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[SocialTransparency]

4 page article!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/us/07scientology.html


Breaking With Scientology
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: March 6, 2010

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

YOUNG RECRUITS Christie King Collbran, left, and her husband, Chris, center, in Johannesburg in 2004. More Photos »
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They signed a contract for a billion years — in keeping with the church’s belief that Scientologists are immortal. They worked seven days a week, often on little sleep, for sporadic paychecks of $50 a week, at most.

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

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

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

Fifty-six years after its founding by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986, the church is fighting off calls by former members for a Reformation. The defectors say Sea Org members were repeatedly beaten by the church’s chairman, David Miscavige, often during planning meetings; pressured to have abortions; forced to work without sleep on little pay; and held incommunicado if they wanted to leave. The church says the defectors are lying.

The defectors say that the average Scientology member, known in the church as a public, is largely unaware of the abusive environment experienced by staff members. The church works hard to cultivate public members — especially celebrities like Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Nancy Cartwright (the voice of the cartoon scoundrel Bart Simpson) — whose money keeps it running.

But recently even some celebrities have begun to abandon the church, the most prominent of whom is the director and screenwriter Paul Haggis, who won Oscars for “Million Dollar Baby” and “Crash.” Mr. Haggis had been a member for 35 years. His resignation letter, leaked to a defectors’ Web site, recounted his indignation as he came to believe that the defectors’ accusations must be true.

“These were not the claims made by ‘outsiders’ looking to dig up dirt against us,” Mr. Haggis wrote. “These accusations were made by top international executives who had devoted most of their lives to the church.”

The church has responded to the bad publicity by denying the accusations and calling attention to a worldwide building campaign that showcases its wealth and industriousness. Last year, it built or renovated opulent Scientology churches, which it calls Ideal Orgs, in Rome; Malmo, Sweden; Dallas; Nashville; and Washington. And at its base here on the Gulf Coast of Florida, it continued buying hotels and office buildings (54 in all) and constructing a 380,000-square-foot mecca that looks like a convention center.

“This is a representation of our success,” said the church’s spokesman, Tommy Davis, showing off the building’s cavernous atrium, still to be clad in Italian marble, at the climax of a daylong tour of the church’s Clearwater empire. “This is a result of our expansion. It’s pinch-yourself material.”

As for the defectors, Mr. Davis called them “apostates” and said that contrary to their claims of having left the church in protest, they were expelled.

“And since they’re removed, the church is expanding like never before,” said Mr. Davis, a second-generation Scientologist whose mother is the actress Anne Archer. “And what we see here is evidence of the fact that we’re definitely better off without them.”

‘Bridge to Total Freedom’

Scientology is an esoteric religion in which the faith is revealed gradually to those who invest their time and money to master Mr. Hubbard’s teachings. Scientologists believe that human beings are impeded by negative memories from past lives, and that by applying Mr. Hubbard’s “technology,” they can reach a state known as clear.

They may spend hundreds of hours in one-on-one “auditing” sessions, holding the slim silver-colored handles of an e-meter while an auditor asks them questions and takes notes on what they say and on the e-meter’s readings.

(Page 2 of 4)

By doing enough auditing, taking courses and studying Mr. Hubbard’s books and lectures — for which some Scientologists say they have paid as much as $1 million — Scientologists believe that they can proceed up the “bridge to total freedom” and live to their full abilities as Operating Thetans, pure spirits. They do believe in God, or a Supreme Being that is associated with infinite potential.

Ms. Collbran, who is 33, said she loved the church so much that she never thought she would leave. Her parents were dedicated church members in Los Angeles, and she attended full-time Scientology schools for several years. When she was 8 or 9, she took the basic communications course, which teaches techniques for persuasive public speaking and improving self-confidence and has served as a major recruiting tool.

By 10, Ms. Collbran had completed the Purification Rundown, a regimen that involves taking vitamins and sitting in a sauna (a fixture inside every Scientology church) for as much as five hours a day, for weeks at a time, to cleanse the body of toxins.

By 16, she was recruited into the Sea Org, so named because it once operated from ships, wearing a Navy-like uniform with epaulets on the shoulders for work. She fully believed in the mission: to “clear the planet” of negative influences by bringing Scientology to its inhabitants. Her mindset then, Ms. Collbran said, was: “This planet needs our help, and people are suffering. And we have the answers.”

Christie and Chris Collbran were married in a simple ceremony at the Scientology center in Manhattan. Although she and her parents were very close, she said they had spent so much to advance up the bridge that they could not afford to attend the wedding.

