Scientology's Crushing Defeat

Posted at 1:32 PM, June 30, 2008

From "Scientology's Crushing Defeat, Tony Ortega's previously unpublished saga of one of the most humiliating court losses Scientology has ever suffered:

Comedian Works His Scientology Threat Letter Into His Act

Posted by John DeSio at 12:00 PM, June 25, 2008

He doesn't get into the Scientology stuff until a minute or so into it, so be patient.

If you’ve participated in an anti-Scientology rally as part of “Anonymous,” and if the Church figured out your identity, chances are you’ve received a letter accusing you of inciting violence against Church outposts and engaging in terroristic activities.
Some, like Queens Anon Mike Vitale, were emboldened by the letter to continue their criticisms of the Church of Scientology. When comedian Billy Lyday received his own threatening letter from Scientology attorneys after he attended a Los Angeles protest, he worked his own response to the Church into his act.

The Would-Be Hubbard Biographer

Posted by Tony Ortega at 11:30 AM, June 24, 2008

Maisonneuve, a magazine which likes people to think of it as Canada’s New Yorker, uncorked a nice piece this week about a British Columbia man named Gerry Armstrong.

To the folks who write about L. Ron Hubbard and the prank he played on the world—Scientology—Armstrong’s name is very familiar, although you usually hear it uttered in a certain way. As in, “Poor Gerry Armstrong,” with a solemn shake of the head.

Read Bruce Livesey’s entertaining piece to learn how Gerry went from a man so trusted by Hubbard the old coot authorized Armstrong to write his official biography, to a bankrupt, hounded target of Scientology harrassment who risks being arrested if he ever steps foot in the United States.

Anonymous Readies 'Operation Sea Arrrgh' Scientology Protest

Posted by John DeSio at 12:38 PM, June 13, 2008

The June offering of Anonymous will focus on the reported misdeeds and forced labor of Scientology’s private navy.

Saturday’s protests, called “Operation Sea Arrrgh,” will focus on what Anonymous describes as “the cruel, inhumane practices of Scientology's paramilitary missionary group: The Sea Organization.”

The Sea Org, as it is more commonly known, is the hierarchy of the Church of Scientology. Jenna Miscavige Hill, the niece of Church President David Miscavige and now a leading critic of her former church, has described the Sea Org as holding a level of importance above all other things for its members, even above their own families.

"What we're told is that [members of the Sea Org] have to work so hard because they're helping other people," Hill, whose parents were both Sea Org members, told ABC’s Nightline in April. "Your family isn't the most important thing."

For “Operation Sea Arrrgh” Anons will make two stops in Manhattan, first visiting the Church of Scientology’s Times Square location, at 27 West 46th Street, beginning at 11 a.m. At 2 p.m. the group will make its way to 349 West 48th Street, the Sea Org’s local command.

Planning to attend? Be sure to R.S.V.P. here.

Cracked on L. Ron Hubbard's Most Impressive Lies (Besides Scientology)

Posted by John DeSio at 3:31 PM, June 4, 2008

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard did more than just invent a religion. He was also adept at inventing his own biography. The good people at Cracked have compiled a list of Hubbard’s “Most Impressive Lies (Besides Scientology),” recounting L. Ron’s, ahem, exaggerations regarding his Native American heritage, his inflated war record and his drug-free lifestyle, among other things.
Read it here.

Jason Beghe Turned Away at NY Scientology Building

Posted at 1:20 PM, May 30, 2008

We’ve got a longer story here about the scene yesterday when actor Jason Beghe returned to New York and attempted to get into Scientology’s local headquarters near Times Square. Joined by about 50 protesters from Anonymous, Beghe gathered with picketers across the street from the 46th Street building, then was blocked by three hired security men when he attempted to go in. Beghe says he’s going to continue trying to publicize Scientology’s shortcomings, as well as try to convince current members to leave the controversial church. He's no puthy!

NY Scientology Chief: "I Smell Pussy"

Posted by Candice M. Giove at 2:52 PM, May 28, 2008

When Rev. John Carmichael, president of the Church of Scientology of New York, came face-to-face with a small contingent of Anonymous protestors this past Monday, he didn't engage them in a spiritual debate. Instead, he leaned into one member on a Times Square street and said, “Let me tell you this: I smell pussy.” Then, looking squarely at the Anon added, “You in particular.”

