Disinformation » Scientology

Speculative Fictions: Scientology’s Tin-Pot Real Estate Empire and the Real Owners of the World

dp1974 — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:30:03 +0000

Yippee! We'll never have to pay tax on this building! Photo: Scientology Media (CC)

Business Insider pulls the veil aside a little on the vast global real estate portfolio of The Church Of Scientology, with 10 examples from the over 8,500 Scientology Churches, Missions and affiliated groups buildings in 165 countries around the world.

Still, Scientology is way behind the top five largest landowners in the world: Queen Elizabeth II (legal owner of about 6,600 million acres of land, one sixth of the earth’s non ocean surface, valued at £17,600,000,000,000); the Russian state (4,219 million acres); the Chinese state (about 2,365 million acres); the Federal Government of the United States, which owns about one third of the land of the USA (760 million acres); and the King of Saudi Arabia (553 million acres).

And not even in the same class as the more venerable Catholic Church, but of course Scientology hasn’t been able to take advantage of tax exemption for as many centuries …

Strange Rooms And Devices Inside Scientology’s Super Power Building

JacobSloan — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:17:31 +0000

Via the Village Voice, unbelievable renderings of the chambers to be used for testing, training, and sensory enhancement of Scientology adherents:

The Voice has obtained hundreds of new renderings of Scientology’s Super Power Building in Clearwater, Florida. L. Ron Hubbard devised the “Super Power Rundown” in 1978. He envisioned it as a series of counseling routines with the use of elaborate and futuristic platforms and machines. In 1998, Hubbard’s successor broke ground on a massive new building project, “Flag Mecca,” known commonly as the Super Power Building, where the new rundown would be housed. Thirteen years and $145 million in fundraising later, the building is thought to be largely completed, but it is still not open for business.

Leaked Emails Fuel Scientology Scandal

majestic — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:08:28 +0000

David Miscavige. Photo: Scientology Media (CC)

Guy Adams provides details on a senior Scientology member’s letter to 12,000 followers attacking their leader’s “obsession” with money, in the LA Times:

A simmering conflict at the Church of Scientology has been made spectacularly public after a former member of the organisation’s clergy circulated a letter raising severe criticisms of both the management style and financial policies of its current leader, David Miscavige.

Debbie Cook’s email, which was sent to 12,000 fellow Scientologists shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day, alleges that Mr Miscavige has adopted a dictatorial leadership style which is at odds with the doctrines laid down by the church’s founder, the science fiction author, L Ron Hubbard.

She further claims that, since succeeding Hubbard after his death in 1986, Mr Miscavige has become obsessed with fundraising. His regime is now “hoarding” a cash reserve of more than a billion dollars, she claims, and has spent tens of millions more on a portfolio of large, “posh” buildings which largely sit empty.

Ms Cook’s criticisms strike a chord with many disaffected recent defectors from the church. But her highly respected status within the usually secretive world of Scientology may also give them weight among more active members.

The email, headlined “Keep Scientology Working” and littered with jargon, argues that many of the policies pursued Mr Miscavige are in direct conflict to the principles laid down by Hubbard when he created the movement in the 1960s and 1970s. In particular, she claims that “extreme” fundraising activities are now being “driven from within the very highest echelons of the Scientology structure”, in a way that is at odds with the organisation’s founding scriptures.

Although many current members have donated vast portions of their net worth to the church, Ms Cook claims that Hubbard never endorsed individual donations of over $75 for lifetime membership. The church’s founder also “never authorised the purchase of opulent buildings” by the leadership, she argues. Instead, he believed that all money raised by the organisation should immediately be used to spread its message…

[continues in the LA Times]

Scientology’s Plan To Infiltrate And Spy On ‘South Park’

majestic — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:15:58 +0000

The Village Voice’s Tony Ortega reveals the extent to which the “church” of Scientology will go to try to protect its (not too solid) reputation:

Yesterday, we reported that former Scientology executive Marty Rathbun had revealed at his blog that in 2006, Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs — the church’s intelligence and covert operations wing — was actively investigating creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone by looking for vulnerabilities among their close friends.

Screen shot of the South Park “scientology” episode, “Trapped in the Closet” (2005)

Today, we have more leaked OSA documents which give some idea of the extent of the spying operation on the offices and the people who worked there.

They suggest that after traditional approaches with private investigators had stalled, OSA turned to film consultant Eric Sherman, a Scientologist, to help them find a young filmmaker who would make an effective mole at the South Park offices.

For decades, Scientology has earned a reputation for severe retaliation against perceived enemies and carrying on “noisy investigations” that involve private investigators and intimidation squads. We’ve been documenting many examples of that this year as Scientology goes through perhaps its most difficult period.

The defection of former high ranking officials Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder has been a nightmare for the church. As Scientology expends enormous resources to surveill and harass each of them, Rathbun continues to leak formerly secret OSA documents at his blog.

