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2021
2021-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
The second week of March in 2020, as the pandemic was hitting the US, she was aboard the Freewinds in Curaçao.
An OT Scientologist, she's very dedicated to the church, and she posts about it fairly frequently on Facebook, giving us a look at how the last couple of years has gone.
We thought we'd take a detailed look at how one Scientologist couple, at least, has weathered the storm.
Tags: 1956, 1969, 1970, 1976, 1979, 2001, 2020, Activist, Anti-vaxx, Aruba, California, CCHR, Celebrity Centre, Christmas, Clearwater, Curaçao, Dallas, Dianetics, Facebook, Florida, Freewinds, Greg Abbott, Halloween, Hollywood, Jewish, Leigh Dundas, Los Angeles, Masks, Miami, Nina Palmer, OT, Quicky, Rand Paul, Ron Paul, Sacramento, San Diego, San Diego County, Texas, The Way to Happiness
2020
1 year ago2020-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Once again we wish to thank our source who gives us access to Scientology's various social media feeds that members use to keep each other informed about what's happening inside the "World's Coolest Religion" (TM).
We just can't get enough of these success stories and shaggy dog tales, and judging by the response they usually get from you, you can't get enough of them either.
So let's dig in! Please share with us your observations about the swell things Scientologists are getting up to around the world...
2020-11-01, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
2019
2 years ago2019-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
There were no surprises in yesterday's "Curcio" hearing for the Keith Raniere case. Raniere was wearing tan prison garb, and he seemed confident, even upbeat as he entered the courtroom and approached the bench. The hearing is regarding a possible conflict of interest around defense lawyer Teny Geragos' application to become a US attorney in the Eastern District of New York. The Eastern District is where the Raniere trial took place, and Ms. Geragos was presumably applying for the spot vacated by prosecutor Moira Penza, lead government attorney in the Raniere case.
Yesterdays hearing was a postponement from the original hearing on September 13th. At that hearing, Mr. Moskowitz, the attorney appointed by the court to represent Raniere in this matter, had not yet had adequate time to confer with his client. At the time of the September hearing, Garagos' application to become a US attorney was still pending. She has since withdrawn it.
Geragos' application arrived to the government on August 12th, which was after the trial was over. Judge Garaufis explained to Raniere why the Curcio hearing was still necessary even though Geragos has now withdrawn her application. The trial has ended but the case is not yet over; It is still his responsibly to sentence Raniere. During the time when her application to become a US attorney was pending, there may have been advice given by Geragos or communication with the government that would create a potential conflict.
2019-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
It's been more than a year since David Miscavige last opened an "Ideal Org" in this country, but tomorrow he's scheduled to cut the ribbon on the new Scientology cathedral in downtown Kansas City.
Miscavige's last Ideal Org appearance was in Detroit on October 14, 2018, and it went off just like all the others — some preliminary speeches by local luminaries, and then a brief collection of platitudes from Miscavige about the town's history and Scientology's glorious future. Then the ribbon comes down and the confetti goes up and the few hundred attendees (most of them flown in from other parts of the country) will be ushered into the building for a tour.
Like Detroit and so many other places, Scientology purchased the Kansas City building and then let it sit, rotting, for like a decade before suddenly starting renovations.
2019-11-01, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
2018
3 years ago2018-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
On Monday, we told you that we'd gotten our mitts on a new Sea Org application that Scientology is asking marks to fill out before they sign billion-year contracts and start working around the clock.
After seeing us post that, another of our tipsters sent in something else really fun. Our correspondent tells us that way back in the 1970s, her husband visited an org and picked up a copy of the Scientology book "Self-Analysis."
You probably can predict the next part: In the decades since, Scientology has hounded the poor man with letters and literature, spamming him about getting involved in the church.
2018-11-01, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
They're going all out...
It's an ideal Africa coming for sure.
Just check out these amazing fundraisers.
2018-11-01, Chris Shelton, Critical Thinker at Large
It's been a while since I've given a general update briefing on what's going on in the world of Scientology, so this week that is what I'm doing including info about the RPF, staff pay for the outer orgs, and some horrible truths about the Sea Org.
2017
4 years ago
2017-11-01, Michael Edison Hayden, Newsweek
Well, it's come to this: The far-right obsession with antifa has been overblown into a fake news story that now rivals the most over-the-top Michael Bay movie. Allow Newsweek to introduce you to the "Antifa supersoldiers" who apparently exist in the minds of some people on the far right, and who are coming to "behead all white parents" across America this Saturday, if the bizarre and spiralling fake news story is to be believed.
As with the fake news story that antifa is waging civil war on America, which was started by Alex Jones at the conspiracy site InfoWars, the imaginary supersoldiers have been injected into the far-right's coverage of a series of rallies planned for Saturday to demand the removal of President Donald Trump from office. The story may sound asinine, but concerns are growing that it could lead to someone inflicting real-life violence, activists told Newsweek.