It was in Johannesburg, where the couple had gone to supervise the building of a new Scientology organization, that Mr. Collbran, who is 29, began to have doubts. He had spent months at church headquarters in Clearwater revising the design for the Johannesburg site to meet Mr. Miscavige’s demands.

Mr. Collbran said he saw an officer hit a subordinate, and soon found that the atmosphere of supervision through intimidation was affecting him. He acknowledges that he pushed a 17-year-old staff member against a wall and yelled at his wife, who was his deputy.

In Johannesburg, officials made the church look busy for publicity photographs by filling it with Sea Org members, the Collbrans said. To make their numbers look good for headquarters, South African parishioners took their maids and gardeners to church.

But the Ideal Orgs are supposed to be self-supporting, and the Johannesburg church was generating only enough to pay each of the Collbrans $17 a week, Mr. Collbran said.

“It was all built on lies,” Mr. Collbran said. “We’re working 16 hours a day trying to save the planet, and the church is shrinking.”

‘It’s Everything You Know’

The church is vague about its membership numbers. In 11 hours with a reporter over two days, Mr. Davis, the church’s spokesman, gave the numbers of Sea Org members (8,000), of Scientologists in the Tampa-Clearwater area (12,000) and of L. Ron Hubbard’s books printed in the last two and a half years (67 million). But asked about the church’s membership, Mr. Davis said, “I couldn’t tell you an exact figure, but it’s certainly, it’s most definitely in the millions in the U.S. and millions abroad.”

He said he did not know how to account for the findings in the American Religious Identification Survey that the number of Scientologists in the United States fell from 55,000 in 2001 to 25,000 in 2008.

Marty Rathbun, who was once Mr. Miscavige’s top lieutenant, is now one of the church’s top detractors. The churches used to be busy places where members socialized and invited curious visitors to give Scientology a try, he said, but now the church is installing touch-screen displays so it can introduce visitors to Scientology with little need for Scientologists on site.

“That’s the difference between the old Scientology and the new: the brave new Scientology is all these beautiful buildings and real estate and no people,” said Mr. Rathbun, who is among several former top executives quoted by The St. Petersburg Times in a series of articles last year about the church’s reported mistreatment of staff members.

When Mr. Collbran decided he wanted to leave the Sea Org, he was sent to Los Angeles, where potential defectors are assigned to do menial labor while they reconsider their decision. Ms. Collbran remained in Johannesburg, and for three months the church refused to allow them to contact each other, the Collbrans said.

(Page 3 of 4)

Letters they wrote to each other were intercepted, they said. Finally, Ms. Collbran was permitted to go to Los Angeles, but husband and wife were kept separated for another three months, the Collbrans said, while they went through hours of special auditing sessions called “confessionals.” The auditors tried to talk them out of leaving, and the Collbrans wavered.

They could not just up and go. For one, they said, the church had taken their passports. But even more important, they knew that if they left the Sea Org without going through the church’s official exit process, they would be declared “suppressive persons” — antisocial enemies of Scientology. They would lose the possibility of living for eternity. Their parents, siblings and friends who are Scientologists would have to disconnect completely from them, or risk being declared suppressive themselves.

“You’re in fear,” Mr. Collbran said. “You’re so into it, it’s everything you know: your family, your eternity.”

Mike Rinder, who for more than 20 years was the church’s spokesman, said the disconnect policy originated as Mr. Hubbard’s prescription for how to deal with an abusive spouse or boss.

Now, “disconnection has become a way of controlling people,” said Mr. Rinder, who says his mother, sister, brother, daughter and son disconnected from him after he left the church. “It is very, very prevalent.”

Mr. Davis, the church’s current spokesman, said Scientologists are no different from Mormons, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Amish who practice shunning or excommunication.

“These are common religious tenets,” he said. “The very survival of a religion is contingent on its protecting itself.”

The Collbrans went back to work for the church in Los Angeles, but Ms. Collbran found the atmosphere so oppressive, the staff members so miserable, that she likened it to living under “martial law” and again resolved to leave.

So she intentionally conceived a child. She knew that the Sea Org did not allow its members to have children, and she had known women who were removed when they refused to have abortions. She waited until her pregnancy had almost reached the end of the first trimester to inform her superiors. It still took two months before the church let the Collbrans go, in 2006, and not before making them sign affidavits.

“All of the auditing that you do, there’s files kept on it,” Ms. Collbran said. “All of the personal things you ever said, all the secrets, the transgressions, are all kept in there. They went through that file, wrote this affidavit as if I wrote it — and I never wrote this affidavit, the church wrote it — and made me sign it.”

