INSIDER: How Scientology’s ‘Ideal Org’ scam works, and how members are victimized by it

 
Our insider is back with another message for us. This time they’re giving us a behind-the-scenes look at David Miscavige’s ‘Ideal Org’ program, which began around 2003, and only came to a halt in 2020 because of the pandemic. Some of this we had learned through other sources: Paul Burkhart exposed the financial scams underwriting the Ideal Orgs when he appeared on Leah Remini’s series, and Rod Keller pointed out that the first year after an Ideal Org opens it tends to win the Birthday Game. And now, it’s great to have this confirmation from a source still inside the church.

 
David Miscavige’s greatest “gift” to Scientology is the Ideal org program. It’s such an incredibly successful scam, I almost don’t believe he came up with it.

It has single-handedly changed the face of Scientology. But not in the way the Scientologists have been led to believe. And not for the reasons given to the public Scientologists who went into extraordinary levels of debt to pay for it.

What Scientologists are told, is that the Ideal Org program is the “Solution to global expansion.” By this metric, the entire thing is a monumental failure. The buildings are empty. The stats are horrific. But if we examine the actuality of every Ideal Org, it becomes quite clear that global expansion isn’t the goal.

To illustrate that, I think it’s necessary to explain the process. The life cycle of an Ideal Org can be broken down into five steps:

1) Fund raising
2) Recruitment
3) Grand Opening
4) First 1-2 years after opening
5) Everything after that

1) Fundraising

All Ideal Orgs start as either a Mission or a Class V organization. In the case of Class V, most of these organizations are small (15 to 20 Staff) and have less than 100 active Public. Missions are usually smaller.

This small group is expected to raise anywhere from $10 million to $25 million for the purchase and renovation of a new building. The timeline on raising that money is typically about a decade. There is an incredible fervor that gets built up around the Ideal Org when you’re in the fundraising stage. Sea Org fund raisers are there helping.

You’re being told whatever you need to hear to get that money. Many become convinced that “my org will be different,” despite full well knowing that other extant Ideal Orgs aren’t doing well. But in the moment, it’s everything. You WANT to believe that things will get better.

Many people have gone into crushing debt to fund the program. They do it for “their org.” But it’s not really theirs. All the money they donate is controlled by management. And they ultimately have the final say on the building itself, the renovations, and the style choices; down to the carpet.

But what the public members really don’t know is the actual cost, versus how much they paid. For instance, much of the Scientology related signage, and all the books and materials are produced in house. It’s made by Sea Org members, working for pennies an hour. Yet they charge the public full price for the materials, to put in the building they paid for. As well as charging hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars for signs that cost a couple hundred to a few thousand to make.

If the actual cost exceeded 40 percent of the total funds raised, I would be surprised. It’s likely less. The rest of that money goes right up to management. Management gets a building and millions of dollars.

Once the funds are secured, there’s a big party and everyone (wrongly) believes that it’s finally over. They can take a break and wait for their new org to open, having given everything and then some. WRONG. Because the next step is…

 
2) Recruitment

Remember that the public just paid millions for the building and the renovations. Yet now they’re told that they also have to join staff and run the org. Most object to this, but many will join.

However, the staffing requirements for the org is something like 75 to 100 staff per shift (day and night). So at a minimum, they need to recruit 150 people. In many cases, if 100 percent of the public joined staff, it still wouldn’t be enough. Plus then there would be no one left to service. Hardly any new people are coming in. Eventually they resort to recruiting from all over the country and the world. There were some orgs manned up with a majority of R1 staff (meaning they’re foreigners working on a religious visa).

Often times they will go after staff of an existing org. Sometimes even going as far as outright ordering other Ideal Orgs to send staff. It’s not about the continued success of the Ideal Org, it’s just about the process. Management makes more money opening a new Ideal Org than they would from years’ worth of dues paid from an existing Ideal Org. So the Staff come from all over. Never mind what they may have been promised to get them there. They’re there now.

All staff sign either a 2.5 year or 5 year contract. Remember that for later. This step is hell on the public. It usually takes a year or so and is done mostly by a Sea Org mission sent specifically for that purpose. These people have just given everything, and now they’re told it’s not enough that you have given us the all this money, give us 2.5 or 5 years of your life as well. Many of the posts required are highly technical. You can’t just grab anyone, you need trained Auditors, Supervisors, etc. These take years to train.