The "news" story, which has since been embraced with irony as a meme on left-leaning social media circles, spawned from a joke posted Friday on the comedic Twitter account @KrangTNelson. It said: "can't wait for November 4th when millions of antifa supersoldiers will behead all white parents and small business owners in the town square." The post was meant to mock the "festering panic over an exceedingly fake Civil War plot for which thousands of FOX News grandparents may, at this very moment, be boarding up their windows in panicked preparation," according to the anonymous person behind the Krang account, who wrote about the controversy he or she inadvertently started in a first-person story for VICE. Right-leaning accounts began to report the satirical tweet as being offensive, which led to the temporary suspension of @KrangTNelson's account on Twitter.
2017-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Netflix was very quick to take action when allegations of sexual impropriety about one of its stars, Kevin Spacey, surfaced this weekend.
On Sunday, the Daily Beast reported that Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of touching him inappropriately when he was only 14 years old. At the time, in 1985, Rapp and Spacey were both performing in Broadway productions, and Spacey was 26.
Spacey responded by saying he had no recollection of the incident, but was horrified, and then used the occasion to come out as gay.
Tags: 1985, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2015, 2018, A&E, Ashton Kutcher, Bijou Phillips, Brett Ratner, Charlie Beck, Daily Beast, Danny Masterson, Dustin Hoffman, Esther Reyes, Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood, LAPD, Laura Prepon, Leah Remini, Los Angeles, Michael Peña, New York Times, New Yorker, Police, Rape, Scientology and the Aftermath
2017-11-01, Transgender Archives, YouTube
Presented by the Chair in Transgender Studies: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/
Please give generously: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair
Kate Bornstein
2017-11-01, Nathan Rich: Enturbulated, YouTube
Interview with Tara Reile about her and my experience participating in the A&E show Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
Was it scripted? Did they steer the conversation? What was it like?
We answer it all here.
2017-11-01, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
True to form, BEFORE the show even aired, scientology had their smears up about Chantal Dodson and Sherry Ollins.
These people literally have no shame.
Nor sense. But they seem to have a limitless supply of bullshit.
2017-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Forbes has a wonderful article about a bankruptcy ruling involving a wealthy pair of jackasses who got their heads handed to them recently by a fed-up judge.
As writer Jay Adkisson explains, there's a lesson for wealthy people who cry poverty so they can try to get out of paying a huge tax bill — if you're going to do that, at least try to look penniless rather than spend money like Croesus, money that could easily pay your tax debt.
"The debtor who claims to be broke had better at least appear to be broke," Adkisson writes. Instead, this couple, who had brought in $13 million in revenue since they got into trouble with their taxes but refused to make good on a $3.8 million tax debt, didn't even attempt to cut down their spending as the case was going through court: "$722,000 was spent on personal travel (including $233,000 for a rental home in Aspen), a cool half-million on clothing, another $370,000 and change on groceries, (plus another $78,000 eating out) and a miserly $147,000 plus on entertainment…$360,000 on their children, including of course private education for their son. But more important than their children was the private chef, who cost more than $610,000 over eight years."
2016
5 years ago2016-11-01, Craig Malisow, Houston Press
Critics call Genesis II a cult, which, if true, makes Humble the most uncharismatic cult leader of all time. He's not Jim Jones; he's your grandpa's disoriented nursing home roommate. His voice is somehow subdued, shrill and monotone at the same time. He not only manages to make a story about aliens escaping to Earth boring, he apparently forgot that it clashes with a story he told a different interviewer that same year about how he first encountered alien beings in a giant hole in a California desert.
If an evil galactic overlord, ancient alien civilizations, prison planets and head implants sound familiar, that's because it's boilerplate Scientology, of which Humble was a member.
His name appears in a 1971 issue of a Scientology journal posted online that stated he was enrolled in a "Hubbard Standard Dianetics Course" in Orange County, California. His name also appears in mid-1980s newsletters distributed by a cabal of former members who left the church to start their own "independent" movement.
Tags: 1971, Action Mining, Anti-vaxx, Autism, Bradenton, Diana Hubbard, Dominican Republic, Florida, Genesis II, Guadalajara, Jim Humble, Kerri Rivera, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louis Smith, Mexico, Miracle Mineral Supplement, Puerto Vallarta, Religious Freedom Trust, Sea Org, Shane Hawkins, Texas, University of Houston
2016-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Over the last couple of weeks, several news organizations have written about a John Podesta email published by Wikileaks which suggests that even before US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead on February 13, the Hillary Clinton campaign had considered a replacement for him, an African-American attorney named Wallace Jefferson who is a Texas Republican and had been chief justice of the state's supreme court.
Just hours after Scalia was found dead at a hunting ranch in Texas, Podesta, the chairman of Clinton's campaign, exchanged emails with Chris Stone, president of the George Soros-funded grantmaking network known as Open Society Foundations.
Under the heading "Scalia replacement," Stone wrote, "Remember our discussion of Wallace Jefferson, Chief Justice in Texas?"
Tags: 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, Affordable Care Act, African-American, Comal County, Critic, David Miscavige, Donald Trump, Facebook, Hillary Clinton, Judge Dib Waldrip, Justice Antonin Scalia, Lamont Jefferson, Marty Rathbun, Monique Rathbun, Pope, Private investigator, Quicky, Republican, San Antonio, Texas, Texas Supreme Court, Texas Third Court of Appeals, TX Lawyer, US Supreme Court, Wallace Jefferson, White House, WikiLeaks
2016-11-01, Nick Ward, The Houstonian
Stay away from Scientology. This sentence by itself can sum up this entire article, but I have to fill up an article and you probably want reasons why, so let me continue. I believe there really is no right religion and everyone figures out their life on their own, except for Scientology because Scientology is not a religion, it's a cult. Scientology has become a cultural icon so you probably know a lot, but the more you learn about it, the more insane it gets. I'm not just talking about its ridiculous beliefs, but its overcharging of members and its shady leadership. However, let's start with the first problem; its founder and the birth of the church.
