scientology a choice: June 2009

Scientology's 5 Newest Celebrity Recruits

By Karla Pacheco June 23, 2009 164,075 views

After he simultaneously impregnated and asexualized Katie Holmes, we're all a little sick and tired of Tom Cruise's Scientology-related antics. Luckily, there's a brand new list of celebrities that the CoS has marked as next in line for access into the Scientology jet. Or boat. Castle? Where do Scientologists practice? Anyway, here's a list of the lunatic Scientology prophets of tomorrow. Granted, they're not all Scientologists yet, but give it a few years and they'll be drinking the Scientology Kool-Aid. Or eating the Scientology Taco. Sucking down the Scientology Slurpee? Anyway here they are.

#5.

Will Smith: Scientologist

Best Known For:

Jiggyness; giant wooden spider-fighting; heir to the kingdom of Bel-Air.

Why We Think He'll Be Next:

For years, rumors about their respective sexualities have plagued Will and Frito-sized beard, Jada Pinkett-Smith. Enter Scientology. As a ruthless corporation able to smokescreen the private sex lives of celebrities, the Church actually provides a pretty valuable service (but come on, John Travolta, meet them halfway. You can't suck the lettuce out of your boyfriend's teeth on a tarmac and expect Scientology to use its Men in Black mind eraser on America. "But I did it in front of a plane!" That's not how it works, John. You just made the plane gay too).

In a 2007 interview, Smith admitted to studying Scientology with Tom Cruise, but then probably realized how crazy that sounded and backpedaled with a weak qualification that he's a "student of world religions" in general. "Ninety-eight percent of the principles [in Scientology] are identical to the principles of the Bible... I don't think that because the word someone uses for spirit is 'thetan' that the definition becomes any different." Big Willy Style makes some cogent arguments here, as would be expected of a man who's pretended to be a sassy cowboy. Anyone who's read the Bible can tell you the terms "spirit" and "frozen alien volcano ghost " are pretty interchangeable. Ask a priest!

But the biggest indicator that Will thought Men In Black was a documentary was when he and Jada spent millions to found the New Village Leadership Academy, a school based on the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

When an actor thinks he's smart enough to educate his children in his kitchen, that's a harmless joke, because everyone sort of understands that Will Smith's kids are going to grow up and be retarded, and that's funny. But when he builds a school and starts handing out diplomas to the neighborhood kids, the joke's gone a little too far. If the Fresh Prince wants to take out his son's tonsils, that's between him and the police, but that doesn't make him a doctor, no matter how many times he paints HOSPITAL on his garage door.

What He'll Be Sacrificing for Scientology:

Forced to ritually murder DJ Jazzy Jeff as to achieve Level 8 Operating Thetan level.

#4.

Janeane Garofalo: Scientologist

Best Known For:

Being the only comedian on the planet who doesn't think anything is funny.

Why We Think She'll Be Next:

It wasn't difficult to notice Garofalo's transition from charmingly acerbic actress (Reality Bites, Romy & Michele's High School Reunion) to shrill left-wing know-it-all and Scientology shill, but it was pretty upsetting.

As we mentioned in our last expose, supposed atheist Garofalo used her Air America radio show go shithouse-rat crazy for the controversial New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, based on the teachings of--drum roll, please--L. Ron Hubbard. She dedicated multiple episodes of "Majority Report" to the program, which caused increasingly strained relations between Garofalo and co-host Sam Seder. Seder and the show's producer walked off in protest after Garofalo suggested he wouldn't have opposed the project if it had been "linked to Jews instead of Scientologists." Not the classiest thing to say when your co-host is one of the chosen, but then again, she was only trying to encourage people horribly traumatized by the events of 9/11 to sit in a sauna while drinking cooking oil laced with niacin. Oh, how we wish we were making that up.

No need to worry about Janeane, though. Despite ultimately leaving the radio show, she's doing just fine and still calling anyone who disagrees with her racist:

Don't get us wrong, we know there are probably plenty of those tea-bagger guys who aren't too pleased about having a black man in the White House, but in this case Garofalo's just so fucking annoying and smugly self-satisfied she's the one whose head we want to put a hood over. We finally understand how conservatives feel every time Glenn Beck opens his mouth.

