Columbus going Ideal! David Miscavige to open 2nd Scientology cathedral in a week

We expect that tomorrow’s Ideal Org grand opening in Columbus, Ohio is going to be a lot like the one that took place in Kansas City last Saturday. Some music. Some speeches from local shills. Some balloons. So the thing we’re most curious about at this point is, where do you think David Miscavige spent the week in between?

The hard-drinking New Jersey native and iron-fisted church dictator who numbers Tom Cruise as a close friend really doesn’t seem like either the Kansas City or Central Ohio type to us. Did he jet off to Clearwater, Florida for a few days to see how the money-printing operation there is doing, or might it have been a quick trip to California to harangue some underlings at the HGB?

We can be sure that he didn’t drop in to say hello to the wife up at the CST compound, or head over to DC for a visit with IRS officials to intimidate them about keeping their hands off of Scientology’s non-profit status (no need).

Well, whatever he got up to this week, he should be on time tomorrow for the big ribbon-cutting in Columbus.

Now, there are a few differences from the last event that we should point out. The Kansas City building was purchased way back in 2007, when Miscavige was still placing a lot of emphasis on procuring historic buildings in downtown locations with lots of foot traffic.

Columbus represents more recent purchases, which seem to put the most emphasis on getting a sizable building, even if it means buying one in a more industrial location on a lonely road without even a sidewalk, as is the case in Columbus.

Our readers in the area tell us there’s no way someone will just happen to walk by this new Ideal Org.

However, right across the street there is a building with the studios of the local Fox and ABC affiliates (ABC6 and FOX28). They might have an opportunity to get a nice angle on the proceedings, so here we’re giving them a full day to get prepared.

In Kansas City, although we put up a story last Friday, the local daily newspaper and local TV stations didn’t cover the event until after it had happened. Will Columbus be behind as well?

Here’s everyone’s invite to the party…

 
With Scientology making a move in Columbus, we’re reminded that Grant and Elena Cardone also targeted the area for a project that seemed to have failed.

They called it Central Ohio School for the Arts, and here’s Elena’s pitch for it…

 
A star of 15 feature films! And Elena wanted you to donate right away. But according to the school’s Indiegogo page, it raised $0 of the $50,000 it was seeking.

Oh well. Grant and Elena can still visit the new Ideal Org as a consolation prize.

ADDITIONAL: For those of you in Ohio wondering what the hell is going on, we’ll repeat some of the things we said last week for the benefit of folks in Missouri…

— Scientology wants you to believe it has purchased, renovated, and now is opening this new facility because the church is expanding and it needs more room for all the new people. This is completely untrue. Scientology is shrinking, and there is hardly any Scientology presence in central Ohio at all. This building is opening tomorrow simply because David Miscavige wants to hold a grand opening somewhere at this time. He spends millions on these projects so he can convince his wealthy donors that the church is moving forward.

— Scientology tells its members that an Ideal Org is designed to create a boom in new membership, leading to the expansion of a number of other Scientology initiatives in the area. But more than 15 years after the Ideal Org program began, and with more than 60 of the new churches opened, there is no evidence that they are helping Scientology grow. In fact, evidence suggests that the church has continued to shrink since 2003, and is down to only about 20,000 members around the world.

— Scientology will pretend that its new facility will benefit not only Scientologists but Columbus as a whole. But if that were true, why does it keep the public away from the event with the use of strategically placed potted plants or other temporary boundaries, and bar reporters from attending? If the Columbus org follows form, within a few months it will be nearly always empty and will have no effect on the city at all.

— How does Scientology get local political figures to take part in the grand opening? Some emails obtained by a reporter in San Diego show how Scientology starts working on local politicians months before the event, trying to get them to participate. As we showed in our video, in past years Scientology has managed to convince some big city mayors and a few members of Congress to take the bait, but that’s getting tougher in more recent years. Expect a former city manager from one of the suburbs to make a short speech today and maybe a couple of “interfaith” figures.

For last year’s opening in Detroit, we put together a video which goes over the basic facts about an Ideal Org ceremony. Every point we make in it also applies to Columbus, and it’s only a little over two minutes long…

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Meanwhile, in Canada…

 
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Source Code

“Down in Arizona they put an H-bomb nine feet below the ground and blew it up. Why? To find out if it’d lift dust? Well, it certainly did!….In 1947 it was very easy to run an engram. Even in early 1950 it was still fairly easy to run an engram, but it was a little harder. By the end of ’50 it was getting difficult to run engrams. In 1951 we had to beef up our processes like mad in order to run an engram cleanly. By 1952 we were beginning to run into nothing but whole track. 1953, we just had to look for other processes than engram running. And we had to look hard, and we looked into exteriorization. In ’54, in ’55 and in ’56 we have actually been researching further and further, into more and more powerful techniques. Why?….People haven’t changed, have they? Not at all. We even see a difference of techniques which, run two or three years ago, don’t work very well today. This fascinating panorama has just unfolded before my view as a distinct possibility. And it may or may not be true, but it is certainly a distinct possibility, and there is a coordination here between the amount of radiation in the atmosphere and the difficulty of auditing a preclear.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 8, 1956

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“No wonder advance beings don’t say who they were after they reincarnate; so many of us are such extreme doubters; we very much want to hold onto our cushy positions as opinion leaders. To these kind, in their secretly held needs, their very self survival depends upon not having spiritual leaders other than themselves and their friends. This is how PTSs and SPs treat people who do good deeds. I say leave this Lafayette Hubbard alone, becoming silent in your doubts, unless you actually have evidence of tech fraud. Hubbard could have returned WITHOUT reveal but so many of us very much needed and wanted him to return, if for no other reason than we Scientologists are the scientists of the Science of Reincarnation and we ought to be able to publicly demonstrate a successful return that continues where he left off.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Monsanto made everybody fat, TV made everybody stupid, and the Internet made everybody crazy.”

 
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!

Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Is Tom Cruise buying up downtown Clearwater to create a Scientology entertainment mecca?
[TWO years ago] Scientology plan to shut road through its secretive ‘Int Base’ in California foiled again
[THREE years ago] It’s Election Day, but screw that — Chick Corea is finally superhuman thanks to Scientology!
[FOUR years ago] Up next for Scientology: Sending out Tom Cruise to put on a grand performance?
[FIVE years ago] The Heinlein Letters: What L. Ron Hubbard’s close friends really thought of him
[SIX years ago] The Tom Cruise Smear Machine: Accusations From His Deposition You Haven’t Heard
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology Excommunication: Documents the Church Usually Keeps Under Wraps
[NINE years ago] Scientology: The Now Religion!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on November 8, 2019 at 07:00

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