The founder of Scientology is L. Ron Hubbard, a science-fiction writer during the 1930s. He also served in the military in both the navy and the marines, but was removed from the marines due to his superiors finding him incapable of command. Hubbard around this time was also seeking mental health treatment, but was unable to afford it and eventually condemned modern psychology. This was a major influence for Scientology's opinion on psychology, and its precursor Dianetics. Dianetics is Hubbard's own form of psychology based on the concept of erasing the reactive mind through auditing. The Church has given a story lionizing Hubbard's development of it, but has been debunked.
In an auditing session, an "auditor" guides the "pre-clear" to confront traumatic memories and erase them, getting rid of the reactive mind and curing the person. This has obviously been condemned by the scientific community, and multiple studies have proven it to be wrong. However, since the time of its original publication, people ate it up giving Hubbard the ability to transform it into a religion, known as the Church of Scientology. This contains all the principles from Dianetics with the most ridiculous creation story ever conceived.
2016-11-01, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
Someone recently sent this to me. I thought it a curious piece of scientology history for a number of reasons.
Starting with the thought there is nothing new in scientology — including their cliches.
You can see it gets off to a roaring start by announcing a "milestone." Today milestones happen a dozen times a year. Back then this was a trendsetting new word to make the lame sound amazing.
2015
6 years ago2015-11-01, Chris Shelton, Critical Thinker at Large
The show where I answer your questions left in the comments section of these Q&A videos or sent to me by email at AskChrisShelton@gmail.com. Here are the questions from this week:
Link to org video: https://goo.gl/xHfUxs
Link to Affirmations: http://goo.gl/NswulC
2015-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
We asked our man in Paris, Jonny Jacobsen, to give us some thoughts from his notebook about his first week covering Scientology's criminal trial in Brussels. (That's him with your proprietor this July.) Here's his attempt to catch us up on what's been happening...
Just recovering from the first week's coverage of the trial and trying to gather my thoughts before diving into the next piece.
The first thing to point out, if it's not already obvious, is that I've opted to go for depth rather than speed in my coverage, which means I've only just completed my write-up of the first day's hearing. When there is breaking news that I think can't wait, such as the reports from the defense lawyers filed here earlier, I'll fire off a few paragraphs to Tony in the hope that he can move it out. But inside court, I'm going to stick to my notebook to try to get as much down as possible.
2015-11-01, Adam Carlson, People
Leah Remini claims that Bella Cruise, Tom Cruise's daughter with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, called her mother a "SP" or "Suppressive Person," according to an advance copy of Remini's new tell-all obtained by the New York Daily News.
Remini's book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, includes several claims about Cruise's 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes - including Bella's comment - according to material quoted by the Daily News.
Remini claims in the book that before the ceremony itself, Cruise waited at the altar for 20 minutes before Holmes arrived, long enough for Remini's longtime friend Jennifer Lopez to ask her, "Do you think Katie is coming?"
Tags: 20/20, 2006, 2013, Bella Cruise, Brooke Shields, Connor Cruise, Daily News, Jennifer Lopez, John Travolta, Katie Holmes, King of Queens, Kirstie Alley, Leah Remini, Marc Anthony, New York Daily News, Nicole Kidman, Quicky, Suppressive Person, Tom Cruise, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, USA
2014
7 years ago2014-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and for more than a year on Saturdays he helped us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet. He was kind enough to send us a new post.
We really have a treat for our readers today. It's a major new piece by Jon Atack that discusses undue influence in Scientology, a controversial topic in social science that, as Jon says, some scholars resist. With extremism on the rise around the planet, we think it's time for this idea to get more currency. And we're thrilled that Jon chose the Underground Bunker to reveal his hard work in this new article. Take it away, Jon...
Those of us who have counseled former cult members find it hard to understand the reluctance of some social scientists to accept the reality of exploitative persuasion. The point is regularly made that members join of their own free will and that nothing compels them to remain within the confines of the cult. But the point is made as if such a belief is factual and natural and beyond any slightest shadow of doubt.
Tags: 1945, 1956, 1960, 1977, 1983, 1990, 1994, 1995, 2013, A Piece of Blue Sky, Academic, Big League Sales Closing Techniques, California, Central Intelligence Agency, Charles Manson, Chinese, CIA, England, Europe, Fair Game, Graeme Wilson, Greece, Guardian's Office, Human trafficking, Hypnosis, Iraq, Jenna Miscavige Hill, Jon Atack, Leon Festinger, London, Louis Jolyon West, Margaret Singer, Michigan, Minnesota, Muslim, Operating Thetan, Politician, Quicky, Review, Robert Lifton, Russia, Sea Org, Stephen Fry, Steven Hassan, Stockholm syndrome, Suppressive Person, Tone Scale, TR-L, William Sargant
2014-11-01, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
An eagle eyed Special correspondent sent me this Daily Mail story which could be about scientology. I have excerpted some of it below, there are more photos at the Daily Mail site.