So, most Ideal Orgs open either without adequate staff, or with staff ripped off from somewhere else that desperately needed them.

3) Grand Opening

The moment that everyone has even waiting for! It’s a big deal. There’s public speakers, live music, guests from all over the world. It’s all very exciting.

Miscavige gets on stage and talks about how amazing this new org is. He even meets with some of the people that donated. If you gave $100,000, it will buy you a handshake. $1 Million and up gets you a few minutes with him.

The entire thing is filmed and used by management to further encourage the other Non-IDEAL orgs to finish their fundraising, and to convince the public at large that Scientology is growing.

It’s not.

 
4) First 1-2 years after opening

There’s always a Sea Org mission at the new Ideal Org for the first one to two years. They’re there to make sure that things don’t fall apart too immediately.

There’s this thing that L Ron Hubbard created called the “Birthday Game.” Basically, it’s a point based game that all orgs play in competition with each other. Every year on LRH’s birthday in March, they announce the winners.

The thing about this game that makes it so devious is that you earn points based on whether or not the statistics for that week is “up” or not. It doesn’t matter by how much it went up, or the total amount. It only has to go up for points to be earned.

For example, let’s say we have two orgs, A and B.

Org A sold 20 books last week, and 19 books this week.

Org B sold 0 books last week, and 1 book this week.

Org B would earn points while Org A would not.

This creates a completely false model of production. It makes it very hard to tell who’s actually producing, and makes it look like everyone has a chance, because it heavily favors the underdog.

This game is very important to staff members. They play for blood. But when a new Ideal Org opens, they automatically get 200 points in the birthday game – which guarantees they will win that year. This of course trivializes the entire game. Again, this creates a completely false scene. It looks like the org is booming (they must be, they won the birthday game) when in reality, they don’t have to do much. This is when you see images coming from that new Ideal Org with people celebrating their “Highest Ever” stats (see the various images with this piece). It’s a fleeting moment when the Ideal Org seems to be peaking. But that lasts only a short moment.

The Sea Org mission that’s there are usually such hard slave drivers that after two years, the staff are burned out. That’s when the mission typically leaves.

Remember how we talked about a 2.5 or 5 year contract? Well now, maybe 2/3 or more of your staff are months from their contracts ending. Virtually no new staff have been recruited to replace them. You’re screwed. And remember, management got out of there. It’s not their problem. It’s your problem now. And believe me, anything that goes wrong will be blamed on the local staff.

A staff of 150 people may lose half or more in a period of a couple months. Everyone signed on at the same time, so everyone finishes at the same time. It becomes a desperate scramble to hold on to them. This just creates further upset among the already burned out staff.

All that’s left is…

 
5) Everything after that

After the two year mark these organizations almost uniformly become insolvent. Some of these buildings have electric bills in the thousands alone, not to mention all the other running costs.

An org that opened with 150 staff will typically have half of that within 2.5 years, and within 5, will have been whittled down to anywhere from 10-25 staff – if they’re lucky. Occasionally they’ll get a a Sea Org Mission thrown their way. They come in, treat everyone like crap. Tell them what a bad job they’ve been doing. And then leave.

But please understand: This is how the program is designed. It nets them more cash to open a new org than 10 years of production from an existing org. It’s not about keeping the org going. It’s just about opening new ones. It’s like a weird Ponzi scheme, but the only person making any money is the Church of Scientology.

None of the Ideal Orgs are successful because they’re not meant to be. It’s not about bringing new people in, it’s about catering to the existing few in order to convince them to give everything to the Church. And they do! That’s the actual purpose of the Ideal Org program.

Miscavige claims that it’s about expanding Scientology, but if that were true, they could have paid for every Ideal Org on the planet in cash. It’s NOT about that. This is obvious to anyone who’s never been in, and to those who get out. But to those in Scientology, the Ideal Org is everything. That’s why it’s such a brilliant scam.

It preys on people desire for things to improve. Scientologists really believe they can save the world. Most of them are decent people and want to help. And the Church takes advantage of this. The scam is perpetuated by the staff themselves. They don’t want to admit how bad things are. So they put on a good PR front.

“Highest Ever” stats are promoted to the slightly more than 18,000 members of the Scientologists group on Facebook. But the Y axis of the graph is always conveniently obscured. You can’t see how much production there is. So even though the graph may look like it’s shooting off the top of the paper, the range could be so low that it’s virtually meaningless.