Not on his blog, however, is a document which he supplied to Marc Headley, a man we have written about frequently here at the , and who was subject to his own retaliation and spying operations by the church…

[continues in the Village Voice]

Yes, Scientology is Horrible (Video)

bluemana — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 05:21:09 +0000

Scientology’s ‘Touch-Healing’ Global Disaster Response Squad: ‘Serving’ Haiti, Burma and Japan

vulcan — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 06:24:05 +0000

Patrick Winn writes on GlobalPost:

BANGKOK, Thailand — After Cyclone Nargis left a trail of corpses along Burma’s coast in May 2008, foreign aid workers clamored to enter the military-controlled backwater.

Despite the world’s pleading, Burma’s paranoid generals forbade most foreign relief workers from entering the disaster zone. A frustrated U.K. threatened unauthorized air drops. The U.S. Navy was forced to float vessels loaded with life-saving supplies offshore.

But among the few who managed to access Burma’s worst-hit areas included adherents of the California-based Church of Scientology.

According to the church, miracles ensued after Scientologists touched down. Their team sought out traumatized Burmese for Scientology’s touch-healing techniques, professed to revive the spirit…

Inside Scientology: Brainwashing, Violence, And Slave Labor

JacobSloan — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:18:04 +0000

No, the above isn’t hyperbole. The New Yorker has a fascinating and authoritative exposé on Scientology. The experiences of Hollywood director and ex-Scientologist Paul Haggis are the starting point, but the piece hits upon everything from the cult’s origins to its use of violence and child labor to John Travolta magically healing Marlon Brando’s leg via touch:

In December, 2009, Tricia Whitehill, a special agent from the Los Angeles office, flew to Florida to interview former members of the church in the F.B.I.’s office in downtown Clearwater, which happens to be directly across the street from Scientology’s spiritual headquarters.

Whitehill and Valerie Venegas, the lead agent on the case, also interviewed former Sea Org members in California. One of them was Gary Morehead, who had been the head of security at the Gold Base; he left the church in 1996. In February, 2010, he spoke to Whitehill and told her that he had developed a “blow drill” to track down Sea Org members who left Gold Base. “We got wickedly good at it,” he says. In thirteen years, he estimates, he and his security team brought more than a hundred Sea Org members back to the base. When emotional, spiritual, or psychological pressure failed to work, Morehead says, physical force was sometimes used to bring escapees back. (The church says that blow drills do not exist.)

Sea Org members who have “failed to fulfill their ecclesiastical responsibilities” may be sent to one of the church’s several Rehabilitation Project Force locations. Defectors describe them as punitive reëducation camps. In California, there is one in Los Angeles; until 2005, there was one near the Gold Base, at a place called Happy Valley. Bruce Hines, the defector turned research physicist, says that he was confined to R.P.F. for six years, first in L.A., then in Happy Valley. He recalls that the properties were heavily guarded and that anyone who tried to flee would be tracked down and subjected to further punishment. “In 1995, when I was put in R.P.F., there were twelve of us,” Hines said. “At the high point, in 2000, there were about a hundred and twenty of us.” Some members have been in R.P.F. for more than a decade, doing manual labor and extensive spiritual work. (Davis says that Sea Org members enter R.P.F. by their own choosing and can leave at any time; the manual labor maintains church facilities and instills “pride of accomplishment.”)

Lawrence Wright’s Amazing ‘New Yorker’ Feature On Scientology

majestic — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:38:37 +0000

Paul Haggis. Photo: David Shankbone (CC)

Lawrence Wright’s forthcoming tell-all book about the Hollywood uber-cult Scientology (The Heretic of Hollywood: Paul Haggis vs.The Church of Scientology) has been in the news often the past few weeks, mostly concerning speculation about whether or not award-winning scribe Paul Haggis “officially” collaborated with Wright.

The book still hasn’t been scheduled for publication and considering the cult’s propensity for litigation it might face considerable delays. For those who can’t wait, Wright has contributed a fascinating and lengthy essay on the topic to the current issue of the New Yorker.

It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the cult of Scientology. Here’s the beginning:

On August 19, 2009, Tommy Davis, the chief spokesperson for the Church of Scientology International, received a letter from the film director and screenwriter Paul Haggis. “For ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego,” Haggis wrote. Before the 2008 elections, a staff member at Scientology’s San Diego church had signed its name to an online petition supporting Proposition 8, which asserted that the State of California should sanction marriage only “between a man and a woman.” The proposition passed. As Haggis saw it, the San Diego church’s “public sponsorship of Proposition 8, which succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California—rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state—is a stain on the integrity of our organization and a stain on us personally. Our public association with that hate-filled legislation shames us.” Haggis wrote, “Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.” He concluded, “I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology.”

Haggis was prominent in both Scientology and Hollywood, two communities that often converge. Although he is less famous than certain other Scientologists, such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, he had been in the organization for nearly thirty-five years. Haggis wrote the screenplay for “Million Dollar Baby,” which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2004, and he wrote and directed “Crash,” which won Best Picture the next year—the only time in Academy history that that has happened.

