November 7 in Scientology history

A Lavish Banquet at Scientology's Celebrity Centre in Hollywood. This doesn't look like persecution. In a previous article we reported on journalist Alexandra Bruell's exceedingly sloppy work in her Wall Street Journal article on Scientology. Essentially, Bruell uncritically repeated Scientology's undocumented claims of persecution arising from Leah Remini's Emmy-winning show Scientology and the Aftermath. As we noted in our previous article: Without bothering to substantiate even one of Scientology's claims, WSJ columnist Alexandra Bruell uncritically quoted this bit of Scientology hysteria:

Tags: 2014, 2016, 9/11, A&E, Alexandra Bruell, California, Celebrity Centre, City of Clearwater, Clearwater, Florida, Florida State University, Google, Hollywood, Human trafficking, Hungary, Inurement, Israel, Jeff Wasel, Jewish, Leah Remini, London, London School of Economics, Los Angeles, Muslim, New Religious Movement, Quicky, Scientology and the Aftermath, Sea Org, Southern Poverty Law Center, STAND, Wall Street Journal

http:// While we await the season finale episode tonight, which I hope you will find to be one of the best, I wanted to further address the smears leveled at Chantal and Sherry. (BTW there are 3 more specials coming too...) As has been my practice, I generally put some sort of response to the smears scientology publishes on the contributors to The Aftermath.

Tags: 1989, AOLA, Arizona, Chantal Dodson, Clearwater, Ethics, Ethics Officer, Europe, FBI, Johnny Hillman, L. Ron Hubbard, Leah Remini, Martin Luther King, Michael Graves, New York, OT, OT VII, OT VIII, Quicky, Rehabilitation Project Force, Sea Org, Sherry Ollins, TIME, Washington

Eighteen months before guiding Donald Trump to election victory, Steve Bannon delivered the opening shot in the ruthless Republican campaign to paint their Democratic opponent as corrupt. The future White House chief strategist produced a book in May 2015 accusing Hillary Clinton of trading favours for donations to her charitable foundation. Its questionable central charge, on the sale of a uranium company to Russia, recently became the subject of a House inquiry and feverish talk on conservative media. But the financial arrangements of another foundation, which bankrolled Bannon's creation of the book, Clinton Cash, have received less scrutiny.

Tags: 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, Apple, Arizona, Bahamas, BBC, Breitbart, Breitbart News, Cayman Islands, Chicago, Citizens United, David Cay Johnston, Diana Mercer, Donald Trump, Editorial, Egypt, Facebook, FBI, Federalist Society, Florida, Georgia, Government Accountability Institute, Heritage Foundation, Hillary Clinton, IBM, Internal Revenue Service, IRS, Journalist, London, Long Island, Make America Number 1, Manhattan, Maryland, Medallion Capital Investments, Media Research Center, Mercer Family Foundation, Michigan, Milo Yiannopoulos, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Paris, Passport, Peter Schweizer, Phoenix, Quicky, Rebekah Mercer, Renaissance Technologies, Republican, Robert Mercer, Russia, Steve Bannon, Tax, Ted Cruz, Twitter, UK, Vladimir Putin, Westminster, White House, Young Americas Foundation

Leah Remini's A&E series ends its "regular" second season of episodes tonight with a dramatic and deeply satisfying segment as Chantal Dodson's mother, Ramina Nunnelee, reveals that she has walked away from Scientology as a result of Leah's show. But let's deal first with that programming note, because we know it's confusing, and confusing viewers is what A&E seems best at. Besides moving the series an hour later, to 10pm, in the middle of the season, A&E has always counted episodes in a confusing way. Ten "regular" episodes were filmed for the second season, as well as four "special" episodes. Only nine of the regular episodes are airing because, as we revealed last week, one of the regular episodes featured three of the women who are accusing Scientology actor Danny Masterson of rape. The LAPD began investigating those claims a year ago, and in April the Los Angeles District Attorney's office got involved, but it still has not made a decision whether to file charges. The DA's office asked Leah not to air the episode as long as they were still investigating, and Leah asked A&E to respect that request. So by calling tonight's show the season "finale," it suggests that A&E has given up on the notion of airing the Masterson episode.