All caught on tape, Carmichael hits a breaking point with the handful of protestors at about 5:17 seconds into the Anon-edited clip, conveniently posted the same day on YouTube. Carmichael threatens the group, after yelling at an almost nose-to-nose distance with one Anon over disclosing his name. (With the Church’s documented history of assailing dissenters through its fair game policy, and with legal threats delivered to a couple of New York Anons already, protestors try to keep their identities guarded—hence the Anonymous.) He also implores them to “come out of the closet.”

Typically, New York Anons pop into the Times Square area—close to the Church’s 46th Street center—to conduct “flash raids” in between their larger monthly rallies. This particular visit took place on Memorial Day, the footage opening up with Anonymous members chalking up the sidewalk grade-school-style, warning passersby to skip the free “stress test” that the Church of Scientology offers to rope in potential members, and later taunting Rev. John Carmichael to his face (Take “your spaceship and go away!”). It also captures how adept the group has become at preventing Scientology officials from capturing their likenesses on film and later identifying them: using the ol' celebrity-bodyguard trick of pointing a flashlight at the camera. Impressively crafty, but not to Rev. John Carmichael.

Anonymous will hold their next protest on June 14th.

Scientology Reacts to the Voice

Posted by Tony Ortega at 9:39 AM, May 16, 2008

If you watched Tommy Davis on CNN last week, you know that Scientology isn’t very adept at public relations.

I was reminded of that now that I’ve been reminiscing about what it was like to write about Hubbardites back in the day, and writing numerous stories about Jason Beghe. Yesterday I heard from Los Angeles-based Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw, my old friend, who noticed that I’m back on the Scientology beat.

Pouw and I go back a long way. When I was writing about Scientology at a newspaper in Los Angeles about eight years ago, she invited my editor and publisher out to lunch at the Celebrity Centre, hoping to talk them out of printing further stories. Instead, at the last minute when it turned out the publisher couldn’t make it, my editor brought me along instead.

Pouw didn’t look too happy about it. But we soldiered on through a lovely lunch at the Centre, which is really swank.

I took the opportunity to ask her some questions. It was Pouw who told me something I had never heard before: that only 10 percent of Scientologists had reached the level of OT III. That stunned me. That’s something I’ve been pointing out ever since: that the vast majority of Scientologists have no idea that eventually, they’ll be told the wacky stuff about “Xenu” and that the whole point of their auditing is to remove “body thetans,” something like alien souls, from their person. And at incredibly high prices.

But Pouw said something even more amazing at that lunch. Some Scientologists, like John Travolta, make the claim that you can be a Christian and still be a Scientologist as well. But didn’t Hubbard, I pointed out, write in his Xenu story that Jesus was, in fact, just a bit of programming that had been inserted in our psyches? How was it possible for a Scientologist also to be a Christian if Hubbard claimed that Jesus was just a figment of the imagination?

Well, you can imagine that the lunch got pretty heated at that moment, and Pouw was clearly angry that I’d put her on the spot on her own turf. But eventually, she blurted out, “So we think Jesus is a figment of the imagination! So what!”

What a moment. That’s not something I expect to see on Scientology brochures any time soon.

You can imagine what a pleasure it was to hear from Karin yesterday, who called because she noticed our blog item on Jason Beghe and Tommy Davis.

What followed was, unfortunately, the kind of conversation that’s about as fun as a trip to the proctologist. What are you planning to write? Will this be in the paper or just on the web? Have you ever written anything positive about the church? Have you ever talked to someone who’s still in the church?

I tried to explain that whenever a reporter wants to talk to everyday Scientologists, they’re carefully herded—“handled” in Scientology lingo—so that they talk to spokespeople, who never answer any real questions. And an attempt by a Voice reporter to tour the New York org and speak to people there was rebuffed, by the way. And as for writing positive things about an organization that has been shown repeatedly, in court case after court case, to be a money-making scam that takes advantage of the gullible?

Well, I pointed out to Karin that asking that question is like asking why haven’t I written any “positive” stories about the mafia.

She didn’t seem to appreciate that very much.

I told her I’d love to hear her thoughts on Jason Beghe, who is causing such waves for publicly denouncing Scientology after 12 years as one of its celebrity trophies.

She said she’d e-mail me something.

Sean Bell and Anonymous Protesters Join Forces in Midtown

Posted by Candice M. Giove at 3:18 PM, May 15, 2008

The YouTube video doesn't embed, but as you can some from the above screen grab, the Black Panthers briefly joined forces with Anonymous last Saturday. Only in New York, kids, only in New York.