Davis, too, is part of Hollywood society; his mother is Anne Archer, who starred in “Fatal Attraction” and “Patriot Games,” among other films. Before becoming Scientology’s spokesperson, Davis was a senior vice-president of the church’s Celebrity Centre International network.

In previous correspondence with Davis, Haggis had demanded that the church publicly renounce Proposition 8. “I feel strongly about this for a number of reasons,” he wrote. “You and I both know there has been a hidden anti-gay sentiment in the church for a long time. I have been shocked on too many occasions to hear Scientologists make derogatory remarks about gay people, and then quote L.R.H. in their defense.” The initials stand for L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, whose extensive writings and lectures form the church’s scripture…

[Make sure to read the rest in the New Yorker]

Paul Haggis And The Scientology Tell-All Book

majestic — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:27:22 +0000

Paul Haggis. Photo: David Shankbone (CC)

It’s been tagged as “the Scientology expose we’ve been waiting for” (Gawker), but some serious questions have been raised about just how much Paul Haggis has cooperated with New Yorker staff writer and Looming Tower author Lawrence Wright’s new book, The Heretic of Hollywood: Paul Haggis vs.The Church of Scientology. The LA Times suggests it’s time for conspiracy theorists to ponder whether or not Haggis has been nobbled by the Scientology “Church”:

Paul Haggis has severed ties with the Church of Scientology. But maybe he’s not quite willing to tell all.

Last week, a number of reports said Haggis was collaborating on a Scientology-themed book with New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright, who was also writing an as-yet-unpublished magazine article on the subject. The book was to explore the director’s involvement with, and disassociation from, the Church of Scientology.

The next day, a representative for the filmmaker messaged to clarify that while Haggis was cooperating with the book, he was not an author and would not benefit financially from it.

This afternoon the representative, Ziggy Kozlowski, sent out a statement that Haggis is not cooperating on the book either. “Wanting to clear the air, Haggis asserts that he has absolutely no involvement in the book,” the statement said, and includes a quote from Haggis himself. “I am a great admirer of Mr. Wright, but he has not asked me to cooperate with him on any book. I am certainly not collaborating with him on one.”…

[continues at the LA Times]

Another Ex-Scientologist Publishes Damning Tell-All

majestic — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:27:29 +0000

From the Village Voice:

Adding to Scientology’s woes, some of the people who have been making defections in recent years are turning around and writing damning tell-alls.

Regular publishers won’t touch these books — even though some of them are actually very well written — so the authors have had to go the self-published route.

Last year’s killer I-escaped-from-Scientology narrative was put out by Marc Headley. His Blown for Good made for a gripping read, about a low-level grunt who spent years at Scientology’s secret HQ in the California desert until he finally made a mad dash for freedom.

This year, we can report that Headley’s book has been equaled. In Counterfeit Dreams: One Man’s Journey Into and Out of the World of Scientology, ex-Scientologist Jefferson Hawkins not only provides his own dramatic tale of getting sucked into and ultimately escaping from Scientology, but Hawkins was no low-level scrub.

He, maybe more than any other single person, may be the reason Scientology ever became as popular as it did, with L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics setting sales records in the 1980s.

It was Hawkins and his ideas for television ads (the “volcano” TV spot, for example) that propelled Dianetics to meteoric heights, leading many to wonder if Scientologists themselves weren’t just buying up the books by the truckload to make sure it topped the New York Times Bestsellers List…

[continues the Village Voice]

List of 1,000 Former Church of Scientology Members Publicly Speak Out Against The Church

majestic — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:09:09 +0000

The following is a press release sent to disinformation by Anonymous:

Over 1,000 former members of the Church of Scientology have spoken out publicly against the so-called church, according to a list researched and compiled by Anonymous over the last year and announced on April 11th 2010.

The individuals on the list have spoken out under their real names against the abuses seen and experienced within the so-called church despite being subjected to Scientology’s “Fair Game” policy, which gives members permission to destroy its critics. Most former members do not ever speak out against the church, largely because of this policy.

The stories told by these ex-members are similar to the revelations made recently by former members speaking out against Scientology in highly visible stories in the New York Times, the St. Petersburg Times, and most recently, in a five-part series on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. According to the Church of Scientology, these former members are “liars” and “apostates” with an agenda to destroy the church. Anonymous wonders whether Scientology will also call all 1,000 of these former members liars.

The list, which continues to grow daily, contains many names of individuals who no longer practice Scientology at all as well as many others who do. What they have in common is that each of them has decided to step forward and tell the world what happened during their time within organized Scientology. While their backgrounds vary widely, their stories are similar and many themes run throughout: rigid control of information, enforced disconnection from loved ones who are critical of the group, zealous campaigns to squeeze money from members, physical and emotional abuse of children and adults, slave labor camps designed to reinforce indoctrination, and many other disturbing practices. The problem is not limited to any particular country. Their compelling stories emerge from numerous countries all around the world spanning decades.

