August 18 in Scientology history

Last month, when Clearwater, Florida's Pastor Willy Rice notified his congregation at Calvary Church that Leah Remini was planning on filming an episode of A&E's Scientology and the Aftermath at his church, he warned his flock that the Church of Scientology had a history of attacking its critics. That event was canceled, but Pastor Rice later stood by his message with more strong words about Scientology and its practices. And now, just as the pastor predicted, the Church of Scientology has launched an attack on him at the website it uses to take swipes at Leah Remini and the people who appear on her show as part of its "Fair Game" tactics against people it considers enemies.

Tags: 2012, A&E, Calvary Church, Clearwater, David Miscavige, Derek Bloch, Fair Game, Florida, IRS, Jeffrey Augustine, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Keith Relkin, KKK, Leah Remini, Nora Crest, Scientology and the Aftermath, The Way to Happiness, Willy Rice

Bonus item from a reader.

Tags: Leah Remini, Quicky, Regraded Being

Hey everybody, we are going to continue in this video to go through the book Scientology, edited by James R. Lewis which has chapters written by various religious scholars, psychologists and sociologists all talking about Scientology. Thanks for carrying on with me in this. As I've said before, if you haven't watched my first couple videos in this series, you should do so and the link to the first episode is in the notes section below. I also want to reiterate just in case you didn't see those earlier videos that I am not making any claims to be unbiased or objective in my views on Scientology. Alright, so this week we are taking up Chapter 3 by Douglas Cowan, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Social Development Studies at Renison College at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Now the good news about this chapter is that it's the least biased of any I've read so far and talks frankly about the difficulties in studying Scientology as an academic scholar. Cowan has testified on behalf of Scientology insofar as he has apparently stated on record that Scientologists believe that they are part of a religious group but based on what I could find of his work, he's not someone that has ever crossed a line into overt pro-Scientology bias. In fact, in this chapter he helps clarify what position an academic should and shouldn't take about new religious movements and I appreciated a lot of what Cowan had to say. I also found some points I think he totally misses on, so let's go through this in some detail.

Tags: 1950, 2002, 2004, 2009, Apologetic, Aum Shinrikyo, BBC, Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, Big Blue, Canada, Christian, Cult, David Bromley, David Miscavige, Dianetics, Douglas Cowan, Gordon Melton, Heaven's Gate, IRS, James Lewis, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jim Jones, Keep Scientology Working, L. Ron Hubbard, L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition, Matt Lauer, Mormon, New York Times, Ontario, Oxford Capacity Analysis, Panorama, Quicky, Rehabilitation Project Force, Sea Org, Stephen Kent, Study Technology, Tom Cruise, University of Waterloo, War of the Worlds, White House

(David Miscavige visiting Narconon Arrowhead in the mid-2000s) Contributor Jeffrey Augustine keeps a close eye on Scientology's financial documents. And he has some new information today that backs up what we've been told anecdotally by our other sources — that Scientology's flagship drug rehab center in Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead, is in serious trouble. Take it away, Jeffrey... Here in the US, religious groups do not have to file tax returns. The only exception is if they have "unrelated business income." If they do, thanks to a 2006 law change, religious groups must file an IRS form "990-T." And even then, we don't have much interest in the "unrelated" income that they report. The Church of Scientology, for example, owns a nine hole golf course at Gold Base that it rents out to local civic groups. The Flag Land Base in Clearwater and Celebrity Centre International in Hollywood each have ballrooms that they rent out. These tend to be trivial amounts and don't tell us much about the real money they're taking in for courses and donations.

Tags: 2000, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, ABLE, Alex Gibney, Canada, Celebrity Centre, Chris Shelton, Clearwater, David Miscavige, Detox, Disconnection, Flag Land Base, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Hollywood, Int Base, International Academy of Detoxification Specialists, IRS, Jeffrey Augustine, Narconon, Narconon Arrowhead, Narconon Freedom Center, Narconon Fresh Start, Narconon Georgia, Narconon International, Oklahoma, Quicky, Scientology organization, Social Betterment Properties International

It's a Blockbuster OTC Meeting Revel in the good news: Only $6.4 million to go. More Blockbuster News

