Scientology’s new strategy for ex-members ignoring its letters: Sending out invoices

It’s one of those things that even the most casual Scientology watcher is well aware of: If you find yourself on Scientology’s mailing list, you may never get yourself off of it.

Continue reading Scientology’s new strategy for ex-members ignoring its letters: Sending out invoices

Justin Bieber in the octagon? Why he couldn’t handle Tom Cruise’s Scientology powers

[Newsweek won the competition for best Justin Bieber-Tom Cruise comparison with this shot]

Yesterday, the dumbest news story in our stupid era broke out and naturally the media fell all over itself covering it. In a Sunday night tweet, Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber, 25, challenged Tom Cruise, 56, to a fight “in the octagon,” and no one really knows why.

Continue reading Justin Bieber in the octagon? Why he couldn’t handle Tom Cruise’s Scientology powers

YouTube runs interference for Scientology and its Nation of Islam bigot problem

[Scientology Freedom Medal Award winner Tony Muhammad]

The Underground Bunker recently received a notice from YouTube that one of our videos has been taken down without recourse. We were informed that this removal will not count against us as a “strike,” but our video did not meet YouTube’s “community standards” and so it has gone poof into the ether without our even knowing it was being considered for deletion.

Continue reading YouTube runs interference for Scientology and its Nation of Islam bigot problem

Scientology in Sweden: A telling snapshot of a failed Ideal Org under pressure

God morgon. Today we take a look at Scientology’s footprint in Sweden — a country with more residents than any other Scandinavian country at nearly 10 million. Scientology opened the Malmö Ideal Org in 2009. It’s really in the municipality of Arlöv, north of the city and an odd choice for the first Swedish Ideal Org, because Malmö is the third largest city in the country with 320,000 residents.

Continue reading Scientology in Sweden: A telling snapshot of a failed Ideal Org under pressure

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard on nuclear radiation: It’s a state of mind

[Hubbard, circa 1957]

We were really knocked out by HBO’s miniseries, ‘Chernobyl,’ and so we thought it might be appropriate for our ‘Scientology Lit’ series if we take a look at L. Ron Hubbard’s notorious 1957 book, ‘All About Radiation.’ Referring to himself as a ‘nuclear physicist’ (he actually failed a course in ‘molecular and atomic physics’ at George Washington University in 1931 during his abortive college career), and a ‘medical doctor,’ Hubbard claimed generally that radiation’s danger was overblown and something Scientology counseling could easily deal with. We’ve chosen the chapter ‘Radiation and Scientology’ as a Fair Use look at the publication, and we’re looking forward to your thoughts about it.

Continue reading Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard on nuclear radiation: It’s a state of mind

Photo evidence which suggests, sadly, that Riley Keough has slipped back into Scientology

[Lisa Marie Presley and her three daughters]

In 2016, we had a wild story to tell you about Lisa Marie Presley. Through excellent sourcing, we learned that not only had Lisa Marie distanced herself from the Scientology she had grown up in, but she attempted to have a personal showdown with Scientology leader David Miscavige in Florida in October 2014.

Continue reading Photo evidence which suggests, sadly, that Riley Keough has slipped back into Scientology

‘Scientology is Security for South Africa’: How L. Ron Hubbard sought to prop up apartheid

[Hubbard and his Rhodesian staff]

South Africa is a country of extraordinary contrasts: Fertile savannahs and teeming cities, immense wealth and terrible poverty, multiracial idealism and ethnic violence. It’s also a place of striking contrasts in Scientology’s history. In the past few weeks, I’ve been traveling in this vast country and consulting state archives to piece together the story of Scientology in South Africa before the end of apartheid in 1990. They reveal a picture of how Scientology enthusiastically supported South Africa’s apartheid regime while walking a fine line in opposing the government’s favourable views towards psychiatry.

Continue reading ‘Scientology is Security for South Africa’: How L. Ron Hubbard sought to prop up apartheid

Scientology survey for its members: Why aren’t you giving us more money?

On Wednesday, we told you that the Hollywood Celebrity Centre had sent out a questionnaire to its members which suggested that a new series of Scientology books for children may be coming.

Continue reading Scientology survey for its members: Why aren’t you giving us more money?

Why is the YMCA helping spread Scientology to kids?

[The Speer Academy]

On Sunday, Mike Rinder posed a great question about the ongoing relationship between Scientology (which pretends it’s a force for human rights) and the Nation of Islam, a black nationalist movement whose leader, Louis Farrakhan, isn’t shy about demonizing whites and Jewish people.

Continue reading Why is the YMCA helping spread Scientology to kids?

Reader, can you help this father who wants to keep his son out of Scientology?

We get a lot of inquiries about Scientology here at the Bunker, but this one was different from any that we’d previously received. It’s a delicate situation, and rather than make our own suggestions, we proposed presenting this reader’s questions to our commenting community for feedback. He agreed to that idea.

Continue reading Reader, can you help this father who wants to keep his son out of Scientology?

Search