FOLLOW ME ON
Daily Notifications
Sign up for free emails to receive the feature story every morning in your inbox at tonyortega.substack.com

Categories

Ray Jeffrey on Scientology in the courtroom: ‘Constantly getting tripped up on the facts’

We had a chance to talk with Monique Rathbun’s attorney Ray Jeffrey about Wednesday’s court hearing in Monique’s harassment lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige.

The most important result of the hearing is that Scientology’s attempt to quash a deposition of Miscavige was unsuccessful. Comal County Judge Dib Waldrip said that []

ADVERTISEMENT

Jeff Hawkins on Scientology’s brand of court martial — the ‘Comm Ev’

Jefferson Hawkins was once the top marketing executive for the Church of Scientology and helped it reach its greatest extent with the famous “volcano” TV ads in the 1980s. He’s told his tale of getting into and out of the church with his excellent books Counterfeit Dreams and Leaving Scientology, and he’s helping us understand []

Monique Rathbun seeks sanctions, Scientology tries to kill Miscavige deposition in court today

The BBC’s John Sweeney sets up today’s court clash for us

Monique Rathbun is back in court today in New Braunfels, Texas for her harassment lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige. Several different issues may come up for discussion today. Monique filed a notice to depose David Miscavige on []

Where is Scientology keeping Barbara Cordova Oliver?

In December, a 56-year-old woman who had long been a prominent presence at Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre, Barbara Cordova Oliver, flew home to Los Angeles from Clearwater and suffered a nervous breakdown.

Her mother, Arlene Cordova, 80, called police to her home, where Barbara was staying. (Arlene has never been involved with Scientology.) Barbara was taken []

Tales from Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre: A new film, and a new death

We have two very different reports for you today that share one thing in common — Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre.

Steven Mango spent four years in Scientology, hoping that his involvement with the Celebrity Centre would help his acting career. A year ago, he left Scientology after he’d had enough of the church’s constant requests for []

Sunday Funnies: For the second year in a row, Scientology will have an ad in the Super Bowl

On the first day of 2012, a woman named Debbie Cook who had been a somewhat legendary official in the Church of Scientology rocked the church with a lengthy e-mail that went out to thousands of her fellow church members.

One of the accusations she made in that e-mail (which the church sued her over) was []

Jon Atack on Scientology’s fundamental feature: the thousand-yard stare

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

‘The Factors’: Another video the Church of Scientology would rather you not watch

Our video source has come through again, sending us another “quote video” that is meant only to be seen inside a Scientology “org.”

As we learned earlier, many of these videos were created in order to highlight a portion of a particular L. Ron Hubbard lecture as new editions of his lectures were produced and []

Judge Waldrip grants Monique Rathbun’s discovery request, snubbing Scientology

Marty and Monique Rathbun

It’s another victory for Monique Rathbun in her harassment lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and its leader David Miscavige: Comal County, Texas Judge Dib Waldrip has granted her request for a continuance so she can gather more evidence to refute Scientology’s anti-SLAPP motion. A new hearing on the matter []

High crimes and misdemeanors: Jefferson Hawkins on Scientology’s bizarre criminal code

Jefferson Hawkins was once the top marketing executive for the Church of Scientology and helped it reach its greatest extent with the famous “volcano” TV ads in the 1980s. He’s told his tale of getting into and out of the church with his excellent books Counterfeit Dreams and Leaving Scientology, and he’s helping us understand []