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 Earlier this week we told you that Laura DeCrescenzo’s forced-abortion lawsuit against the Church of Scientology had reached a crucial stage, and that the church is scrambling to prevent a release of thousands of pages of documents that could bolster DeCrescenzo’s case.
The documents come from Laura’s “pc folders,” which were compiled as she spent years undergoing brutal interrogations as a member of the church’s “Sea Org.” Unlike in a Catholic confessional, DeCrescenzo’s auditing sessions were not only recorded by auditors, but those notes were reviewed and shared by case supervisors and other church employees — the church itself admits that some 250 officials compiled or reviewed these notes, which contain intimate secrets about DeCrescenzo’s private life. When she demanded the documents — which fill about 140 folders and were compiled over a decade — the church tried to keep them secret under California law that protects priest-penitent confessions (even though it was the penitent — DeCrescenzo — who wanted the material). The superior court in Los Angeles ruled that because Laura’s notes were shared by so many church employees, that law didn’t apply, and the church has already lost an appeal of that decision. So now the church has petitioned the state’s supreme court, arguing that the law itself is unconstitutional because it discriminates against Scientology’s concept of confessional confidentiality. We now have the church’s petition, and we’re sharing it with our readers. Continue reading SCIENTOLOGY TO CALIFORNIA SUPREMES: State’s Priest-Penitent Law is Unconstitutional
 Former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder has been using his blog to document just how desperate the church is getting as it pursues its “Ideal Org” strategy.
Church leader David Miscavige seems more determined than ever to raise money from church members in order to purchase and renovate downtown landmarks in cities around the world, even though they seem unneeded and then go largely empty. (Rinder documented just how empty in a remarkable story about one of the first Ideal Orgs, in Johannesburg.) Years of effort goes into the fundraising and rehabbing of these buildings, and everything about these efforts suggest that Miscavige seems to believe that their grand opening ceremonies present huge public relations opportunities for Scientology, which has, in the last year, been suffering through the worst publicity of its existence. Continue reading Scientology is Staking Everything On Portland Like It Actually Matters
 Welcome 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 a chapter titled “The Laws of Returning,” and it’s at moments like these that we wonder how this book was ever taken seriously by anyone. “Let us take an engram which comes from one of Mother’s bowel movements,” L. Ron Hubbard writes in this chapter and, come on, what human being puts those words together in a sentence? Continue reading Dianetics: Super Colon Blow For Your Mind
 Stacy Dawn Murphy Oklahoma’s State Senate today passed SB 295 with a unanimous vote of 43 to 0, and now the bill — aimed at tightening regulation of drug rehab facilities in the state — will go to Governor Mary Fallin, who is expected to sign it into law. The new statute is a direct result of recent deaths at Scientology’s flagship drug rehab center, Narconon Arrowhead, which is in the eastern part of the state. Three patients at the facility died between October 2011 and July 2012, resulting in multiple state and county investigations and numerous lawsuits, all of which are still pending. Last summer, Sen. Tom Ivester announced that he wanted to pass legislation that would increase state oversight of the controversial facility. The Democratic senator teamed up with a conservative Republican in Oklahoma’s House, Rep. Jason Murphey, and today SB 295 passed its final hurdle in the legislature. Continue reading OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE PASSES DRUG REHAB BILL AIMED AT SCIENTOLOGY’S NARCONON
 Things have really heated up in Laura DeCrescenzo’s forced-abortion lawsuit against the Church of Scientology. As we reported earlier, the church has been ordered to turn over more than a hundred of DeCrescenzo’s “pc folders” — which contain notes taken while she underwent intense interrogations at the hands of church officials, and which should yield thousands of pages of supporting evidence for her allegations of abuse in Scientology’s “Sea Org.” But with only days to go, the church is fighting mightily not to release that material.
We have learned that a petition filed by Scientology was denied by California’s Appeals Court, and on Monday the church then filed a petition with the state’s Supreme Court. If that petition is denied, Scientology may even petition the US Supreme Court. The church claims that it should not be forced to turn over what it says are confidential confessionals protected by clergy-penitent privilege — even though it’s the penitent, DeCrescenzo, who wants access to the documents. Continue reading SCIENTOLOGY DENIED: CA Appeals Court Won’t Help Church in Forced-Abortion Lawsuit
 Claire 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.