Anonymous now celebrates the compilation and publication of a thousand-strong list of human voices no longer silenced, and never again alone. *You can find the list online here: Former Church Of Scientology Members Who Have Spoken Out. Documentation is provided for each name included in the list.

All remaining victims or observers of abuse within organized Scientology are invited to speak out and add their names and their messages.

We hope that the courage shown by those named on this list empowers more people to come forward with their stories of abuse, and ultimately prevents such abuses from ever taking place again.

Since February 2008, Anonymous has protested the crimes and abuses of the “Church of Scientology” and its many front groups. These protests, as well as public awareness efforts like the Big List, will continue.

We are Anonymous
We are Legion
We Do Not Forgive
We Do Not Forget
Expect Us.

Russia Criminalizes The Writings Of L. Ron Hubbard

JacobSloan — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:41:56 +0000

From now on in Russia, only outlaws will have Scientology pamphlets, as the writings of L. Ron Hubbard have been criminalized. That’s right, no more free “Are You Stressed?” quizzes in the subway for the people of Moscow. From Yahoo News:

Under a new law empowering the Russian government to ban written work categorized as “extremist materials,” the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has declared that the work of L. Ron Hubbard, the American founder of Scientology, belongs on a list of materials “undermining the traditional spiritual values of the citizens of the Russian Federation.”

The law lays out fines of 3,000 rubles ($100) for anyone in possession of such materials, or a jail term of up to 15 days — with harsher penalties imposed on repeat offenders and/or those with a criminal history.

According to the Moscow Times, 28 Hubbard-penned titles are now on that forbidden-readings list, including such works such as “The Factors, Admiration & the Renaissance of Beingness” and “The Unification Congress. Communication! Freedom and Ability.” The writings were reportedly intercepted by Russian transport officials, who forwarded them to a panel of “psychiatrists, psychologists, and sociologists” for review. The panel determined that the Scientology works justified using “violence in general” against critics of the church — while also containing “hidden calls for social and religious hatred.”

Russia Bans Scientology Writings as Extremist

ralph — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:10:29 +0000

Scott Rose writes in the Moscow Times:

Works by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard will be added to the country’s list of extremist literature for “undermining the traditional spiritual values of the citizens of the Russian Federation,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said Wednesday.

The ruling — initiated by transport prosecutors in the Siberian city of Surgut and Khanty-Mansiisk customs officers — is the latest use of the hotly debated law on extremism to target systems of belief that are not traditional in Russia.

Individuals in possession of extremist materials can be jailed for up to 15 days or fined 3,000 rubles ($100). The law also allows for harsher punishment of suspects convicted of other crimes.

Prosecutors said they intercepted 28 individual titles, including books, audio and video recordings by Hubbard that were sent to residents in Surgut from the United States. The materials were sent for study to “psychiatrists, psychologists and sociologists,” who determined that they should not be distributed in Russia, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Scientologists Sue Organization for $1 million for Slave Wages

Raymond — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 02:54:39 +0000

From the Telegraph:

Two former Scientologists have shone a less than flattering spotlight on the controversial organization, which counts the actors John Travolta and Tom Cruise among its followers, in a landmark lawsuit.

In the test case against the US-based Church of Scientology, Marc Headley and his wife, Claire, have told how they were treated like slaves and forced to work 20-hour days almost continually through the year.

Mrs Headley claims she was coerced into having an abortion, while Mr Headley has spoken about how he was subjected to a strange mind-control practise by the actor Tom Cruise.

Both were members of Sea Org, the Scientologists’ “religious order” and a supposedly elite vanguard made up of its most dedicated recruits, and signed up to the religion when they were still teenagers.

Members of the order sign a billion-year pledge of loyalty, promise not to have children, and live and work communally.

[Read more at the Telegraph]

…

‘Battlefield Earth’ Script Writer Apologizes For Making The Worst Movie Of The Twenty-First Century

JacobSloan — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:08:09 +0000

Script writer J.D. Shapiro wrote an open letter apologizing to “anyone who went to see Battlefield Earth” printed in the New York Post. It’s actually a refreshingly honest look at how a historically bad Hollywood movie came to be made:

It wasn’t as I intended — promise. No one sets out to make a train wreck. Actually, comparing it to a train wreck isn’t really fair to train wrecks, because people actually want to watch those.

It was 1994, and I had read an article in Premiere magazine saying that the Celebrity Center, the Scientology epicenter in Los Angeles, was a great place to meet women.

I researched Scientology before signing on to the movie, to make sure I wasn’t making anything that would indoctrinate people. I took a few courses, including the Purification Rundown, or Purif. You go to CC every day, take vitamins and go in and out of a sauna so toxins are released from your body. You’re supposed to reach an “End Point.” I never did, but I was bored so I told them I had a vision of L. Ron. They said, “What did he say?” “Pull my finger,” was my response. They said I was done.

