Scientology | The Underground Bunker

Scientology cries religious discrimination in appeal brief filed in Maryland zoning fight

In June, Scientology suffered an embarrassing defeat courtesy of the Frederick County Council in Maryland. You probably remember the drama as the council denied Scientology’s request that a 40-acre parcel of land it had purchased in 2013, known as “Trout Run,” be put on the county’s list of historic places. Why did Scientology care that […]

Jon Atack: Scientology’s ‘past lives’ don’t pass the giggle test

Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and for more than a year on Saturdays he helped us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that […]

From our man in Europe: Details on the Dutch denial of tax exemption to Scientology

Jonny Jacobsen

Our man in Paris, Jonny Jacobsen, fills us in on some details about this week’s decision by a Dutch appeals court that Scientology should not get tax exemption in that country because of the prices it charges…

A Dutch tax court on Wednesday denied Scientology the tax-exempt status of a public benefit organisation, […]

The technology of ‘ruining’ people: Jefferson Hawkins on Scientology’s opening pitch

Jefferson Hawkins was once the top marketing executive for the Church of Scientology and helped it reach its greatest extent with the famous “volcano” TV ads in the 1980s. He’s told his tale of getting into and out of the church with his excellent books Counterfeit Dreams and Leaving Scientology, and he’s previous written a […]

A Scientology childhood: What it’s like to grow up under the Hubbard spell

Aaron Smith-Levin has sent us the latest video in the Growing Up In Scientology series. He started out the YouTube channel with a series of interview segments with Nick Lister. Now, Aaron puts himself in the interviewee chair along with former Scientology spokesman Mike […]

Laura DeCrescenzo answers Scientology ‘religion’ gambit on eve of key hearing

Less than seven weeks away from a trial she’s been awaiting more than six years, Laura DeCrescenzo has to get over yet another hurdle this week placed in her way by the Church of Scientology.

Laura sued Scientology in 2009 claiming that she’d been abused in the church’s Sea Organization, and that she’d been forced to […]

Two years after Scientology’s ‘Super Power’ debuted, it’s still a flop

The Telegraph yesterday posted a number of photos from inside the “new” Scientology Flag Building in Clearwater, which actually opened a couple of years ago. (This isn’t even the first time we’ve seen actual photos from inside the building, which we brought you in 2013.) The occasion, the newspaper said, was that the photos had […]

Would you buy a used car from this man? Scientology and refunds — a primer

We always enjoy Jeffrey Augustine’s explorations of Scientology’s own internal rules and documents in order to explain how it really works. In this case, he exposes how Scientology is violating the promises it made the IRS regarding refund requests by its members. And if that’s the case, it should put Scientology’s tax exempt status into […]

Countdown to Friday: ‘Scientology’s Dirty Tricks’ on the menu in Sydney

Hey, Sydney, we hear 2,300 of you crammed into the premiere of Going Clear back in June — that’s more than the number of people who admitted to being Scientologists in your country’s last […]

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