Apparently the North Koreans are envious of the scientology "ideal buildings" strategy for placating the sheeple with photos of empty facilities, all set up for action, but with nobody to use them.
The motto seems to be "Build it and they won't come — but they will be certain other people are and that proves how well things are going inside our bubble."
2013
8 years ago
2013-11-01, Tyler Dunn, KJRH
"There have been a total of seven deaths in seven years at Narconon Arrowhead and no requirement for state certification," said Ivester, D-Sayre. "There have been multiple lawsuits for wrongful death, fraud and deceit filed against that facility. I wanted to figure to out what we could do as a state to provide a safe environment for the people who go there and make sure there's no fraud or deception."
The law will allow for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to regulate a broad range of rehab centers.
2013-11-01, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
I assume "If you want to be OT, do the Basics" is a Miscavige Quote (R) they are using for the headline of their Success Stories these days? I guess He has a right to do that as he invented the term "The Basics." Though I suspect most readers will assume it is an LRH quote.
I wonder when the PDC became part of "The Basics"?
And when they started dressing people up as witches for their success stories?
2013-11-01, SurvivingScientology, YouTube
Mark Bunker is an Emmy Award winning television journalist.
In 2008, Bunker posted a video to YouTube critical of the Internet-based group "Anonymous" and asked them to tone down their campaign against the Church of Scientology; a movement called "Project Chanology"."Message to Anonymous", Bunker urged the group to work legally and pursue peaceful ways to protest Scientology. Subsequently Anonymous dubbed him "Wise old Man" or "Wise Beard Man,"
This is his site
Tags: 2008, Anonymous, Emmy Award, Facebook, Mark Bunker, Project Chanology, Quicky, Twitter, Wise Beard Man
2013-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
We're going through some changes here at the Underground Bunker. Some of you may have heard our news yesterday that we're starting a new job on Tuesday. We know that's left some of you with questions, and we don't blame you for wondering what's going to happen around here.
And that's why today, as we soldier on here at the Bunker for the foreseeable future, we're going to finally answer one of the great mysteries of this website.
It's something that we've heard often from the days even before this website breathed life and we were still toiling at the Village Voice.
Tags: 1995, 2012, Chairman of the Board, Clearwater, David Miscavige, Gary Richardson, Ideal Org, J. Swift, Jeffrey Augustine, Karen de la Carriere, Lisa McPherson, Lisa McPherson Trust, Mark Bunker, Mary Fallin, Narconon, Narconon Arrowhead, Office of Special Affairs, Oklahoma, OT, Quicky, Religious Technology Center, Robert Murphy, Stacy Murphy, Stacy's Law, Study Tech, Super Power, Suppressive Person, Village Voice
2012
9 years ago2012-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Florida attorney Ken Dandar filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the Church of Scientology and its attorneys, asking for injunctive relief and a jury trial over what he says has been a violation of his civil rights.
Dandar's suit is the latest twist in a dauntingly complex history of litigation that goes back to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Lisa McPherson, a church member who died at Scientology's Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida, in 1995.
In the aftermath of that suit, which was settled in 2004, Dandar found himself in a bizarre legal Catch-22 several years later: a federal judge ordered him to continue representing a client in a lawsuit against the church at the same time that a state judge was telling him he had to quit that case or be sanctioned up to $1,000 a day. Dandar ultimately extricated himself from that mess, but Scientology is now asking the state court for $1 million in court fees, Dandar alleges.
Tags: 1995, 2004, 2009, 2010, Clearwater, Corpus Christi, David Miscavige, Denise Miscavige Gentile, Flag Service Organization, Florida, Florida Bar, Florida Supreme Court, Fort Harrison, Joe Childs, Judge Crockett Farnell, Judge Robert Beach, Judge Steven Merryday, Ken Dandar, Kyle Brennan, Lawsuit, Lisa McPherson, Luke Lirot, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Office of Special Affairs, Quicky, Robert Minton, Ruin, Scientology executive, Tampa Bay Times, Tom Tobin, Victoria Britton, Virginia
2012-11-01, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Last night, television journalist Nathan Baca returned to Scientology reporting with a two-part report on Scientology's drug rehab program in Nevada, a Narconon center about 150 miles north of Las Vegas in the small town of Caliente.
Baca is known for a hard-hitting 2009 series he did about Scientology's International Base as a reporter for a Palm Springs, California station, and he didn't let what he learned in that experience go to waste as he turned his attention to the church's controversial and ailing drug rehab operation.
We talked to Baca last night about his special report, and about the church's reaction when it learned he was back on the case.
Tags: 1968, 2007, 2009, ABLE, Caliente, California, Georgia, Int Base, John Anchondo, KLAS-TV, Las Vegas, Narconon, Nathan Baca, Nevada, Oklahoma, Palm Springs, Quebec, Quicky, Rena Weinberg, The Hole, Tommy Davis, YouTube
2012-11-01, Mark Bunker, YouTube
This interview features Gabe Cazares who was Mayor of Clearwater, Florida when Scientology snuck into the city under an assumed name. Gabe courageously took them on and was savagely attacked by Scientology in numerous covert operations which were later uncovered when the FBI raided Scientology's headquarters.
http://lisatrust.bogie.nl/stories/act...