They were also handed what the church calls a “freeloader bill” for services rendered, of $90,000, which they later negotiated down to $10,000 for Ms. Collbran’s portion and paid. They now had a child and no money, but they thought they were still in good standing with their church.

Mr. Davis, the church spokesman, said the Collbrans’ exit was not unusual. The Sea Org is a religious order that requires enormous dedication, he said, and leaving any religious order can be a lengthy process. He said the church does require departing staff members to pay freeloader bills and to sign affidavits drawn up by church officials, but he contends that the affidavits never contain confidential information drawn from auditing sessions.

“We have never violated that trust,” Mr. Davis said. “We never have. We never will.” The church in Johannesburg is thriving now that the Collbrans have left, Mr. Davis said.

‘Suppressive Persons’

In 2008, organizers with the Internet-based group Anonymous began waves of protests outside Scientology churches in many countries. Anonymous said it was protesting the Church of Scientology’s attempts to censor Internet posts of material the church considered proprietary — including a video of Tom Cruise, an ardent Scientologist, that was created for a church event but was leaked and posted on YouTube.

(Page 4 of 4)

“Since Anonymous has come forward,” said Marc Headley, who belonged to the Sea Org for 16 years, “more and more people who have been abused or assaulted are feeling more confident that they can speak out and not have any retaliation
Mr. Headley, who wrote a book about his experiences, is suing the church for back wages, saying that over 15 years his salary averaged out to 39 cents an hour. His wife, who said the church coerced her into having two abortions, has also filed a suit. The couple now have two small children.

The church acknowledges that Sea Org members are not allowed to have babies, but denies that it pressures people into having abortions. On the pay issue, it says that Sea Org members expect to sacrifice their material well-being to devote their lives to the church.

Scientology parishioners interviewed in Clearwater seemed unperturbed by the protests, headlines and lawsuits.

Joanie Sigal is a 36-year parishioner in Clearwater who promotes the church’s antidrug campaign to local officials. She said the defectors’ stories were like what you would hear “if I asked your ex-husband what he thought of you.”

“It’s so not news,” she said. “It’s a big yawn, actually.”

The Collbrans, despite their efforts to remain in good standing in the church, were declared suppressive persons last year. The church discovered that Mr. Collbran had traveled to Texas to talk with Mr. Rathbun, the defector who runs a Web site that has become an online community for what he calls “independent Scientologists.”

The church immediately sent emissaries to Ms. Collbran’s parents’ house in Los Angeles to inform them that their daughter was “suppressive,” Ms. Collbran said. They have refused to speak to her ever since. Recently, Ms. Collbran received an e-mail message from her mother calling her a “snake in the grass.”

Ms. Collbran says she still believes in Scientology — not in the church as it is now constituted, but in its teachings. She still gets auditing, from other Scientologists who have defected, like Mr. Rathbun.

Mr. Davis said there is no such thing: “One can’t be a Scientologist and not be part of the church.”

Mr. Collbran, for his part, wants nothing to do with his former church. “Eventually I realized I was part of a con,” he said, “and I have to leave it and get on with my life.”

Despite all they have been through together, Ms. and Mr. Collbran are getting a divorce. The reason, they agree sadly, is that they no longer see eye to eye on Scientology.

[Lorelei]

Thank you for sharing this. Excellent.

[mefree]

The church is vague about its membership numbers. In 11 hours with a reporter over two days, Mr. Davis, the church’s spokesman, gave the numbers of Sea Org members (8,000), of Scientologists in the Tampa-Clearwater area (12,000) and of L. Ron Hubbard’s books printed in the last two and a half years (67 million). But asked about the church’s membership, Mr. Davis said, “I couldn’t tell you an exact figure, but it’s certainly, it’s most definitely in the millions in the U.S. and millions abroad.”

He said he did not know how to account for the findings in the American Religious Identification Survey that the number of Scientologists in the United States fell from 55,000 in 2001 to 25,000 in 2008.

LOL

“You’re in fear,” Mr. Collbran said. “You’re so into it, it’s everything you know: your family, your eternity.”

Mike Rinder, who for more than 20 years was the church’s spokesman, said the disconnect policy originated as Mr. Hubbard’s prescription for how to deal with an abusive spouse or boss.

Now, “disconnection has become a way of controlling people,” said Mr. Rinder, who says his mother, sister, brother, daughter and son disconnected from him after he left the church. “It is very, very prevalent.”