Scientology Escapee Breaks her Silence

Raymond — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:30:19 +0000

From ScienceBlogs.com:

Raised as Scientologists, Christie King Collbran and her husband, Chris, were recruited as teenagers to work for the elite corps of staff members who keep the Church of Scientology running, known as the Sea Organization, or Sea Org.

They signed a contract for a billion years — in keeping with the church’s belief that Scientologists are immortal. They worked seven days a week, often on little sleep, for sporadic paychecks of $50 a week, at most.

[Read more for ScienceBlogs.com]

Scientology On Its Last Legs?

majestic — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:34:27 +0000

Founding Church of Scientology in Washington DC. Photo: Ben Schumin (CC)

There once was a time when the media were scared to report on the madness that is the “Church” of Scientology for fear of costly litigation. No more. While there have been occasional reports over the years, last year ABC News went hard after Scientology leader David Miscavige. Now the New York Times runs a front page story suggesting that the “Church” is losing members fast and may have as few as 25,000 members in the United States, versus the millions claimed by the organization:

Raised as Scientologists, Christie King Collbran and her husband, Chris, were recruited as teenagers to work for the elite corps of staff members who keep the Church of Scientology running, known as the Sea Organization, or Sea Org.

They signed a contract for a billion years — in keeping with the church’s belief that Scientologists are immortal. They worked seven days a week, often on little sleep, for sporadic paychecks of $50 a week, at most.

But after 13 years and growing disillusionment, the Collbrans decided to leave the Sea Org, setting off on a Kafkaesque journey that they said required them to sign false confessions about their personal lives and their work, pay the church thousands of dollars it said they owed for courses and counseling, and accept the consequences as their parents, siblings and friends who are church members cut off all communication with them.

“Why did we work so hard for this organization,” Ms. Collbran said, “and why did it feel so wrong in the end? We just didn’t understand.”

They soon discovered others who felt the same. Searching for Web sites about Scientology that are not sponsored by the church (an activity prohibited when they were in the Sea Org), they discovered that hundreds of other Scientologists were also defecting — including high-ranking executives who had served for decades…

[continues in the New York Times]

We Are Anonymous. We Are Legion. We Plead Guilty In Court.

majestic — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:59:05 +0000

From TechCrunch:

On Thursday 8 January 2009, then 18-year old Mahoud Samed Almahadin (aka Matt Connor aka Agent Pubeit) took off his shirt, proceeded to rub vaseline all over his upper body and subsequently used it to hold toenail clippings and pubic hair. He then ran into the New York Scientology building, tossed some books around and smeared the mixture on objects.

After his greasy raid, Mahoud Samed Almahadin was charged with burglary, criminal mischief, and aggravated harassment as hate crimes. Weeks later, 21 year-old film student and Anonymous member Jacob Speregen was charged with the same crimes, bar burglary, because he had filmed Almahadin carrying out his prank (video below).

This morning, the Church of Scientology put out a press release, rejoicing the fact that Almahadin apparently pled guilty in the New York City Criminal Court.

Savvy surfers will correctly assume Almahadin is a ‘member’ of the Anonymous collective, a loosely organized movement of sorts among Internet users often associated with message boards 4chan and Futaba…

[more at TechCrunch]

Scientologists Using Touch to ‘Heal’ Haitian Earthquake Victims

ralph — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:00:01 +0000

Charles Onians writes on the AP via Yahoo News:

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Amid the mass of aid agencies piling in to help Haiti quake victims is a batch of Church of Scientology “volunteer ministers”, claiming to use the power of touch to reconnect nervous systems.

Clad in yellow T-shirts emblazoned with the logo of the controversial US-based group, smiling volunteers fan out among the injured lying under makeshift shelters in the courtyard of Port-au-Prince’s General Hospital.

A wealthy private donor provided his airplane to fly in 80 volunteers from Los Angeles, along with 50 Haitian-American-doctors, in a gesture worth 400,000 dollars, said a Parisian volunteer who gave her name as Sylvie.

“We’re trained as volunteer ministers, we use a process called ‘assist’ to follow the nervous system to reconnect the main points, to bring back communication,” she said.

“When you get a sudden shock to a part of your body the energy gets stuck, so we re-establish communication within the body by touching people through their clothes, and asking people to feel the touch.”

John Travolta Will Assist Haitians By Airlifting In Scientology Ministers

majestic — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:39:48 +0000

In the too good to be true department, brought to you by Gawker:

Scientologists have mobilized to seize on the promotional and recruitment opportunities presented by the horror going on in Haiti, and John Travolta has personally arranged to fly “volunteer ministers” to Haiti to inflict his junk science on victims there.

Anywhere people are suffering, Scientology’s yellow-shirted “volunteer ministers” can be found lurking near news cameras and claiming to help people with their bullshit technology. They performed “purification rundowns” on recovery workers sifting through the ruins of the World Trade Center after 9/11, administered “touch assists” to victims of the tsunami, distributed literature after the Virginia Tech shooting, and are on the ground in Haiti right now warning the starving, dehydrated populace about the dangers of psychiatry.