Causes collided in Times Square this past weekend when Sean Bell protesters glimpsed an Anonymous member’s sign. On it was a quote you’d never find in Bartlett’s, “You shouldn’t be scrubbing the floor on your hands and knees. Get yourself a nigger; that’s what they’re born for.” Allegedly plucked from a letter L. Ron Hubbard sent to his first wife, the placard’s inflammatory, racist pull-quote, with the N-word pronounced in red letters, momentarily united the two groups.

Former high ranking Scientologist and L. Ron Hubbard confidant Gerald Armstrong claimed that those words could be attributed to the Scientology founder. While the validity of his claim cannot be verified because no copy of the letter is available, critics believe it when put in the context of other racist Hubbard statements.

Jason Beghe to Scientology Mouthpiece Tommy Davis: 'You're Losing Your Soul'

Posted by Tony Ortega at 5:11 PM, May 14, 2008

Scientology defector Jason Beghe on Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis: "You see the eyes, the lying that he’s doing. Anybody can see that this guy is not clean. It’s clear as day."

Last week, John Roberts of CNN grilled Tommy Davis, a Scientology spokesman, who was predictably evasive about what L. Ron Hubbard’s wacky minions are up to. ‘Disconnection,’ the church policy of splitting up families in order to shun critics of the church? Never happens, Davis claimed. And as for that high-priced stuff about removing alien souls with lie detector machines? “It’s unrecognizable to me,” Davis told Roberts.

But it was Davis himself who was practically unrecognizable, Jason Beghe tells the Voice.

Beghe is Scientology’s most notorious recent defector, a veteran film and television actor who, after twelve years and approximately $1 million spent on the religion, defected in spectacular manner with a web video in which he denounced Scientology as “destructive and a rip-off.”

Davis, meanwhile, is the son of another Scientology celebrity, actress Anne Archer. He’s a longtime Hubbardite himself, and helped to run the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles. Davis told Rolling Stone in 2006 that L. Ron Hubbard was “the coolest guy ever.” Davis is also well known for provoking BBC journalist John Sweeney into a temper tantrum that became a YouTube hit last year.

Beghe, however, has more personal memories of the man.

“On the day I was getting married, I was waiting in my house with David Duchovny, my best man, and everything was fine. Then about an hour before I had to go, I started to get nervous. I don’t drink much, so I don’t have much to drink in the house. So I called Tommy Davis and he brought me a cold six-pack.”

And there was also this: “I had a terrible car accident,” Beghe says. “I was in a coma for three and a half weeks. Either Tommy or someone else from Celebrity Centre was with me for that entire time.”

“I know this guy,” Beghe says.

And that’s why Davis’s appearance on CNN was so troubling, Beghe explains.

“He was saying there’s no Disconnection. That’s a fucking lie. I’m not even a declared suppressive person, and they’ve all disconnected from me,” Beghe says about his former friends in the church. “They kicked my four-year-old son out of a fucking Scientology school. There’s your church.”

Davis, however, looked terrible as he tried to spin Roberts. “He’s lying, and it shows. What really saddened me, this was one of the most handsome, beautiful kids I’d seen in my life. And he’s starting to look like a hardcore Scientologist. He’s no longer beautiful. You see the eyes, the lying that he’s doing. Anybody can see that this guy is not clean. It’s clear as day,” Beghe says.

“I felt sorry for Tommy. If he’s reading this, I want to tell him: you’re losing your soul. Look in the mirror. You look like a liar. And remember what happened to Mike Rinder. You’re starting to look like that,” Beghe adds, referring to a former high-level official who recently “blew,” or left the organization. “They used Rinder as a spokesman, when he was the kind of person you’d cast in a movie as the villain. It was chilling. And Tommy is getting that look.”

Beghe says that he’s heard the reports that after the Sweeney matter, Davis was put on “RPF”—Rehabilitation Project Force—a notorious program of manual labor that Hubbard created to “redeem” wayward Scientologists.

“The RPF is there to suppress you, to make you toe the line. They pull all your hidden data [make people confess to wrongdoings in intense therapy sessions], they make you do menial, repetitive labor. And there’s sleep deprivation. This is bad shit,” Beghe says.

After watching last week, Beghe says Davis looks like he’d been through that kind of program.