Sad but, true.

Mr. Davis, the church’s current spokesman, said Scientologists are no different from Mormons, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Amish who practice shunning or excommunication.

“These are common religious tenets,” he said. “The very survival of a religion is contingent on its protecting itself.” 

Scientology "ethics" in a nutshell.

[Lorelei]

Good luck trying to intimidate the NYT, Scienos. You tried harassing the SPTimes investigative staff--after their embarrassing article series blackened both your eyes--with hired flack reporters who will probably never work again without being shamed for this, and, guess what? The journalism community's members actually communicate with each other. Did you "pull this in"? Probably! Enjoy that.

[ethercat]

This is a front page story in the print version of the paper.  A friend who knows of my interest in this subject, but who is not involved himself, called me early this morning to tell me about it.  He's going to save his copy for me, so I can add it to my stack of other papers.   

[Lorelei]

It is also front and center and "above the fold" (with a picture) on the e-version.

[Ultrapoet]

Yep, my dad pointed it out to me this morning.  (My parents get the Sunday edition.)  Front page, baby.  Hell, yeah.   

[Lorelei]

This article is currently being referred to and used as a jumping off point for other articles world-wide, and not just online.

It's Oscars week, and this story is the 3rd most-emailed story at the NYT. Alexa tracks web traffic, and this story--not the NYT as a whole--was more popular than ALL of eBay when it was ranked at #8. It eventually reached #5 in volume of traffic before I had to go do other things and couldn't keep up with how it was doing.

They had to close down the NYT comments section after over 350 comments.

Scitrolls are so overwhelmed, they are having to cut and paste their same gripes into over 9000 different comments sections. A pro-Scientology article that was released into the wild in response to the NYT at Daily KOS was immediately refuted and buried, over 35 long-time "KOSsacks" choosing to use one of their 5 daily downrates (that only long-timers get) to express disapproval; since the article is automatically "hidden" after 3 downrates (or anti-troll votes), the extra downrates don't serve any purpose but to say "We utterly reject your article and totally disagree."

Scientologists are also trying to mitigate the bad PR by gossiping about a minor and  conveniently-timed motorcycle accident Tom Cruise supposedly had, and by spamming a story about Vulture Ministers receiving a reward that they begged for from a gullible politician. (Astute people notice that folks who are actually doing good works in Haiti are far too busy to take PR pix, cavort on the beaches in bikinis, horde food, bitch about not enough water to shave their legs, gorge on buffets and triple helpings of meals, blog, post YT videos, troll naysayers blogs online, get their hair done by a victim, or show up for self-serving award ceremonies--because they are actually busy helping people, not just poking them with a finger and thanking them as the sum total of "help" offered, and scuttling in front of any cameras they see. As usual, the real charitable groups and helpers will take longer to report in from Haiti, and when they do, they will no doubt say what they always say--that the VMs got in the way, helped themselves to supplies they didn't pay for, treated the whole thing like an excuse to go on holiday and feel smug about how "awesome" their cult is, tried to recruit victims to the cult, and, all-in-all, were arrogant, self-serving, useless and irritating. They just won't have time to make their feelings known for a while because they are still down there, busy, and working, and many of these charitable groups had an established presence in Haiti long before the disaster.)

It's been said that the Scienos "pulled it in" by trying to intimidate the St. Pete Times (who has been running the excellent and damaging Truth Rundown article series) by hiring investigative reporters to investigate the investigative reporters at the SPT. Journalists actually communicate with their peers, and I suspect that the NYT reporters took an extra bit of glee in being able to report honestly and damagingly on the cult's abuses and frauds. Tony Ortega at the Village Voice has been speaking out & exposing Scientology's dark side for years, and is not the only reporter to suggest that the SPT reporters should earn a Pulitzer for their work...and he says the NYT actually should have dug deeper and hit the cult harder.

The NYT is not only highly respected and thoroughly read in the US (every public library of any size subscribes to the NYT), it is read and respected world-wide (every major airport subscribes to the NYT). Even those who do not pause to buy and read the story still pass by the NYT on newstands, and the story headline is above the fold on the front page.

This is a crushing blow to the cult, so expect to hear more about how Tom Cruise miraculously survived a "high-speed motorcycle crash thanks to Scientology" (apparently he just fell off, and got up and brushed himself off and shooed EMTs away) and how the VMs got a "humanitarian award" that they ASKED FOR, and expect to hear about those stories (and similar scrambling, feeble attempts to defuse the blow this article is having world-wide) A LOT this week.

