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 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 on Saturdays he’s 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.
Jon, you said you wanted to talk about forgiveness in Scientology, which sounds like it could be a pretty volatile subject. Give us your best shot. JON: I was on the Class II course when the bulletin Proclamation: Power to Forgive was handed down from on high. This was apt, as the Class II course deals with “confessionals,” and the Class II auditor is granted this right of forgiveness along with a pretty, gold-blocked certificate. So, I was one of the first to grant forgiveness to a fellow Scientologist. Continue reading Jon Atack: Why do Scientologists Find it So Difficult to Apologize?
On Sunday, while we were scrambling to keep up with dispatches coming from Mike Rinder and Mike Bennitt during their amazing strategem with a helicopter above Scientology’s Super Power Building grand opening in Clearwater, Florida, we got a surprising phone call. It was Mark Bunker. We had plum forgot that he’d told us he was relocating to Clearwater and was on the scene. Continue reading Mark Bunker Returns to Clearwater: Wise Beard Man Back in Scientology’s Mecca!
 Jefferson Hawkins was once the top marketing executive for the Church of Scientology and helped it reach its greatest extent with the famous “volcano” TV ads in the 1980s. He’s told his tale of getting into and out of the church with his excellent books Counterfeit Dreams and Leaving Scientology, and he’s helping us understand the upside-down world of Scientology “ethics.”
Where are we going today in L. Ron Hubbard’s world of ethics, Jeff? JEFFERSON: This week we have a treat — Scientology leader David Miscavige’s favorite L. Ron Hubbard essay. It’s Chapter 6 of the book Introduction to Scientology Ethics, and it’s called “Responsibilities of Leaders.” Continue reading The “Ethics” of Political Power: Scientology’s Worship of Ruthlessness
 How many trillions of years back can you go? Once again, Bruce Hines joins us this week as Claire continues to take us through Scientology’s legendary “OT” levels. And today, we’re beginning Operating Thetan Level Two, which Bruce last week promised us would be “bizarre.” Is that true, Claire? CLAIRE: OT 2 was absolutely the most complicated, esoteric, and ethereal level I experienced in Scientology. And I do believe that’s saying something! Continue reading Claire and Bruce Take Us Into the Bizarre World of Scientology’s Operating Thetan Two!
 Our thanks to the eagle-eyed researchers over at WhyWeProtest.net, who have been scouring Facebook to find photos taken by Scientologists who were at this weekend’s festivities in Clearwater, Florida.
We’ve been posting some images taken by church members of the parties that began on Friday. And now, one Scientologist in particular appears to have broken the rules and took a series of shots on the Super Power Building’s already legendary space-aged fifth floor, where the “Perceptics” contraptions are housed. (Or, looks more likely, took snapshots of a brochure of these items.) Finally, after looking at renderings of this floor for years, we’re getting to see the real thing. Continue reading The Oiliness Table, For Real! A Look Inside Scientology’s Super Power Building
 In 2007, Jacqueline Olivier was hired by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith to turn their home-schooling experiment into an actual bricks-and-mortar institution. A year later, the New Village Leadership Academy opened its doors as protesters showed up to picket the school — by then, it was known that the Smiths had asked Olivier to use L. Ron Hubbard’s “Study Technology” as the school’s guiding curriculum. (Study Technology is also a significant part of coursework in the Church of Scientology, which Hubbard founded.)
But Olivier assured the public that the private school in Calabasas, California was strictly secular, and she played down the influence of Study Tech. Then, a year later, she was fired and replaced by a woman named Franca Campopiano, also known as Piano Foster. At the time, news reports suggested that Olivier had not embraced the use of Hubbard’s ideas strongly enough, which is why Campopiano, a Smith family friend, was brought in to replace her. Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: First Interview with the Principal of Will & Jada Smith’s Shuttered Scientology School
 A helicopter just lifted off carrying former Church of Scientology members Mike Bennitt and Mike Rinder, who are headed for downtown Clearwater to film and report on Scientology’s big Super Power Building opening today.
Bennitt’s carrying a couple of different cameras for filming and still shots, and after they touch down in a couple of hours, we’ll start posting images here that he brings back. In the mean time, we’ve asked Rinder to send us live updates of how the shoot is going, and give us his impression of how many Scientologists are actually in the streets for this event. This should be fun! Continue reading LIVE OVER CLEARWATER: Watching Scientology from an Eye in the Sky
 The big day is finally here, and we can hardly stand it. This afternoon, Scientology’s $200 million white elephant epic cathedral is going to open for tours (Scientologists only), and before long, one assumes, wealthy church members will be making their way to the fifth floor for their Super Power Rundowns.
All weekend, the parties have been going on at Scientology’s spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, and it looks like these folks are having a helluva time. But for this installment of Scientology Sunday Funnies, we’re actually going to start in Los Angeles, where a very different celebration of the church has been going on! Continue reading Scientology Super Power Sunday Funnies! Let’s Get Oily!
 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 on Saturdays he’s 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.
Jon, you had an interesting anecdote for us this week about Mary Sue Hubbard. She was L. Ron Hubbard’s third wife, and they had four children together. They were married in 1952, and she was an enthusiastic Scientologist and helped him run his movement, including the years from 1967 to 1975, when they ran Scientology from sea. But you say that didn’t always go smoothly? Continue reading Jon Atack: Did Mary Sue Hubbard Doubt Scientology’s Key Experience?
 Judge James D. Whittemore If you’ve been following our coverage of Luis and Rocio Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, you know that there have been quite a few motions and responses and declarations filed in the last few weeks. We were in Tampa to see Judge James Whittemore deny an attempt by Scientology to have the attorneys for the Garcias disqualified. Even before that hearing on October 3, Scientology had made a motion to have the case dismissed in favor of the church’s own internal arbitration system. And that question, about arbitration, has produced a number of filings recently. But now, Whittemore says in a new order, the case has been stayed until he can deal with the other big issue in the case — a motion by Scientology to dismiss three of its entities from the lawsuit because of a problem with “diversity jurisdiction.” Continue reading Judge James Whittemore Reins In the Garcia v. Scientology Case
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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 on Saturdays he’s 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.
