|
|
We have a real treat for you today. Derek Bloch noticed that Scientology’s “Xenu” story that was made famous in South Park in 2005 and was given another great treatment in Alex Gibney’s film Going Clear this year (pictured above) is often referred to as Scientology’s “origin story.” This is simply untrue. The Xenu incident, which resulted in so many beings brought to and vaporized on Earth, took place a mere 75 million years ago. But Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard claimed that the universe itself was some 4 quadrillion years old, and that it had been created by “bored” thetans playing some kind of game. Derek, a longtime presence here at the Underground Bunker, submitted this essay to explain how he was taught to believe the universe got here, and the narrative of the cosmos that he learned as a member of the organization. Here, then, is the overall, overarching purpose of Scientology, which rarely gets spelled out in such detail. We hope you find it as fascinating as we did — and we’d really like to hear from other former members of the church how much of this they were aware of as they were working their way up the Bridge to Total Freedom. Continue reading Long before Xenu: Scientology’s actual origin story, as told by a former member
The Church of Scientology has long promoted itself as the most ethical group on the planet. However, the following thirty examples, collected by our friend Jeffrey Augustine and listed here chronologically, present a prolific portrait of Church belligerence, profanity, paranoia, and violence in recent years. We sense a trend. 1. September 2004: Scientology OT Tom Cruise in Rolling Stone, “The Passion of the Cruise,” sets the tone for bad behavior. As the world would later learn, the church was secretly auditioning wife candidates for Tom Cruise that year.
 Continue reading The Church of Scientology: A rollicking legacy of belligerence, profanity, paranoia, and violence
Aaron Smith-Levin has another clip from his YouTube project, “Growing Up in Scientology,” and this one is really something. Once again, he’s interviewed Nick Lister, who was talked about in Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear. Nick has some revelations about working in the Tom Cruise household and how seriously Tom holds Scientology’s concepts of discipline, even as it applies to his own family. Aaron has supplied us with this description of what you’re going to see… Some in the media have speculated that perhaps Tom Cruise is considering leaving Scientology so he can spend more time with his daughter Suri. More serious media outlets know that this is just spin. Nick has a story which provides some new insight into just how militantly Tom uses the policies of Scientology and to what degree the Church of Scientology has been involved in every aspect of his life, beyond finding him girlfriends and tricking out cars and airplane hangars. Continue reading How Scientology is Tom Cruise? How he put ethics ‘ruthlessly’ in on his own family
One of the benefits of our book tour is that we’re getting to meet people around the country who we’ve only known through the Internet or on the telephone. In Denver we finally met Claire Headley for the first time. In DC, it was the amazing researcher Mary McConnell. In Toronto, it’s a list so long we were left stunned. And then, this week, we made our first ever trip to Dallas and got to know Steve Hall. Continue reading Scientology’s speechwriter, the word of God, and a Hubbard bio that will never see the light of day
We were busy traveling yesterday and didn’t notice what a portentous date it was. On July 19 three years ago, Stacy Dawn Murphy, 20, died of a drug overdose while she was a patient at Scientology’s flagship drug rehab facility, Narconon Arrowhead in eastern Oklahoma. She was the third patient to die at Narconon Arrowhead in only nine months, and those deaths sparked numerous county and state investigations, as well as a number of lawsuits. Continue reading Stacy Murphy is still dead, but Oklahoma gives the Scientology rehab that killed her new life
 By Chris Shelton
When Tony Ortega announced his extended tour and that he was coming to Denver, I immediately wanted to do something to secure a location for him and make this a success. Having read The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, I knew this was a work that needed to get as wide a coverage as possible. The Secular Hub is a group I belong to here in Denver, a sort of umbrella group for local atheists, skeptics, humanists and similar organizations that seek freedom from religion, enforcement of the separation of church and state, and who do volunteer work around town. They had hosted my talk about Scientology and were more than happy to host and promote Tony’s. Continue reading Mile High and climbing: Chris Shelton helps us tell the tale of Scientology and ‘Miss Lovely’
 Jeffrey Augustine continues with part two of his podcast with Aaron Smith-Levin. He sent us this synopsis…
In Part 2, Aaron Smith-Levin continues his fascinating and wide-ranging excursion into the world of Scientology from the eyes of a Sea Org member. Aaron opens by describing how he realized that the highly dysfunctional operating conditions of the six Los Angeles Orgs are a reflection of the same dysfunctional conditions at Int Base. Continue reading Do Scientologists consider L. Ron Hubbard God? Part Two of the Aaron Smith-Levin podcast
 Jeffrey Augustine is back with another podcast. We asked him to provide a synopsis…
Aaron Smith-Levin is a second-generation Scientologist who grew up in the David Miscavige era. Aaron spent virtually all his time after school in the Philadelphia Org where his mother worked. By age 12, Aaron was an outer org trainee at Flag training for the original Golden Age of Tech. By age 15, Aaron returned to the Philadelphia Org to work as supervisor. Continue reading The Surviving Scientology podcast: Growing up in the Age of Miscavige
Last year, when Leah Remini’s reality show began, we criticized her for dealing with her defection from Scientology at a bare minimum — it was referred to only for a few minutes in the first episode and never mentioned again. Last night, in the first episode of the show’s second season, Remini made up for that in a big way. The episode’s main storyline was about how Leah and her family are continuing to come to grips with leaving Scientology, and there were several moments — some which might have not been obvious to the viewer — which were a big middle finger to the church and its leader, David Miscavige. Continue reading Leah Remini’s ex-Scientology friends rock TLC — and our interview with one of them
 Aaron Smith-Levin and Nick Lister have released the second of their clips for their “Growing Up in Scientology” video series, and it’s another jaw-dropper.
Lister was talked about in Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear. He’s the son of Sara Goldberg, who was forced by the Church of Scientology to choose between her son Nick and her daughter Ashley. Nick had been kicked out of the church, and by sticking by him, Sara herself was kicked out (“declared a suppressive person”) and then her daughter had no choice but to “disconnect” from the two of them in order to remain in the church. Continue reading Nick Lister: Scientology asked me to seduce Mike Rinder’s wife in a spy operation
|