I'm curious to see if anyone mentions Scientology to Scientologists at the Oscars. I doubt it, but that would be sweet.

Also, expect Sci-trolls to whine about how "all religions are bad" (matter of personal opinion, useless argument) and how "disconnection is just like excommunication" (it isn't), how Scientology is "expanding" (it isn't), ho9w "it works and helps people" (it doesn't), how the reporters "didn't do their research" (sounds like a MU on the word 'research' to me!), how any valid and verified criticism is "religious bigotry", or any of a number of logical fallacies designed to derail comments sections or distract from the crushing blow the NYT just dealt the cult. They really don't like it when you link to video showing Tommy Davis is contradicting himself (lying). They especially don't like it when a flood of exes and critics all flood in to point and laugh and say "NO U, troll."

EPIC WIN, amirite?

[Lorelei]

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Urinal Constipation has not yet gotten the heads up, and is far more interested in running stories on our local politician tards falling for the Vulture Minister's begging for awards and (more understandably) the brouhaha in Sandy Springs.

"Send a news tip": newstips@ajc.com

You can reach the Decatur / Dekalb County sister paper here: dekalbnews@ajc.com

Savannah only finds John Travolta "flying supplies to Haiti" to be newsworthy.

Contact info for the staff: http://savannahnow.com/newsroomstaff

Nothing in Macon.

Contact publisher George McCanless at (478) 744-4290 gmccanless@macon.com.

Augusta *might* take up the baton; found these:

Letter to the editor (Tom Cruise needs to STFU about psych meds): http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2005/09/05/let_934.shtml

A 2005 (!) article about Tom Cruise promoting the cult and a link to Sci.org (!!):
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2005/07/09/rel_458208.shtml

http://chronicle.augusta.com/authors

Columbus, GA: nothing

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/contact_us/

Statesboro, GA (college town): one Isaac Hayes obit (2008)

http://www.statesboroherald.com/contactus/ (includes comment box on page)

Athens, GA (college town): nice article about Scientology's legal problems / defections (mentions Haggis). We had a bunch of AthensAnons at one point.

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/110209/mar_511551579.shtml

If you feel motivated, here are some more:
http://www.mondotimes.com/search/search.php?q=georgia
http://www.mondonewspapers.com/

(You may want to hold on to those mondo* links for future 'poon purposes.)

Come on, news guys! You don't want to be the last news outlets to comment on the NYT article. It's going worldwide, and you're acting completely oblivious.

BRB, lots of 'poons to fire.

[SocialTransparency]

 GAWD! Do we live in Hootersville here or what? I bet if some moron ran down the street naked carrying a rebel flag, the whole damn press core in the state would be on top of it. Thank you internet. Without you, I would live in a slanted informational vacuum.

[ethercat]

(Astute people notice that folks who are actually doing good works in Haiti are far too busy to take PR pix, cavort on the beaches in bikinis, horde food, bitch about not enough water to shave their legs, gorge on buffets and triple helpings of meals, blog, post YT videos, troll naysayers blogs online, get their hair done by a victim, or show up for self-serving award ceremonies--because they are actually busy helping people, not just poking them with a finger and thanking them as the sum total of "help" offered, and scuttling in front of any cameras they see. ...)

 

I gotta hand it to you Lorelei, you've really got a way with words sometimes.   

[Lorelei]

I calls 'em like I sees 'em.

[News Thetan]

More Scientology Defectors Alleging Violence - ABC News (blog)
8 March 2010, 2:21 pm

In October, Martin Bashir delivered in-depth reports about the Church of Scientology over two nights, investigating its secretive ways and celebrity appeal, as well as allegations by some former members that leader David Miscavige struck members of his senior staff.

It is a thread that the St. Petersburg Times -- the paper of record near the church headquarters in Florida -- has needled at for years, breaking several major stories along the way.

Yesterday, the New York Times joined the fray, with this front page report, "Breaking With Scientology," which looks at more troubling accounts from former Church members.

In our report, the Church, through spokesman Tommy Davis, vehemently denied all accusations of wrongdoing by Miscavige, claiming that the charges are lies from disgruntled and discredited former staffers.

more at http://blogs.abcnews.com/nightlinedailyline/2010/03/more-scientology-defectors-alleging-violence.html
more ABC coverage on Scientology found here http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/scientology/

[News Thetan]

New Allegations Cap Bad Year for Scientology - AOL News
8 March 2010, 5:54 pm

New accusations from two Scientology defectors are the latest in a growing list of abuse allegations that have been leveled against the church in the past year -- possibly its most difficult in the 50-odd years since it was created by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

On Saturday, The New York Times weighed in with a long article focusing on a couple in Sea Organization -- a group of the religion's elite staff members -- who said they worked long hours for a pittance. Once they decided to leave they were forced to "sign false confessions about their personal lives and their work, pay the church thousands of dollars it said they owed for courses and counseling, and accept the consequences as their parents, siblings and friends who are church members cut off all communication with them," according to the Times.

