Yesterday, Sylvia DeWall made her declaration to friends and family who had turned their backs on her. Today, we’re following up with even more about her journey out of Scientology.
One of the things that struck us about Sylvia’s story is that her mother also suffered when Sylvia was kicked out of the Church of Scientology.
“The parents have it the worst. Nothing can hurt more than losing a child,” she told us.
Sylvia’s parents had split up in 1974, her mother remarried, and she and her new husband were Scientology members. But Sylvia says that they drifted away from the church well before she did.
As you can tell from her video, Sylvia was especially affected when her brother Randy “disconnected” from her and cut off all ties. He sent a disconnection letter (which we have for you below), and Sylvia hasn’t heard from him since. But why, we asked her, did he also cut off ties with his own mother, who was not involved in Sylvia’s activities that got her kicked out.
“She ‘liked’ a couple of my posts about the church on Facebook. Or at least that’s all we can think of,” Sylvia says.
So Randy has now isolated himself against his sister and his mother.
Sylvia sent us this photo of herself and her brother when they were children…
And this more recent photo of Randy dressed as the R6 implant manifestation known as ‘Santa Claus’…
She also shared with us a photo from her wedding to Timothy…
We asked Sylvia, what was Tim’s experience like? He had been much more involved in Scientology when they left Clearwater — did his deep involvement, followed by cutting ties to the church and its members, make his time adapting to the outside world a difficult one?
“Yes. I left Scientology in 2007-2008 and left the church in 2014. Tim left the church in 2014. But he didn’t really leave Scientology for almost another year. It was a slow decompression,” she says.
Well, we can certainly understand that.
Sylvia also shared with us a revealing document: It’s Randy’s disconnection to his sister. Here’s the entire text…
Dear Sylvia,
I am sorry if my cutting your communication short on Sunday upset you. I need you to understand something from my point of view. I have examined some of the data you sent to me and I am not convinced that it is the whole story. My own experience with these types of situations (I have been through this before) was always that there was more to the story than was being told. I didn’t buy into it then and I am not buying into it now.
People will believe what they want to believe. I don’t think that I am any exception and neither are you. When it comes down to a “he said – she said” scenario then I have to look to my own experience and data because you can go back and forth all day on either argument.
What is true for me is that Scientology does work. The Church is growing and expanding and the staff I have dealt with over the years have been in the vast majority very good people with good intentions. I see no reason to attack them. I am one of them. My wife and sons are as well.
The current scene has become one of religious intolerance. I respect that you have grievances against the Church. I don’t respect you attacking the Church or its staff. I want you to understand that when you do this you are indirectly attacking me and my family. This is our Church. It may not be perfect but what Church is? If I were a member of any other religious faith I would be just as hurt and offended by your attack. If you don’t want to be a Scientologist then don’t. But that does not mean you have to be an anti-Scientologist. I will respect your choice. Please respect mine.
You will not find me making public statements about you or your associates in your endeavors. I also, however, have no wish to have anyone on my communication lines who is attacking mine. That is my right. I cannot tell you who you can or cannot associate with. I cannot say what you can or cannot say at any given time. I can however decide what communications I want on my lines just as much as you do your own.
I will not bring other family members into this. I have no wish to alloy anyone’s affinity for you. I ask that you do the same for me. From her recentt face book posts I can see that Mom is upset with Scientology. I can only assume that you had some involvement in this and if I am wrong in this assumption you can let me know. If you did have something to do with it then I ask that you clean this up.
You are my sister and I do love you very much. This makes it all the more painful that you have become intolerant of something that is and has been such a big part of my life.
I still have the pictures that you sent and I cherish them as I cherish the memories of all the fun times we have had together.
I cannot tell you what to do. I cannot and will not tell you what to say. You are a self-determined being and so am I. Please realize that I will exercize my right to maintain my communication lines the way I want them. Would you want me on your lines if I kept after you about how you need to look more at my side? I will allow that you decide the time and place to make those examinations.
All I am asking is that you respect mine to do the same. Don’t expect me to be unaffected if you continue your attacks on my Church. I will not counter-attack but I will act to maintain my comm-lines in the state that I want them in.
Love your brother.
Randy
He almost sounds reasonable in this letter, advancing a “let’s agree to disagree” argument. We asked Sylvia about that.
“It was coached,” Sylvia says about the language in the letter. “However, he’s also coached many others as a staff member. So, maybe he wrote it all by himself. Our dad died shortly after that letter. Randy wouldn’t call me to tell me that he was in failing health. I’ve tried numerous times to contact him through my stepsister. I’ve even been to his house in Albuquerque. No response ever.”
Hey, Randy, have the guts to watch your sister’s video. Then think about giving her a call.
As a Scientologist, you’re a master of communication, right? Well, how about proving it.
In case you missed it, Randy, here it is again…
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Andy Daly does the Commodore
There are so many parodies of Scientology and jokes made about it on television and film we almost never make any references to them. But we were amused to see that Andy Daly, a comic actor we like very much, took on old time Scientology on a recent podcast and really nailed the Commodore. This podcast starts out very strong — someone really did their homework — and then descends into comedic chaos. So don’t expect to get more of out of that than a few hearty chuckles. But who couldn’t use that, right?
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Scientology’s celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs’ — now with comments!
We’re building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs.’ We’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them, in order to build a record and maintain a watch as Scientology continues its inexorable decline — and yes, we finally have comments working on these new pages! Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.
Previously, we posted pages for celebrities Anne Archer, Beck Hansen, Catherine Bell, Chick Corea, Elisabeth Moss, Erika Christensen, Ethan Suplee, Giovanni Ribisi, Greta Van Susteren, Jenna Elfman, John Travolta, Juliette Lewis, Kelly Preston, Kirstie Alley, Laura Prepon, Marisol Nichols, Michael Peña, Nancy Cartwright, Tom Cruise Danny Masterson, Stanley Clarke, Edgar Winter, Alanna Masterson, Billy Sheehan, Judy Norton-Taylor, Terry Jastrow, Eddie Deezen, Sofia Milos, Bodhi Elfman, Rebecca Minkoff, Doug E. Fresh, Christopher Masterson, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Michael D. Roberts, and Michelle Stafford. And for the Ideal Orgs of Portland, Oregon; Sydney, Australia; San Diego, California; Denver, Colorado; Nashville, Tennessee; Perth, Australia; Tokyo, Japan; Sacramento, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Silicon Valley, California; Rome, Italy; Orlando, Florida; Moscow, Russia; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Seattle, Washington; Dallas, Texas; Melbourne, Australia; San Fernando Valley, California; Pasadena, California; Bogotá, Colombia; Budapest, Hungary; Phoenix, Arizona; London, England; Orange County, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Auckland, New Zealand; Miami, Florida; Basel, Switzerland; Berlin, Germany; Birmingham, England; Brussels, Belgium; Buffalo, New York; Cambridge, Ontario; Copenhagen, Denmark; Dublin, Ireland; and Greater Cincinnati (Florence, Kentucky).
Today it’s Jim Meskimen and Hamburg, Germany!
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Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 5,241 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 1,874 days
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 417 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 305 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 1,480 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,254 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,028 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,374 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 10,940 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 2,608 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 2,868 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 1,908 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 1,620 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,146 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,235 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,375 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 2,695 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 7,551 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 2,670 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,026 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,328 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,434 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 1,837 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 1,708 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,291 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 1,796 days.
Mary Jane Sterne has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,040 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,149 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 18, 2018 at 07:00
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The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
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