What She'll Be Sacrificing for Scientology:

Glossy 8x10 picture of Winona Ryder signed "Dear Janeane, always stay relevant! Love, 1994."

#3.

David and Victoria Beckham: Scientologists

Best Known For:

Telling us what we want, what we really, really want. Assuming (not incorrectly) that what we want are a lot of pictures of them mostly naked.

Why We Think They'll Be Next:

A couple of famewhores who love money and hate pants? Seems like a match made in the Galactic Confederacy.

England's trash became America's treasure when soccer hooligan/popular nudist David Beckham and wife, Old Spice, immigrated to our shores so David could play America's least popular sport. Tom Cruise quickly swept the couple up, no doubt trying to indoctrinate yet another rich, sexually ambiguous couple into the Scientology fold. The couple soon became BFFTIs (Best Friends For This Incarnation), and David Beckham admitted to "admiring" Cruise's beliefs and knowledge, even while denying Cruise was trying to recruit them.

"I respect any person's religion but he's never pushed anything on to us. Friends don't do that," Beckham told GQ Magazine. He failed to mention if friends also never try to kiss you, or purchase your semen to impregnate child brides with. We're pretty sure the denials would have been a bit more convincing if we hadn't heard the exact same thing from Will Smith right before he built a goddamn Scientology school.

Meanwhile, Katie Holmes has been parading Victoria around to Hollywood producers and directors in hopes of getting her acting jobs, despite all evidence pointing to the fact that neither of them can act. However, Posh IS allegedly lined up to play an alien bride in the Cruise-backed film The Thetan. Because as the Oscar-winning international blockbuster Battlefield Earth taught the world, a Scientology movie is basically a license to print money.

What They'll Be Sacrificing to Scientology:

#2.

"Celebrity" "Musicians": Scientologists

Best Known For:

Rapping; Singing while pale; Teen heart-throbbing; Nothing.

(Apparently someone at the Scientology Celebrity Center grievously misinterpreted the meaning of the word "celebrity.")

Why We Think They'll Be Next:

You'd probably guess the only thing Doug E. Fresh (rapper), Edgar Winter (albino), Leif Garret (has-been) and Frank Stallone (Frank Stallone) have in common is "they'd suck the foreskin off a hobo for a week-old taco." And you wouldn't be far off.

"There's urine in this glass! My brother's a movie star! The government is chasing my dreams!"

But along with "real-life, actually famous Scientologist" John Travolta, they were all featured on the albums The Road to Freedom and The Joy of Creating, performing music and lyrics by L. Ron Hubbard. Album sales were naturally underwhelming, but it just goes to show you: For every closeted superstar who mines the vast network of connections and influence that Scientology offers, there's a washed up rapper waiting for someone to give a shit that they signed on for the crazy too.

However, Travolta has allegedly been tasked with converting "Bolt" co-star and tween obsession Miley Cyrus to the church, so they're at least trying to trade up.

Bad news Scientology: This is trading up.

They've got pretty good odds, too, considering 16-year-olds will believe all sorts of stupid stuff you tell them, including "I'm only gonna put the tip in," "Of course I love you" and "trust me, this is the only way to clear your Thetans. Now flip over."

What They'll Be Sacrificing to Scientology:

Their careers; dignity; virginity, if Travolta did his job right.

#1.

Sarah and Todd Palin: Scientologists

Best Known For:

Snow "Machining"; skinning moose; incredibly modest political aspirations.

Why We Think They'll Be Next:

The Palins are obviously familiar with crazy ass conspiracy theory-type organizations. For 7 years Todd was a card-carrying member of a political group that wanted Alaska to secede from the United States (to be fair, we'd let them go, but they've got all our oil and crystal meth). Sarah Palin's pretty good at denying things--climate change, dinosaurs--so refuting she's a Scientologist should come pretty naturally. And finally, they name their children like they're already Scientologists. "Piper Indy and Trigger, meet Pilot Inspektor and Cosimo Henry. We imagine you guys have a lot to talk about."

One of Sarah Palin's top advisors, and allegedly the secret driving force behind her "SarahPAC" (the organization dedicated to Palin's future presidential ambitions), is none other than John "Top Operating Thetan Level" Coale, Scientologist attack-lawyer and husband of Fox news anchor Greta Van Susteren. Recently Van Susteren was seen squiring Todd Palin to some of Washington D.C.'s most exclusive brunches and munches, though notably preventing anyone from actually, you know, talking to him.