Scientologists believe that human beings are inhibited by their past lives and can only reach self-actualization through a series of formal studies, including one-on-one "auditing" sessions, a long and expensive process. The church also renounces many of the claims of medical health professionals and offers up its own purification rituals involving vitamins and saunas. And while Scientology has long been criticized by outsiders, the past year's allegations have come largely from former members.

The first and most damning shot came from the St. Petersburg Times, which in June began publishing an investigative series on the church, which is based in nearby Clearwater, Fla., and its leader, David Miscavige. According to top Scientology executives who have since broken with the church, Miscavige routinely hits Scientology staff members. Also, the newspaper alleged the church's purification rituals have led to at least one death, and that church officials harass and intimidate defectors.

Meanwhile, Scientology officials have responded as they have to previous allegations -- they've denied everything and said that the disgruntled ex-members are apostates who can't be trusted. There are signs, however, that some members are becoming disillusioned.

Scientology leaders have long sought out and coddled celebrities -- Tom Cruise is the church's most famous member, and John Travolta is not far behind. But in October, Paul Haggis, director of the Oscar-winning movie "Crash," penned a withering resignation letter to the church that was leaked to the press.

A 35-year member, Haggis said he objected to the San Diego church branch's support of Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, and he also referenced the allegations of the St. Petersburg Times. Haggis said he was shocked at some of the denials by church executives about policies he knew to exist. "I was left feeling outraged, and frankly, more than a little stupid," he wrote.

Haggis is not alone. According to the American Religious Identification Survey, 45,000 Americans identified themselves as Scientologists in 1990, and 55,000 did in 2001. But in 2008, that number plummeted to 25,000. It's well short of the millions of followers Scientology leaders claim, both in the United States and abroad, where the church often is not officially recognized alongside other religions. (In comparison, in 2008 there were 342,000 self-identified Wiccans.)

If that trend continues, Scientology isn't likely to survive many of our lifetimes -- let alone the billions of years the church promises its "immortal" adherents.

found at http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/new-abuse-allegations-cap-bad-year-for-scientology/19387752

[wynot]

The Atlanta org has claimed pretty much the same number of members for more than 12 years now. My personal experience picketing the cult at its various Atlanta locations in the late 90s, early 00s, and for the last couple years at the Dunwoody site, indicate to me that the true numbers have not, in fact, changed, and may have declined a bit. This in a city which has undergone almost continual growth during the same period, from a population of 2.5 millions to well over 5 millions. As near as I can tell from perusing lists of other cult storefronts, the only true org within 500 miles is Nashville, so the Atlanta org is drawing its adherents from an area huge in both area and population; I figure North and Central Ga., all of Alabama and South Carolina, and parts of Mississippi and North Carolina, with a population of perhaps 25 millions altogether.

Think of that: no net growth for more than 10 years, in a center of the country which has grown enormously in the same time period.

I'll say it again: for 10 years, the cult's numbers (here in Atlanta) have stayed the same, while the potential market for their product has more than doubled.

Feel free to draw your own conclusions about how this cult increases ability - in particular the ability to attract new members!

'til next time;
wynot

[News Thetan]

Alleged Abuses in Scientology Are Far From Unique - Huffington Post (blog)
9 March 2010, 10:27 am


Scientology. The name is a travesty of science. The reality is a burlesque of religion.

Following the lead of the Saint Petersburg Times, where my late friend Steve Marquez once reported on the same church, the New York Times recently published tales of abuse told by Scientology "defectors." The term seems apt, since the harsh treatment former insiders describe brings to mind totalitarian states like North Korea.

Beatings, fleecings, and exploitation of teen labor - these are just some of the garish allegations limned in the accounts that you can read for yourself. What is important here, I think, is not how bizarre the Church of Scientology is but the ways in which it is ordinary.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not implying a moral equivalence between the alleged maltreatment of Scientology members and, say, your neighborhood Church of the Holy Redeemer's collection plate. What I am saying is that the allegations against Church of Scientology leadership suggest the hallmarks of human vulnerability to nonsense on the one hand and the intoxication of power on the other.