John Travolta is using his air miles to help the Haiti relief effort by planning a mercy mission to the earthquake ravaged nation.

The movie star and celebrity member of the Church of Scientology has become the latest big name to dig deep to help the victims of Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude tremor.

He says, “I have arranged for a plane to take down some volunteer ministers and some supplies and some medics.

“I hope that inspires others as well. It’s needed.”

So precisely what does this desperately needed help consist of? To be fair, Scientology claims to have airlifted some actual medical professionals to Porte-au-Prince, a move that is hard to argue with even if the doctors are cultists and are accompanied by a retinue of recruiters and glorified masseuses who are there not to help but to carry on their “crusade to build a better world,” as the web site for the cult’s volunteer ministers program puts it, through the application of L. Ron Hubbard’s paranoid and power-mad fantasies.

[continues at Gawker]

Leave Churchill Out of Scientology, Says Family

Raymond — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:08:24 +0000

From The Independent:

Fight them on the beaches if you will. But the descendants of Sir Winston Churchill have decided that a more effective way to prevent the Church of Scientology from hijacking the memory of Britain’s wartime leader involves stern cease-and-desist letters and the threat of a costly PR battle.

In an unlikely dispute that pits Sir Winston’s grandchildren against followers of the late L Ron Hubbard – the science-fiction writer who believed, among other things, that mankind descended from aliens who arrived on Earth via spaceships – the controversial church has been asked to remove Churchill’s image and quotations from its fundraising literature.

The literary agency Curtis Brown, which represents several members of the Churchill family, has written to the church’s London branch protesting at a range of advertising leaflets and posters that liken the Allied struggle against Nazi Germany to Scientology’s efforts to recruit new members.

[Read more at The Independent]

…

Celebrities Lead Charge Against Scientology

majestic — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:11:43 +0000

Peter Beaumont in London, Toni O’Loughlin in Sydney, and Paul Harris in New York report for the Guardian:

The security at the red-brick and glass-walled horseshoe of the John Joseph Moakley courthouse on Boston’s waterfront was unusually tight. Anybody who was not a member of the city’s bar association was swept with a search wand. Photo IDs were checked. Mobile phones were taken from guests, who included the Hollywood star Tom Cruise.

The occasion was a memorial service for Scientology’s top legal adviser for a quarter of a century, Earle Cooley. The controversial head of Scientology worldwide, David Miscavige, delivered the eulogy, thanking his late friend for his contribution to the neo-religion during his career, much of which was spent pursuing journalists and former members who spoke out against it.

Miscavige may since have wondered privately what Cooley would have made of the events of last week. Scientology, founded in 1953 by the late science fiction pulp novelist, serial fantasist and inveterate self-publicist L Ron Hubbard, is under fire again across the globe, following years of struggle to be recognised – with some success – as a legitimate church.

The church has just been denounced in the strongest possible terms in the Australian parliament. Prime minister Kevin Rudd has expressed his concern over allegations of “a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality” and is contemplating a parliamentary inquiry. The organisation is under police investigation and yesterday angry ex-Scientologists, spurred on by the claims, converged on its Australian headquarters calling for its tax-exempt status to be revoked.

And it is not only in Australia that Scientology is facing problems. A new book in America – Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of the Church of Scientology – by Marc Headley, an employee of the church’s Los Angeles headquarters for 15 years, details – as others have – allegations of systematic abuse and bizarre episodes, such as the three weeks Headley claims he spent under instruction from Cruise in how to move bottles and other objects by concentrating on them…

[continues in the Guardian]

Concern at Magazine Over Sale to Scientologists

majestic — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:35:11 +0000

From the New York Times (see this earlier post on disinfo.com linking to the St. Petersburg Times expose and video referred to below):

Over the last several months, The St. Petersburg Times published a series of scathing articles on the Church of Scientology under the rubric “The Truth Rundown.” In 1980, the newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for an investigation of the church’s inner workings.

Coverage of Scientology has long been an important story for The St. Petersburg Times, given that the organization’s headquarters is located in nearby Clearwater, Fla.

So it came as a bit of a shock when, on Friday, the newspaper’s management announced that it would sell one of its sibling publications to a California media company whose top management are Scientologists, The New York Times’s Tim Arango writes.

Governing magazine, which is based in Washington and for 23 years has covered the workings of local and state governments across the country, will be sold to e.Republic, whose founder and other top executives are Scientologists. The sale is expected to close after Thanksgiving.

The evening before the announcement, Governing’s staff gathered at the Willard InterContinental Washington hotel for its annual awards dinner, honoring its picks for the best government officials. On Friday, the staff learned of the magazine’s sale, which had long been in the works. And at a staff gathering, the question of Scientology was raised, given the paper’s aggressive coverage of the church…

[continues in the the New York Times]

Church of Scientology Accused Of Torture And Forced Abortions

majestic — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:26:22 +0000

Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney reports for the Times:

The Church of Scientology faces the prospect of a police investigation in Australia after being accused of torture and embezzlement and of forcing employees to have abortions.

