Who knew? Scientology Volunteer Ministers bring ‘spiritual’ aid to disasters & not just PR

 
For years we’ve been keeping an eye on Scientology’s attempts to take advantage of natural (and man-made) disasters as public relations opportunities with the use of their “Volunteer Minister” corps.

And the church did not disappoint when it came to the mother of all disasters, the coronavirus pandemic, as yellow-clad VMs were dispatched around the world to pretend that Scientology was actually helping out.

But what are Volunteer Ministers supposed to do, really? According to Scientology, “Volunteer Ministers are trained to help those in critical need, assisting emergency workers and disaster victims with logistics and ‘spiritual first aid’.”

The suggested “training” to be a VM consists of taking a series of 12 Scientology courses offered online by the Church. But looking at them, we have to wonder how any of these courses have any relevance to helping at the scene of a disaster…

 
These courses are not mandatory; any Scientologist can show up at a disaster in a VM shirt or jacket and deliver touch and nerve assists and help with logistics.

For years, this website has been documenting how the VMs descend on disaster scenes pretending to be helpful when all they really want to do is get in the way and take their pictures and videos.

Perhaps in response to these criticisms, there is a group calling itself Churches of Scientology Disaster Response (CSDR). To be a member of this team, the Church of Scientology must send its members to outside agencies as it has no in-house training capabilities in real world disaster response. CSDR members must therefore receive real-world training from FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and other agencies. Scientology’s CSDR website states:

The CERT Program educates individuals about disaster preparedness and trains and organizes teams of volunteers that can support their communities during disasters. The CERT Program offers training in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, and disaster medical operations. With proper CERT training, you can help protect your family, neighbors, and co-workers if a disaster occurs. Training is offered by local Fire Departments and by FEMA online.

The Church also refers Scientologists to other agencies for real-world training. This is from the Church CDSR website:

American Red Cross Training Courses
— Disaster Action Team (DAT)
— Shelter Management
— Feeding
— First Aid
— CPR

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Training is offered at American Red Cross training locations.

Chainsaw Training

The proper and safe operation of a chainsaw cannot be stressed enough, as can be seen in these helpful FEMA videos.

Contact CSDR for chainsaw trainers in your area.

POD (Points of Distribution) Training

Points of Distribution are centralized locations where the public picks up life sustaining commodities following a disaster or emergency.

The fact that Scientology must outsource real disaster training to real disaster agencies makes an argument for the case that the VM’s are, as alleged, nothing more than a PR function of the Church. It is unknown how many actual trained CSDR members exist. What we normally see is the Church hiring the acclaimed Mexican rescue team Los Topos to do the real work while VM’s act as gophers for the highly trained and skilled Los Topos experts. This is the same sort of procedure Golden Era Studios follows when it hires non-Scientology actors to play the roles of Scientologists in Scientology training films and commercials.

The typical modus operandi of Scientology is to get its VMs to the Points of Distribution where the emergency supplies and first responders are initially concentrated. The PODs provide the most photo-op rich targets and so it is natural for VMs to show up at the center of the action.

How do the Scientology VMs compare to other emergency relief organizations? From a FEMA directory which lists the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (NVOAD), the VMs describe their capabilities as follows:

 
When we benchmark Scientology’s VMs against a few real world-class disaster relief groups, we see that the VMs have no actual impressive heavy-lift capabilities as do these organizations:

 
Despite their lack of serious capabilities as the above listed organizations possess and can field at any emergency or disaster, the Volunteer Ministers are a lightweight self-promoting group. Nevertheless, this does not matter within the Church so long as the VMs keep Scientology major domo David Miscavige happy by sending him “Done Sir!” photos.

 
— Jeffrey Augustine

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

Dublin org is back in business!

 
And so is Paris!

 
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Source Code

“To date, I think I’ve lost something in the neighborhood of four or five hundred dollars treating patients by accidentally leaving change around while treating somebody I didn’t know was a kleptomaniac — it wasn’t part of the diagnosis. And I’ve had people halfway through to Clear all of a sudden put the money back in the drawer again. That was about the first time I learned about how, as people come up the line, their honesty level comes up too.” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 1, 1950

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Scientology is booby-trapped to the point where Scientologists are sometimes unable to confront and handle reverse Scientology in PT. False bridges are confronted and resolved as an integral component of life on earth and the dynamics beyond the 8th. That includes the two primary BTs plus the primary and secondary assumption of beingness for the current eternity. The person is neither and BTs are a lower level harmonic of relative states of beingness, encountered within this universe as BTs which reduce to functions of awareness.”

 
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Random Howdy

“People get distracted by the crazy convolutedness of the ‘Tech.’ At its core Scientology is simply a con game, a ‘long con.’ Hubbard just kept adding to his ‘Winchester Mystery House’ as he went along hoping the marks wouldn’t catch on. Unfortunately for D.M., Hubbard didn’t leave him much in the way of building materials.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Arraignment scheduled for September 18.
— Jay Spina, Medicare fraud: Sentencing is set for July 6 in White Plains, NY
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial set for October 7 in Los Angeles

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments set for July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Hearing on motion for reconsideration set for August 11
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: July 8 (plaintiff attorneys pro hac vice), August 31-Sept 1 (CSI/RTC demurrer against Riales, Masterson demurrer), Oct 7-19 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach bankruptcy appeal: Oral arguments were heard on March 11 in Jacksonville
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Amended complaint filed.

 
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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] Measles-free, Scientology’s cruise ship holds its annual ‘Maiden Voyage’ celebration
[TWO years ago] Scientology celebrates 30 years of duping wealthy people on the high seas!
[THREE years ago] HowdyCon: From “Squeeze My Cans,” Cathy Schenkelberg’s sexy Scientology sec-check!
[FOUR years ago] Scientology’s ‘Ideal’ program really reaching at this point as it eyes a city without an org
[FIVE years ago] Is David Miscavige really planning to extend Scientology’s ‘Bridge’?
[SIX years ago] Rathbun: ‘Scientology never endorsed anyone where there wasn’t a clear self-interest’
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology To Turn Over 18,000 Pages of Evidence to Laura DeCrescenzo on Tuesday
[EIGHT years ago] How Scientology Is Likely To Be an Issue in the Divorce of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise
[NINE years ago] Scientology and the Nation of Islam: A Heartwarming Independence Weekend Parable

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 1, 2020 at 07:00

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The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2019 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2019), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

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