However, she bristled at accusations she was acting as his "handler." On her blog, she wrote "I did not bring a guest to be interviewed or grilled by the press...I brought the guest so the guest could meet people and have a good social time." This was after she blew her reptilian neck-flaps out like a rabid Gila monster at anyone trying to say "hi" to the dude.

We're even more convinced the Palins have known the loving touch of an e-meter after reading the memo John Coale wrote laying out an intricate gameplan for the Church of Scientology to cultivate politicians SPECIFICALLY through the kind of Political Action Committee he's set up for Sarah Palin.

It further outlines how to get around the legal aspects of a tax-exempt "church" trying to influence political policy-makers, as well as specifying support should only go to candidates for federal office, such as President, Vice-President and members of Congress. Which gets more interesting when you find out John Coale was a vehement Hillary Clinton supporter right up until the very second she lost the Democratic Presidential nomination, whereupon he immediately switched his loyalties to Sarah Palin.

Maybe--unlike most/some/please stop suing us, Scientologists--he just likes chicks. Or perhaps, as the incredibly attractive Van Susteren (we're begging you, we've only got the one dog left), insists, the families are "simply good friends," what with all the softball, foot-rubbing interviews she gave the Palin family on Fox News over the past couple months.

But Todd and Sarah strike us as the type of weak-minded public figures that have L. Ron Hubbard jerking off in his grave. Or maybe they're just weak-minded like a fox, and realize if anyone's gonna get Sarah elected president, it's a bunch of rich, influential, functionally retarded celebrities who think we all used to exist in past lives as aliens living in societies called space operas. (Note: The only reason we provided a link is because we can no longer tell the difference between the pigshit-insane things Scientologists actually believe in and the exaggerated fake beliefs we make up when we're mocking them.)

What They'll Be Sacrificing to Scientology:

Nothing! Palin & Palin in 2012!!!

Having trouble keeping track of which celebrities believe that you're an alien rape baby? Be sure to consult our comprehensive Scientology Star Map.

David Beckham forced to spend two hours a week "modeling" in Tom Cruise's private art gallery. Victoria Beckham forced to wash Tom Cruise's car.A guide to Scientology: Beyond sects and celebrities

Posted by editor • June 18th, 2009 • Printer-friendly

Scientology is what sociologists classify as a New Religious Movement, or NRM. But for many people it is a buzzword for “fringe religion,” or a “Hollywood” faith for celebrities whose propensity to make news guarantees that Scientology has a profile out of proportion to its membership numbers.

In fact, among NRMs, few make headlines as regularly - or generate as much controversy - as Scientology. When John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s son, Jett, died in January 2009, the church’s beliefs about mental disorders and about the afterlife became one of several story angles pursued as the tragedy unfolded. When Tom Cruise questioned Brooke Shields’ use of medication to treat postpartum depression in 2005, Scientology’s long-standing opposition to psychiatry and its treatment methods became a topic of hot debate. And when communities and schools around the country have turned to Scientology-based education and rehabilitation programs, public opposition has sometimes followed.

And yet for many Americans, the Church of Scientology remains something of a mystery, better known for its celebrity adherents than for its tenets and practices. In some respects this is unsurprising, given the zeal with which Scientologists protect the faith’s texts, imagery and “religious technologies.” In addition, the church’s reputation for litigiousness has tended to limit open debate and stifle some critics, though the relative anonymity afforded by the Internet has changed that somewhat in recent years.

Over time, reporters both on the religion beat and elsewhere are likely to encounter stories involving Scientology. ReligionLink offers background and resources to assist in coverage.

Jump to:

General Scientology Web sites

Additional Web resources

History

Basic tenets

Texts and services

By the numbers

Governance and affiliates

Holidays

Find a center or practitioner

Press contacts

Opposition Web sites

Issues to explore

Articles, transcripts

International sources

National sources

Regional sources

Scientology basics

GENERAL SCIENTOLOGY WEB SITES

The Web site of the Church of Scientology International includes a wide range of information, as well as links to Scientology resources.