What distinguishes Scientology from most other theologies is that it was developed in plain sight by a science fiction writer who claimed (so far as I am aware) no special revelation, just a handy way with imagination and words. Actually, not so handy with words as you might expect of a writer.

The Scientology Creed begins with a blatant plagiarism of Thomas Jefferson's immortal lines in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." In Hubbard's hands, this succinct ode to liberty becomes a laundry list of "God-given" rights (for men only), including the "right to sanity." If only!

That so many people come to believe quite literally in Scientology's extravagant tales of aliens, billion-year lifespans, and whatnot says a lot, I think, about the human need for meaning at almost any cost. The philosopher Daniel Dennett calls it "epistemological hunger." Davy, the mischievous little boy in Anne of Green Gables stories, puts it more simply. When scolded for asking questions about God, he responds, "I just wanna know."

This hunger may be nourished with fruits gathered through exploration and seasoned with humility and doubt - or it may be stifled with junk food.

Whatever religious beliefs you may hold, you must surely agree that some religions spring up to exploit that hunger for meaning. Over and over again, we have seen that for certain personalities religion is the shortest route to absolute power. And we've seen that absolute power, as Lord Acton so rightly observed, corrupts absolutely. Some who hold sway over their flocks are undoubtedly sincere, others undoubtedly hucksters. I make no judgment about Hubbard in saying this. It really doesn't matter. The point is not whether a person sincerely believes that they bear tablets (or copper plates, or whatever) inscribed by God, so to speak. What counts is what happens to them them once they come down from the mountain and taste power.

From Rev. Jim Jones, who led his flock to "Jonestown" in the jungle and got them to commit suicide by drinking bad Kool-Aid, to Shoko Asahara the blind Buddhist guru who founded Shin Aumrikyo and persuaded his followers to release nerve gas in the Tokyo subways, to Ayatollah Khomeini, who after coming to power in Iran decreed death by hanging for girls as young as nine for alleged religious improprieties, the record of religious tyrants is rife with abuse. So it should come as no shock to learn that the inheritor of Hubbard's mantle, David Miscavige, stands accused by former lieutenants of slapping, beating, and worse.

Scientology is instructive because, obsessively secretive though it may be, so much of its malevolence is in plain view. That the church aggressively recruits followers and persuades them to transfer wealth and independence in return for promises of eternal (or near-eternal) life is indisputable. Ever heard of such a thing?

Of course you have. It's the practice of many religious entities. It simply goes unexamined once it has the patent of antiquity. My point here is not to condemn all religion as exploitation. I deny that. However, now that we know about the human vulnerability to religious exploitation, we have a duty to inoculate one another against it.

Protection begins with critical thinking. You don't have to earn a doctorate in philosophy to recognize that anyone who claims to have all the answers is a fraud. Sincere or sham, they are frauds. If they offer you truth, happiness, or eternal life in return for your obedience, turn around and run for the hills. If you are already in such a religion, challenge the dogma!

For in the end what really matters is not answers. Answers are words, and words are mere shadows of the truth. It's the questions we ask, and how we each choose to respond to them. That's what makes us human. Individually, we lead brief, flickering lives. Together, we are eternal explorers.

found at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clay-naff/alleged-abuses-in-sciento_b_491292.html

[News Thetan]

Listening to ex-Scientologists - GetReligion (blog)
9 March 2010, 12:21 pm



Say what you will about the Church of Scientology, but its members are tenacious. I have some friends who left the church 30 years ago and they are still occasionally contacted by members who encourage them to be careful with what they say. And what’s interesting about that is that my friends actually have many positive things to say about the church and what they got out of it.

Last year I highlighted a captivating three-part series on the church that ran in the St. Petersburg Times. The reporters spoke with four former members, some of whom were very high ranking, and wrote about their claims of mismanagement in the church. One former member had previously made news as the public relations official who was videotaped in a confrontation with a BBC reporter.

That series marked the first time a major paper had dealt substantively with claims of physical and mental abuse by Scientology’s current leadership. It broke news and it gave the Church of Scientology ample space and time to respond to claims. For their part, church officials discounted all the former members’ allegations as coming from poor performing employees who inflated their importance. To bolster their claim, the church opened up former members’ “ethics files” and showed records of their “confessions, contritions and laments that the church keeps to document their failures.”

