The Top 25 People Crippling Scientology, No. 17: Jefferson Hawkins - Village Voice (blog)24 August 2011, 9:04 amOn August 5, we started a countdown that will give credit -- or blame -- to the people who have contributed most to the sad current state of Scientology. From its greatest expansion in the 1980s, the church is a shell of what it once was and is mired in countless controversies around the world. Some of that was self-inflicted, and some of it has come from outside. Join us now as we continue on our investigation of those people most responsible...
...In Counterfeit Dreams, Hawkins skillfully narrates his journey as he went from an eager young joiner learning how to produce church publications during Scientology's hippie days in the late '60s, to becoming Scientology's marketing architect during the greatest period of its expansion...
...I couldn't help reading Counterfeit Dreams as a serious blow to Scientology. If the organization is driving away people like Jeff Hawkins, it's hard to see how it could ever regain its momentum and begin to expand again.
Check out this portion of Hawkins' interview with Mark Bunker, part of Bunker's upcoming documentary,
"Knowledge Report." Hawkins explains the us-versus-them psychology of Scientology:
http://youtu.be/wAfXxAxu-0cAnother reason why Hawkins is a key defector is that he had such a personal knowledge of the actual vital signs of the church's health. There may be no one with a more authoritative knowledge of Scientology's actual membership numbers.....
more at
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/08/jefferson_hawkins_top_25_crippling_scientology.php