The “What is Scientology?” Web site explains the religion’s origins, principles, services and more. It also features a glossary of terms.

Scientology’s online video channel includes presentations on everything from the church’s history to its involvement in social issues.

A Web site devoted to L. Ron Hubbard gives extensive information about the church’s founder.

ADDITIONAL WEB RESOURCES

The Religious Movements Homepage Project provides extensive information and links on Scientology.

An explanation of Scientology beliefs and practices can be found in “Scientology: The Marks of Religion,” which was written by Frank Flinn, an adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

ReligiousTolerance.org posts information about the church.

Beliefnet summarizes some of Scientology’s basic tenets.

The Web site of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research has a New Religious Movements page with extensive links, including a listing of articles on Scientology.

HISTORY

Science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology in the early 1950s as a religious philosophy built upon the framework of his book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Followers set up the first local Church of Scientology in 1954 in California. More on this can be found on the Religious Movements Homepage at the University of Virginia and at ReligiousTolerance.org.

Hubbard died in 1986. (Or, as reported on the Scientology.org Web site: “On 24 January 1986, having accomplished all he set out to do, Ron departs his body.”)

Through the years, various national governments have come into conflict with Scientology, primarily over whether it merits religious recognition and privileges. In the U.S., federal tax-exempt status was granted in the 1950s but then withdrawn in 1967; the church didn’t regain full religious recognition and tax exemption here until 1993. Read about it here and here.

BASIC TENETS

Scientology acknowledges “a spiritual debt to the Eastern faiths” while also charting its own path.

A fundamental truth for believers is that people are spiritual beings, called thetans, whose existence spans multiple lifetimes.

In Scientology, salvation is the responsibility of each individual and is achieved through the religious practices known as auditing and training. The goal of auditing is to reach a state of spiritual awareness called “clear.” Individuals may then progress beyond “clear” to higher spiritual levels.

The faith has eight “dynamics,” the last of which is defined as “the urge toward existence and survival as INFINITY. The eighth dynamic also is commonly called God, the Supreme Being or Creator, but it is correctly defined as infinity.” Scientology does not assign anthropomorphic qualities to the Supreme Being but instead encourages adherents to reach their own conclusions about the nature and character of God.

The church’s creed summarizes Scientology beliefs.

TEXTS AND SERVICES

A prolific writer, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard detailed his philosophies and principles in numerous books, articles and recorded lectures that Scientologists today view as scripture. The primary sacred text is Hubbard’s Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, a best-seller published in 1950. For more details, read here and here.

Churches of Scientology hold communal services for such things as holidays and rites of passage, but the two main spiritual practices are auditing and training, both of which are geared more to the individual’s spiritual journey.

In auditing, a church counselor meets with an adherent and asks questions aimed at helping the person achieve “clear” status. Typically, this process requires a series of sessions. A device called an E-Meter is used in auditing to help identify subject areas needing further exploration.

Beyond “clear,” advanced levels of auditing are conducted on a solo basis; the person acts as his or her own auditor.

Training consists of intensive study of the faith’s tenets and scriptures.

BY THE NUMBERS

In the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, 55,000 U.S. adults self-identified as Scientologists. The just-released 2008 ARIS doesn’t give a separate figure for Scientologists but includes them, along with 11 other groups, in “New Religious Movements and other religions”; the total number of U.S. adults in that category is reported to be 2.8 million, up from 1.77 million in 2001.

According to ReligiousTolerance.org, estimates of the number of Scientologists worldwide range from 100,000 to 10 million. The site explains why it is particularly difficult to pin down such numbers.

Adherents.com ranks Scientology 22nd among world religions size-wise and includes an explanation of how that determination was reached.

In 2004, an article in the Deseret News reported that the church claimed to have 4 million adherents in the U.S. and 8 million to 9 million worldwide.

The “What is Scientology?” Web site reports some church statistics, though many appear to be at least a decade old. Among them: As of 1997, the faith was practiced in 129 countries and on every continent, and 43 percent of the church and mission staff members were based in the U.S.

Another Scientology site says the religion ministers to more than 8 million people in 159 countries.

