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Another Indie Goes All the Way: Simi Valley Ditches Scientology For Good

Simi Valley sent us a remarkable e-mail a couple of weeks ago. She wanted us to know that she’s no longer an “independent Scientologist” — she’s out all the way.

“It was a year ago that Debbie Cook sent out her e-mail and I finally woke up. But now a year later I’ve really woken up []

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John Sweeney and Marc Headley Visit Scientology’s Odd New Mexico Vault

On January 7, BBC reporter John Sweeney’s book about Scientology, The Church of Fear, hits bookstores, and he thought of a great way to promote it.

About a month ago, he flew to the US and joined former church member and Blown for Good author Marc Headley for a trip to the Trementina vault in New []

L. Ron Hubbard’s “Secret Lives” — A Channel 4 Classic

We’re working on several interesting new stories that will take some time to complete. In the meantime, we wanted to keep you tided over with this great blast from the past.

It’s a 1997 UK Channel 4 documentary about L. Ron Hubbard that resurfaced recently over at the Ex-Scientologist Message []

Joel Sappell Finds Former Scientology Enforcer Marty Rathbun To Be a Reluctant Whistleblower

Much of our coverage of Scientology in the past three years has focused on former church executive Marty Rathbun, and for good reason.

Rathbun is the most visible member of an “independence movement” that is splitting Scientology apart. He has participated in or masterminded several of the biggest legal and media offensives against church leader David []

Scientology and Past Lives: Was L. Ron Hubbard Actually Serious?

A funny thing happened on Thursday. We reviewed Vance Woodward’s book, Addicted to Scientology, and noted that one of the more interesting things in it was Woodward’s contention that a close reading of Scientology’s foundational texts convinced him that L. Ron Hubbard thought of past-life therapy as a form of make-believe.

Scientologists, however, take very seriously []

Vance Woodward’s Book Addicted to Scientology Is An Amazing High

How does yet another self-published book revealing the “secrets” of Scientology stand out with so many others appearing in the last few years?

Well, we guarantee you haven’t read one like this.

Vance Woodward is a Bay Area lawyer who fell into Scientology at only 14, spent 22 years struggling through the church’s auditing, and handed []

Scientology’s Master Spies

For 24 years, they followed one man for the Church of Scientology. Then, for just over a single day, they came in from the cold.

By Tony Ortega

[Paul Marrick reunites with his old boss, Marty Rathbun]

 This week, we learned that a lawsuit filed against the Church of Scientology by two of its former private investigators was []

Stephen Kent’s New Article on Scientology’s War With Psychiatry

Professor Stephen Kent is one of our favorite voices on Scientology. The University of Alberta scholar has one of the deepest archives of material known to exist, he is unafraid to speak truth about such subjects as the Sea Org’s RPF prison program, and he has regularly testified in court cases about his research.

He let []

No, Kelly Preston is Not Rebelling Against Scientology By Acknowledging Autism

Much is being made in the press that today, Kelly Preston will appear on television and for the first time acknowledge that her late son Jett Travolta was autistic.

Jett died in 2009 after having a seizure in a bathtub while the family was in its Bahamian estate. At the time, a family spokesman confirmed that []

Fox 25 in Oklahoma City Keeps Up the Pressure on Scientology’s Drug Rehab Deaths

 The lack of any new developments in the ongoing investigation of deaths at Scientology’s flagship Narconon drug rehab center in Oklahoma didn’t prevent the Fox affiliate in Oklahoma City from putting together this lengthy and hard-hitting two-part series, which aired last night.

A lesson for other media: This is how you keep a story in the []