Tags: 2015, A&E, Alex Gibney, Bruce Hines, Chantal Dodson, Danny Masterson, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, HBO, Jeffrey Augustine, LAPD, Leah Remini, Los Angeles, Mat Pesch, Mirriam Francis, Ramina Nunnelee, Reddit, Sherry Ollins, Vicki Marshall

This is the announcement of the latest "Ideal Mission" on the scientology.org website. Here is the Mission's website that has NO MENTION of scientology — it is called the "Orange County Life Improvement Center": Even when you click on "Counseling" this is what you see:

Tags: Life Improvement Center, Mission, Orange County, OT, Quicky, South Coast Mission

We are so glad this election season is finally almost over. But before you go to the polls tomorrow, we wanted to bring up one local race that has a connection to stories we've done in the past. In 2013, we were paying a lot of attention to Scientology's flagship drug rehab center in Oklahoma known as Narconon Arrowhead. Three patients died at the facility in a nine month period, including 20-year-old Stacy Dawn Murphy, who died of an overdose on July 19, 2012. Those deaths sparked numerous investigations at the local and state level, and by 2013 we were getting pretty impatient for some results from those probes. On the state level, an investigation that resulted in recommendations that Narconon Arrowhead should be shut down instead turned into a major debacle as state officials allegedly admitted that they were too afraid to take on Scientology and fired the investigators who had recommended closing the center. And criminal investigations of the deaths by the local sheriff, Joel Kerns, and local district attorney also seemed to go nowhere.

Tags: 1967, 1975, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2012, 2013, Apollo, Bob Duggan, Brice Taylor, CIA, Colin Henderson, eBay, Edinburgh, Graham Berry, Hana Whitfield, Joel Kerns, Narconon, Narconon Arrowhead, New Times Los Angeles, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Senate, Operation Clambake, Phoenix New Times, Pittsburg County, Republican, Robert Murphy, Royal Scotman, Spies, Stacy Murphy, Texas, Tory Christman, Tulsa World

We're still jonesing for the next issue of Scientology's propaganda magazine, Freedom, which completely missed putting out an issue in October. The magazine had been chugging along with monthly issues after it was retooled and relaunched in July 2014 with a new, very earnest focus on issues of the day rather than goofy attacks on Scientology's critics. Did David Miscavige finally realize, after assembling what was probably a very expensive staff of editors and writers pretending to be doing actual journalism, that no one was reading this stuff? Well, we found it really amusing, anyway. And we hope a November issue shows up. While we were at the magazine's website, we checked to see if there was anything new on the special page where Scientology collects its attacks on Alex Gibney and the people in his film Going Clear. It turns out there was yet another new video calling Gibney names and accusing his film of ignoring Scientology's glorious expansion and good works. But we're glad we forced ourselves to sit through the whole thing, because in the second half, the new video goes after someone Scientology normally pretends doesn't exist.

Tags: 1933, 1946, 1950, 1951, 1968, 1971, 2014, Alex Gibney, Bare-Faced Messiah, Bill Franks, Clear, Cuba, David Miscavige, Dianetics, Freedom magazine, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Golden Era, Hemet, Hubbard Dianetics Foundation, Int Base, Jack Parsons, Jeffrey Augustine, Lawrence Wright, Mary Sue Hubbard, Maryland, Pasadena, Paulette Cooper, Quicky, Russell Miller, Sara Northrup, Sundance Film Festival, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, UK

Mariette's life in the church became a nightmare "I know of an anonymous call, people want to shut me up, they said that I can not continue to spread my " lies"" While scientology is unravelling in the face of Hurricane Leah here in the US, a different storm is raining on scientology's tiny parade in Sweden. My old friend, Mariette Lindstein has written a book. And it is causing quite a stir.

