Solid evidence presented here and at the blog of Scientology’s former spokesman, Mike Rinder, leave no doubt that Scientology is shrinking, and fast. Even loyal, longtime church members are becoming more reluctant to take part in David Miscavige’s desperate scheme to open new empty churches to give the impression that Scientology is expanding.
But you have to wonder, who’s left? Who’s still hanging in there as the collapse seems inexorably to be drawing near?
Well, a tipster let us know that recently Scientology’s “Advanced Org” in Copenhagen posted a set of new graduation videos. They’re short, but you get a pretty good sense of these enthusiastic folks being celebrated for getting suckered into paying big bucks achieving huge success.
These are your homo novi, circa 2014. Let’s dig in!
Mirka is just starting out, having completed the Key to Life course. She’s starting a totally new life!
Daniel is a staff member in Lisbon, Portugal. For some reason, he needed to come all the way to Copenhagen to sit in a sauna day after day.
Karl finished OT 5! He tells us that OT 5 is mindblowing. As we explained previously, this level is about removing the body thetans that you learned about on OT 3. Does Karl look like he’s relieved to have chased away hundreds of invisible alien entities that were attached to him?
Judy, a staff member at the Tel Aviv, has just blown through the Wall of Fire and survived! She can’t talk about what was revealed to her on OT 3, but she does her best to express her gratitude to LRH.
Tina’s so excited about clearing away body thetans on OT 5. It’s the best thing she’s done for herself in a billion years!
We’re glad that these folks are so happy with their progress, and it’s nice that L. Ron is still getting so much applause, 28 years after he left for Target Two!
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Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey spots Scientology in Ferguson
Scientology loves to show up at the scene of a natural or man-made disaster and hand out copies of its literature — in particular, its anodyne list of moral tenets, The Way to Happiness.
Yesterday, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (@jack) noticed that copies of the booklet were being handed out at the scene of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri. (Originally from St. Louis, Dorsey had announced that he was heading home to take a look at the scene for himself.)
He was amused to see Scientology trying to take advantage of the incident…
People are giving these booklets away. L. Ron and the Scientologists. #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/BQ77e9O905
— Jack (@jack) August 17, 2014
The Way to Happiness Foundation pumps out huge amounts of the publication, often with custom covers for certain groups or events. (In this case, custom covers were printed for the Stop the Killing Initiative in St. Louis, whose address is the same as a local Mohammad Mosque of the Nation of Islam.) We had seen a notice that they were on their way to Ferguson. But we doubt that they expected to be tweeted by someone with more than 2 million followers.
Scientologists make all sorts of claims about how distributing the booklet produces miraculous results. But what’s in the thing?
In 1981, Scientology’s reputation was in freefall. The FBI raid of 1977 had resulted in prosecutions of top Guardian Office executives, including L. Ron Hubbard’s wife, Mary Sue. Hubbard himself, fearing prosecution, went into permanent seclusion in 1980. And major exposes that year in Reader’s Digest and 60 Minutes left a lot of Americans wondering, just what did these Scientologists believe, anyway?
In February 1981, with Hubbard in hiding, a new initiative was announced inside the church. A slim booklet about “morals” would be produced in mass quantities under Hubbard’s name in order to slow society’s decline. And thus, The Way To Happiness, a list of 21 moral precepts, was born.
It’s easy to look at the precepts and chuckle at the hamfisted attempt to co-opt basic ethical concepts with such examples as “Do Not Murder” and “Try Not to Do Things To Others That You Would Not Like Them To Do To You.” It’s a harmless and inconsequential thing, intended mostly to improve L. Ron Hubbard’s image with the public.
Here they are. How does Scientology itself measure up to them?
1. Take Care of Yourself
2. Be Temperate
3. Don’t Be Promiscuous
4. Love and Help Children
5. HOnor and Help Your Parents
6. Set A Good Example
7. Seek to Live With the Truth
8. Do Not Murder
9. Don’t Do Anything Illegal
10. Support a Government Designed and Run For All the People
11. Do Not Harm a Person of Good Will
12. Safeguard and Improve Your Environment
13. Do Not Steal
14. Be Worthy of Trust
15. Fulfill Your Obligations
16. Be Industrious
17. Be Competent
18. Respect the Religious Beliefs of Others
19. Try Not to Do Things To Others That You Would Not Like Them To Do To You
20. Try to Treat Others As YOu Would Want Them To Treat You
21. Flourish and Prosper
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Mark Fisher on Miscavige’s rise to power
In another Surviving Scientology podcast, Jeffrey Augustine asks former Sea Org executive Mark Fisher how David Miscavige took control of the church…
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 18, 2014 at 07:00
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Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS (We read Scientology’s founding text) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
UP THE BRIDGE (Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN (Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING (Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49
PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
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