Also in the video is Wayne Shelor. At the time of the interview, Wayne worked as a journalist. He later would become the PR man for the Clearwater Police Department.
2012-11-01, Mark Bunker, YouTube
In 1986, a class action suit was launched against Scientology by a group calling themselves "FAIR." Michael Flynn addresses the Scientologists who were interested in being part of the suit.
Scientology's attorney, Earl Cooley, attempted to gain entrance but was denied. Several people try to disrupt the meeting and they are ejected
XENU TV
2012-11-01, Mark Bunker, YouTube
While I was in Clearwater, Florida videotaping a Transit Board hearing which dealt with Scientology matters, I had my first run-in with the type of unusual activities that so often have been traced back to the Office of Special Affairs.
2012-11-01, Marty Rathbun, Moving On Up a Little Higher
What follows is a detailed insider view of the Flag Land Base (Scientology Inc's Mecca is Clearwater Florida) of late. Former RTC and Flag Auditor, Silvia Llorens gives a credible state of the dis-union of Scientology Inc.
TO INDEPENDENT SCIENTOLOGISTS:
Hello! My name is Silvia Lloréns. I started in Scientology in 1978, joined the SO in 1983 and left in early 2007.
Tags: 1978, 1983, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, Chairman of the Board, Class XII, Clearwater, Commodore's Messenger Organization, Conditions, David Miscavige, Debbie Cook, Dianetics, Ethics, Flag Land Base, Flag Service Organization, Florida, Hacienda Gardens, Hubbard Communications Office Bulletin, Independent, Int Base, Keep Scientology Working, L. Ron Hubbard, Marc Yager, Master at Arms, Mexico City, OT, Potential Trouble Source, Quicky, Ray Mithoff, Religious Technology Center, Sea Org, Sec Check, Suppressive Person, Tampa, The Hole, Tom Cruise
2011
10 years ago2011-11-01, Marty Rathbun, Moving On Up a Little Higher
references: Daniel Montalvo vs. Church of Scientology, et al, and Free Daniel Montalvo
Daniel Montalvo recently settled his lawsuits with Corporate Scientology entities. The terms of the settlement were not particularly favorable to Daniel, but the settlement provides him: a) protection from future liability for having taken computer hard drives with him when he left Corporate Scientology, and b) a little something to make his transition into outside life a bit easier.
When I originally posted about the lawsuits in early March 2011, I posted the following comment in response to a number of comments speculating how the suits would accomplish sweeping effects:
2011-11-01, Tampa Bay Times
2010
11 years ago2010-11-01, Reach4TheTippingPt, YouTube
Part 1 of 3 of a presentation to the Georgia Sociological Association by Karen Pressley.
Why would a community consider its health or safety threatened if a cult moves into town? Who should bear the burden for religious tolerance and freedom of religion? This paper examines the NIMBY syndrome ("not in my back yard") relevant to cultic groups. Drawing from my 16 years of experience as a former member and staff at the Church of Scientology senior management level, and subsequent expert consultant on Scientology, I examine my work with community members on how to address Scientology's infiltration into their communities. This study looks at data from consultations across the southeastern U.S., particularly across Georgia, between 2002 - 2010. I combine Noelle-Neumann's communication theory, the Spiral of Silence, with Ludwig Feurbach's anthropological principle and Durkheim's views about religion to examine the concept of a safe community within the context of religious diversity in a contemporary social environment. Findings suggest that support for religious freedom is contradicted by opposition to cultic groups as risk-generating influences. A growing fear of cults equated with terrorism, mass suicides, brainwashing, and exploitation of followers is expressed through a rising form of anti-social activism in communities against groups perceived as cults.
For more information please visit:
2010-11-01, Reach4TheTippingPt, YouTube
Part 2 of 3 of a presentation to the Georgia Sociological Association by Karen Pressley.
Why would a community consider its health or safety threatened if a cult moves into town? Who should bear the burden for religious tolerance and freedom of religion? This paper examines the NIMBY syndrome ("not in my back yard") relevant to cultic groups. Drawing from my 16 years of experience as a former member and staff at the Church of Scientology senior management level, and subsequent expert consultant on Scientology, I examine my work with community members on how to address Scientology's infiltration into their communities. This study looks at data from consultations across the southeastern U.S., particularly across Georgia, between 2002 - 2010. I combine Noelle-Neumann's communication theory, the Spiral of Silence, with Ludwig Feurbach's anthropological principle and Durkheim's views about religion to examine the concept of a safe community within the context of religious diversity in a contemporary social environment. Findings suggest that support for religious freedom is contradicted by opposition to cultic groups as risk-generating influences. A growing fear of cults equated with terrorism, mass suicides, brainwashing, and exploitation of followers is expressed through a rising form of anti-social activism in communities against groups perceived as cults.
For more information please visit:
2010-11-01, Reach4TheTippingPt, YouTube
Part 3 of 3 of a presentation to the Georgia Sociological Association by Karen Pressley.