Tags: 2013, 2016, 2017, Critic, Cult, Dan Koon, David Miscavige, DC, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Hollywood, Int Base, Lawrence Wright, Mariette Lindstein, Quicky, Religious Technology Center, Sweden, The Cult on Fog Island, The Hole

Van Gogh may have had ideal orgs in mind.... Here are the pages of completions from the latest magazine of the Pasadena Org. Of course, this is one the orgs that is "Clearing LA" and making "Planetary Clearing A Reality."

Tags: Clear, David Miscavige, Ideal Org, OT, Pasadena, Planetary Clearing, Purif, Quicky, Sec Check

Our old friend Nathan Baca sent us a hot tip last night: He pointed out that Brent Jones had defeated incumbent Democrat James Healey in Nevada's 35th Assembly district in Tuesday's election, and no one had really noticed that it meant a Scientologist had managed to get himself elected to public office. There's precedence for Scientologists to get elected. Sonny Bono, who served as a US Representative from 1994 until his death in a skiing accident in 1998, took Scientology courses, though he was careful to put "Roman Catholic" on official documents. Brent Jones was also cautious. He makes no mention of Scientology in his official campaign bio. But there's no hiding his extensive involvement with the organization.

Tags: 1993, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2012, Bogus, Brent Jones, Catholic, CCHR, Clearwater, Criminon, Dan Leipold, First Amendment, Judge James Whittemore, Luis and Rocio Garcia, Mark Bunker, Mike Rinder, Nathan Baca, Nevada, New Times Los Angeles, Ojai, Quicky, Raul Lopez, Real Water, Republican, Ron Russell, Sonny Bono, Tampa, The Guardian, Village Voice, Vimeo, White House, WISE, Wise Beard Man, World Institute of Scientology Enterprises

MailOnline spoke exclusively to ex-Church member Dylan Gill, who oversaw the building of the base reveals all its secrets. Twin Peaks was built to the strict orders of the Board of Directors, who set aside a minimum $18 million for the project, which began in 1989, and isn't even known to most Church members. 'It's kept in secrecy, almost no-one in Scientology knows the base exists. To even get invited to the base, you've got to be in the highest of highest ranks of Scientologists knowing the most secret of secrets. Then there's a whole layer on top of that once you get there!' reveals Dylan.

Tags: 1980, 1986, 1989, 2006, Angry Gay Pope, Armageddon, Arnaldo Lerma, BBC, California, Chairman of the Board, Church of Spiritual Technology, David Miscavige, Dylan Gill, Google, Happy Valley, Hollywood, Inspector General, Int Base, John Travolta, King of Queens, Kirsty Alley, L. Ron Hubbard, Lake Arrowhead, LAPD, Leah Remini, Los Angeles, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, New Mexico, Rehabilitation Project Force, Sea Org, Sec Check, Shelly Miscavige, Squirrel, Tom Cruise, Tony Ortega, Twin Peaks, Twitter, Vault, Wyoming

Both DM and TO talked to apostate Dylan Gill, who worked at the base; he told TO that "CST Headquarters has several buildings that are used for housing workers and for doing the work of archiving - plans for the vaults include etching Hubbard's millions of printed words on steel plates and storing them in titanium boxes." It also has "upscale residences" and an exercise yard (a gyro-gym!). Work started in 1989 and was originally budgeted at $18 million, "but it cost way more," according to Gill, who says also that it is lousy with cameras and heat and motion sensors.

Tags: Church of Spiritual Technology, Dylan Gill, Leah Remini, Shelly Miscavige, Twin Peaks, Vault

The Church of Scientology has run afoul of city ordinances again, prompting city officials to say that if the church doesn't begin complying with city laws, it won't get permits for two major events later this month and an annual New Year's celebration. The church has installed a white privacy fence on the western and southern boundaries of the property where it erected a massive tent for upcoming events, effectively blocking the view of the tent property from beachbound traffic passing by on Court Street. The church did not obtain a required permit before putting up the fence.

