Blog: The Legends of Our Religion - 2018-11-12

The Legends of Our Religion November 12, 2018, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It

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This new propaganda piece raises an important question.

Where ARE those "legends of scientology"?

It is true that many of the "leading lights" of scientology at the time signed this pledge. Though the real story of the IAS is a very different one than the revised history scientology tries to make it out to be. This "pledge signing" was merely a PR stunt — the IAS had been formed by a Danish lawyer as a means of keeping money outside the purview of the IRS. It was a "bright idea" to form an "association" which was a uniquely European thing and to divert all funds from orgs outside the US to this new entity operating in Cyprus. Monies that had been being sent to the mother church were sent there instead. The IRS had no way of getting those funds in Cyprus, and with a billion dollars of tax assessments looming in the US that would have wiped out scientology (Miscavige talks about this in the 1993 event) this was a desperate measure that had nothing to do with a "Pledge to Mankind" other than in the broadest sense because this was viewed as the last ditch backup to save scientology.