Why would a community consider its health or safety threatened if a cult moves into town? Who should bear the burden for religious tolerance and freedom of religion? This paper examines the NIMBY syndrome ("not in my back yard") relevant to cultic groups. Drawing from my 16 years of experience as a former member and staff at the Church of Scientology senior management level, and subsequent expert consultant on Scientology, I examine my work with community members on how to address Scientology's infiltration into their communities. This study looks at data from consultations across the southeastern U.S., particularly across Georgia, between 2002 - 2010. I combine Noelle-Neumann's communication theory, the Spiral of Silence, with Ludwig Feurbach's anthropological principle and Durkheim's views about religion to examine the concept of a safe community within the context of religious diversity in a contemporary social environment. Findings suggest that support for religious freedom is contradicted by opposition to cultic groups as risk-generating influences. A growing fear of cults equated with terrorism, mass suicides, brainwashing, and exploitation of followers is expressed through a rising form of anti-social activism in communities against groups perceived as cults.
For more information please visit:
2010-11-01, Daily Mail
Mr Mappin, who counts fellow Scientologists Tom Cruise and John Travolta as his friends, now wants the negative reviews removed from the website.
However, TripAdvisor has hit back at the claims saying that, of the 530 reviews of the Cornish hotel on its website, 195 rate it as 'excellent' compared to 146 who rate it as 'terrible'.
TripAdvisor also claims that some hotel owners are hiring 'reputation laundering' firms to write positive reviews and improve their online profiles.
2009
12 years ago
2009-11-01, Peter Beaumont, The Observer
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.
Tags: Aaron Saxton, Abortion, Anonymous, Assault, Australia, Blown for Good, Carmel Underwood, Celebrity Centre, Cyrus Brooks, David Miscavige, Disconnection, Earle Cooley, Jason Beghe, Kevin Rudd, LGBTQ, Marc Headley, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Nick Xenophon, Paul Haggis, Paul Schofield, Tom Cruise, Tom DeVocht, Tommy Davis
2009-11-01, Church0fScientology, YouTube
Filmed 10/31/09
This is the best video we could get of him talking. You can
see him behind the tree. That podium he is standing at is just over 3 feet tall.
2009-11-01, Church0fScientology, YouTube
Filmed 10/31/09
This is the best video we could get of him talking. You can see him behind the tree. That podium he is standing at is just over 3 feet tall.
This is part 2 of 2.
2009-11-01, Eric Gorski, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle
The Church of Scientology is going through a difficult season.
Over the course of two days last week, a French court convicted the church of fraud and Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis' resignation from the church over a litany of concerns was aired publicly. On one hand, it was just another bad press week for the embattled institution founded in 1953 by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
But for former Scientologists and scholars of the movement, the setbacks pose a greater challenge coming on the heels of defections of top-level Scientologists who lifted a veil of secrecy on the organization and alleged a culture of violence and control under Hubbard's successor, David Miscavige.
"With any organization, the loss of a substantial number of your most experienced people and chaos at the upper levels is problematic," said David Bromley, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor who studies new religious movements and has written on Scientology. "There are PR implications, the possibility of legal actions ... That dwarfs the other things."
2009-11-01, Joe Childs, Tampa Bay Times
Marty Rathbun said he participated in a criminal act to protect the church against a possible security breach.
Longtime executive Terri Gamboa and her husband, Fernando, abandoned their posts in January 1990, setting off what Rathbun called a "seven-alert fire."
Terri Gamboa was executive director of Author Services Inc., the independent corporation set up by founder L. Ron Hubbard to control rights to his intellectual properties.
2009-11-01, Joe Childs, Tampa Bay Times
Pat Broeker could say what no one else in Scientology could: He outranked David Miscavige.
But he left the church in 1989 and started a new life in Colorado. Still, Miscavige worried about him.
"He (Miscavige) came directly to me," Marty Rathbun recalled. "He said, 'Marty, you get on this guy. I want to know every move he makes.' "
Tags: 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992, 2007, Colorado, David Miscavige, Denver, FBI, IRS, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Pat Broeker, Washington, Wyoming
2009-11-01, Joe Childs, Tampa Bay Times
She spent 17 years in Scientology's work force, the Sea Org, moved by the church's mantra that Scientologists held the future of the planet in their hands.
She tells of a life filled with intense repetition of Scientology's precepts and "ethics" and a grueling lifestyle where Sea Org members constantly needed to prove their fealty to the church. If your bosses had doubts about your performance or your thoughts, you faced humiliating work and periods of sleep deprivation.
Tags: 1977, 1984, 1990, 1993, Amy Scobee, Betsy Perkins, Betty Jane Wilhoit, Burbank, California, Chris Byrne, Clearwater, Dallas, E-meter, Fort Harrison, Gary Morehead, Los Angeles, Oakland, Ontario, Rehabilitation Project Force, San Francisco, Sea Org, Sec Check, Shawn Morrison, Suppressive Person, University of New Mexico
2009-11-01, Tampa Bay Times
LEAVING AND LEAVES
In the mid 1970s, L. Ron Hubbard ran his church from aboard his ship, the Apollo, sailing from port to port. He handwrote his notes, in red ink for a bulletin, in green ink for a policy letter. He said two things about those who want to leave: don't keep staff who don't want to be there, but don't let them go without "sec checking" them, to make sure they won't harm themselves or the religion.