Tags: 2011, Bill Horne, Clearwater, Flag Building, Golden Age of Tech, Joelle Castelli, Keep Scientology Working, Michael Delk, New Year's Eve, Peter Mansell, Sarah Heller, Twitter

Jefferson Hawkins was once the top marketing executive for the Church of Scientology and helped it reach its greatest extent with the famous "volcano" TV ads in the 1980s. He's told his tale of getting into and out of the church with his excellent books Counterfeit Dreams and Leaving Scientology, and he's helping us understand the upside-down world of Scientology "ethics." Jefferson where are you taking us today? JEFFERSON: This week we're covering Chapter 3 of Introduction to Scientology Ethics, which deals mostly with statistics. It's a pretty detailed description of the importance of keeping statistics, exactly how you graph them, and how you determine statistic trends.

Tags: 1980, 1995, 2007, 2010, Allstate, Angry Gay Pope, Arnaldo Lerma, Austin, CNBC, Colony Capital, Company, Counterfeit Dreams, David Miscavige, Donald Myers, Ethics, Graham Berry, Hollywood Guaranty Building, Jefferson Hawkins, Leaving Scientology, Los Angeles, Monique Rathbun, New Jersey, New York, New York City, Pope, Quicky, Registrar, Scientology organization, Scientology staff, Sea Org, Tom Barrack, Tommy Davis, Wall Street Journal, Wikipedia

Anyone who wants to understand the devious, insane nature of the fraud known as L. Ron Hubbard should read this book cover to cover, and investigate all the footnotes. You will not only want Scientology ended forever, you'll feel the same way about any similar spiritual huckster that comes along in Hubbard's wake.

Tags: A Piece of Blue Sky, ASHO, Bill Yaude, Celebrity Centre, Chick Corea, David Miscavige, Dead Agent, Ethics Officer, Exteriorize, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Jon Atack, Lawrence Wright, Let's Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky: Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology, Nicky Hopkins, PC folders, Penny Keaton, Sea Org, Sec Check, The Way to Happiness, War record

Here is a random selection of recent hype from a variety of sheeple. What is interesting to note about these people and their comments is how well they duplicate what they are fed. They have been trained to hear and see things from "authority" and then regurgitate it as if it was their own thought. There is not much comment required, but I, as is my wont, have included a few:

Tags: Alex Faust, Andrea Doven, AOLA, ASHO, Basics, Birthday Game, Cause Resurgence Rundown, Chairman of the Board, Clear, CLO WUS, David Miscavige, Erica Newman, Facebook, Field Staff Member, Golden Age of Tech, Humanitarian, Ideal Org, Jon Lundeen, L. Ron Hubbard, L. Ron Hubbard Way, Los Angeles, New Year's Eve, Nick Lekas, OT, OT Committee, OT VII, OT VIII, OTC, PAC Base, Police, Quicky, Registrar, Sandcastle, SEC, Sec Check, Shermanspeak, Super Power, Suppressive Person, UK, Vicki Shantz

Tom Cruise has admitted in an explosive court deposition that actress Katie Holmes fled their marriage to protect their daughter from Scientology. Cruise confessed that Holmes dumped him to spare their now 7-year-old daughter, Suri, from the celebrity-centric religion, according to the deposition, obtained by RadarOnline.

Tags: Bauer Media, Elizabeth McNamara, Katie Holmes, Suppresive Person, Tom Cruise

About 8,000 Scientologists would attend the downtown meeting from Nov. 29-Dec. 1, which will be held in a giant temporary tent already erected off Court Street, along a route to Clearwater Beach. The Scientologists are asking for the city to close off some streets around the tent for their get-together.