GOVERNANCE AND AFFILIATES

The nonprofit Religious Technology Center was established in 1982 to “preserve, maintain and protect the Scientology religion.” The center guards against improper use of Scientology’s religious symbols and technologies and has final ecclesiastical authority regarding their application, but it is not involved in routine church matters. David Miscavage has been the RTC’s chairman of the board since 1987.

Each Church of Scientology has its own board of directors and executives. (See details about churches’ structure and organization). The faith’s parent organization is the Church of Scientology International, which is based in Los Angeles.

Other major centers in the U.S. include the Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, Fla., which is referred to as the worldwide spiritual headquarters; and Gold Base, headquarters for the Religious Technology Center and the site of a media production studio for the faith. Gold Base is near Hemet, Calif.

The Sea Organization, or Sea Org, is a religious order in Scientology. The church describes Sea Org members as “the most dedicated Scientologists in the world — individuals who have dedicated their lives to the service of their religion.” At one time they were literally based on ships, but today most of them are land-based (though they do still wear maritime-style uniforms).

Scientology also has several affiliated but legally distinct programs, including Narconon, which combats drug and alcohol abuse; Criminon, which works to rehabilitate prison inmates; and Applied Scholastics, which applies Hubbard’s “study technology” to fight illiteracy.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was established as an independent body by the Church of Scientology in 1969 “to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights and to clean up the field of mental healing.” The commission maintains a museum in Los Angeles and has chapters in 16 states and 34 countries. Jan Eastgate is president, and there is an extensive board of advisers. Contact 800-869-2247, media@cchr.org.

HOLIDAYS

Scientologists observe various holidays throughout the year. Many of them commemorate the introduction of the faith to a particular country or the launching of one of the church’s programs, such as Narconon.

FIND A SCIENTOLOGY CENTER OR PRACTITIONER

Church locations worldwide, their contact information and links to their Web sites can be found on this map.

Scientology volunteer minister centers in specific regions can be located and contacted through this Web site.

To find individual Scientologists in your state, check this link.

PRESS CONTACTS

The Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch is president of the Church of Scientology International and is described as its leading spokesman. Contact through the media relations office, mediarelationsdir@scientology.net.

David Miscavige is chairman of the board of Religious Technology Center, the nonprofit organization that controls the trademarked names and symbols of Scientology. Miscavige has been described as the worldwide ecclesiastical leader of the religion. Contact through the RTC International office in Los Angeles, 323-663-3258.

Karin Pouw is director of public affairs for the Church of Scientology International. Contact through the media relations office, mediarelationsdir@scientology.net.

News releases and online reference guides for the media can be found at the bottom of this church Web page.

OPPOSITION WEB SITES

A number of Web sites have sprung up in opposition to the Church of Scientology. They include:

Factnet.org

Narconon-exposed.org

Operation Clambake

Scientology-lies.com

Studytech.org

Suppressive Person Defense League

TruthaboutScientology.com

Xenutv.com

Issues to explore

Here are just a few issues that crop up periodically regarding Scientology:

Free speech: Through the years, the church and its critics have accused each other of free-speech abuses. Scientology opponents say those who speak out publicly have faced intimidation, harassment and ostracism; the relative anonymity afforded by the Internet, though, has encouraged some of them to push back. This, in turn, has led to accusations by the church that it is the victim of cyberterrorism by one group, which calls itself Anonymous.

Read a June 1, 2009, Wall Street Journal story about a decision by Wikipedia, the open-source, user-edited Internet encyclopedia, to ban the Church of Scientology from editing entries about Scientology. The decision came after months of debate by Wikipedia’s arbitration committee and resulted from the high degree of conflict over entries on Scientology. A few Scientology critics were also banned from editing Wikipedia entries on the topic.

Read a May 11, 2009, Los Angeles Times article, “‘Anonymous’ hacker pleads guilty to 2008 attack on Scientology sites.”

Read a March 3, 2009, Los Angeles Times article (posted by RickRoss.com) about a new Riverside County, Calif., law limiting protests outside the church’s Golden Era studio complex. Some say the law violates the First Amendment.

Read a March 3, 2008, Los Angeles Times column about how the Internet has emboldened Scientology critics and what the church says about it.

Read a June 25, 2006, St. Petersburg Times article about ostracism of those who leave Scientology. A sidebar gives the church’s rebuttal.