This weekend, New York Times religion reporter Laurie Goodstein took on the issue. She speaks with two other former members who raise a separate complaint about the Church of Scientology:

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

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

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

Writing about the Church of Scientology can be difficult. The church takes a strong interest in its public relations and fiercely fights any negative stories that appear. And the claims made by former Scientologists are always strongly disputed by church officials. Goodstein handles this simply by quoting the opposing sides. She says that former members are calling for a Reformation. Here’s a sample response from the church:

The church has responded to the bad publicity by denying the accusations and calling attention to a worldwide building campaign that showcases its wealth and industriousness. Last year, it built or renovated opulent Scientology churches, which it calls Ideal Orgs, in Rome; Malmo, Sweden; Dallas; Nashville; and Washington. And at its base here on the Gulf Coast of Florida, it continued buying hotels and office buildings (54 in all) and constructing a 380,000-square-foot mecca that looks like a convention center.

“This is a representation of our success,” said the church’s spokesman, Tommy Davis, showing off the building’s cavernous atrium, still to be clad in Italian marble, at the climax of a daylong tour of the church’s Clearwater empire. “This is a result of our expansion. It’s pinch-yourself material.”

Reading this story, I’m reminded of something I’ve said before about Goodstein. She manages to pack so much information into so few words. She writes very clearly and concisely. Here she gives a view from above:

Scientology is an esoteric religion in which the faith is revealed gradually to those who invest their time and money to master Mr. Hubbard’s teachings. Scientologists believe that human beings are impeded by negative memories from past lives, and that by applying Mr. Hubbard’s “technology,” they can reach a state known as clear.

They may spend hundreds of hours in one-on-one “auditing” sessions, holding the slim silver-colored handles of an e-meter while an auditor asks them questions and takes notes on what they say and on the e-meter’s readings.

By doing enough auditing, taking courses and studying Mr. Hubbard’s books and lectures — for which some Scientologists say they have paid as much as $1 million — Scientologists believe that they can proceed up the “bridge to total freedom” and live to their full abilities as Operating Thetans, pure spirits. They do believe in God, or a Supreme Being that is associated with infinite potential.

The story allows Ms. Collbran to discuss her journey from a child raised in the church to a former member. It’s a fascinating personal story that includes many of the reasons why they say they couldn’t be members any more. One thing I learned from the piece was that Scientology doesn’t permit Sea Orgs to have children. Ms. Collbran intentionally got pregnant and waited until the end of her first trimester to inform the church since, she said, she’d known workers who had been kicked out when they refused to have abortions.

Getting back to the issue of competing truth claims, I thought this was a good way to handle the competing claims of Mr. Collbran — who says that Scientology is shrinking — and those of the church. After quoting Mr. Collbran saying that the Ideal Org he set up in Johannesburg was nowhere near self-supporting, Goodstein talks to the church officials:

The church is vague about its membership numbers. In 11 hours with a reporter over two days, Mr. Davis, the church’s spokesman, gave the numbers of Sea Org members (8,000), of Scientologists in the Tampa-Clearwater area (12,000) and of L. Ron Hubbard’s books printed in the last two and a half years (67 million). But asked about the church’s membership, Mr. Davis said, “I couldn’t tell you an exact figure, but it’s certainly, it’s most definitely in the millions in the U.S. and millions abroad.”

He said he did not know how to account for the findings in the American Religious Identification Survey that the number of Scientologists in the United States fell from 55,000 in 2001 to 25,000 in 2008.

I mentioned above that the former Scientologists I know have many good things to say about the church. In fact, some of them really think the media have done a horrible job explaining what’s good about Scientology. Usually described as little more than Xenu and thetan science fiction, many former Scientologists say the auditing is a strong point. And they continue to use the auditing technology after they leave.

Goodstein actually gets into this a bit by quoting church detractors speaking highly of the “old” Church of Scientology and in this description. And Ms. Collbran says she still receives auditing from other Scientologists who defected. Mr. Collbran, on the other hand, says he wants nothing to do with the religion at all.

more at http://www.getreligion.org/?p=28210

[mefree]

Protection begins with critical thinking. You don't have to earn a doctorate in philosophy to recognize that anyone who claims to have all the answers is a fraud. Sincere or sham, they are frauds. If they offer you truth, happiness, or eternal life in return for your obedience, turn around and run for the hills. If you are already in such a religion, challenge the dogma!

For in the end what really matters is not answers. Answers are words, and words are mere shadows of the truth. It's the questions we ask, and how we each choose to respond to them. That's what makes us human. Individually, we lead brief, flickering lives. Together, we are eternal explorers.

Great piece! I think Lorelei was right about the NYT article being a jumping off point for others.