Nick Xenophon, an independent senator, presented letters to the Australian Parliament from seven former Scientologists which he said showed that the secretive church was a front for physical violence, intimidation and blackmail.

“I am deeply concerned about this organisation and the devastating impact it can have on its followers,” he told the Australian Senate in Canberra. He called for a Senate inquiry.

The State Crime Command of New South Wales police yesterday confirmed that Mr Xenophon had handed over the letters for investigation. Fed- eral police have also been contacted.

Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister,said that many Australians had “real concerns” about Scientology. “I share some of those concerns,” he added. “We would like to proceed in a cautious and methodical way in examining those matters and then we’ll decide what, if further, parliamentary action is necessary.”

Aaron Saxton, a member of the church in Australia and the US between 1989 and 1996, said in one of the letters that he had participated in the “forced confinement and torture” of others. Other letters described how individuals were pressured to hand over large sums of money to the church, leaving them in poverty.

[continues in the Times]

Scientology Employees Forced To Watch Tom Cruise Videos

ralph — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:29:52 +0000

Just when you think Scientology can’t get more bat-shit crazy, it does … the gift that keeps on giving. It would be more fun to be a Scientologist if the Tom Cruise videos were like this:

On RadarOnline:

Having left Scientology after more than 15-years Marc Headley is lifting the lid on the bizarre religion in his explosive new book Blown for Good. And in an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com, the author is speaking out about his experiences at the, much talked about, compound.

“Everyone there thought Tom Cruise was just brilliant,” said Headley, who left nearly five years ago. “Absolutely all the employees looked up to him.

“They think he is an exhilaration, which is very high up on what they call the ‘tone scale’.

“People who work within the organization were not given access to newspapers or television shows. The only thing we knew was what we were told or shown.

“At the International Headquarters they would record any appearances on TV shows or even mentions of Tom Cruise, or little stories they heard about him. Then they would re edit them and cut them together into a five or ten minute video of all the snippets of him on TV. But it was never the full interview or story.

“For example the actual footage might have said; ‘Scientologist Tom Cruise, the biggest movie star in the world, acts like a crazy person on Oprah.’ But what we saw was ‘Tom Cruise, the biggest movie star in the world.’ Then it would cut to the next thing.”

Headley told RadarOnline.com he does not remember how many times he was made to watch the videos but it was done on a ‘regular basis, all together in one big hall.’

“It was totally like 1984. It’s propaganda in there. You are told what is happening in the outside world and that’s what you believe. And what they are showing you is on TV so you trust that. I didn’t know it was edited like that.”

It wasn’t until just weeks before he left that he realized the truth.

The Crazy Dianetics & Scientology Holiday Catalog!

majestic — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:18:22 +0000

Girl blog Jezebel has come up with a great find! Make sure to click through the gallery to view “gotta see it to believe it” gifts such as a collection of 18 Nigerian goatskin-bound books of The Basics for $2,000 and a $4,650 E-Meter (in a wide range of colors, shown at right):

A million thank yous to the reader who mailed me the Dianetics & Scientology Holiday catalog! With so much crazytown inside, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

While Scientology has been going through tough times lately — a French court convicted the church of fraud and Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis resigned publicly — spokesperson Tommy Davis says the church is flourishing: assets and property holdings have doubled over the past five years. Is some of that cash from the catalog sales? Maybe!

Mad Scientologists Caught in a Web of Their Own Making

Raymond — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:50:46 +0000

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Draw near, infidels, for these are dark days for the Knights of Hubbard. Do not despair entirely – the Church of Scientology remains rich, has excellent lawyers and, according to the International Scientology News, ”every minute of every hour, someone reaches for L. Ron Hubbard technology … simply because they know Tom Cruise is a Scientologist”.

So unless the world’s supply of fools is melting away, they can hold off trying to lure disaffected Kabbalists into their cultish communion. And yet, it has not been the best of weeks for our operating thetans. In France, Scientology was found guilty of defrauding followers after a judge effectively debunked the idea of the church’s trusty E-meter, a crude polygraph used to encourage Scientologists to purchase everything from books to extreme sauna courses.

In Los Angeles, the Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis cut his ties with Scientology in protest at what he branded their tolerance of homophobia, adding that the church’s claim it does not tell people to ”disconnect” from unsupportive family members was untrue – his wife had been ordered to do so. Meanwhile, Scientology’s chief spokesman, Tommy Davis, stormed out of a TV interview with Martin Bashir, after being pressed on ”certain articles of faith”. The alien stuff, basically.

One assumes that the battery that powers the force field that holds the intergalactic tyrant Xenu captive in an unspecified mountain here on Earth is not as everlasting as billed.