The cost of running the org is so high that even if the org has a “big GI” week, they’re so starved for cash and so behind on the bills, that the staff hardly sees any of it. Combine that with general bad treatment, and making it incredibly difficult to leave staff – even if you’ve completed your contract – and you end up with an organization that churns people up and spits them out.

That’s what the Ideal Org does. This is the life cycle of every Ideal Org. Any other stated intentions, like many things in Scientology, is a lie to perpetuate the scam.

And with COVID, they’re worse off than ever.

— An Insider

 
Continuing our year in review: The stories of March 2021

Early in March we put out the word that on L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday (March 13), Marc Headley would be leading a tour of Clearwater with Ted the Tour Guide. Any excuse for a party.

A number of constitutional scholars sent a letter to the California appeals court, supporting the appeal petition by Danny Masterson’s accusers.

On March 7, we continued our list of Scientology enablers that had started the summer before. Now we were up to #5, which we awarded to the church’s dirty tricks private eyes.

The next day, BOOM: Our first new video of Shelly Miscavige in years. It was from 2001, the same San Francisco mission opening that we wrote about in January. And wow, how thrilling to see such clear shots of Shelly, some four years before she disappeared.

We then got word that the state appeals court had denied the petition of Danny Masterson’s accusers but they set their sights on the state supreme court.

On March 15 we reported the surprising news that Steve Fishman had managed to get out of prison, years before he was originally scheduled to be released. He credited Paulette Cooper for helping him get out of a facility that was a Covid nightmare.

The next day we had yet another reminder that information that people entrusted with Marty Rathbun has now found its way into Scientology’s hands.

Ted Reinhard and his Cult City Tours got a drubbing by the Tampa Bay Times, and we asked him about it.

It was in March that we learned the horror of kids being scheduled for liver transplants because they’d ingested ‘Real Water,’ a scam by longtime Scientologist and politician Brent Jones in Nevada. The government shut down Jones permanently, but we’re still waiting to see if he pays an even bigger penalty.

Clearwater’s city council laid into Tour Guide Ted, telling him they hated the name of his enterprise — ‘Cult City Tours’ — and that they didn’t like his petty behavior toward restaurants that didn’t want his patronage.

The next day, we scooped the tabs and reported that Walking Dead actress and Scientologist Alanna Masterson had gotten hitched in a stealthy wedding.

On March 21, we reported that ABC Mouse honcho Doug Dohring was being celebrated by Scientology for forking out another $10 million, this time for construction of the new “LRH Hall” planned for the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida.

More fallout from ‘Cult City Tours’: A tour guest, Bob Harris, 76, was booked by Clearwater Police for damaging Scientology surveillance cameras with a laser.

And here was kind of a wild contrast: At nearly the same time that a think tank was naming Scientology/Nation of Islam figure Rizza Islam one of the twelve worst online sources of vaccine disinformation in the country, ABC was giving him a platform to blather about Louis Farrakhan.

With more than a month to go, we began previewing why Danny Masterson’s preliminary hearing scheduled for May was going to be a nightmare for the Church of Scientology (which turned out to be spot-on).

And we finished up the month of March by naming the LAPD to be Scientology’s fourth most helpful enabler.

 
A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2020: Grant Cardone pushing pushing bogus stem cell cures. David Miscavige was briefly scheduled for a deposition. Danny Masterson’s accusers spoke out in sworn declarations. The pandemic arrives and cancels the L. Ron Hubbard birthday event. Mark Bunker gets elected to city council in Clearwater. We got our hands on David Miscavige’s secret briefing for Scientologists calling the pandemic a “planetary bullbait.”

A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2019: R.M. Seibert made the entertaining Scientology-US Government-NY Yankees connection. Evidence that Tom Cruise and John Travolta both attended the LRH Birthday event. Sunny Pereira remembers when Lisa Marie Presley brought Michael Jackson into the Celebrity Centre. The London Org sends out an auditor training success story by Isabella Cruise. Man (later identified as Brian Statler) is shot dead at the Inglewood Ideal Org.

A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2018: Scientology TV finally debuted, and featured David Miscavige in a short monologue. That same night, Leah Remini asked ‘Where’s Shelly?’ on the Aftermath. Arnie Lerma shot his wife in the face and then turned the gun on himself. And we learned that Kirstie Alley had achieved OT 8.

