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Our man Rod Keller keeps his mindful watch on Scientology’s social media presence, and that’s once again netted him a dynamite story… In July, Tampa minister Savanna Hartman became Internet famous when her Facebook video, apologizing through tears for her “white privilege,” went viral. It’s now been seen more than 17 million times. Continue reading Scientology saw a tempting target in a Tampa pastor gaining fame for her compassion
Last month, we found ourselves having dinner in some pretty special company. We had flown out to Los Angeles and sat down for a meal with BBC journalist John Sweeney, longtime Scientology critic Mark Bunker, former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder, and the person who had brought us all together, actress, producer, and Troublemaker author Leah Remini. Continue reading Leah Remini schools us on what motivates Scientologists to toe the line
You probably heard the news last night that Leonard Cohen died at 82. And today, you’ll be seeing some really great remembrances of him and the many different chapters of his life as an author, a songwriter, and a performer. (New Yorker editor David Remnick profiled Cohen in a brilliant piece just last month.) Continue reading Leonard Cohen: This awful year strikes again with the loss of a transcendent genius
Last week, we shared a treat with you that had been dug up by one of our helpful correspondents, a February 14, 1966 Daily Mail story that called Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s academic credentials bogus. Continue reading L. Ron Hubbard on the run: When the Daily Mail was hounding Scientology’s founder in ’66
We asked our attorney and webmaster, Scott Pilutik, to help us understand what’s going on with the “First Independent Church of Scientology” and its effort to get a trademark on its name. We reported recently that tax exempt status was granted to FICoS, which is made up of former Church of Scientology members who have broken away from it and want to practice Scientology’s processes independently. But forming a small non-profit is one thing, getting trademark of a name that includes the word “Scientology” is another. Scott helps us understand what’s going on.
Continue reading How a new independent ‘church’ is trying to wrestle away control over the word ‘Scientology’
Our many international readers no doubt understand what an exhausting election season this has been. For nearly two years, the presidential election has torn us apart in ways we’ve never experienced before. The carnage on Facebook alone has been pestilential. We’ve never seen so much end-of-the-world prophesying and cutthroat denunciations, and that’s between friends. Continue reading It’s Election Day, but screw that — Chick Corea is finally superhuman thanks to Scientology!
[Joel Kerns, when he was sheriff of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma]We are so glad this election season is finally almost over. But before you go to the polls tomorrow, we wanted to bring up one local race that has a connection to stories we’ve done in the past. Continue reading On the ballot tomorrow: The former lawman who let Scientology’s drug horror clinic off the hook
 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 three years he’s been helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.
Standing Order #1 is one of the enduring myths of Scientology. In 1961, Hubbard wrote: “Standing Order No.1 ‘All mail addressed to me shall be received by me’.” He added: “I am always willing to help. By my own creed, a being is only as valuable as he can serve others.” Continue reading An enduring myth in Scientology — that L. Ron Hubbard actually read your letters
Our helper is back who dives through obscure newspaper archives in search of forgotten Scientology history. Last time, he found for us a really remarkable 1968 interview of L. Ron Hubbard when a Daily Mail reporter, Peter Smith, tracked him down on his ship in Bizerte, Tunisia. Continue reading Trouble for Scientology in 1966: When the Daily Mail called L. Ron Hubbard’s degrees ‘bogus’
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