Tags: 1951, 1982, AOLA, Bruce Wiseman, Central Files, Cincinnati, Command Intention, Dallas, Dave Troph, David Miscavige, Deadline, Denver, Donald Trump, Freewinds, Hawaii, Humanitarian, Ideal Org, International Association of Scientologists, John Sexsmith, L. Ron Hubbard, Los Feliz, Mace-Kingsley Family Center, Merchants of Chaos, Miami, Michael Chan, Michael Roberts, Mission, OTC, Pasadena, Quicky, Russia, Scientology Media Productions, Sea Org, Student Hat, Syria, Ted Bragin, Thursday Funnies, Tim Holcomb, UK, Vicki Shantz

I have assumed since the release of GAT II in November 2013 that it meant that all previous auditor training was no longer valid. Though of course, at the outset, this was never stated. Might have the natives to get restless. Those natives are pretty docile, fed on a constant diet of lies and half-truths to turn them into sheeple. The trick is to keep them thinking that the next big thing has just been given to them and that this "breakthrough" will cure all the previous failures to deliver what was promised.

Tags: 2013, Bangladesh, Chairman of the Board, Class IV, Golden Age of Tech, Inspector General Network, Nepal, Pakistan, Purif, Quicky, South Africa, UK

Once again, Google has gone to bat for someone we've written about here at the Underground Bunker, and once again, it's for very sneaky reasons. We told you previously about how billionaire Scientologist Bob Duggan used a complaint to Google about images he didn't own in order to torpedo a not very flattering story we'd written about him. Thanks to your help, our story about that attempt to censor us quickly became one of the top Google results under Bob Duggan's name. Whoops — Duggan probably didn't see that coming. Now, another huckster by the name of Per Wickstrom has convinced Google to bury a story we wrote about him involving a young woman who died at one of his Scientology-style rehab clinics in Michigan. And the reason this time is even more fatuous.

Tags: 1989, 2012, 2013, Amber Bullins, Battle Creek, Best Drug Rehabilitation, Bob Duggan, Cathy Rigby, Chad Essley, Detox, Facebook, Google, Manistee, Michigan, Narconon, NarcononReviews.net, Per Wickstrom, Portland, Quicky, Ripoff Report, Tranquility Detox, YouTube

Police sources say a raid on the Moscow headquarters of the Church of Scientology earlier this year revealed spy equipment installed in reconciliation rooms. A leak claims the recordings could allegedly be used to blackmail parishioners of the church. Illegal audio and video recording equipment was planted in the headquarters of a religious organization situated on Taganskaya Street in downtown Moscow, says Russia's Investigative Committee representative Yulia Ivanova. "As part of criminal action a search was made in the premises occupied by the religious association. The search revealed special technical devices, used for surreptitious obtaining of information, being installed in the personal interview rooms," Ivanova said, adding that investigation on the issue continues in order to determine who, if anybody, was at fault.

Tags: Blackmail, Moscow, Raid, Russia, Yulia Ivanova

(Authored by Jeffrey Augustine, this essay was originally published by Tony Ortega at the Underground Bunker and is reprinted here for archival purposes) Why no one should ever join Scientology's 'Sea Org' Frequent contributor Jeffrey Augustine told us he was surprised to see how some of the language in Scientology's latest court filing — in the Laura DeCrescenzo lawsuit — dovetailed in such interesting ways with the recent explorations he's been making into the church's legal underpinnings. We told him to let that take him where it would, and here's the result…

Tags: 1968, 1989, AFF, APA, Apollo, Bert Deixler, David Miscavige, First Amendment, IRS, L. Ron Hubbard, Lamont Jefferson, Laura DeCrescenzo, Monique Rathbun, OT, Quicky, Rehabilitation Project Force, Religious Technology Center, Sea Org, Sec Check, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker

This week's "good news." (Well, it's a bit old, preempted by other more important news). Thing are not getting any better at Flag. Their completions are in the same range for months on end. By now one would have expected to see some evidence of the masses "pouring up the Bridge" — it has been 9 months since the release of GAG II and opening of Miscavige's Folly. But they pump out the "good news," telling the world they are going nowhere.

Tags: Clear, David Miscavige, OT VII, Purif, Quicky, Student Hat, Super Power

Marji Prefontane bought the house on Cedarbrook NE in an auction. Her plan was to rehabilitate the home and sell for it a profit. It was her way of investing her money and helping secure her retirement. "We hired a guy who we thought was a licensed general contractor who actually presented himself as a licensed general contractor," Prefontane said. Prefontane admits she's new at house flipping, but placed trust in whom she thought was a licensed professional, David Childers.