Tags: Clearwater, Flag Building, International Association of Scientologists, Super Power

The secretive Church of Scientology is to finally lift the lid on its £6 million plans for a listed mansion in Birmingham - seven years after targeting new headquarters in the city. The American church, whose followers include Tom Cruise and John Travolta, is sending a representative to brief residents in a public consultation on the restoration of the former Pitmaston building in Moor Green Lane, Moseley.

Tags: Birmingham, Julia Willoughby, Pitmaston building, Real estate, UK

Last year I regularly referred to the 199 day siege upon our home in Ingleside on the Bay Texas by David Miscavige and Scientology Inc. Last month we discovered what we thought was evidence that extended that siege to two years, see David Miscavige - Cowardice and Paranoia. We reckoned the siege at two years because a Scientology Inc. agent responsible for the operation of the surveillance outpost at 201 Bayshore Drive (the green house noted in the linked post above) let slip that Scientology Inc. PI Monte Drake had leased the outpost since November 1, 2010 (the day we moved into Casablanca across the street). Well, further research determined that, in fact, Drake has been leasing 201 Bayshore since November 1, 2009 - one year to the day before we moved into Casablanca. This revelation was discovered while an employee of the cult was being interrogated about the November 1 2010 date coincident. "No, Drake moved in a year before you moved into your current home", was the plea in defense of David Miscavige's domestic terrorist squads. And proof of the November 1, 2009 move-in date was produced to divert attention from the domestic terror operations. However, the defense turned out to be a further admission; in fact, proof that the domestic terror siege has been in place since at least November 1, 2009. Further inspection of 201 Bayshore Drive, Ingleside on the Bay Texas proved that out. If you wish to follow all this, you will need to read all the posts linked above, and then carefully watch and listen to the following video: Additionally, former Scientology private investigators Paul Marrick and Greg Arnold disclosed that they arrived to Ingleside on the Bay in February 2009 to 'case' the place in order to up the ante on the operation that Monte Drake had already begun several months before, (See, The Rest of the Story - Scientology Inc. Spies.) That brings us back to late 2008 - Four Years. Since Drake has put in writing another three year Scientology Inc. financial commitment to 201 Bayshore, we are looking at three (and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to then extrapolate from that commitment, Four) more years. Now, there is a silver lining in all this sickness. That has to do with advice that I have regularly imparted on this blog over the past three years. That advice was predicated upon my prediction, and perception, that David Miscavige had made a terrible misestimation. That was that Miscavige's obsession with me was playing right into the expansion and guaranteed survival of the independent Scientology movement. Miscavige was so obsessed with knocking out whom he had so criminal-mindedly labelled the kingpin (yours truly) that his micro-management compulsion required all available OSA (Office of Special Affairs, the terror and propaganda wing of Scientology Inc.) resources be focused upon me and me alone. My advice was, and is, that given Miscavige's obsession, the best thing people who were concerned about the future of Scientology could do is to start delivering. Set up and produce to your heart's content, knowing that Miscavige and Scientology Inc. are all tied up in a war against an enemy he has conflated, and virtually created, as all-powerful and all-important. What we have disclosed about the over-the-top, spare-no-expense operations in our little hamlet over the past three years (including the revelations about surveillance outposts over the past month) is validation of my estimation and advice. There has not been a single report of OSA harassment or operations against other independents or freezoners for more than a year (but for the perpetual infiltration attempts and whispering campaigns). The focus of all of Miscavige Scientology Inc war resources is here. It can safely be assumed it will remain here given recent events and the trends they portend.

Tags: 2008, 2009, 2010, David Miscavige, Greg Arnold, Ingleside, Office of Special Affairs, Paul Marrick, Private investigator, Quicky, Spies, Texas

President Barack Obama was reelected yesterday here in the United States and, at nearly 2 in the morning, gave a rousing victory speech. "You voted for action, not politics as usual," he said. Action? Hey, we have some ideas about the kind of action the US government could engage in during Obama's second administration.