HUBBARD COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
Tags: 1970, 1976, Apollo, East Grinstead, OT, Quicky, Saint Hill Manor, Sec Check, Suppressive Person, Sussex
2009-11-01, Tampa Bay Times
Scientology has a language of its own. Here are some terms used in these stories.
Auditing: Counseling that "helps an individual look at his own existence and improves his ability to confront what he is and where he is." The auditor uses an E-meter, a device that measures the subject's reaction to questions, helping the auditor locate areas of distress. From the Latin, audire, to hear or listen.
Blow: To leave suddenly; a staffer who leaves the Sea Org without following procedure.
Tags: 1987, Auditing, Chairman of the Board, Conditions, Covert Data Collection, David Miscavige, DC, Dianetics, Disconnection, E-meter, Knowledge Report, Office of Special Affairs, Overt Data Collection, Private investigator, Quicky, Rehabilitation Project Force, Religious Technology Center, Sea Org, Suppressive Person, Whole track, Wogs
2009-11-01, Joe Childs, Tampa Bay Times
A short walk down Hollywood Boulevard from where tourists take pictures of sidewalk shrines to movie stars is the Hollywood Guaranty Building, 12 floors of Scientology offices. The top floor is "OSA-Intel," the Office of Special Affairs' intelligence unit.
That's where David Lubow sent his reports. Church staff routed them to Mike Rinder, the director of OSA, and Marty Rathbun, Inspector General of the Religious Technology Center, the church's top ecclesiastical authority. Staff knew him as Miscavige's right hand man. Rathbun said he routinely forwarded Lubow's reports to the leader.
Rathbun worked with Rinder's OSA team, which handled legal matters, investigations and media relations. Rinder was the church's chief public spokesman for 20 years, nationally and internationally, defending the church in countless interviews.
Tags: 1969, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2007, Apollo, Australia, Author Services Inc, California, Clearwater, Covert Data Collection, David Lubow, David Miscavige, DC, Dianetics, Elliot Abelson, Fernando Gamboa, Ferris Khan, Florida, Freewinds, Gene Decheff, Guardian's Office, Hollywood, Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood Guaranty Building, Hong Kong, Houston, Inspector General, IRS, Italy, Janis Gillham, Jesse Prince, Kendrick Moxon, Kenny Lipton, Kurt Weiland, L. Ron Hubbard, Las Vegas, Linda Hamel, Lisa McPherson, Los Angeles, Mark Fisher, Marty Rathbun, Mary Sue Hubbard, Melbourne, Mexico, Mike Rinder, Mortgage, Nicole Kidman, Office of Special Affairs, OPP, Overt Data Collection, Pam Khan, Paul Grady, Phoenix, Private investigator, Puerto Vallarta, Religious Technology Center, San Fernando Valley, Scientology lawyer, Scientology staff, Sea Org, Spokane, St. Petersburg Times, Stacy Brooks, Tampa, Terri Gamboa, Terri Gillham, Texas, Thomas C. Tobin, Tom Cruise, Tommy Davis
2009-11-01, Tommy Davis, Tampa Bay Times
Church spokesman Tommy Davis says the Times' sources admitted they left Scientology because they could not meet the church's strict ethical standards. Now they are lying, he says, and the Times is helping advance their agenda. Here is the Church of Scientology's response to their allegations, submitted as a 10-page letter:
+ + +
CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
Tags: 1993, 2006, 2007, Angie Blankenship, Berlin, Blow Drill, Bruce Hines, Chairman of the Board, Church of Scientology International, Claire Headley, Clearwater, David Miscavige, DC, Denver, Disconnection, Florida, Freedom magazine, George Rahdert, Germany, Hemet, Int Base, International Association of Scientologists, International Justice Chief, IRS, Italy, Jennifer Linson, Jim Jones, Joe Childs, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mark Fisher, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Mission, Narconon, Neil Brown, Nightline, Office of Special Affairs, Private investigator, Quicky, Rome, Russ Bellin, Santa Ana, Sea Org, Spain, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Times, Suppressive Person, Thailand, Tom Tobin, Washington
2009-11-01, Tampa Bay Times
The church said its leader, David Miscavige, and other church officials did not hire private investigators, church attorneys did. The church directs that its attorneys and their agents follow all laws and regulations and adhere to the highest ethical standards. "If Rathbun and Rinder used PIs to 'abuse poor innocent people,' they are the only ones to blame," spokesman Tommy Davis said. The Times submitted written questions to the church about David Lubow and Ferris Khan's involvement with former church staff in Las Vegas. The church responded by discussing church practices but made no mention of Lubow or Khan.
MARK FISHER
FROM SCIENTOLOGY FILES:
2009-11-01, Tampa Bay Times
The ecclesiastical leader of Scientology since 1987, when he became chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center. The RTC is responsible for preserving, maintaining and protecting Scientology and ensuring that its practices hold true to the original "technology" set out by founder L. Ron Hubbard.
He dropped out of high school and joined Scientology staff in Clearwater, where among other jobs he delivered telexes and worked as a steward. In early 1977 he was sent to La Quinta, Calif., to work with Hubbard, who was making Scientology training films. By age 19, he headed the Commodore's Messenger Organization, responsible for sending out teams to investigate church problem areas.