“When I saw him on CNN, I thought, ‘Oh my God, what have they done to this guy.’”
Beghe, who had reached ‘OT V’, one of the highest levels in the church, which charges increasingly substantial amounts of money to learn its secrets, acknowledges that Davis may not yet have attained OT III. At that level, which costs about $100,000 to attain, parishioners are finally told Scientology’s origin story—that a galactic overlord named Xenu brought surplus aliens to Earth and destroyed them, but the disembodied souls of those aliens are still among us, attached to people, and only Hubbard’s “technology”—a talking cure—can remove them.

If Davis hasn’t reached OT III, Beghe points out, it’s possible that he’s telling the truth when Roberts asked him about the alien souls and Davis responded that it was “unrecognizable.” But as a church spokesman, it’s hard to believe that he isn’t aware how much Scientology’s secrets are now part of popular culture.

Either way, Beghe says, Davis is well aware of the way Scientology splits up families, goes after critics, and charges people higher and higher amounts for superpowers that never materialize.

“You stand up there and lie and cover up something that is evil, that is going to take its toll,” Beghe says.

Anons Go Unmasked at Latest Scientology Protest

Posted by Candice M. Giove at 12:46 PM, May 12, 2008

At Saturday’s “Operation: Fair Game: Stop,” Anonymous’ latest installment in a series of monthly global protests, one local member abandoned his ridiculous three-pronged disguise of glasses, a fake nose and a mustache. Instead Mike Vitale wore his name in white letters emblazoned across a black cotton T-shirt.

For Vitale, it’s no longer necessary to obscure his face with the cheap gag getup. The Church of Scientology already knows who he is and where he lives. Days before the protest focusing on “fair game,” the method L. Ron Hubbard concocted in 1967 to silence critics, Vitale received an ominous and vague letter from a Church of Scientology-connected law firm threatening legal action against him for his involvement with Anonymous. “People were definitely quite concerned,” he said of his fellow Anons. “I got asked more than a few times if this means I’m going to cut out.”

But he arrived, undeterred by the warning or the creepiness that the Church of Scientology learned of his once-guarded identity.

The move didn’t rattle other Anons who assembled across from The Church of Scientology’s New York headquarters on West 46th Street either. “From the start people were always afraid, but I what I’m seeing is that people are letting go of that fear more,” said Desu, who wore a shirt with Anonymous’ headless suited emblem and his Guy Fawkes mask relaxed around his neck. “Some of them are not even wearing a mask or sunglasses.”

Many were even more defiant, saying hello to a conspicuous video camera parked in a window at the org. Annie, a member from Long Island, ferociously waved up at its lens. Though known online as Pentagram she applied for the group’s protest permit last month, which requires disclosure of information members try so hard to conceal: name and address. She claimed that about two weeks ago she was photographed by a mysterious trench coat wearing woman near her home. “I live way out on Long Island, so if they want to waste their gas and drive two hours to snap pictures of me I’ll give them a cup of coffee,” she laughed.

DeMiNe0, the administrator of epicanon.com, the main community site for NYC Anons, also ditched his disguise. In the past month he has received two “cease and desist” letters from Church of Scientology lawyers. “They even put fake information in these cease and desist letters,” DiMiNe0 said, talking of references to threats the Church of Scientology claims Anons have made. “Who are they trying to fool? I am one of the people who researches this type of thing every day.”

Protestors stood on West 46th Street in front of the church and also positioned themselves on Broadway, where they were able to get a sound permit. They invoked Hubbard’s words from a 1967 “fair game” policy letter. Critics, “May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed." Though the organization no longer refers to the policy as “fair game,” because Hubbard said a year later it made for a bad public image, Anonymous members and other critics say it’s clearly still in play.

In the past the Church of Scientology “fair-gamed” many detractors, most notably Paulette Cooper, a journalist who published a scathing book about the church in 1971 called The Scandal of Scientology. Church members later devised Operation Freakout to deal with the author. They flung 19 lawsuits her way and got her arrested on criminal charges. Through deception they managed to obtain her fingerprints on paper, type up a bomb threat, and mail it to a government official. She faced 15 years in prison, until the “fair game” policy and other documents came to light.

Anons tell her story to those willing to listen. Others shout slogans or hand out pamphlets about Scientology. At the Broadway protest site, LazyKid holds up a hand-written, abbreviated story of Xenu—the galactic ruler whose population control method has had lasting effects on man according to Church of Scientology belief. The story is also something that its members wait years to hear, only after paying thousands of dollars for courses and auditing.