And yet the truth is rather more prosaic. It is the internet wot dun it. During his life, the religion’s inventor, L. Ron Hubbard, deemed the chief enemies of Scientology to be tax inspectors and psychiatrists. Even a sixth-rate science fiction writer such as himself would not have been able to predict that it would be the web that would pose the gravest threat to his church, facilitating everything from the circulation of whistleblower accounts and cult-busting advice to videos of Tom Cruise chuckling maniacally while repeating ”KSW! Keep Scientology Working!”

If you haven’t seen the Bashir interview, it’s on YouTube. Challenged on the Xenu chestnut, Davis knows how loony tunes it sounds, and walking out seems less damaging than having the discussion. And so with the French court case. How could Scientologists have argued that the readings from their polygraph machine justified a penny in the collection tin, let alone hundreds of euros worth of books?

[Read the full story at The Sydney Morning Herald]

Cult Busters: How Governments Decide Whether a Religion is Real or Not

Raymond — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:48:34 +0000

From Slate:

A French court fined the Church of Scientology $888,000 on Tuesday after a couple claimed they’d been manipulated into buying between $30,000 and $73,000 worth of church products. The verdict is “a historical turning point for the fight against cult abuses,” said the leader of France’s “government cult-fighting unit.” How does this special cult-busting unit distinguish between cults and bona fide religions?

Vaguely. French law doesn’t define the term “cult.” Rather, it uses the expression “cultlike movements” to describe groups that demand unreasonable financial contributions, encourage nonparticipation in elections, promote anti-social behavior, or cut members off from their families. It’s easier to target bad behavior, the thinking goes, than to get into a semantic debate over what is and isn’t a cult. The French government has, however, tried to define the term in the past. In 1995, a special parliamentary commission compiled a list of 10 cultish characteristics, including the indoctrination of children, a mentally unstable membership, and the attempt to infiltrate public institutions. The commission also released a list of 173 groups that qualify as cults—that is, they meet at least one of the 10 criteria—including the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Scientology.(At least one group—the followers of Anthroposophy—sued the report’s main author for defamation and won.)

[Read more at Slate]

Open Season for Scientology Bashing

majestic — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:37:02 +0000

Now it’s Salon’s turn to whale on Scientology (more please mainstream media, you have a lot of catching up to do):

When Paul Haggis, the writer of “Million Dollar Baby” and “Crash,” kicked his faith to the curb after 35 years, he did so as only an Oscar-winning scribe could: with a badass screed. His resignation letter, dated Aug. 19, emerged on ex-Scientologist Mark Rathburn’s blog yesterday and promptly went viral.

In his letter, Haggis explains, “for ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego. Their public sponsorship of Proposition 8, a hate-filled legislation that succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California — rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state — shames us.” Though the Church claims not to dictate personal sexual practices and has several openly gay members, it’s perhaps no coincidence that Scientology also has a reputation as Hollywood’s biggest closet, with gay rumors persistently dogging famous members like Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Even before Haggis’ resignation came to light, it had not been a good week for the Church’s public relations. On Friday, ABC’s “Nightline” aired a scathing investigation of celebrity Scientology by gotcha journalist nonpareil Martin Bashir (of the infamous Michael Jackson interview). The Church’s high-profile membership, its secrecy and unusual practices — which Salon explored extensively back in 2005 — have long made it a subject of fascination and disdain.

But the real corker of the recent “Nightline” story came when Bashir brought up founder L. Ron Hubbard’s most confidential — and controversial — doctrines. Many organized religions sound like so much sci-fi gobbledygook to outside ears, but Scientologists aren’t known for their generous senses of humor on the subject. And so, when Bashir asked Church spokesman Tommy Davis the age-old question, “Do you believe that the galactic emperor called Xenu brought his people to earth 75 million years ago and buried them in volcanoes?” Davis immediately became defensive. “I am not going to discuss the disgusting perversions of Scientology’s beliefs … things that are so fundamentally offensive for Scientologists to discuss.” When Bashir gently tried another tactic, asking about L. Ron Hubbard’s personal beliefs in Xenu, Davis unclipped his microphone and stalked off…

[continues at Salon.com]

Church of Scientology Convicted of Fraud in France

majestic — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:56:10 +0000

The AP is reporting another example of the ‘Church’ of Scientology finally coming in for the critical attention it deserves but that the media has been afraid of for fear of costly litigation:

A Paris court convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than euro600,000 ($900,000) on Tuesday but stopped short of banning the group as prosecutors had demanded.

The group’s French branch immediately announced it would appeal the verdict.

The court convicted the Church of Scientology’s French office, its library and six of its leaders of organized fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used “commercial harassment” against recruits.

The group was fined euro400,000 ($600,000) and the library euro200,000. Four of the leaders were given suspended sentences of between 10 months and two years. The other two were given fines of euro1,000 and euro2,000.

However, the court did not order the Church of Scientology to shut down, ruling that it would be likely to continue its activities anyway “outside any legal framework.”

Prosecutors had urged that the group be dissolved in France and fined euro2 million ($3 million).