Is Scientology's Wall Cracking?

[babylonsister]

:scared:


Is Scientology's Wall Cracking?

by Kim Masters


The St. Petersburg Times ran an extraordinary three-part series on Scientology last week featuring interviews with some very high-level defectors. Among the claims: that 49-year-old Scientology leader David Miscavige, a close associate of the church’s biggest star Tom Cruise, dished out constant physical abuse to his associates.

One of the key sources in the articles, Mike Rinder, was assigned to deal with me when I wrote a 2005 magazine article about Cruise. A fallen-away Rinder speaking on the record is a big get, as any journalist who has covered Scientology knows. Marty Rathbun is a big name in Scientology circles, too. Both were high-ranking members of the Sea Organization, Scientology’s upper-level staff. Sea Org members commit to the job for one billion years (with breaks provided to accommodate childhood at the beginning of each new incarnation). They live in dorms and are not permitted to have children.

Rinder says he endured dozens of beatings; he and Rathbun say they inflicted some, too, under orders from Miscavige. The articles say Miscavige exerts such influence that “managers follow his orders, however bizarre, with lemming-like obedience.” Rathbun now says he ordered the destruction of evidence after a member's death brought on investigations and litigation. He also was involved in one of Scientology’s biggest coups: getting the IRS to grant the group tax-exempt status.

Needless to say, the Church of Scientology vehemently denies the allegations in the series and portrays those who made them as embittered apostates seeking to wrest control of the church from Miscavige. So Rinder is now denounced as an apostate; if memory serves me, he used that word repeatedly when attacking the credibility of former Scientologists who spoke in my article about Cruise.

None of the allegations against Miscavige is likely to reach the ears of many Scientologists, especially celebrity members and the Sea Org members, who are not supposed to own cellphones, watch television, or surf the Web. “That’s built into them from day one,” says Tory Christman, who spent 20 years in Scientology. “Don’t look at the entheta—it will ruin your bridge to total freedom.” (In Scientology parlance, good news is theta news; entheta is the opposite.)

“You’re basically placed in a bubble, exactly like in The Truman Show,” said another longtime church member, Michael Pattinson. “You never hear bad news.” (Pattinson said the church had told him it could “cure” him of homosexuality but after spending more than 20 years and laying out hundreds of thousands of dollars, he concluded that the treatment wasn’t working.)

more...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-28/is-the-churchs-wall-cracking/full/

[qb]

1. I hope so. The 'Anonymous' group is helping.

They had a table at Twin Cities Pride.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chanology

[juno jones]

2. This is one of my secret vices

When I'm not here, I often lurk:

http://forums.whyweprotest.net/

It's profane, crazy and sometimes off-base, but damn these people are full of win.

And they have some insights concerning organizing and posting info on the web that many would do well to check out.

[Dr.Phool]

3. I read that series.

I live just north of Clearwater. Whenever I drive through there, I marvel at all the zombies, dressed alike, wandering around downtown.