“I thought that was just some weird version of Christianity,” a man says when he stops to read the sign. He looks at it incredulously. “I could make up something better than that,” he said as he walked off.

With Anonymous positioned on a crowded Times Square drag, several young, polished looking church members stood steps away from the signs and screams. They held stacks of Dianetics postcards, and tried to coax people to come to the center to watch a 15 minute film.

Tourists and New Yorkers walked down the corridor of proselytizers and protestors. But it seemed difficult for church staff to dispense their cards while Anons stood there, not to mention the many recent embarrassments suffered by Scientology after prominent defectors like church leader David Miscavige’s niece Jenna Hill Miscavige and actor Jason Beghe spoke out.

A young Church staff member smiled and handed a woman a card as she walked through the spectacle. Anonymous members shrieked their slogans. The stranger lightly shoved the card back into his hand.

“Give it back! Give it back! Give it back!” A new chant was born.

Scientology Spokesman Gives Non-Answers on CNN

Posted by Tony Ortega at 12:40 PM, May 8, 2008

Watch the full CNN interview here.

CNN’s John Roberts this morning, trying to get a typically squirrelly Scientology spokesman, Tommy Davis, to answer some basic questions about L. Ron Hubbard’s outfit...

Roberts: “There are some people, and one of them is a correspondent for the Village Voice, who says the basic tenet of the Church of Scientology is to rid the body of space-alien parasites, to clear oneself.”

Davis: “Well, John, does that sound silly to you? I mean it’s unrecognizable to me.”

The shout-out from CNN makes us feel warm and fuzzy (even if he’s talking about the ed-in-chief and not a “correspondent”), and we’ll also point out that the space-alien nature of Hubbard’s wacky upper-level “OT” materials isn’t something that just a few of us “say” is the case. It’s been documented again and again over decades of court cases against Scientology. And every high-level Scientologist who “blows” (leaves) has the same exact story to tell. We’ve talked to dozens of them over the years. This is actually one of the better-documented facts about Scientology, that it charges outrageous amounts — up to $1,000 an hour — to have space-alien souls removed from high-level members.

It’s also a grand tradition, among Scientology spokespeople, to act bewildered when they’re facing a camera and they’re asked about Xenu and space-alien thetans. Tommy Davis is just doing what other mouthpieces have said in the past. We seem to remember practically the same routine on an MTV program years ago — “Xenu? Never heard of him.”

But Davis gives the game away when Roberts asks him to give a basic description of what Scientologists do believe, and Davis can’t do it. Maybe because this doesn’t play well on national TV:

Superhuman powers! The ability to leave your body! To shape space and time with your mind! To be impervious to disease and live forever! And all for only a mere $100,000 in cash, several years of your life, separation from your family and friends, and complete dedication to a dead pulp-fiction writer who dreamed up a religion starring disembodied alien souls being carried through the galaxy on spacecraft shaped like DC-3s! Join today!

Queens Anonymous Member Gets a Letter from Scientologists

Posted by John DeSio at 2:10 PM, May 6, 2008

That's Mike Vitale. Guess the costume didn't work too well.

When Queens resident Mike Vitale was outed as a member of Anonymous by the Church of Scientology last month, he specifically asked Church members if they planned to prove his criticisms correct by declaring him “fair game” and subjecting him to the threats and intimidation that are said to be inherent in that Church policy. Would they threaten him or show up at his house?

Well, they did—or, at least, their lawyers did.

Yesterday a letter from the Scientology-connected law firm of Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman was hand delivered to Vitale’s home. In it, Vitale is accused of being a ringleader of Anonymous, read a list of the alleged crimes of the loosely-knit group, has those crimes laid at his own feet and is warned to cease his activity with the group, or else.

“We place you on notice that inciting violence against the Church and its members, and engaging in acts of terrorism (such as the simulated anthrax attack, bomb, arson and death threats) violate State and Federal law,” wrote attorney Eric Lieberman. “We demand that you refrain from committing, or assisting others in committing, any illegal acts directed at the Church or its parishioners. Should Anonymous continue inciting others, and/or engage in violent acts against the Church or its members, we are prepared to take whatever steps may be required to protect the Church, including referring any individual who commits such acts, or aids and assists others who commit such acts, to State and Federal authorities.”

Lieberman said that Vitale was not the only New York-based Anon that had received a letter, and that the letters do not mean that the Church has not gone to the police as well. He added that the purpose of the letters is not to discourage protest, but to put a halt to the alleged illegal activities, and encouragement of illegal activities, of Anonymous.