Tags: 1993, 2010, Barack Obama, California, FBI, Graham Berry, Human trafficking, Int Base, IRS, Quicky, Washington, White House

X Factor's Stacy Francis "I have to defend what I know. And I know how serious domestic violence is, and I'm not with that. To be potentially accused of that is gross." An exclusive here at the Voice this morning. We have the first interview with Michael Sandlofer, the first husband of X Factor contestant Stacy Francis, 42, who has gained a large following in part by selling a story that she suffered domestic violence from a man while she was in her late 20s to early 30s. On Thursday, she made it plain to The Hollywood Reporter that she was talking about Sandlofer, her first husband. Sandlofer tells the Voice that not only has Francis lied about domestic violence in her relationship with him, but he says that Perez Hilton is correct in his complaints that Francis has been untruthful about her extensive professional singing career before she came to X Factor. We had a conversation yesterday with Sandlofer, a music producer, who told the Voice about his marriage to Francis, why it was annulled, and why she then turned to Scientology, an organization she has been heavily involved with ever since.

Tags: 1996, 1997, 2000, 2004, Christian, David Miscavige, DC, Florida, Freewinds, Hollywood, Hollywood Reporter, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Travolta, Karin Pouw, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Michael Sandlofer, Mike Rinder, OT VIII, Quicky, Sherman Oaks, Stacy Francis, Tom Cruise, Twitter, Washington

Notes from the bunker David Miscavige has made much of his role in disbanding Corporate Scientology's infamous harassment arm called the Guardian's Office (GO). In a court declaration of 17 February 2004 Miscavige swore: "When further investigation proved the documents to be authentic, it was made clear that we had no choice but to overthrow the GO and dismiss everyone who had violated Church policy or the law. These activities ultimately led to a complete disband of the GO." The Guardian's Office purge was essential to Miscavige's power push in the early eighties. Without it he could not have cut Scientology Founder L Ron Hubbard's last existing communication line to the last person with sufficient altitude and respect to actually share ideas and perspectives with him, his wife and Scientology Controller (overseer of Guardian's Office) Mary Sue Hubbard. In Miscavige's own words: "It must be noted that Mary Sue Hubbard believed her position as Controller and as the "Founder's wife" to be unassailable and beyond reproach by anyone but Mr. Hubbard — who was not around at the time, a fact that she was well aware of." Hence, Miscavige assailed both positions, all justified by the alleged crimes of the GO. Crimes that Miscavige characterized as: "There were also instances in which GO staff used unscrupulous means to deal with people they perceived as enemies of the Church — means that were completely against Scientology tenets and policy, not to mention the law."

Tags: 1977, 1987, 2004, Australia, Chairman of the Board, Criminal, David Miscavige, Guardian's Office, Inspector General, L. Ron Hubbard, Laurisse Stuckenbrock, Legal, Linda Hamel, Mary Sue Hubbard, Mike Rinder, New York, New Zealand, Office of Special Affairs, OSA Int, Quicky, Religious Technology Center, Vicki Aznaran, Warren McShane

This is the ending part of a surprise birthday party for Tom Cruise that had taken place on the Scientology religious retreat vessel called The Freewinds, were Stacy Francis "serenaded" Tom Cruise and his best buddy...the cult leader David Miscavige, with his entourage.

Tags: David Miscavige, Freewinds, Quicky, Stacy Francis, Tom Cruise

This is the ending part of a surprise birthday party for Tom Cruise that had taken place on the Scientology religious retreat vessel called The Freewinds, were Stacy Francis "serenaded" Tom Cruise and his best buddy...the cult leader David Miscavige, with his entourage.

Tags: David Miscavige, Freewinds, Quicky, Stacy Francis, Tom Cruise

If you've been following along with the drama around X Factor contestant Stacy Francis, you know that her entire past has come under inspection as her fans and detractors have attempted to sift truth from legend. In particular, we have noted that Francis has been quiet about her long membership in the church of Scientology, including her performances aboard Scientology's Freewinds ship in 2004 at a special 40th birthday celebration for the actor Tom Cruise. For years, videos of that performance have been available on the Internet in which Francis serenaded Cruise and Scientology leader David Miscavige.

