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[Hubbard and his Rhodesian staff]South Africa is a country of extraordinary contrasts: Fertile savannahs and teeming cities, immense wealth and terrible poverty, multiracial idealism and ethnic violence. It’s also a place of striking contrasts in Scientology’s history. In the past few weeks, I’ve been traveling in this vast country and consulting state archives to piece together the story of Scientology in South Africa before the end of apartheid in 1990. They reveal a picture of how Scientology enthusiastically supported South Africa’s apartheid regime while walking a fine line in opposing the government’s favourable views towards psychiatry. Continue reading ‘Scientology is Security for South Africa’: How L. Ron Hubbard sought to prop up apartheid
On Wednesday, we told you that the Hollywood Celebrity Centre had sent out a questionnaire to its members which suggested that a new series of Scientology books for children may be coming. Continue reading Scientology survey for its members: Why aren’t you giving us more money?
[The Speer Academy]On Sunday, Mike Rinder posed a great question about the ongoing relationship between Scientology (which pretends it’s a force for human rights) and the Nation of Islam, a black nationalist movement whose leader, Louis Farrakhan, isn’t shy about demonizing whites and Jewish people. Continue reading Why is the YMCA helping spread Scientology to kids?
We get a lot of inquiries about Scientology here at the Bunker, but this one was different from any that we’d previously received. It’s a delicate situation, and rather than make our own suggestions, we proposed presenting this reader’s questions to our commenting community for feedback. He agreed to that idea. Continue reading Reader, can you help this father who wants to keep his son out of Scientology?
Scientology is moving towards modern communications technology. We have seen how they use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media to communicate with non-staff members (known as “publics”) and to spread PR messages. Continue reading Having conquered QR codes, Scientology goes all in on WhatsApp
We mentioned on Thursday that we’d been sent the latest issue of Scientology’s ‘Freewinds’ magazine, and shared some of its highlights with you. But what we didn’t tell you was that we were holding back one special treat from that publication. Continue reading Scientology Lit: The verse stylings of L. Ron Hubbard, commodore of cool
We want to thank the tipster who sent us a fascinating document we hadn’t seen before. Dated July 7, 1986, it was produced a few months after the death of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard when, apparently, the Sea Org was having more problems than usual with the children of its members. Continue reading DOX: Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wanted kids to form his personal military
[Freewinds captain Mike Napier and C/O Sharron Weber]A big thank you to our tipster for sending us the brand new issue of Freewinds, Scientology’s publication that tries to convince Scientologists to fork out the big bucks to spend time on the church’s floating cathedral of the same name. Continue reading Scientology’s slick new ‘Freewinds’ magazine surprisingly makes no mention of measles
Some of our correspondents, especially the tireless Rod Keller, have brought us plenty of examples over the years of Scientology targeting children for its quack ideas about the human mind.
Continue reading Scientology planning new series of books to rope in children?
[Scientology’s Mod Squad]You may have noticed this photo pop up a few days ago. It depicts the Rev. Alfreddie Johnson, Jr., late of Compton, California, on a visit to the London Scientology Ideal Org, flanked by that facility’s “it” duo, Charlie Wakley and Sandrine Mootoo. Continue reading Scientology’s happy promotions can’t hide the cancer eating away at its core
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