But what exactly constitutes such encouragement? Would using a bullhorn at a protest qualify? Lieberman said no, and explained the stance of his client a bit further.

“If you’re manning a bullhorn at a protest and saying ‘burn the Church down,’ then that’s encouraging the illegal act. If you’re manning a bullhorn at a demonstration, assuming it’s legal to have a bullhorn at a demonstration in front of the Church, if you’re merely manning a bullhorn and saying ‘we don’t like Scientology,’ then that’s not illegal,” said Lieberman.

Though Lieberman would not answer when asked how the Church came to know Vitale’s identity, it likely stems from his role as de facto liaison between Anonymous and the New York Civil Liberties Union during the March 15 “Operation Party Hard” protests in Manhattan. Vitale said he, nor anyone he knows, had anything to do with the alleged threats against Scientology, describing the letter as “ridiculous scare tactics.”

“As a matter of fact, it’s because of these kinds of tactics that I protest against them in the first place, it is as expected as it is predictable,” said Vitale.

The Church of Scientology’s official position is that “fair game” no longer exists, but critics of the Church disagree, arguing that the harassment of critics continues on at least in an unofficial capacity. On Saturday Anonymous will hold “Operation: Fair Game: Stop” rallies at Church outposts across the world, designed to bring attention to Scientology’s harsh treatment of its critics. Vitale said this letter could not have come at a better time. With just days before the “fair game” protest, Scientology proved Anonymous’ point.

“When I read the letter, I got the joke,” said Vitale. “This will in no way deter me from showing up to any Anonymous events, and I may even put more time into fighting the Church.”

Lieberman insisted that the purpose of Vitale’s letter, and the similar letters sent to other Anonymous-affiliated individuals, is not to quash dissent. “The purpose is not to stop people from engaging in protected activities, or encouraging others to engage in protected activities,” said Lieberman. But Vitale said that the implication was to shut down any protest by casting extremely broad accusations of criminal wrongdoing against the handful of protesters Scientology can identify.

“They can think what they want, but if any real investigators or the police took any interest in investigating these slanderous allegations against me by the church, they would quickly find out the truth,” said Vitale. “I invite them to do so, and decades of so many false allegations against Scientology critics have robbed the Church of any legal credibility in this department.”

He added, “We’re beating them by telling the truth so they have to lie, and these acts of desperation aren’t fooling anyone.”

Nightline Swings at Scientology, Misses

Posted by Tony Ortega at 1:09 PM, April 25, 2008

What do you expect when a program as mainstream as Nightline tries to take on a moving story like the new, growing opposition to Scientology? Certainly not something this weak.

Stumbling in the footsteps of a recent terrific story by John Cook at Radar, Nightline tried to tell the story of Jenna Miscavige Hill last night. Why is her story important? She’s niece to the tiny leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, so her defection, and subsequent allegations about how her family was split up in the church’s notorious policy of “disconnection,” should pack a punch to L. Ron Hubbard’s sect.

Unfortunately, Nightline, like most mainstream outlets, gets really squeamish when talk turns to religious belief, so the ABC program managed to leave out the part that Scientology is a money-making scam that doesn’t tell its own believers until they’ve paid hundreds of thousands of dollars that the point of all their classes and lie-detector machines is to remove space-alien souls from the human body.

Didn’t have time for that detail, I guess.

Instead, viewers unfamiliar with Hubbardism would be forgiven if they came away from the program thinking Scientology was just a quirky religion that inspires folks to become so dedicated, they tend to pay less attention to their own kids. Like poor little Jenna, who had to haul around rocks when she was only 7 years old.

Somehow, Hill’s story in particular, told so well by Cook, was drained of all impact in Nightline’s frightened telling. Hell, Terry Moran looked like he was about to soil his pants as he talked about trying to get a response from Scientology itself.

As a longtime Scientologist who managed to escape the cabal told me after watching the show: Scientology won this round.

Niece of Scientology Leader to Speak Out on Nightline

Posted by John DeSio at 4:28 PM, April 24, 2008

A couple of members of Anonymous at their "Operation Reconnect" event at Central Park earlier this month.

Scientology gets a major media close-up tonight when “Nightline” sits down with Jenna Miscavige Hill, the niece of Church leader David Miscavige, about what life is like growing up Scientology.

