The shocking news about Kelly Preston’s breast cancer death at 57 has led to public outpourings of grief and tributes to the actress, who was married to actor John Travolta and, like him, was a longtime and very dedicated Scientologist.
So we wondered what Scientology members were saying about her untimely demise. Our source, who is on a Scientology social media feed, has been helpful in the past to bring us some sense of what Scientologists are saying to each other on the Internet.
What we learned was that church members are posting seemingly heartfelt tributes to the actress, and we’ve selected some of them for you to see.
It’s another matter, however, when it comes to Benjamin Keough, Lisa Marie Presley’s 27-year-old son who ended his life with a gunshot to the chest early Sunday morning at his mother’s Calabasas home. Keough grew up in Scientology, but left it around 2014 when his mother did. We reported that just two months ago, a close family friend told us, “Ben had been talking about how fucked up kids get in Scientology.”
We wondered what Scientologist might be saying about it on that private feed, and our source tells us, after looking through days of postings and pages and pages of comments, “Not one single word about Lisa Marie Presley’s son.”
It’s kind of amazing how well Scientologists can police themselves when it comes to “entheta,” or negative information about the church.
——————–
Bonus items from our tipsters
Pandemic or no pandemic, the fundraising for Ideal Orgs must go on. We haven’t seen one of these super-long flyers in a while, and it’s really kind of fun to see one again…
——————–
“Man, in the past, every time he got up along the strata of trying to evaluate data, would get up to some point and say, ‘Above this point it is just God, and God did everything from here on down and you can’t go any further than that.’ Then he would push back the frontier of knowledge just a little bit further and he would say, ‘Beyond that is God. God starts right in here,’ and he would use that to evaluate data. This is somewhat unworkable because there are not two data. That is why man was having trouble. But there was a second datum there all the time: there was the devil. This fits in with the double-data system. The basic unit of knowledge is two. You have to know there is a man before you can know whether or not a man can be aberrated or not aberrated. How do we describe the devil? The devil is evil and God is good. We can describe, then, and we can get some conception of magnitude, of comparative data and of value. It is very simple. ” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 16, 1951
——————–
“As I progressed in Scientology training and auditing my own understanding of telepathy increased. A really interesting instance was just last night, as I watched my dog sleeping in her bed. She was dreaming and her body was twitching and she was even doing muffled barks in her sleep. I easily picked up and saw the dream she was having, could easily see the pictures and feel her reactions to them. I acknowledged her (not vocally), and she settled down and slept peacefully from then on. Never would I have thought I could read the thoughts (or dreams) of animals, but it is now becoming clear that OT is very different to what I had originally thought it was. I know what I know.”
——————–
“If the government simply enforced the already existing laws we wouldn’t even be here.”
——————–
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 August 27 in White Plains, NY
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Next pretrial conference set for Jan 12 in Los Angeles
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments set for August 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: Sept 4 (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, trial set for Nov 9, 2021
——————–
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?
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] It’s not hard to figure out where L. Ron Hubbard came up with Scientology’s space cooties
[TWO years ago] Saturday on L. Ron Hubbard Way — Scientology rolled out its sneaky focus on minorities
[THREE years ago] Scientology’s ‘Drug-Free’ influence-peddling plans for New York on August 1, in detail
[FOUR years ago] Scientology’s appeal denied, trial date to be set in forced-abortion lawsuit
[FIVE years ago] Leah Remini’s ex-Scientology friends rock TLC — and our interview with one of them
[SIX years ago] Camilla Andersson goes public after 29 years in Scientology’s inner elite
[SEVEN years ago] Claire Headley Wonders, Was Kirstie Alley Doing Scientology’s “Doubt Formula?”
[EIGHT years ago] Breaking Away from the Church of Scientology: Reading Marty Rathbun’s Manifesto
[NINE years ago] Scientology Is Not Happy With “Inside Scientology”
——————–
Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,000 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,504 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,024 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,044 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 935 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,242 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,110 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,884 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,688 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,004 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,570 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,489 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,657 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,238 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,499 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,537 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,250 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,775 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,305 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,865 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,005 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,325 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,180 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,299 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,655 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,958 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,064 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,466 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,338 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,921 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,416 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,670 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,779 days.
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on July 16, 2020 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
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)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | 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 | Shelly Miscavige, 14 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