A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2017: Scientologist actor Danny Masterson was under investigation for multiple rapes. Joy Villa mulled a run for Congress. We caught Marty Rathbun helping his old nemesis, the Church of Scientology, in a court case. We traced Marty’s dramatic arc from Scientology critic to Scientology attack dog. Leah Remini turned out to have helped finance the Scientology/NOI dance. Kuba Ka charmed us in a lengthy interview. And Reza Aslan laid an egg.

A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2016: Attorney Ken Dandar dodges a million-dollar bullet. Tabatha Fauteux’s boyfriend tells us what really happened in her death while training for Scientology’s Narconon network. Belgium blows its prosecution of the church. And the saga of former Scientology helper cop, Skip Young.

A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2015: Federal Judge James Whittemore hamstrung the Garcia fraud lawsuit with a stunning ruling, we dug up even more evidence that L. Ron Hubbard used the threat of “R2-45” to intimidate former church members, Paul Haggis gave us his thoughts as Alex Gibney’s Going Clear debuted on HBO, and we got to hear Sylvia DeWall being declared an SP while it was happening,

A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2014: John Travolta mangled Idina Menzel’s name at the Oscars. We interviewed Russell Miller as his book Bare-Faced Messiah came back in print after 27 years. Jillian Schlesinger told us her gripping story of escape from the Sea Org.

A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2013: We had fun with SMERSH Madness. We leaked Sea Org life histories. Narconon Arrowhead CEO Gary Smith lost his professional certification.

 
Five of our favorites from the most-upvoted comments of March 2021

March 7: Puget Buckeye

The way I understand it, there’s more than a few PI’s that CoS has used. PI’s that don’t have any morals, who can be bought. So once CoS has cut them loose, broken up with them, what’s to keep these fine upstanding citizens from rolling over on COB? Or are they still getting a little stipend every now and then to continue to keep their mouths shut?

March 9: Newiga

I feel so much agony on behalf of these brave ladies. They’ve been through horrible abuse and harassment and yet are still courageous enough to seek justice and this is what they get? Image how many victims are afraid to come forward when the rulings are like these.

March 11: Mat Pesch

The public Scientologists might think it’s “cool” having Dave move into Clearwater but I can guarantee you it’s not how the Sea Org members see it. For the Sea Org members at Flag, they are like a bunch chickens that just had a rabid fox move into the coup. The new staff won’t understand that right away but the reality won’t take long. Poor bastards. P.S. When ever Dave is on stage he has his attack dogs strategically located and observing the audience. They are looking for any BIs (bad indicators) like someone not acting enthusiastic enough, not clapping long enough, etc. Those individuals are noted, interrogated and punished.

March 18: Observer

If you don’t want businesses naming themselves Cult City Tours, how about you stop kowtowing to a cult that’s trying to make your city their city? Seems pretty simple to me.

March 19: J. Swift

Best wishes to Alanna and Paul. The couple needs to to buy a third pillow because Scientology is always the third person in the wedding bed. A KR pad on the nightstand is handy to write up any pillow talk that becomes natter or disaffection.

 
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Did you know you can get an email every morning when we post our daily Scientology story? We know some of the folks who come to the Underground Bunker aren’t here to talk about the politics of the day, and that’s why we created a daily politics feature over at our other blog, The Lowdown, and we ask readers to take their political discussions over there. And if you drop us a line at tonyo94 AT gmail, we’ll put you on the list so you get a morning reminder that a new Scientology story has been posted — and only for our Scientology stories.

 
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Source Code

“Every language has a basic word for ‘accept’ and a basic word for ‘reject’ which allows for no argument. Whereas they do have differences on such a thing as ‘associate.’ Look what Freud did with ‘associate.’ I’m being awfully hard on the old man this morning. There’s no reason to be hard on the guy, he actually was the entering wedge into psychotherapy. But I’m young and cocky and I didn’t have to write ‘Psychoanalysis: Terminable and Interminable.’ I didn’t have to write that. I will never have to write something, now, I know very well, called ‘Dianetics: Terminable or Interminable.’ Apathy, apathy. Imagine a guy beating the drum, beating the drum all those years, having to sit down and write that essay. This was one of the last essays he wrote. He knew he had failed before he died, which is the saddest thing that can happen to any man.” — L. Ron Hubbard, December 23, 1954