Hill has been big news among Scientology critics since January, after she refuted claims by Scientology brass that the Church’s “disconnection” policy, by which Scientologists are separated from friends and family members hostile to the Church, was only used on rare occasions. In an open letter Hill wrote that she was denied total access to her parents after they left the Church in 2000.

"Not only was I not allowed to speak to them, I was not allowed to answer a phone for well over a year, in case it was them calling me,” wrote Hill. Her letter was the genesis for Anonymous’ “Operation Reconnect,” a series of global protests held earlier this month to draw attention to “disconnection” and to reunite Scientologists with their estranged families.

Anonymous’ next round of protests, “Operation Fair Game,” will take place on May 10, and will highlight the means and methods used by the Church of Scientology to intimidate and harass its critics.

Hill’s interview will air on ABC tonight at 11:35 p.m. Her full letter is here.

Jason Beghe on Scientology: The Full Interview

Posted by Tony Ortega at 9:50 AM, April 21, 2008

Scientology: Jason Beghe Interview Pt.1 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Last week, a three-minute video posted on YouTube showed veteran television actor Jason Beghe denouncing Scientology. He’d been a member of the organization for a dozen years, and told the Voice in an interview that he gave Scientology about a million dollars in donations during that time. He also offered surprising behind-the-scenes information about well-known Scientologist celebrities Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and gave Scientology dabbler Will Smith a warning that he was being secretly taped in therapy sessions.

Beghe said that the short video was only a small portion of a much longer video that was made by Mark Bunker, a Scientology critic who puts up videos under the name ‘XenuTV.’ After the short video was played at YouTube more than a half-million times, YouTube yanked Bunker’s account and took the video down (it was put up by others in various locations). Bunker tells the Voice it was the second time his account has been cancelled. The first time, YouTube was quite open that complaints from Scientology had played a part in losing his account. This time, for some reason, Bunker says, YouTube won’t tell him what prompted the cancellation of his account.

This morning, however, Bunker has posted the rest of his lengthy interview with Beghe, using Vimeo and Blip.tv. Watch them while you can!

Scientology: Jason Beghe Pt 2 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Scientology: Jason Beghe Part 3 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Scientology: Jason Beghe Part 4 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Scientology: Jason Beghe Part 6 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Jason Beghe: Scientologist Feared a Gay Friend Caused My Car Crash

Posted at 3:06 PM, April 16, 2008

If you've already seen the above interview tease, then you might want to read more about actor Jason Beghe's 12-year experience in the Church of Scientology in this exclusive interview with Voice Editor Tony Ortega. But check out the video if you haven't.

In the story, Beghe warns Will Smith away from Scientology, explains how Tom Cruise was separated from the Church, and relates how a Scientologist implied that Beghe's car crash was caused by his friendship with a homosexual.

That's weird. Isn't there even one gay person—closeted or otherwise, famous or otherwise—involved with Scientology? Not as Beghe explains it:

Beghe says the proof that Scientology was no longer working for him came when he was almost killed in a car accident. After the L’s, he points out, that shouldn’t happen. “A clear isn’t supposed to have a car accident. You’re supposed to be practically immortal.”

To the Scientologists, the accident was an indication that someone was “suppressing” Beghe. So they pulled him in for more interrogation.

“What about this gay person you’re friends with,” Beghe says one official asked him, implying that somehow the gay friend was causing Beghe’s clear state to be sabotaged. When Beghe objected, he says the official responded, “Well, he’s gay.”

Scenes from Anonymous' 'Scientology Reconnect' Picnic

Posted by John DeSio at 2:17 PM, April 14, 2008

“I am afraid to tell my father where I am today. I am afraid to tell him what I am doing.”

A member of “Anonymous,” who uses the online handle “PokeAnon,” spoke those words on Saturday before a crowd of fellow anti-Scientology activists who have gathered at the East Meadow of Central Park for “Operation Reconnect.” Organizers said they orchestrated the event to draw attention to the Church of Scientology’s practice of “disconnection,” a practice by which Church members are forced to distance themselves from critics of Scientology, even family members. Though the Church states that the practice is rare, critics say that is a lie: Scientologists are forced to disassociate from anyone who speaks out against the Church. PokeAnon’s dad is a Scientologist, and he is afraid that his actions as part of Anonymous will cost him his father forever.

“This is not some fanatical Scientology sect which has perverted the church’s doctrine. This vile policy, known as the disconnection policy, is inherent in their dogma,” he said. “And now, because I demand action against a criminal organization, I am afraid to speak to my father. So a disconnection of sorts has already begun.”

