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A day after Alex Gibney learned that he’d been nominated for an award by the Director’s Guild of America for his documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, his movie was left out of the nominations for Documentary Feature which were announced this morning for the 88th Academy Awards, to be presented in Los Angeles on February 28. Continue reading Oscar snubs Alex Gibney’s Scientology documentary ‘Going Clear’ despite buzz
In 2009, researcher Jeff Jacobsen wrote about Scientology’s documented problems bringing foreigners to the United States to work in its “Sea Organization.” Anecdotally, ex-Scientologists say that the church relies heavily on foreigners to accept jobs under the bizarre working conditions of the Sea Org, which requires signing a billion-year contract and working 16-hour days, seven days a week, often at menial labor jobs, and for just pennies an hour. Continue reading DOX: Government disclosure shows extent of Scientology’s reliance on cheap foreign labor
[Chief Chad Loewen]We’ve been really busy with an investigative story that we hope to uncork tomorrow. But in the meantime, we want to thank reader QBird, who took it upon herself to follow up on one of our recent stories. Continue reading A great peek into how Scientology uses fronts to love-bomb a public official
“We used to call him Garson The Parson in the Spiders, poor love, when he was into Scientology. But it did cause us one or two problems. I was thinking about having him back in the band and the thing that really clinched it was hearing that he was no longer a Scientologist.” — David Bowie, in Q Magazine, 1997 Continue reading David Bowie, 1947-2016
[Blue states contain active Scientology orgs.]Jeffrey Augustine is back, this time with a new look at Scientology’s current strength in the United States. We think he’s got a unique perspective in this piece. Continue reading A business executive looks at Scientology as a (poorly run) business
Our London publisher, Humfrey Hunter of Silvertail Books, submitted our book about Paulette Cooper, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, to Kirkus Reviews. And… Continue reading ‘Archetypical newshound’ Paulette Cooper described in ‘thrilling account’ — Kirkus
 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 a year on Saturdays he helped 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. He was kind enough to send us a new post.
Continue reading Jon Atack: The best thing ever written about the language traps in Scientology’s Bible, ‘Dianetics’
In September 2014, we published a story that we expected would get more attention. We reported that at a gala celebration in the San Fernando Valley, a gathering of about 500 Scientologists who had paid $100 each to attend were told that the Church of Scientology had benefited from its relationship with Google, which had given Scientology the equivalent of $5.7 million in advertising grants. Continue reading AUDIO: Hear Scientology boast about the $5.7 million it got from Google in free ads
The “L. Ron Hubbard Golden Age” theater troupe visited a middle school in St. Petersburg, Florida recently in order to bring back to life the words of the pulp fiction writer. Having actors read the corn-pone tales that Hubbard cranked out in the 1930s is just one of a dizzying number of stealthy ways that Scientology tries to spread the influence of Hubbard and, ultimately, gain new members. Continue reading Scientology becoming a ghost town; ALSO: Illinois man arrested for threatening Miscavige
The new ad that Scientology uploaded to its website right around midnight on New Year’s Eve is now on Scientology’s YouTube page, and so we can embed it, below. Continue reading Scientology posts the new ad that will likely be its Super Bowl entry this year
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