Scientology planning new series of books to rope in children?

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.

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Scientology’s happy promotions can’t hide the cancer eating away at its core

[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.

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On Memorial Day, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s stolen valor really rankles

On this Memorial Day here in the U.S., we’ve been thinking a lot lately about Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s lies about his war service thanks to the release of Chris Owen’s eye-opening book, Ron the War Hero.

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What California’s controversial new confessions bill means for Scientology

We’ve heard from a number of readers who were curious about how a controversial new bill working its way through the California legislature might affect the Church of Scientology.

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Behind enemy li(n)es: Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s secret mission that never was

[The USS Edsall, sunk in 1942]

For our ‘Scientology Lit’ series this week, we’re posting another excerpt from Chris Owen’s monumental updated ‘Ron the War Hero,’ which was released a couple of weeks ago. We asked, and Chris generously agreed to give us another peek inside this very important book.

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How Scientology created its own prison for children who chafed at lifetime service

[A Scientology cadet org]

We were standing in a room, waiting for the Cadet Coordinator to finish reading our proposal. She was the only adult person assigned to watch over all of the Sea Org Cadets in Los Angeles.

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Scientology tries stealthy opening of new drug rehab in Canada and gets stuffed

[Narconon ED George Morfopoulous and his aborted clinic]

A few years ago, we noted that Scientology leader David Miscavige was making a pretty major shift in his Narconon strategy. For years, Scientology’s drug rehabs had grown larger as Miscavige, with the help of his celebrities, touted Narconon as “the authority” on drug abuse, and the centerpiece of that movement was its flagship clinic in Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead.

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Scientology loses a whale: Major donor Michael Baybak dead at 77

[Michael Baybak in 2014]

The Church of Scientology has lost one of its all-time biggest donors, businessman Michael Baybak, who died last week at 77.

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A Scientologist is brutally murdered in Peoria, but you didn’t hear it from Scientology

[Jose Ramirez and his parents, Susan Brill de Ramirez and Antonio Ramirez Barron]

It was a gruesome crime that shocked a university community. On the night of October 25, two employees of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, were in bed in their home when they were awakened to be pepper-sprayed, stabbed, and bludgeoned to death.

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A paradox of apathy and zealotry: What props up Scientology, from within and without

[Ruben Celiberti]

When you think about it, the amount of information that has come out about Scientology and its abuses in the last decade is simply stunning. From the “Truth Rundown” by the Tampa Bay Times in 2009, to Lawrence Wright’s killer 2011 New Yorker article, subsequent book, and then his 2015 HBO film with Alex Gibney. And in three seasons of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, just think about the vast amount of territory she and Mike Rinder have covered.

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