Read a Jan. 30, 2005, Buffalo News article (posted by RickRoss.com) about the Cult Awareness Network. According to the article, the network was sued numerous times by Scientologists. Later, individual Scientologists bought the network after it was driven into bankruptcy; the network no longer considers Scientology a cult, the story says.

Affiliated programs: Scientology has several affiliated but legally distinct programs targeting social ills, such as drug dependency and illiteracy. Sometimes when these programs are proposed in communities, suspicion and opposition arise, particularly if officials or residents believe that the connections to Scientology haven’t been sufficiently disclosed. Some critics also question the programs’ accuracy or effectiveness.

Read a June 29, 2008, Los Angeles Times article about a new private school founded by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. The school has generated some controversy because it uses teaching methods developed by Scientology’s founder and some of its teachers are Scientologists. Its top administrator says the school is secular, not religious.

Read an April 16, 2008, Boston Herald article (posted by RickRoss.com) about concerns regarding Scientology’s ties to a proposed curriculum for a taxpayer-funded pilot school in that city.

Read a Jan. 19, 2007, Wall Street Journal article (posted by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) about a prison program in New Mexico that uses principles espoused by Scientology’s founder.

Read a Feb. 25, 2005, San Francisco Chronicle item about the state superintendent in California urging schools to drop the Narconon anti-drug education program.

Mental health: Scientology has long been known for its opposition to psychiatry. Whether that opposition extends to treatment of autism and similar disorders became a subject of some news stories after the January 2009 death of Jett Travolta. Jett’s parents, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, are Scientologists. They have attributed his health problems to a childhood bout with Kawasaki disease, not autism as some observers have speculated.

Read a Feb. 21, 2009, St. Petersburg Times story about two wrongful-death lawsuits dealing with Scientology’s stance on psychiatry. One has been settled; the other was just recently filed.

Read a Beliefnet Q-and-A with a Scientology spokesman about the church’s positions on autism, medical care and death. The interview was published Jan. 17, 2009, in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Additional articles, transcripts

Read a June 15, 2009, Associated Press story (posted by FoxNews.com) about a French trial in which the prosecutor is seeking to have the Church of Scientology banned in that country.

Read a Jan. 24, 2009, article from The Times of London about concerns in Germany that the popularity of Tom Cruise’s film Valkyrie could popularize Scientology there.

Read a Jan. 15, 2009, article from The Salt Lake Tribune about Scientology’s beliefs on the afterlife. The article is posted by the WorldWide Religious News Web site.

Read a Jan. 14, 2008, New Yorker article, “Château Scientology: Inside the Church’s Celebrity Centre,” about Scientology’s outreach to celebrities.

Read a Nov. 1, 2007, CNN story about two Christian pastors embracing elements of Scientology for their congregations.

Read a Feb. 23, 2006, Rolling Stone article, “Inside Scientology.”

Read an ABC transcript of a 1992 interview between Ted Koppel and David Miscavige. The interview was said to be the first ever granted by the Scientology leader.

Read a May 1991 Time magazine cover story about Scientology. The church took great exception to the article, which went on to receive the Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business and financial journalism, the Worth Bingham Prize and the Conscience in Media Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

The Los Angeles Times published a six-part series about the religion in 1990.

The St. Petersburg Times keeps an extensive archive of recent and older articles it has published about the church, including a 1980 report that won the Pulitzer Prize.

International sources

Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi is a psychology professor at the University of Haifa in Israel. His areas of expertise include the psychology of religion. He wrote an article titled “Scientology: Religion or racket?” that was published in September 2003 by the Marburg Journal of Religion. Contact benny@psy.haifa.ac.il.

Douglas E. Cowan is professor of religious studies at Renison University College/University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. He is co-author of Cults and New Religions: A Brief History (2007), which includes a chapter on the Church of Scientology, and has chapters on Scientology in a number of edited collections, including Scientology (March 2009), edited by James R. Lewis. At the 2004 international conference of the Center for Studies on New Religions, Cowan presented a paper on the difficulties of researching Scientology. Contact 519-884-4404 ext. 28607, decowan@uwaterloo.ca.

John Duignan is co-author of The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology (2008). He says he is a former high-ranking member of the church. Amazon’s United Kingdom branch stopped selling Duignan’s book after receiving a claim that it libeled a church member; the publisher, Merlin Publishing, has denied that. Contact through the publisher (in Ireland), +3531 4535866, publishing@merlin.ie.