Tags: Albuquerque, Dave Childers

Lots of previously undisclosed stories, Tom Cruise Stories. Hierarchy insider stories and always... continuing purges. Just another coup. Just another Purge. Just another bloodbath in the mentality of power and paranoid cosmic psycho-politics in the "Church" of Scientology Good history from Mark Fisher.

Tags: 1982, Author Services Inc, David Miscavige, L. Ron Hubbard, Mark Fisher, Religious Technology Center, Tom Cruise, Video

Former Sea Org member Mark Fisher served as "Corporate Liason" a fictitious post or job to pretend separation of the the for-profit Author Services and the m...

Tags: Author Services Inc, David Miscavige, Facebook, Google, Mark Fisher, Private investigator, Sea Org, Twitter

Solid evidence presented here and at the blog of Scientology's former spokesman, Mike Rinder, leave no doubt that Scientology is shrinking, and fast. Even loyal, longtime church members are becoming more reluctant to take part in David Miscavige's desperate scheme to open new empty churches to give the impression that Scientology is expanding. But you have to wonder, who's left? Who's still hanging in there as the collapse seems inexorably to be drawing near? Well, a tipster let us know that recently Scientology's "Advanced Org" in Copenhagen posted a set of new graduation videos. They're short, but you get a pretty good sense of these enthusiastic folks being celebrated for getting suckered into paying big bucks achieving huge success.

Tags: 1977, 1980, 1981, Advanced Org, Copenhagen, David Miscavige, FBI, Ferguson, Guardian's Office, Jeffrey Augustine, Key to Life, L. Ron Hubbard, Lisbon, Mark Fisher, Mary Sue Hubbard, Michael Brown, Mike Rinder, Missouri, Mohammad, Murder, Nation of Islam, OT, Portugal, Quicky, Reader's Digest, Sea Org, Set A Good Example, St. Louis, Tel Aviv, The Way to Happiness, Twitter

Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard died at approximately 8:00 PM local time on January 24, 1986 at his ranch in Creston, California. Hubbard was 74 years of age when he died alone inside of the luxury Bluebird motor home in which he had been living. Three days after Hubbard's death on January 27, 1986 Church of Scientology officials, led by David Miscavige, announced that the Founder had "discarded his body" to Scientologists gathered at the Palladium in Hollywood. The great big big lie these Church of Scientology officials told Scientologists was that L. Ron Hubbard's body was still strong and in perfect health and that Hubbard had simply laid down on his bed and "causitively dropped his body."

Tags: 1986, Bluebird, California, Clear, Creston, David Miscavige, Gene Denk, Hollywood, Nevada, New York Times, Pat Broeker, Quicky, Reno, Robert Vaughn Young, San Luis Obispo, Vistaril

The latest insanity comes courtesy of the Uniform IC PAC — Val Page (daughter of Homer Schomer who was at ASI, queried certain financial practices, was abused, kicked out and declared and his daughter has not spoken to him in 30 years!). But that is not the point here. In case any further proof was needed, the vulture culture has permeated every corner of the RCS. All the way down to the "Uniform IC" — a post that has NO CONTACT WHATSOEVER with the public — sending out begging emails to get money for a "PAC Events Center" to "usher public up the Bridge:" Dear Friend,

Tags: AOLA, ASHO, Author Services Inc, David Miscavige, Dianetics, Golden Age of Tech, Hollywood, Hollywood Test Center, L. Ron Hubbard, Los Angeles, Miami, OT, PAC Base, Quicky, Tent

On Sundays, we love to reveal to you the Scientology mailers and fliers that our tipsters have forwarded us during the week. And this time, we have a huge selection of fun stuff to share with you. As Scientology nears its apocalypse, er, rather, its ginormous celebration of flowing theta when it opens the Super Power Building on October 6, it seems that it is pulling out all the stops to get its members to give, give, give! It's almost like they know some sort of point of no return is coming, or something.