Tags: 2004, Alfreddie Johnson, Celebrity Centre, David Miscavige, Freewinds, Hollywood, Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam, Stacy Francis, Tom Cruise, YouTube

Just after I blew RTC I spent 35 days on the road looking for a peaceful, faraway place to settle. I wound up by the Gulf of Mexico on the US-Mexican border. I later moved a tad north, but still in South Texas. I travel a bit, and I always love coming home. It is not just the ocean and the space. More important I think is the culture. You know what a big cattle rancher or oil man calls a lowly busboy in a taqueria down here? He calls him "Sir." Every man initially refers to every other man as "Sir." Everybody starts out with respect. If one demonstrate's he is not entitled to respect, only then does he lose it. Sometimes it doesn't take much to accomplish that. Just be a cabron (loose translation: a prick) and see how long they keep referring to you as "Sir." But it is easy to keep respect. All you have to do is treat others with respect. Most folk who come here to visit remark on how friendly people here are. I think it has to do with their cultural upbringing and the workability of the idea of granting beingness to others indiscriminately. Christian folk refer to it as the Golden Rule. I read a blog post of Jeff Hawkins recently that got me thinking about all this http://leavingscientology.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/a-quick-note/.

Tags: Christian, David Miscavige, Jefferson Hawkins, Mexico, Office of Special Affairs, OT, Quicky, Religious Technology Center, Texas, WhyWeProtest

The world is watching to see how rank-and-file Scientologists react to the growing reports of abuse, violence and criminality among Scientology's highest echelons. How those individual Scientologists react will determine, to a large measure, how the subject of Scientology itself is perceived, now and in the future. Consider the reaction of lay Catholics in the wake of the 2002 Boston Globe coverage of the priest abuse scandal. Parishioner meetings in the basement of St. John the Evangelist church in Wellesley, Massachusetts, soon expanded, thanks to the internet, to conferences of thousands – lay Catholics, victims of clergy sexual abuse, theologians, and priests from around the United States and the world. The resulting organization, Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), grew to 30,000 members within a year and is now a strong advocate for lay oversight of their parishes and dioceses. Their motto is "Keep the Faith, Change the Church."

Tags: 2002, Boston Globe, Catholic, Law enforcement, Massachusetts, OT, Paris, Quicky

Watchman Fellowship materials housed at Southwestern's library, in addition to the organization's Fellowship's voluminous collection of books, includes files, periodicals and other media that provide original materials produced by groups such as the Church of Scientology, the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Tags: Watchman Fellowship

The Sonoma Valley Ministerial Association has come out against putting the crèche back on the Plaza. In a statement to the Sonoma City Council, which will be debating the issue at its meeting Wednesday evening, the ministers said they don't believe the "display of the crèche on the Sonoma Plaza would serve the religious and spiritual health of the community at this time."

Tags: Donna Barton, Sonoma

Hemphill's wife said it wasn't the first time her husband had physically abused her, Ross said. She told Ross she did not report the previous abuse to police, but reported it to the Church of Scientology, of which the Hemphills are members. Ross said Mrs. Hemphill told him a Scientology counselor had been assigned to help the couple. Church spokesman Ben Shaw said he does not know the Hemphills and knew nothing about the incident. Most church auditors are trained in marriage counseling for church members, he said. Those sessions are confidential, he said.

Tags: Belleair, Ben Shaw, Daniel Ross, Dunedin, False imprisonment, Jamie Popa, Largo, Laurie Lynn Miller, Pinellas County, Police, St. Petersburg, Terry Hemphill

After a hurried interview with Miss Anne Ursprung, top executive of the Founding Church, I managed an extension of time by driving her and fellow staff member Esther Mangold to the airport to pick up a couple of Scientologists, Leon and Mitch, who were arriving from New York. As we returned to the city, I asked if it were true that many hippies are interested in Scientology.