Mark | last = Sommer | title = Outside critics are unacceptable | url = https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/JeremyPerkins/Articles/buffalo-news-2005-02-02.html | work = [[Buffalo News]] | date = 2005-02-02 | access-date = 2008-12-07 | archive-date = August 20, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190820083634/http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/JeremyPerkins/Articles/buffalo-news-2005-02-02.html | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="unperson"/>

The Church of Scientology acknowledges that its members are strongly discouraged from associating with "enemies of Scientology", and likens the disconnection policy to the practice of shunning in religions such as the [[Amish]]. However, there is a consensus of religious scholars who oppose Scientology's practice:
"I just think it would be better for all concerned if they just let them go ahead and get out and everyone goes their own way, and not make such a big deal of it, the policy hurts everybody." [[J. Gordon Melton]], Institute for the Study of American Religion, Santa Barbara, California.<ref name="unperson">{{cite news|author=Robert Farley |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml |title=The unperson |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |date=2006-06-24 |pages=1A, 14A |access-date=2006-06-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604102718/http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml |archive-date=2011-06-04 }}</ref>

"It has to do with feeling threatened because you're not that big. You do everything you can to keep unity in the group." F.K. Flinn, [[Washington University in St. Louis]].<ref name="unperson" />

"Some people I've talked to, they just wanted to go on with their lives and they wanted to be in touch with their daughter or son or parent. The shunning was just painful. And I don't know what it was accomplishing. And the very terms they use are scary, aren't they?" Newton Maloney, [[Fuller Theological Seminary]], Pasadena, California.<ref name="unperson" />