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Jon Atack on Why It’s So Hard To Recover From Scientology

Jon_Atack_Blue_Sky2Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He now has a new edition of the book out, 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 sent us something special. We had been discussing the way former Scientologists seem to need years away from the church before they can shake off their conditioning. That prompted Jon to write for us this remarkable essay about what motivated him to come back into the public eye after many years under the radar.

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Cheering Up Will Smith, and A Survey For You SPs!

CheerUpYou’ve probably heard by now about the brilliant Scientology parody “Cheer Up Will Smith.” Pulled off by (we’d guess) some Times Square stand-up comedians (the place is lousy with ’em), the parody consists of a website, numerous videos, and even some in-real-life fliers posted in Times Square itself.

The stunt appeared in the wake of Will Smith’s dismal new movie After Earth, which not only performed below expectations at the box office on its opening weekend, but endured a shellacking by critics who couldn’t help noting its thematic similarities with Scientology.

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Dianetics Has No Patience for ESP or Telepathy — That’s Pseudoscience!

ESPWelcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, lawyer, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.

Vance, we’ve reached another marathon chapter in this book, “Mechanisms and Aspects of Therapy.”

We were surprised to see that this chapter begins with a few paragraphs about extra-sensory perception — ESP. But in fact, Hubbard only brings it up in order to debunk it, in particular the person who says he can remember his time in the fetus with views from outside his mother’s body.

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Just What Oklahoma Tornado Victims Need: Scientology to the Rescue!

Here comes the voodoo!

Here comes the voodoo!

One of our tipsters forwarded to us an e-mail that will be all too depressingly familiar to our longtime readers.

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Scientology is leaping on the chance to take advantage of another natural disaster to promote itself.

In this case, Texas Scientologists are being urged to head to Oklahoma, the site of several recent deadly tornadoes. Once they get there, the “volunteer ministers” will do what they’ve done in places like New York after 9/11 and Haiti after its big earthquake: set up yellow tents and pretend to be useful by giving out “touch assists” — running their fingers over people as if it were a form of faith healing — and handing out Scientology booklets.

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CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT ALLEGING FRAUD FILED AGAINST SCIENTOLOGY AND NARCONON

Jeff Harris

Attorney Jeff Harris (center) and his partners Stephen Lowry (left) and Darren Penn. Photo by Chris Dunn.

This morning, attorney Jeff Harris filed a blockbuster class-action lawsuit that alleges fraud and civil racketeering endemic to Scientology’s drug rehab program, Narconon.

With seven plaintiffs included and more to come, the lawsuit not only names Narconon Georgia and its umbrella non-profit corporations — Narconon International and the Association of Better Living and Education — but also the Religious Technology Center, the Church of Scientology’s controlling entity.

This suit, more than others before it, aims to connect Scientology and Narconon in a relationship of deceit: “The Defendants direct staff members and salespeople to lie about, misrepresent, or otherwise conceal Narconon’s connection to Scientology.”

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Claire Headley Helps Us Get Back in the Good Graces of Scientology

AtoEClaire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.

We were all set to jump into the sauna this week, but Claire Headley had even more to say about the crucial Scientology course we’ve been considering for several weeks now, Potential Trouble Source/Suppressive Person, or PTS/SP.

Before we move on, Claire wanted to tackle even more about the notion of being “declared an SP,” Scientology’s version of excommunication, particularly with the notion that an SP might get back in the good graces of the church through certain steps.

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L. Ron Hubbard Intends to Rid You Of a 43-Trillion-Year-Old Implant. What Was That Like?

Well, we had a very relaxing week-long vacation (what, you didn’t notice?) and now we’re hard at work on some big stories that should be rocking the Bunker in coming days.

In the meantime, we thought we’d serve up a rare treat — a 50-year-old example of what it was actually like to be audited by the Great Man himself.

On May 22, 1963, L. Ron Hubbard recorded an auditing session he did with his third wife, Mary Sue, in order to demonstrate what it was like to remove the “Helatrobus Implant.” As he had explained in a lecture the day previously, the Helatrobus civilization was a relatively weak galactic organization which had managed to use electrified interstellar gases to insert some particularly resilient mental implants in thetans some 43 trillion years ago.

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Scientology Sunday Funnies: What Did David Miscavige Tell the Troops Last Night?

HubbardProfileOn Sundays, we enjoy revealing to you the wacky Scientology mailers and fliers that have come to us during the week.

Several of our tipsters sent us copies of the same mailer, which suggested that the event advertised in them — a shindig that happened last night — was a major one in Scientology-land.

In fact, we’ve been hearing for a few weeks that last night’s big event was something of a watershed moment as Scientology leader David Miscavige attempts to rally his troops during one of the church’s most difficult periods.

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Here’s Some Photographic Proof that Scientology’s “Ideal Orgs” Are Killing the Church

ValleyOrgLogoOn Saturdays, we like to talk Scientology history with author Jon Atack, but this week he’s been busy with a conference in Copenhagen.

So we thought we’d catch up with some interesting material that our great tipsters have been forwarding to us about how things are going in the Los Angeles area.

For several months now, we’ve been entertained by the shenanigans of Scientologists in the San Fernando Valley as they’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to raise money for a new “Ideal Org” that is part of church leader David Miscavige’s high-pressure plan to open up lavish new facilities.

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Is After Earth Will Smith’s Scientology Coming Out Party?

Looks like someone could use a touch assist.

Looks like someone could use a touch assist.

Here in the Underground Bunker, we just received some indication that things are going to heat up again next week with big Scientology news, so for today, please forgive us if we offer a little light fare for our Friday morning post.

Tonight, the movie After Earth opens in theaters, and it’s already received a drubbing from critics.

Hey, big-budget movies get hammered by critics with regularity, so why is this one noteworthy? Maybe because even the movie critics have sensed that this vanity project by Will Smith has a strong whiff of Scientology about it.

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