Claire, after all the study tech and word clearing and memorizing of Scientology slogans we’ve already gone through, you’re telling us that we have even more to endure? CLAIRE: Well, next is “Method One Co-Audit,” and it’s where you’re paired up with another person. You then audit each other on Method One word clearing. The “end phenomena” (or EP as it’s called in the world of Scientology) is the recovery of one’s education. We can run through the steps of the process. And after completing Method One word clearing and Student Hat (which we’ve already covered) you are now a “Fast Flow Student.” THE BUNKER: Please tell us that means we get a big certificate to take home. Continue reading The Scientology Method: Drill, Baby, Drill!
 This promises to be an amazing week here at the Underground Bunker. On Tuesday, we’re told, the Oklahoma legislature may finally approve a new law that will put Scientology’s drug rehab flagship center in that state, Narconon Arrowhead, under stricter state control (and may actually put it out of business). Another big story we’re following — Luis Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit in Tampa — may produce a huge finding from Judge James Whittemore about Scientology’s insistence about religious arbitration.
And in the meantime, of course, we’re still excited about Friday’s police raid of Scientology’s drug rehab facility in the Atlanta region, the first raid by law enforcement of a Scientology facility in the U.S. since the FBI swarmed church offices in D.C. and Los Angeles in 1977. These are exciting times! But let’s not forget the founder of our feast, L. Ron Hubbard, and his wise words. Keeping up on Scientology’s beliefs is not an easy proposition. Take the publication Slate this week, for example, which included this whopper in an otherwise quality piece about Tom Cruise… Continue reading Scientology Metaphysics: After Death, Will You Go to Mars or Venus?
 We’re still reeling here over Friday’s news that Scientology’s drug rehab center in Atlanta — Narconon Georgia — was raided by police in an insurance fraud investigation.
As we’ve been reporting in some depth over the last year, every step of Narconon’s business plan is steeped in deceptions, all of which is designed to send money up the line and ultimately to Scientology itself. The raid may have been prompted by a single instance of allegedly fraudulent insurance billing, but we’re salivating over the thought of so many documents being seized that a U-Haul trailer had to be brought in to carry it all away. If you’re familiar with the backstory, you know that it took attorney Jeff Harris years to get extremely damaging information out of that facility. Now state investigators have a truckload of the stuff. As Mike Rinder pointed out on Friday evening, this is turning into Scientology leader David Miscavige’s worst nightmare. However, it may be quite a while before we learn what was in those documents. And in the meantime, we have another set of mailers and fliers that our tipsters sent to us for this week’s Sunday Funnies. So let’s dig in! Continue reading Scientology Sunday Funnies: Baby We’re Amazed!
 Jon 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.
Jon, we have to admit that we’re pretty skeptical about Scientology’s “R2-45” policy, which was mentioned on this blog earlier this week. Supposedly, L. Ron Hubbard instructed his followers that to use the R2-45 method was to eliminate church enemies with the use of a Colt semi-automatic pistol (with .45 caliber ammunition). What’s the evidence that LRH ever really invented a policy of murder? Continue reading Scientology’s Notorious R2-45 Policy: Is There a Smoking Gun?
Pete Combs at Atlanta’s WSB Radio announced today that state and county officials entered Scientology’s drug rehab center in the Atlanta area — Narconon Georgia — and confiscated evidence in an ongoing state investigation of insurance fraud. [Two important updates on this story below…] Combs says that half a dozen officers, including two Gwinnett County police officers, entered the premises with search warrants today and then hauled away boxes of records and computers, and also interviewed employees. Combs will soon have a detailed story about the raid, and we’ll link to it as soon as we can. (And here it is.) Previously, the Atlanta coordinated media team of WSB Radio, WSB-TV, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had reported that a patient of Narconon Georgia had learned that her insurance company — United Healthcare — had been billed $166,000 for services that Narconon never performed. (Here’s the AJC‘s story about today’s raid. And here’s the story from WSB-TV.) Continue reading RAID ON SCIENTOLOGY’S DRUG REHAB CENTER IN ATLANTA Advertisement
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Earlier this week we told you that Laura DeCrescenzo’s forced-abortion lawsuit against the Church of Scientology had reached a crucial stage, and that the church is scrambling to prevent a release of thousands of pages of documents that could bolster DeCrescenzo’s case.