Stephen Kent is a sociology professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He studies new and alternative religions and has written a number of articles about Scientology. Contact 780-492-2204, steve.kent@ualberta.ca.

National sources

David G. Bromley is a professor of religious studies and sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He has written extensively about Scientology and is co-author of Cults and New Religions: A Brief History (2007), which includes a chapter on the church. Contact 804-828-6286, dbromley@vcu.edu.

Dell De Chant is an instructor and associate chair in the department of religious studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He co-authored a chapter on Scientology in World Religions in America: An Introduction. Contact 813-974-0576, ddechant@cas.usf.edu.

Frank Flinn is an adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He has served as a forensic expert on the legal definition of religion, religious organizations, religious finances and various religious controversies, and he has testified concerning Scientology and many other New Religious Movements. Flinn wrote “Scientology: The Marks of Religion,” which examines the beliefs and practices of the church. He is now editing a five-volume Encyclopedia of Religion and Society. Contact 314-935-8677, fkflinn@wustl.edu.

James R. Lewis is a lecturer in religious studies in the philosophy department at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He is the editor of Scientology (March 2009), described as a comprehensive examination of the church’s theology, growth and controversies. Contact 715-346-3340 (department), jlewis@uwsp.edu.

J. Gordon Melton is an independent scholar and founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including the Encyclopedia of American Religions and one on Scientology that is part of the Studies in Contemporary Religion series. Contact 805-961-0141, jgordon@rain.org or jgordon@linkline.com.

Timothy Miller is a professor in the department of religious studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He is the editor of America’s Alternative Religions. Contact 785-864-7263, tkansas@ku.edu.

Sarah M. Pike is a professor of religious studies and American studies at California State University, Chico, and a specialist in New Religious Movements. Contact 530-898-6341, spike@csuchico.edu.

Anson Shupe is a sociology professor at Indiana State University-Purdue University in Fort Wayne. He has written critically about the anti-cult movement, and a book he co-authored, Agents of Discord: Deprogramming, Pseudo-Science and the American Anticult Movement (2006), includes an examination of the original Cult Awareness Network. Contact 219-481-6667, shupe@ipfw.edu.

Hugh Urban is a professor in the department of comparative studies at Ohio State University in Columbus. He is particularly interested in the study of secrecy in religion and wrote an article, “Fair Game: Secrecy, Security and the Church of Scientology in Cold War America,” published in 2006 by the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Contact 614-292-9855, urban.41@osu.edu.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

Eugene V. Gallagher is Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies at Connecticut College in New London. He is the author of The New Religious Movements Experience in America, which includes a discussion of the Church of Scientology. Contact 860-439-2169, eugene.gallagher@conncoll.edu.

Mathew N. Schmalz is an associate professor of religious studies at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. His article “Scientology and Catholicism Do Mix: A Note on Teaching New Religions in a Catholic Classroom” appeared in the January 2006 edition of the journal Teaching Theology & Religion. Contact 508-793-2557, mschmalz@holycross.edu.

IN THE EAST

Courtney Bender is an associate professor of religious studies at Columbia University and can discuss New Religious Movements in America. Contact 212-851-4134, cb337@columbia.edu.

David S. Touretzky is a research professor in the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and a longtime Scientology critic. He maintains an extensive collection of Scientology-related Web sites on his home page. He has given many radio interviews and appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann (twice) and CNN Headline News with Glenn Beck to discuss Scientology. Contact 412-268-7561, dst@cs.cmu.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

Danny Jorgensen is a professor in the department of religious studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He co-authored a chapter on Scientology in World Religions in America: An Introduction. Contact 813-974-1848, djorgens@chuma1.cas.usf.edu.

Sean McCloud is an associate professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who specializes in New Religious Movements. Contact 704-687-2542, spmcclou@email.uncc.edu.

IN THE SOUTH

Catherine Wessinger is a professor of religious studies at Loyola University in New Orleans and co-editor of Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. Contact 504-865-3182, wessing@loyno.edu.

