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 The last time Scientology denied forced disconnection — with Tommy Davis on CNN in 2008 — it backfired badly Scientology is spinning as madly as it can. Today, in order to deal with an avalanche of bad news about Leah Remini’s defection, the Church of Scientology put out a statement denying that it forces members to disconnect from each other when it excommunicates someone — or, in church parlance, declares them a suppressive person. Here’s the church’s statement: “Contrary to myths spouted by…anti-Scientologists, the Church cannot and does not ‘order’ any parishioner to disconnect. Such a decision always has been and remains a deeply personal choice made entirely by the individual. This has been spelled out clearly on our website for years.” Here we go again. In 2008, Scientology’s then-spokesman, Tommy Davis, went on CNN and denied that families were subjected to disconnection. That shocked people like Paul Haggis, who knew that his own family had experienced the toxic policy. We’ve talked to many former church members who say Davis’s performance on CNN helped convince them to turn their backs on the church. Continue reading Scientology Claims No Forced “Disconnection” — So Tell Us About Yours
[Never before published photo of Shelly Miscavige courtesy of Claudio and Renata Lugli.]
One of the most intriguing mysteries of the Church of Scientology is the disappearance of Shelly Miscavige, wife of the church’s leader, David Miscavige. A frequent refrain heard from critics of the church is “Where’s Shelly?” — and that question is also central to the recent defection of Leah Remini, who began to break away from the church when she didn’t get a satisfactory answer. Continue reading SHELLY SPEAKS: Scientology Leader’s Banished Wife Says She’ll Get Out “Only One Way”
 Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
Claire, with your help we’ve learned something about the courses that Scientologists go through on their journey up the Bridge to Total Freedom. We’ve learned about staring contests and study technology and shattering suppression and the Purification Rundown, to name a few. What’s next? CLAIRE: Next up is the Scientology Ethics Specialist course. While not officially a step on the Bridge, it’s a step that every Scientologist does. Also, it has some connection to what we’ve been hearing this week about Leah Remini and Kirstie Alley. THE BUNKER: Do tell! Continue reading Claire Headley Wonders, Was Kirstie Alley Doing Scientology’s “Doubt Formula?”
The Underground Bunker has learned that Scientology celebrities have received their marching orders from the Hollywood Celebrity Centre: They cannot be “in comm” with Leah Remini after we broke the news last week that she has left the church. Continue reading Scientology Celebrities Told Leah Remini is “Not in Good Standing,” Are Ordered to “Disconnect”
Last week, the Church of Scientology claimed in a filing to federal Judge James Whittemore that it needed to depose Boston resident Brian Culkin in Massachusetts because the yoga teacher was too afraid to attend an evidentiary hearing scheduled for September 26 in Tampa, Florida. Culkin feared for his life, the church said, because of nasty comments made at this blog and other reactions after Culkin signed a declaration that the church used to complicate a federal fraud lawsuit brought against the church by Luis and Rocio Garcia of Irvine, California. But now Culkin has hired San Antonio attorney Ray Jeffrey, who has won two recent high-profile cases against Scientology, and Jeffrey has filed a scathing letter that may have left Scientology’s motion in tatters. Continue reading REVERSE WARRIOR: Brian Culkin Hires Ray Jeffrey, Blasts Scientology in Court Filing
 In June, Atlanta attorney Jeff Harris filed a class-action lawsuit against Scientology and its drug rehab network, Narconon, with seven named plaintiffs who are alleging fraud, deceptive practices, and negligence.
Harris had earlier handled a wrongful death lawsuit against Narconon Georgia following the 2008 overdose death of Patrick Desmond, a patient and employee of the Atlanta-area rehab center. The lawsuit was settled this past February, but documents that Harris obtained helped launch ongoing local and state investigations of credit card and insurance fraud, and resulted in a raid of the facility by law enforcement agents. Now, Scientology is fighting back against the class-action lawsuit by having it removed to federal court and filing multiple motions to dismiss. We have the documents. Continue reading Scientology’s Drug Rehab Fights Class-Action Lawsuit With Move to Federal Court
 On Monday morning, we broke the news that Leah Remini was leaving the Church of Scientology over David Miscavige’s “corrupt management” of the organization.
It wasn’t until Thursday morning that the New York Post picked up the news and made it catch fire with the rest of the media. But well before the Post printed its story, celebrities in Scientology were scrambling to figure out how to deal with Remini’s departure. In particular, we’re told, Kirstie Alley was livid at Remini. Continue reading LEAH REMINI BLOWBACK: Kirstie Alley Calls for Scientology Celeb Strategy Session
 Our thanks to a sharp-eyed reader who brought to our attention an interesting page at the website of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The page contains an eclectic rundown of all the religious symbols the VA recognizes and will put on grave markers in our national cemeteries. If you’ve ever been in one of our national cemeteries, you may remember that some headstones carry symbols, some don’t, and you’ll see a lot of Christian crosses and Stars of David, and a few other types. We didn’t realize that there’s an official list of such symbols. And it’s interesting to see that the VA is rather catholic about it (lower-case “c”), with everything from Eckankar to Wicca to atheism (see photo, right) to the Hammer of Thor available for our fallen heroes of minority faiths (or no faith at all). Interestingly, there’s one symbol that is noticeably missing. Continue reading Someone Apparently Forgot to Notify the VA that Scientology is a Religion
 John McMaster A Piece of Blue Sky , one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He now has a new edition of the book out, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.This week, the media is buzzing about a woman who left the Church of Scientology after protesting the way it interrogates and discards people, and pits members against each other. Longtime Scientology watchers, however, know that these are not new concerns about the church. And Jon Atack makes that point by telling us what he went through when he left the church in 1984… Continue reading Leaving Scientology: Jon Atack Navigates the Labyrinth of Paranoia
 Now that “Pharyngula” author PZ Myers has spilled the beans, we can reveal that the University of Minnesota Morris biology professor will be joining us here as we read through L. Ron Hubbard’s epic 1952 work, A History of Man.
As we were nearing the end of our series with Vance Woodward blogging Hubbard’s 1950 masterpiece Dianetics, we looked ahead and thought it might be fun to give A History of Man similar treatment. And who, we wondered, would be best to help us analyze what Myers correctly characterizes as “Scientology’s version of evolution”? Why, an evolutionary biologist, of course! So we reached out to Myers, who was good enough to accept. As soon as we have a firmer idea for when our conversation on the book will appear, we’ll let you know. We have a feeling this is going to be a lot of fun. Continue reading Coming Soon to the Underground Bunker: PZ Myers!
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