Tags: Chicago, Criminon, Freewinds, L. Ron Hubbard, L. Ron Hubbard Way, Miami, Quicky, Sunday Funnies, Super Power Building, WhyWeProtest

Catton became president of the facility in 2002. And he says he became aware that Gary Smith, the center's executive director, and other officials were very worried: in the time since Narconon had received the 1992 exemption, the law had changed, and if the state took a hard look at its certification, the place might not stay open, Catton says. He explains that when the state accepted the CARF approval, the state did so only to certify the initial part of Narconon's four-part program of treatment. "They were worried that they had to get their entire program certified by the state, or get the law changed, or they would not be allowed to operate at all," he told me.

Tags: 1968, 1992, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, ABLE, Anonymous, Arrowhead Lodge, Ashtrays, BBC, CARF, David Miscavige, Disconnection, Freedom magazine, Gary Smith, Int Base, Los Angeles, Lucas Catton, Mental Health, Narconon, Narconon Arrowhead, Narconon Chilocco, Oklahoma, Rena Weinberg, Suppressive Person, The Hole, The Way to Happiness

"It should be noted that while I was there the use and distribution of drugs by 'students' ... and staff was rampant," the complainant wrote to Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services officials. "I was asked on numerous occasions if I wanted any drugs, but since I do not do drugs, I declined. I was offered many different types of drugs, ones I had never even heard of. By observation, no one was concerned about the drug use at this time." Department of Mental Health spokesman Jeffrey Dismukes said he could not confirm any action the department took as a result of the complaint because he could not discuss an ongoing investigation.

Tags: Death, Dewayne Moore, Fred Oesterreicher, Gabriel Graves, Gary Smith, Hillary Holten, Jean Lafitte, Jeffrey Dismukes, Kaysie Werninck, Narconon, Narconon Arrowhead, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Pittsburg County, Richard Hull, Sharon Nederlander, Stacy Murphy, Tom Ivester

Fear not your enemies, for they can only kill you. Fear not your friends, for they can only betray you. Fear only the indifferent, who permit the killers and betrayers to walk safely on this earth.

Tags: Quicky

Clearwater attorney Denis deVlaming talks about how Scientology tried to hire him to sue Mayor Gabe Cazares after the group sneaked into town under a phony name. Denis would go on to defend critics of Scientology including Bob Minton, Jesse Prince and Mark Bunker.

Tags: Clearwater, Denis deVlaming, Gabe Cazares, Jesse Prince, Knowledge Report, Quicky, Robert Minton

Larry Brennan talks about how Scientology adopted the trappings of a religion when it's leaders went to prison for espionage against the U.S. government.

Tags: Denise Brennan, Knowledge Report, Ministers Course, Religious cloaking

Some have pondered lately why the Miscavige obsession with Casablanca. I have some ideas to share on that score. First please review a portion of an essay I posted on 26 September 2009, Independent Scientologists community: I am fairly certain that if a decent percentage of independent Scientologists stand up, identify themselves, and freely associate with like-minded friends in the light of day at least three things will happen:

Tags: 2009, Cockroach, David Miscavige, Ethics, Independent, Independent Scientologists, Potential Trouble Source, Quicky, Suppressive Person

It all began, she says, while Stanley was editing Eyes Wide Shut, which starred Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Stanley asked Vivian to compose the score, but at the last moment she said she wouldn't. Instead, she disappeared into San Francisco and Los Angeles. "They had a huge fight. He was very unhappy. He wrote her a 40-page letter trying to win her back. He begged her endlessly to come home from California. I'm glad he didn't live to see what happened." On the day of Stanley's funeral, Christiane says, Vivian arrived with a woman nobody recognised. "She just sat in Vivian's room. Never said hello to us. Just sat. We were all spooked. Who was this person? Turns out she was a Scientology something-or-other, don't know what." "Did Vivian give a reason why she joined the Scientologists?" I ask.

Tags: 1999, 2001, 2007, 2009, California, Christian, London, Los Angeles, Movie, Nicole Kidman, Passport, San Francisco, Stanley Kubrick, Tom Cruise, Vivian Kubrick

Prosecutors in Samara Region are taking a high-flying businessman to task for forcing his employees to go on scientology courses. The director of electronics company RosKabelSvyaz Lev Syrolev was threatening to sack faithless workers, but now faces charges for using extremist material. "These practices are illegal and violate laws on combating extremist activity, labour laws, as well as the constitution of Russia," Prosecutors said in a press release. The Surgut city court considers the ideas of L Ron Hubbard, Scientology's founder, to "justify violence, and in particular ways to combat critics of scientology."