Allan McConnell is executive administrator of the Watchman Fellowship of Alabama, an evangelical Christian outreach ministry to cults and New Religious Movements. The fellowship’s Web site includes a page about Scientology. Contact amcconnell@watchman.org.

Don Malin is the Mississippi state director of Watchman Fellowship, an evangelical Christian outreach ministry to cults and New Religious Movements. Contact 601-924-3879.

IN THE MIDWEST

W. Michael Ashcraft is an associate professor of religion at Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo. He is co-editor of the five-volume Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America. Contact 660-785-7531, washcraf@truman.edu.

The Rev. John Saliba is a professor of religious studies at the University of Detroit, Mercy. A Jesuit priest, he took part in a three-year Vatican study of New Religious Movements and is the author of Understanding New Religious Movements (Second Edition). Contact 313-993-1088, salibaja@udmercy.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

Derek Davis is dean of the college of humanities and of the graduate school at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, where he also directs the university’s Center for Religious Liberty. He has written about the Church of Scientology’s pursuit of legal recognition. Contact 254-295-4143, ddavis@umhb.edu.

Barry Hankins is a history professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and co-editor of New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America. Contact 254-710-4667, Barry_Hankins@baylor.edu.

J. Phillip Arnold is executive director of the Reunion Institute in Houston, a nonprofit teaching fellowship on religion. Arnold has lectured on religious liberty issues and is on the referral list of the Cult Awareness Network. Contact 713-523-1861, information@reunioninstitute.com.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

H. Newton Malony is a senior professor of psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., whose areas of expertise include religious tolerance and the psychology of religion. An ordained United Methodist minister, Malony has preached about tolerance toward Scientology and other groups. The Cult Awareness Network includes him on its professional referrals list. Contact 909-625-9214, hnewtonm@yahoo.com.

James Richardson is a professor of sociology and judicial studies at the University of Nevada in Reno. He wrote an entry on Scientology for the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society. Contact 775-682-7985, jtr@unr.edu.

Scientology: The Truth Rundown

Posted June 23, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: abuse, cult, fascism, scientology, violence |

The St. Petersburg Times is currently running a three-part special report on the Scientology cult. Part one can be found here:

The leader of the Church of Scientology strode into the room with a boom box and an announcement: Time for a game of musical chairs.

David Miscavige had kept more than 30 members of his church’s executive staff cooped up for weeks in a small office building outside Los Angeles, not letting them leave except to grab a shower. They slept on the floor, their food carted in.

Their assignment was to develop strategic plans for the church. But the leader trashed their every idea and berated them as incompetents and enemies, of him and the church.

Prove your devotion, Miscavige told them, by winning at musical chairs. Everyone else — losers, all of you — will be banished to Scientology outposts around the world. If families are split up, too bad.

To the music of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody they played through the night, parading around a conference room in their Navy-style uniforms, grown men and women wrestling over chairs.

The next evening, early in 2004, Miscavige gathered the group and out of nowhere slapped a manager named Tom De Vocht, threw him to the ground and delivered more blows. De Vocht took the beating and the humiliation in silence — the way other executives always took the leader’s attacks.

This account comes from executives who for decades were key figures in Scientology’s powerful inner circle. Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, the highest-ranking executives to leave the church, are speaking out for the first time.

David Miscavige, the freak who runs Scientology

OK, I can see a problem on the horizon. The new computer lets me read more faster and the links are piling up accordingly and the temptation to use them is greater as the blogging software is running much faster too. That last post only took about half an hour to slam together (not including the time involved in grabbing the links).

Whatever. These links are too good to throw away so no sense letting them grow stale:

IRAN

Phoenix Woman unloads

WINGNUTS

Dan Burton breaks new record for scaring himself, wants dome put over Capitol

Hobbled by her twisted ankle Sotomayor runs ten minutes late, Bob Corker can’t wait around for the gimp (Christy Hardin Smith also snarks)

Heads I win, tails you lose analysis

2009 National Conferenece, Building the New Majority

Lying about Media Matters (especially crude as Fox News never responds to the real allegations of news fraud)

Howie the Whore refuses to take on rightwing network ABC’s wingnut critics

SC Guv Sanford has disappeared and some think he has hied himself to a sanitarium (and while DougJ asks for sympathy I’m inclined to laugh my ass off *)

scientology a choice

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

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