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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’ve really been on a roll lately, and this week is no different. You’ve talked about the difficulties that people face when they leave Scientology, but this week you give us more detail about your own journey, and what convinced you to try to help others. Continue reading Jon Atack: Why it takes so long to recover from Scientology
On Sunday, Brad Halsey took his own life. He was 56. Continue reading BRAD HALSEY, 1957-2014
 Hey, we’re a little under the weather today, so we need to keep this short. But we wanted to let you know about something that we’ve been keeping secret for several months.
Now that some promos have begun running on History Channel 2, we can reveal that the new season of America’s Book of Secrets is going to include a show completely dedicated to Scientology. For now, the tentative date for the show is March 29. We were interviewed at length for the show, and so were a lot of other people our readers are very familiar with. Judging by the questions we were asked, this show may cover a lot of ground. Continue reading Scientology gets the ‘America’s Book of Secrets’ treatment soon!
 In the now-it-can-be-told department: We first heard from Larry Anderson back in 2010, but it wasn’t until last year that we finally met the tall LA actor originally from Minnesota.
For Scientologists of a certain era, Larry’s image is branded into their memories from multiple viewings of the Orientation film that they were all required to watch. The 40-minute movie was used to recruit new members and pump up staff workers. It featured Larry talking with Norman Starkey about L. Ron Hubbard’s exploits, visiting a bookstore, and winding up to make a heavy pitch at the end. Here’s a sample of Larry’s hard sell… Continue reading Larry Anderson: Scientology’s pitchman becomes a Bunker regular
 Claire Headley and Bruce Hines are taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. Claire spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Bruce was in Scientology for 31 years and spent about half that time as a senior case supervisor. Go here to see the first part in this series.
We sure have come a long way since Claire first started us out in this series with Scientology’s “Personality Test” a full year ago tomorrow! And now, we’re all the way up to Original OT 7, and Bruce Hines is here to help us as we near the top of the “Bridge to Total Freedom.” Continue reading Bruce Hines takes us through Scientology’s Original Operating Thetan Level Seven!
 On Sundays, we enjoy sharing with you some of the Scientology fliers that our network of tipsters forward to us from around the world.
We have another fun collection of items today, but we also wanted to recognize the special day that it is. It’s that time again when the film industry gives away statuettes to commemorate the year’s most successful movies. Last year at this time, we blogged the ceremony live as we waited to see if Philip Seymour Hoffman might win an award for his portrayal of Lancaster Dodd in The Master, a character which was clearly based on L. Ron Hubbard. Continue reading Sunday Funnies: Scientology nuttiness on Oscar Day!
 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.
This week, Jon is taking on an interesting point that we want to set up a little. In recent years, one of the biggest crises Scientology has faced has been an exodus of longtime, loyal members fed up with leader David Miscavige and his focus on fundraising and internal security. These members have been leaving, even though they still admire Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and they plan to continue doing the processes of Scientology itself. Some of these ‘independent Scientologists’ — even some who have not been particularly outspoken — have found themselves to be targets of the church’s legendary retaliation schemes. But Jon wanted to put that harassment in some larger context. Continue reading Jon Atack: The harassment of independent Scientologists didn’t begin with David Miscavige
On Sunday, Scientology will have a ceremony to celebrate the re-opening of the Advanced Organization of Los Angeles (AOLA), where wealthy church members go to receive high-level “Operating Thetan” courses and auditing on their way up L. Ron Hubbard’s “Bridge to Total Freedom.” But this isn’t the first time the church has had a grand re-opening of the facility. It also happened in 1998, and look who cut the ribbon! Continue reading AOLA’s grand re-opening — a look at the last time Scientology cut the ribbon at Big Blue!
 Arseniy Yatsenyuk Yesterday evening, Arseniy Yatsenyuk was nominated to be Ukraine’s new prime minister in the wake of President Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster. Yatsenyuk is a former speaker of parliament and foreign minister, and led one of the factions of the opposition movement. However, last week, when it looked like Yatsenyuk was likely to end up in a leading position after the country’s upheaval, rumors began flying that he was involved with Scientology — rumors that have been around for at least four years. One conservative blogger in Dallas even suggested recently that Yatsenyuk was some sort of mole for both Scientology and billionaire financier George Soros. Continue reading Is Ukraine’s proposed new prime minister a Scientologist? Says his niece: ‘That’s crap’
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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.