PokeAnon’s comments weighed heavily on the crowd on an otherwise lighthearted day. Only a few presumed Scientology defenders have shown up to monitor the event, and when they are spotted, Anons wave to them and offer pizza. Just outside of the park on Fifth Avenue, a few Anons hand out literature to those walking by, and most of the response is positive. One woman is hesitant until she is informed that the flyer is anti-Scientology.

“Oh, OK,” she said, accepting the flyer. “I don’t like Scientology.”

In fact, most of the negative response to Anonymous does not come from the Church’s defenders but from Central Park patrons who are annoyed that a bunch of kids have taken over the East Meadow and are making too much noise. “Scientology kills!” yells an enthusiastic protester using the name Jersey Mudkip to an elderly woman in a brown track suit. She stops and turns around, middle finger raised. “You probably can’t even get it up!” she replies.

But “Operation Reconnect” had a decidedly celebratory tone: Anons shared pizza and cake and danced as a deejay played on a spring day. Fanatical about wearing their masks at previous protests in front of Scientology centers, most Anons dispensed with them on Saturday. “It’s a lot more social,” said Jersey Mudkip. “It’s like people just wanted to blow off some steam together.”

And those masks don't ensure anonymity anyway. At the “Operation Party Hard” protest in March, one Anon, wearing a Groucho Marx disguise and a blue trench coat, was identified in an article as “Anonymous #3.” He said he has since been outed by the Church of Scientology as Michael Vitale, and no longer feels the need to wear a mask with his identity now public.

Vitale said it became clear that Scientology knew his real name during a spontaneous visit to the Church’s midtown headquarters two weeks ago. While he and a few other Anons handed out literature and offered free hugs to those walking near the church, several Scientologists came out of the building to observe them, and one began yelling Vitale’s name, he said.

He is not terribly concerned that anything will happen to him but Vitale said he has become extra cautious about his surroundings, and is even convinced he was followed home the day before the Central Park event.

“Unless they’re going to run me off the road, I don’t care. They can waste all the money on [private investigators] that they want,” said Vitale, who added that the Church’s public outing of himself helps prove Anonymous’ point regarding the harsh treatment the Church reserves for its critics. “I’m not worried, but I’ll be cautious. I know how these people operate. I know that we’re putting them through a lot right now."

Vitale said he smiled when his name was publicly revealed and shot back by asking the Scientology staffer if this meant he would be subject to the Church’s policy of “fair game,” through which Church officers harass and intimidate critics in an effort to shut them up. The Church of Scientology maintains that “fair game” is no longer in use. Vitale said the staff member who shouted his name repeated that claim to him when he asked. Vitale’s not buying it.

“If you say you don’t practice ‘fair game’ anymore,” said Vitale, “how the fuck do you know my name?”

Anonymous to 'Reconnect' with Scientology Protest Picnic

Posted by John DeSio at 1:00 PM, April 11, 2008

Tomorrow the assembled masses of “Anonymous” will gather for a third time to air their grievances with the Church of Scientology. Dubbed “Operation Reconnect” these events will seek to highlight the Church’s practice of “disconnection” and how Church practices allegedly separate families. Locally “Operation Reconnect” will materialize as a massive rally/picnic on the East Meadow of Central Park, kicking off at 11 a.m.

The Church of Scientology, which did not return our requests for comment, has stated in the past that “disconnection,” whereby Scientologists are separated from non-believing family members, is only carried out in extreme cases and is not standard procedure for all Church members. Former Church member and public relations operative Tory Christman, now a leading critic of Scientology, said the Church’s spin on “disconnection” as a rarity is totally false.

“They go, ‘whoever’s disconnected, they want to be,’” said Christman. “That’s not true.” Christman added that Scientologists have two options for dealing with those family members that are skeptical of their Hubbardesque faith: disconnect, or speak only of non-controversial topics like the weather.

Though “Anonymous” saw significant growth in attendance from their first February protest to their second in March, enthusiasm for “Operation Reconnect” did not seem quite as great as it did for last months “Operation Party Hard,” which sarcastically celebrated Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday. Still one Anon who, of course, asked not to be identified, was sure the turnout would be tremendous.

"There is a lot of excitement, even though there is a possibility of rain. No matter what we will adapt and do what we can,” said the Anon. “There has been a lot of people getting involved and making the success of this mission personal.”
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