Tags: 1972, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, Bruce Hines, California, Clearwater, Colorado, Commodore's Messenger Organization, Corpus Christi, David Miscavige, Denver, Divorce, E-meter, Gary Morehead, Guardian's Office, Inspector General, IRS, Jackie Wolff, La Quinta, Los Angeles, Marty Rathbun, Mary Sue Hubbard, Michelle Miscavige, Mike Rinder, Office of Special Affairs, Philadelphia, Portland, Rehabilitation Project Force, Religious Technology Center, Scientology staff, Sea Org, Sinar Parman, Telex, Texas, Tommy Davis
2007
14 years ago2007-11-01, AFP, Google
MADRID (AFP) - A court in Spain has ruled in favour of listing the controversial Church of Scientology among the nation's official register of religions, according to a decision obtained by AFP Thursday.
The administrative tribunal of Madrid's High Court ruled that a 2005 justice ministry decision to scrap the church from the register was "against the law."
Tags: Spain
2007-11-01, Jay Schadler, ABC News
In the late 1960s David Berg -- the self-proclaimed prophet and Children of God founder -- began preaching a bizarre brew of sex and scripture. In writings and preaching, Berg advocated free love among his disciples, including adult-child sex.
"Berg was actually a genius because he would test drive these bizarre theologies, bizarre teachings, within his own inner circle," said Lattin. "So very early on, still in the late '60s, he would start having these sharing parties where he would go around naked with a bottle of the wine saying all things are pure and they'd have these orgies but no one knew that outside of the inner circle."
"These guys don't just drop out of the sky," Lattin said of Berg's appeal. "So why are people following this guy if he's a monster and a drunk and a maniac? [Because] Berg came directly out of the Christian evangelical tradition."
2006
15 years ago2006-11-01, Stuart Heritage, Hecklerspray
Tom Cruise is going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment – what with being ridiculed for his crazy religion and his suspicious girlfriend and child – so what better way to spend an afternoon mercilessly kicking him when he's down?
2006-11-01, Emma Price, Earthtimes
Behind every successful man is a woman. But this time, there's a woman behind successful Hollywood star Tom Cruise's sacking from Paramount Pictures, the woman being the studio's head honcho Sumner Redstone's wife Paula.
Tags: Sumner Redstone, Tom Cruise
2006-11-01, The Scotsman
THE man who ended the actor Tom Cruise's 14-year-relationship with Paramount Pictures has admitted he was influenced by his wife, because she and "women everywhere" had started to hate the star.
Sumner Redstone, 83, the head of Viacom, stunned Hollywood this year when he revealed that the studio would sever its ties with the actor's production company, accusing him of "creative suicide" with his outlandish behaviour.
2002
19 years ago2002-11-01, Douglas E. Cowan, Cornerstone Magazine
Paper presented to the 2002 Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Conference "Boundaries and Commitments in NRM Research"
November 1-3, 2002, Salt Lake City, Utah
1996
25 years ago
1996-11-01, Wendy M. Grossman, Wired
The debate is familiar: are Internet posters who quote published material engaging in free speech or have they purloined copyrighted intellectual property? In the battle between the Church of Scientology (COS) and the Net, the shrapnel's still flying. As long ago as May 1995, posters on alt.religion.scientology were betting that California Nethead Grady Ward would be the next Church target. On March 21, 1996, those predictions were borne out: the COS filed a lawsuit accusing Ward of anonymously posting a series of texts under the moniker "Scamizdat" - documents containing secrets normally seen by Scientologists only after years of expensive study. The Church also obtained a preliminary injunction, forcing Ward to cease any activity that would violate COS copyright of the materials."
1993
28 years ago1993-11-01, Robert Vaughn Young, Quill magazine
THEY SAY THE first step in any recovery program is the admission, so here it is: I handled public relations (PR) and the media for L. Ron Hubbard and his Scientology empire for 20 years.
It is no accident that I avoid saying "Church of Scientology" -- the trademarked corporate name. The Scientology world is much larger than merely the "Church" of Scientology (see sidebar "Secular,"). It is a labyrinth of corporate shells that, like a hall of mirrors, was designed to baffle all but the initiated. Add to that an arcane language and dedicated "PRs" trained to divert and control inquiries, and it becomes obvious why few outsiders have been able to comprehend the Scientology hydra, let alone write about it. I hope this will make it easier.
Tags: Author Services Inc, Bill Horn, Bill Press, Bridge Publications, CCHR, Curtis Krueger, David Miscavige, Dead Agent, FBI, Gilman Hot Springs, Golden Era Productions, Guardian's Office, Int Base, John Richardson, L. Ron Hubbard, Office of Special Affairs, Raid, Religious Technology Center, Robert Welkos, Scottish Highland Quietude Club, Sea Org, Sterling Management, The Way to Happiness, WISE
FrontCite 11/06/2021 12:18p
See also:
FrontCite Mediawiki
xenu-directory.net: Scientology in the news
Scientology in the UK Media
See also:
FrontCite Mediawiki
xenu-directory.net: Scientology in the news
Scientology in the UK Media