Evidence · Case 13 · Scientology
United States v. Article or Device “Hubbard Electrometer” (1971 federal ruling)
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seized about 100 E-meters in a 1963 raid on the Founding Church of Scientology, the case ended in a 1971 federal district court decision. The court permitted the device only within religious counseling and ordered a prominent warning that it is not medically or scientifically capable of improving the health or bodily functions of anyone. The court found the device had been misbranded when promoted as able to diagnose and treat illness.
Sources
Objections & responses
- Scientology doesn’t claim the E-meter has medical value; it claims spiritual value, which the court explicitly allowed. Isn’t pointing out that a religious artifact isn’t a medical device like pointing out that a rosary doesn’t lower blood pressure?
The rosary comparison is the Church’s own defense and deserves to be stated. The difference is historical and evidential. The E-meter was originally promoted as diagnosing and treating illness, which is why the FDA acted, and the Church now claims it detects mental mass and charge in the reactive mind, which are empirical claims about the device’s function, not devotional ones. A rosary is not claimed to detect anything. The ruling was mixed, condemning the medical claims while protecting religious use, and both sides claim it; what is on the record is that the device measures skin resistance and that the Church’s own disclaimer concedes it does nothing on its own.