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 The last we heard in Laura DeCrescenzo’s four-year lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, the church lost an appeal to the California Supreme Court and had until July 2 to turn over Laura’s confidential confessional files — thousands of pages that she believes will bolster her case that she suffered abuse (including a forced abortion) as an employee of Scientology’s “Sea Org.”
Now, the church has filed a new motion, saying that it intends to appeal yet again — this time to the US Supreme Court — and even if it does ultimately give up Laura’s documents, it wants a protective order to keep Laura or her attorneys from sharing them with us — the public. Continue reading Scientology Doesn’t Want You to See Documents in Laura DeCrescenzo’s Forced-Abortion Lawsuit
 We hear it all the time — what happened to Tommy Davis and Jessica Feshbach?
There still seems to be a huge fascination for the two former Scientology media handlers, and why not? Take Tommy — he’s the good-looking son of actress Anne Archer, and for a few years he was thrust into prominence as the church’s main mouthpiece. He tangled with the likes of BBC reporter John Sweeney and New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright, and was the last Scientology official who would brave live television to do battle on behalf of the church. Jessica, meanwhile, gained her own notoriety as the shadow of Katie Holmes. The two became good friends, and Jessica was with Katie around the clock in part to shield the actress from nosy reporters and their impertinent questions about Tom Cruise and e-meters. And then, suddenly, the two vanished. What happened? Continue reading Tommy Davis & Jessica Feshbach: New Jobs and New Lives for Scientology’s Former Mouthpieces
 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.
After several weeks on the formidable PTS/SP course, we’re now moving on as Claire takes us into the sauna for a steaming. Claire, tell us about the “Purification Rundown.” CLAIRE: I did the Purif when I was 14 at the Beverly Hills mission. The first part of it is studying the theory behind it. And the “EP” — end phenomena, or result of the course — is “freedom from the harmful lasting effects of drugs and toxins.” Continue reading Precious Bodily Fluids: Scientology and the Purification Rundown
 Yuliya Keaton, from her Facebook account Scientology Watching is never dull, particularly when things get really weird, as they did this past week. Details are still sketchy, but apparently, in April a Florida woman named Yuliya Keaton who had once served in Scientology’s elite Sea Organization rejoined the group at its Los Angeles headquarters, but didn’t tell the church her real aim was to smuggle in recording devices to capture examples of abuse. On May 30, her plan was discovered. She has claimed in e-mails and Internet postings that she was held in a hotel room and interrogated by church officials for several days. On June 4, the church sent out legal threat letters by e-mail to at least two church critics, accusing them of being in cahoots with Keaton. One of those accused was prominent ex-church member Karen de la Carriere. We have the letter the church sent her, as well as her response. Continue reading Scientology Goes After Critics With Legal Threat Letters Following Strange Infiltration
 Back in March, we had fun talking with historian Jon Atack about L. Ron Hubbard’s 1977 screenplay, Revolt in the Stars. At the time he wrote it, Hubbard was hiding out in Nevada after the FBI had raided Scientology in Los Angeles and Washington. We figure it must have irked him that Star Wars was raking in the big cash while being an homage to the throwback space opera that had once been Hubbard’s bread and butter. How could he not want to cash in?
Anyway, when we discussed the screenplay earlier, the only version of it we could find on line was in treatment form, not a proper script. Well, now we’ve managed to get our hands on the full screenplay itself (that’s the title page to the right), and it’s a real hoot. Continue reading Scientology Sunday Funnies, Revolt in the Stars Edition!
 Jon Atack is the author of 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, Jon sent us something special. We had been discussing the way former Scientologists seem to need years away from the church before they can shake off their conditioning. That prompted Jon to write for us this remarkable essay about what motivated him to come back into the public eye after many years under the radar. Continue reading Jon Atack on Why It’s So Hard To Recover From Scientology
 You’ve probably heard by now about the brilliant Scientology parody “Cheer Up Will Smith.” Pulled off by (we’d guess) some Times Square stand-up comedians (the place is lousy with ’em), the parody consists of a website, numerous videos, and even some in-real-life fliers posted in Times Square itself.
The stunt appeared in the wake of Will Smith’s dismal new movie After Earth, which not only performed below expectations at the box office on its opening weekend, but endured a shellacking by critics who couldn’t help noting its thematic similarities with Scientology. Continue reading Cheering Up Will Smith, and A Survey For You SPs!
 Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, lawyer, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
Vance, we’ve reached another marathon chapter in this book, “Mechanisms and Aspects of Therapy.” We were surprised to see that this chapter begins with a few paragraphs about extra-sensory perception — ESP. But in fact, Hubbard only brings it up in order to debunk it, in particular the person who says he can remember his time in the fetus with views from outside his mother’s body. Continue reading Dianetics Has No Patience for ESP or Telepathy — That’s Pseudoscience!
 Here comes the voodoo! One of our tipsters forwarded to us an e-mail that will be all too depressingly familiar to our longtime readers. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Scientology is leaping on the chance to take advantage of another natural disaster to promote itself. In this case, Texas Scientologists are being urged to head to Oklahoma, the site of several recent deadly tornadoes. Once they get there, the “volunteer ministers” will do what they’ve done in places like New York after 9/11 and Haiti after its big earthquake: set up yellow tents and pretend to be useful by giving out “touch assists” — running their fingers over people as if it were a form of faith healing — and handing out Scientology booklets. Continue reading Just What Oklahoma Tornado Victims Need: Scientology to the Rescue!
 Attorney Jeff Harris (center) and his partners Stephen Lowry (left) and Darren Penn. Photo by Chris Dunn. This morning, attorney Jeff Harris filed a blockbuster class-action lawsuit that alleges fraud and civil racketeering endemic to Scientology’s drug rehab program, Narconon. With seven plaintiffs included and more to come, the lawsuit not only names Narconon Georgia and its umbrella non-profit corporations — Narconon International and the Association of Better Living and Education — but also the Religious Technology Center, the Church of Scientology’s controlling entity. This suit, more than others before it, aims to connect Scientology and Narconon in a relationship of deceit: “The Defendants direct staff members and salespeople to lie about, misrepresent, or otherwise conceal Narconon’s connection to Scientology.” Continue reading CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT ALLEGING FRAUD FILED AGAINST SCIENTOLOGY AND NARCONON
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The last we heard in Laura DeCrescenzo’s four-year lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, the church lost an appeal to the California Supreme Court and had until July 2 to turn over Laura’s confidential confessional files — thousands of pages that she believes will bolster her case that she suffered abuse (including a forced abortion) as an employee of Scientology’s “Sea Org.”