Tags: Hypnotherapy, Lev Syrolev, Russia

A while ago, a friend sent me an interesting speech by Krishnamurti. I found it fascinating. Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 –1986) was an Indian writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual issues. As a young man, he attracted a following, and an organization called the Order of the Star grew up around him. In 1929, he decided to dissolve the organization and gave a speech giving his reasons. The speech is titled "Truth is a Pathless Land." I decided to post a few excerpts as food for thought. It applies to the current discussion about Scientology and whether or not one needs an organization, or a leader, to follow a spiritual path. "You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, 'What did that man pick up?' 'He picked up a piece of Truth,' said the devil. 'That is a very bad business for you, then,' said his friend. 'Oh, not at all,' the devil replied, 'I am going to let him organize it.'

Tags: 1986, Quicky

"Key leaders in the controversial Church of Scientology make up the advisory board of this group which also helps directly fund Ms. Berfield's campaign. Ms. Berfield has a history of visiting and participating in church events and fundraisers, often praising their efforts, so expect them to return her many favors. They are counting on her as a key ally in their current ambitious expansion plans across Tampa Bay." Ed Armstrong, a Berfield supporter who also is an attorney for the church, said Farkas "obviously thinks it will put Kim in a negative light and I think he's desperate. … I don't think it will be effective."

Tags: 1975, 2002, 2008, Akshay Desai, Ben Shaw, Boys & Girls Clubs, Clearwater, Ed Armstrong, Ed Hooper, FBI, Florida, Florida Citizens for Social Reform, Fort Harrison, Frank Farkas, Frank Hibbard, Freedom magazine, Jeb Bush, Joanie Sigal, Kim Berfield, Mary Repper, Nancy Riley, Nancy Watkins, St. Petersburg, Tampa, University of South Florida, Washington, Winter Wonderland

Officials with the group, which over the past two decades has distributed booklets of the same name to millions of school children across the country, all with the help of a variety of public officials and corporate sponsors, say they have worked with hundreds of organizations throughout Southern California and around the country in efforts to promote clean living as a virtue worthy of emulating. But according to LAPD Cmdr. Mike Downing, the Church of Scientology forged his endorsement on The Way To Happiness Web site, prompting the LAPD to disavow any endorsement of Scientology and The Way To Happiness.

Tags: ACLU, Barbara Ayash, Charles Palmer, Concerned Businessmen's Association of America, Connie de la Garza, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Geoff Garratt, Glendale, Harlingen, Hollywood, Inglewood, Juan Villareal, L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition, Lance Miller, LAPD, Marylen Ayash-Borgen, Mike Downing, Nevada, Peter Eliasberg, Roosevelt Dorn, Set A Good Example, The Way to Happiness, Tory Christman, William Bratton

CLEARWATER - Complaints about the Church of Scientology unexpectedly surfaced again before the City Commission on Thursday, and some commissioners think they"ve heard enough. The commissioners two weeks ago presided over a stormy session in which a group of people spoke against the Scientologists, claiming the organization is a cult. Scientologists denied those claims, and said they were offended by what they called attacks on their religion.

Tags: Clearwater, Dianetics, Don Winner, Jamie Gourgon, Lee Lawrence, Mental Health, Paul Johnson, Rita Garvey, Tampa

At 1:45 p.m. yesterday, Mary Sue Hubbard, wife of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and a person seldom recognized in public, slipped into U.S. District courtroom, flanked by two lawyers, and took a seat with eight other Church members who had come to surrender to the court. With her arrival, the audience of Scientologists, reporters and lawyers drew noticeably quiet. None of the Church members, which includes top officials, claimed to have ever seen her before or know whether she would appear. She stepped demurely to the bench, a slender woman dressed in black, with long brown hair and a Scientology medal around her neck, and listened as her rights were explained.

Tags: 1950, Academic, Burglary, Cindy Raymond, Duke Snider, England, Freedom of Information Act, Gerald Bennett Wolfe, Germany, Gregory Willardson, Guardian's Office, Henning Heldt, Holocaust, IRS, Jane Kember, Los Angeles, LSD, Mary Sue Hubbard, Mo Budlong, Nazi labelling, Passport, Quicky, Raymond Banoun, Richard Weigand, Sharon Thomas, US Department of Justice