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Dianetics is Not Hypnosis — Well, Except For That “You Are Feeling Sleepy” Part

Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, lawyer, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.

We’re now getting into a very interesting part of Dianetics. We’re finally going to learn some actual methods of auditing, and []

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FED COURT DENIES SCIENTOLOGY REQUEST: Decision on Religious Arbitration Coming Soon?

Federal Judge James Whittemore today denied the Church of Scientology’s request to bolster its response to Luis and Rocio Garcia’s fraud lawsuit.

On Monday night, the Garcias filed numerous damning declarations by former church members and officials who say that the church has created a situation that makes it impossible for excommunicated members to obtain []

SCIENTOLOGY TO FEDERAL COURT: Let Us Refute The Garcia Declarations, And Then Butt Out of Our Religion

Luis Garcia, causing trouble

Monday evening, the Garcia federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology heated up when the Garcias filed several declarations from former church members who said Scientology’s refund process is designed to be a sham.

[ALSO IN THIS POST — The New York Times strokes Tom Cruise]

Now, the church has fired []

Claire Headley Tells Us How to Keep Scientology Working

Tom Cruise, KSW!

Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the []

GARCIAS RESPOND TO SCIENTOLOGY: YOU’RE A BIG RIPOFF

Marty Rathbun in his RTC days

On Monday evening, Luis and Rocio Garcia filed more than a dozen documents with the court in their federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology. There’s a lot of really interesting stuff in them, including declarations by Luis Garcia and others, as well as current price lists []

Margery Wakefield Has Something to Say About Scientology

Margery Wakefield surprised us this week by sending us a new affidavit that she decided to put into the public record.

We certainly remembered an affidavit she made in 1993. Margery had startling things to say about working as a volunteer for Scientology’s intelligence operations, the Guardian’s Office, back in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Now, []

Sunday Funnies: The United States of Scientology

Yesterday, Scientologists entered a new age. We’ve been learning lately that Scientology leader David Miscavige has hit upon a new strategy to wring out the last dollar from church members who have already given until it hurts for his “Ideal Orgs” building program.

He calls it “alliances,” and it involves convincing what few Scientologists remain []

African Queen: The Man L. Ron Hubbard Thought He Was

Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He now has a new edition of the book out, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and []

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dead Boston Bomber Suspect: “I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them.”

Tamerlan Tsarnaev [Photo copyright Johannes Hirn]

Biographical notes on Tamerlan Tsarnaev, which our friend and attorney Scott Pilutik found at this 2010 photography slideshow about Tsarnaev, taken when he was a US Olympic boxing hopeful.

Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police early this morning in Watertown, Massachusetts. His brother Djohar remains at large. []

Jason Barclay’s Sea Org Adventure: A Fresh Scientology Escapee Details Abuse

Over the last several years, Scientology has been rocked by the revelations of former members describing what it’s like to work in the church’s “Sea Org” and at its secretive bases. Invariably, the church responds by saying that information revealed by ex-members is dated and no longer reflects what life is like in the church’s []