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Straight Up and Vertical: When is this jury going to deliver a result?

 After a morning off, deliberations in the Danny Masterson retrial will resume today at 1:30 pm here in Los Angeles. The jury will then have only a little more than two hours to reach a verdict today before the court takes tomorrow off []

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Chris Shelton talks again to the Masterson trial jury foreman — and his daughter

 I first heard from a woman in Los Angeles named Nina in []

The Insider speaks: Scientology’s recent crises, now in a podcast with Chris Shelton

 Late last year, we got some eye-opening reports on how hard the pandemic has been on Scientology from someone inside the organization. We dubbed them The Insider, and they told us about chaos caused by Covid, new details on the ‘Chase Wave’ financial debacle, a detailed description of the Ideal Org scam, and even told []

Scientology’s academic champion: An eager copyright attorney who shills with alacrity

[Scientology’s loving portrait of Introvigne, from Freedom magazine]

Today I am wrapping up my series of articles responding to Implicit Religion: The Journal for the Critical Study of Religion and the series of articles advocating for a new, more “enlightened” approach to studying Scientology in academia. In this week’s analysis, I am taking on the king []

Even apologist professors can’t ignore the recent tidal wave of ex-Scientologist memoirs

[Just some of the many memoirs published in recent years]

Chris Shelton continues his look at the state of ‘religious studies’ attitudes about Scientology by working through a new issue of the journal Implicit Religion. Go here for his first, second, third, and fourth []

Profs looking at tiny groups of American ‘indies’ miss Scientology’s big issues

 Chris Shelton continues his look at the state of ‘religious studies’ attitudes about Scientology by working through a new issue of the journal Implicit Religion. Go here for his first, second, and third []

Religion professor complains that no one wants to hear the good news about Scientology

 Chris Shelton continues his look at the state of ‘religious studies’ attitudes about Scientology by working through a new issue of the journal Implicit Religion. Go here for his first and second []

Is it really possible to study Scientology and ignore the people who were damaged by it?

 Chris Shelton continues his look into a new academic volume, an issue of the journal Implicit Religion dedicated to Scientology. Here’s his previous []

Academics who ignore defectors as ‘apostates’ will never see Scientology for what it is

 The Underground Bunker asked former Sea Org official Chris Shelton to dig into a new academic paperback about Scientology, which is the latest issue of a journal called Implicit Religion. We think you’ll find Chris’s take in this first piece, which he comes at admitting his own personal biases, fascinating.

In my limited experience with the []