2013 | The Underground Bunker

Blogging Dianetics, Part 3: The Meaning of Life!

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

Last week, L. Ron Hubbard explained that there’s a superman inside each one of us that he calls a […]

LIVE-BLOGGING NBC's ROCK CENTER: Join Us to Watch Paul Haggis and Lawrence Wright!

Last night we had a helluva time live-blogging Nancy Many’s docudrama about Scientology spying on the ID network. Many of you joined us, and it was exhilarating to trade observations about the show as it was happening.

Hey, let’s do it again for tonight’s big show on NBC’s Rock Center with Paul Haggis that marks the […]

Lawrence Wright's Going Clear: We Don't Think Scientology Is Going to Like This Book Much

Now that we’ve read Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief, we’re going to refrain from writing the sort of thing you’ve been seeing in some other publications. You know, the “Ten Most Explosive Things in Lawrence Wright’s New Book” sort of article.

For those of us who watch Scientology closely, and have for […]

TONIGHT: Nancy Many's Story of Scientology Spying and Interrogation on ID at 10 PM

Tonight is the night we move into a new era: for the first time, a television network is putting on not just a story about some of Scientology’s worst abuses — spying on perceived enemies, degrading treatment of workers, splitting up families — but it’s being dramatized in a 1-hour show that pulls no punches.

We’ve […]

Buzzfeed Takes a Close Look at Scientology's "Ideal Org" Financing

What timing — just hours after The Atlantic magazine apologized for running a paid “advertorial” about Scientology’s “Ideal Org” program, Buzzfeed has published a lengthy investigation of the church’s building program that writer Alex Klein has been working on for quite a while.

He contacted us several weeks ago, and it was obvious then that he’d […]

Paul Haggis on Scientology in NBC Interview: "It's a Cult. Of Course It Is."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NBC’s Rock Center just sent us another peek at its Thursday night show with Paul Haggis and Lawrence Wright. Wow, take a look at these quotes from […]

ATLANTIC MAGAZINE SPIKES SCIENTOLOGY ADVERTORIAL AFTER BACKLASH (UPDATED)

UPDATE 11:45 PM: THE ATLANTIC JUST REMOVED THE SCIENTOLOGY ADVERTORIAL IN THE FACE OF MOUNTING RIDICULE. THEY POSTED THIS NOTICE:

“We have temporarily suspended this advertising campaign pending a review of our policies that govern sponsor content and subsequent comment threads.”

ALSO, The Atlantic took down all 25 comments on its Scientology advertorial, but we nabbed them […]

Did the Headleys And Their Lawsuit Torpedo the FBI Investigation of Scientology?

The Headleys

The second half of the series in the Tampa Bay Times about the 2010 FBI investigation of Scientology landed on the Internet tonight, and we’ve given it a good look.

Joe Childs and Tom Tobin have done another fine job amassing new details about the FBI’s probe of human trafficking allegations at Scientology’s […]

Scientology Getting It From All Sides: The Tampa Bay Times Looks at 2010 FBI Investigation

The Tampa Bay Times has published the first half of a two-part series on what happened to the 2010 FBI investigation into Scientology.

We wrote our own story about that in March 2012. We found that despite talking to many ex-church members who alleged human trafficking abuses, the FBI lost steam and its investigation resulted in […]

Paul Haggis and Lawrence Wright on NBC's Rock Center January 17