FOLLOW ME ON
Daily Notifications
Sign up for free emails to receive the feature story every morning in your inbox at tonyortega.substack.com

Categories

How Not to Protest Scientology

ALSO, CCHR IN SAN FRANCISCO

Last night, New York City’s chapter of Anonymous conducted its 63rd consecutive monthly “raid” of the Church of Scientology on 46th Street near Times Square. We’ve been to several of these demonstrations, and we can tell you they are foul-mouthed, chaotic fun. Our hats are off to the NY anons for []

ADVERTISEMENT

Jon Atack on the Hypnotic History of Scientology Auditing

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 []

About that Scientology “Photoshopped” Image…

On Sunday, we reported that the Church of Scientology had put on its main website a photograph of last Saturday’s Portland “Ideal Org” grand opening.

The photo was posted along with a church press release which claimed that 2,500 people had attended the event. Our own eyewitnesses on the scene, counting people in images they had []

And Now For Something Completely Different: Scientology Stand Up!

You just have to hand it to the folks in the San Fernando Valley. They’ve tried raising money for an Ideal Org with bowling nights and by selling doorknobs. And now, well, apparently it’s time for a little old-fashioned show biz.

For those just joining us, the Church of Scientology is in the grips of crisis, []

Scientology Now Has Until July 2 to Turn Over Evidence in Forced-Abortion Lawsuit

With its California Supreme Court petition shot down, Scientology learned in Los Angeles Superior Court today that it has a little more than six more weeks before it has to turn over thousands of pages of evidence that Laura DeCrescenzo (right) believes will bolster her lawsuit against the church. In her lawsuit, DeCrescenzo alleges that []

Babylon Surmising: Dianetics Rights an Ancient Wrong

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 now reached the longest chapter so far in this book, “Emotion and the Life Force.” We have to admit []

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT DENIES SCIENTOLOGY PETITION IN FORCED-ABORTION CASE

Scientology strikes out again as it fights a court order to turn over thousands of pages of evidence to former Sea Org worker Laura DeCrescenzo.

This evening, without explanation or a written order, the California Supreme Court denied Scientology’s petition to hold up DeCrescenzo’s lawsuit. The church argued that forcing it to turn over DeCrescenzo’s confessional []

Chiropractor in Viral Video Is Posing In Front of His Scientology Certificates

One of our tipsters knew we’d get a kick out of a viral video that is making the rounds of Mashable and other websites today. It’s an unusual video advertisement for a Los Angeles chiropractor named Ryan Lee. Here’s how Mashable describes it, under the headline “Creepy Local Chiropractor Ad Will Make You []

True Confessions of Ron Miscavige Sr., Father to Scientology’s Ultimate Leader

Last week, we reported the surprising news that Ron Miscavige Sr., father to Scientology leader David Miscavige, had begun to emerge into the public eye in a rather unusual way.

We learned last summer that Ron had escaped from Scientology’s secretive International Base east of Los Angeles after reportedly spending many years of his life there. []

ABC Features 4-Minute Dianetics Infomercial To Illustrate EEOC Lawsuit Involving Scientology (And Now It’s Down!)

Will you be inspired?

[After our commenters showed up at the ABC site in force, the network has now taken down the video!]

Last Thursday, we told you about an interesting new federal lawsuit against a Miami chiropractor who allegedly forced his employees to take Scientology courses. Since then, other news organizations have pointed out []