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“The boot top and hull need squaring up. The gold stripe and the gold name should be handled quickly. She should be prettied up for Christmas and the New Year. She is a very nice ship. Almost any other ship would leap about madly in the seas in which we run. She is also a very pretty ship and looks more like a yacht than most yachts do.” — The Commodore, December 23, 1970

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“I think us Scios need to look after our bodies and live longer as there’s a bit of a problem with div 6 in the Scientology world and until we have a healthy influx on new bodies into Scientology regularly, until the div 6 problem has been handled, we are going to have to make sure the bodies we’ve got are around for as long as possible. Like til you’re 120, no joke, and I actually expect more than that. This is vital for Scientology ATM. So to do this there are great supplements available, I take: Astaxanathin, Niacin, Reishi tea (so happy I can drink a supplement, so good), Alex Jones’s DNA Force, White Powder Gold and Resveratrol. Just a bit of this stuff everyday forever will stop the body from aging….Our bodies have been designed to age and die, they’ve been programmed to by SPs. Well, we can get around this. Intelligent, awake people need to live as long as possible. This is not negotiable unless you want to get a new body sometime soon which might be right for you, but for the rest of us, we ain’t gonna die and we are gonna make Scientology a game for many more.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1997: The Sonora, California Union Democrat reports that Scientology is developing an abandoned mine there for use as a storage vault. “The Church of Spiritual Technology has been blasting at the Lady Washington Mine, 18749 First Avenue, for several weeks and recently finished gunniting about 108 feet of tunnel. Plans filed with the Tuolumne County Building Department show a 15-foot-wide, 250-foot-long-tunnel. The first 98 feet from the entrance are improved, with a 10.5-foot domed ceiling. At the end of the 98 feet is a 10-foot-long storage room. The plans show the rest of the tunnel to be unimproved. The value of the finished project, according to the building permit, is $210,000. The church has also applied for a permit to build a generator building, but that permit has not yet been approved. The Lady Washington Mine and two houses on 26.23 acres were purchased in 1988 by William and Donna Daniels. They bought six parcels in all. Part of the land was sold by William Trimmer, and the rest by Drew Reeves. In 1988, the Daniels gave the property to Norman Starkey, trustee of ‘Author’s Family Trust.’ Starkey gave the property to the Church of Spiritual Technology in 1993.”

 
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Random Howdy

“One of the few things I appreciate about the cult is their retro-ness.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next hearing set for February 8. Trial scheduled for August 29, 2022.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), false imprisonment, aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Next hearing scheduled for January 18.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference January 22 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for February 11.
— Joseph ‘Ben’ Barton, Medicare fraud: Pleaded guilty, awaiting sentencing.

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Eleventh Circuit affirmed ruling granting Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Garcias considering next move.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ US Supreme Court denied Valerie’s petition Oct 4.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: California Supreme Court granted review on May 26 and asked the Second Appellate Division to direct Judge Steven Kleifield to show cause why he granted Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Oral arguments held November 2, awaiting a ruling.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9, 2020 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for June 28, 2022.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Case appealed on Dec 23. Appeal hearing held Aug 23-27. Awaiting a ruling.

 
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON

We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.

LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH

An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.

SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z

Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

 
Other links: SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. 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 a weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Political dupe of the day: KC councilman helps Scientology front group with ‘murder’ signs
[TWO years ago] Bernie Headley, 1952-2019: A man who fought against Scientology’s ‘disconnection’
[THREE years ago] Scientology’s smear machine hurting your reputation? For $1,500 they can help with that.
[FOUR years ago] A look back at the month when all hell broke loose for Scientology and Danny Masterson
[FIVE years ago] LAPD needs two more weeks to respond to Leah Remini about missing wife of Scientology leader
[SIX years ago] Scientology’s 2015 in review: In March, HBO went Clear while we eavesdropped on Flag
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology hit with 25th lawsuit by Las Vegas attorney as he goes after Florida rehab
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology’s mecca wants you to come to Florida and run circles around a pole
[NINE years ago] Scientology’s 2012 in Review: Debbie Cook Makes Us Remember the Alamo
[TEN years ago] Scientology on the High Seas: Yuletide Cheer, Including Dickens Adapted with Evil Psychs
[TWENTY-TWO years ago] Double Crossed (the Graham Berry story)

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 23, 2021 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, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), 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, 15 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

 

Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast