Church Of Scientology Chased Down And Brought Back Members Who Tried To Leave (VIDEO)

The St. Petersburg Times has conducted a lengthy investigation into the always controversial Church of Scientology, focusing on their practice of chasing down former members who've left the church in order to bring them back and ensure that they do not reveal any of the Church's secrets. The Times interviewed several high-ranking Scientology members who were involved in these retrieval operations:

Ex-staffers describe being pursued by their church and detained, cut off from family and friends and subjected to months of interrogation, humiliation and manual labor.

They say the church, led by David Miscavige, wanted to contain the threat that those who left might reveal secrets of life inside Scientology.

Marty Rathbun, a former church official and confidant of Miscavige, said the leader especially targeted those he had edged aside during his rise to the top or anyone he feared might threaten his position or the church if left alone on the outside.

A spokesman for the Church of Scientology has "categorically denied" that the leader of the Church knew about these practices and accused the Times being biased and practicing tabloid journalism.

Read the paper's full report here, or watch their video report below.

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Comments

[loki]

Looks like Scientology has picked up a lot of the tricks the catholic church has used over the last millennium. Why reinvent the wheel when you can just reproduce it.

[Blixa]

When is somebody going to interview Greta van Susteren and John Coale, I mean REALLY interview them, and ask them about Scientology?
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/j/john-coale.html
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/by-name/g/greta-coale.html

[mrsLambert]

From an article dated Mar 26, 2009 1:03 PM, titled:
Sarah Palin Adviser's Secret Scientology Plot to Take Over Washington

John Coale, currently advising Sarah Palin on running for president in 2012, is a Scientologist. And according to a memo obtained by Gawker, Coale once plotted to use friendly politicians to advance the power-hungry cult's agenda.

Coale is a prominent Washington power broker and husband to Fox News' Greta Van Susteren. According to the Washington Post, he is running Palin's political action committee behind the scenes and "guiding [her] political image in Washington."

In 1986, he masterminded a plan—which was never executed—for Scientology to get into the "MONEY and VOTES game" in order to "create power" for Scientology and win influence Washington, D.C.

[You can read Coale's complete memo and other documents outlining his scheme here.]
http://gawker.com/5185546/john-coale-scientology-memo

[Dots]

I checked it out once.
Never felt so "stupid" as finding myself holding those cans answering questions.
As soon as possible I got the heck out of that space.
I was labeled a "suppressive person" by an auditor.

[Zao]

A friend of mine, having studied a few different religions, thought Scientology might be interesting. Taking one course, he thought it was kind of crazy and they tried to punish him by making him do cleaning, for the questions he asked. He was challenging some of their beliefs and mind re-programming techniques.

He finished the course, but that was it for him, he thought. They continued to send junk mail -- no one does that quite like Scientology -- so he stopped in at the org and tried to get himself off the mailing list. They asked about his problem with anger and tried to get him to sign up for another course. "Scientology can help you with that." By that time, he was familiar with their price list too, of how the courses get progressively more expensive. It made him so mad, he ended up having to be escorted out of the building.

The junk mail stopped, but started up again a few years ago, decades after he took that one stinking course! They started calling too. 98% of people who ever took a Scientology course, since it started in 1953, never went back and don't even believe in it. Most of them saw it as a con, but since Scientology is so freaky, they never wanted to speak out against it.

[MAragon]

Revoke their tax exempt status and investigate them for their employment practices. Unless you're a celebrity or have the potential of being successful in the entertainment industry or some other position of influence, they have been recorded as treating their people like serfs.

[bridge to somewhere]

That's the problem with modern religion....too many kooks in the kitchen.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

Send in the SWAT team!

[Godweiser]

Yeah, LAPD SWAT are the finest SWAT Team in the world, outside of units like the GSG-9 and the FBI Hostage Rescue Team.

But here's a dose of reality for Scientologists trying to get out; plan it without telling anyone and just leave. Be like the ex DGSE agent who fled Dubai via his scuba-diving experience...you don't let anyone know you're getting out until its a fait accompli.

But I imagine it's hard for these people to realize their former friends are going to turn on them. If you're a suspicious sort of person, you wouldn't be in the COS to begin with.

[loki]

you really think SWAT can compete against Mission Impossible ?

[claytongrayum]

Xenu is comin to get us, lol

[karmafriend]

May hackers and lightning bolts destroy all their files.

[plunk]

Young teens have an even harder time getting out of the Sea Org. Young Tanja Neujahr tells her spell binding story about growing up in the 'church' as a young teen. She explains how she and her boss, age 13, were kept out of school and worked long hours with below min. pay for years running.

See Tanja Neujahr's amazing tale here: http://tiny.cc/X2LM

These abuse members who choose to leave after giving years of their lives and rivers of money to the COS must end. Being held against your will, working for less than minimum wage and living in sub standard housing I consider cult tactics, not those of a loving church community. It seems private detectives and lawyers, on the other hand, have done well in the war of wills.

It's time to tax the COS.

[Blixa]

I just recently saw video of Sea Org kids; it really got me verklempt thinking of the life they were missing out on.

[zyxt]

There is always a problem with any organized group that thinks they own the truth--

[ColoradoCool]

In the 1970s, I was young and uninformed about the ways of the world. I was having some personal problems and somehow found my way to a Scientology center. I don't recall a lot of the details of the interviewing but I recall vividly what happened after I got hooked up to one of their auditing machines.

The auditor wanted to test the machine and my responses. He asked me a couple of very personal questions and seemed puzzled when the response meter didn't peg over. (I was pretty certain the auditing machine was a crude galvanic skin response measurement device.) After several more attempts at getting the desired readings, he abruptly reached over and, without any warning or a request for permission, pinched me HARD on the inside of my left forearm.

[ColoradoCool]

Although the pinch hurt, I recall that I was intensely interested in the process I was participating in and I suppose that distraction interfered with my reactions. Within a few seconds the place he had pinched had begun to swell and fill up with blood and shortly became a marble-sized black and purple swelling. He had accidentally broken a small blood vessel and I knew I wasn’t seriously injured.

I calmly pointed out the swelling as the "auditor" got more and more upset about my failure to freak out appropriately at his questions or his infliction of physical pain. He actually seemed to blame me for being difficult. I thought it exceedingly bazaar that he seemed to have little concern for my feelings or my physical well-being. He was all about being distraught that he wasn’t succeeding at his task.

I now believe that the task he was trying to accomplish had to do with demonstrating to me that there was something wrong with me that Scientology could fix. I have no doubt that what I experienced was the beginning stages of Scientology indoctrination.

I left shortly thereafter. Although I was young, I wasn't stupid and realized there was something terribly wrong with an organization and the people associated with it that operated in the way I had experienced. I think that was and still is an accurate assessment of the Scientology organization.

[Godweiser]

Cults are trained to prey on people by reinforcing existing weaknesses or creating them. So yeah, you were disturbing to the cultist, even though he was probably not aware of this consciously, as he himself was no doubt deep in the ranks to be a recruiter.

There's a whole personality type that doesn't like strong-willed people, because their modus depends on weaker-willed people as followers. They themselves are weak-willed to need followers, so self-contained people are simply threats. Think Malcolm X in the Nation of Islam.

[MalloMel]

Sorry, but I don't get the Malcolm X reference.

[jessicajuliette]

you had me up to the Malcolm X reference. not analagous at all....

[MMLJ]

CREEEEEEPY

[steeev3]

As with all religions, or so-called religions, they operate for money. Despite their divine representation, they still need earthly dollars. Oh the irony.

Sadly, these people do not deserve their money back. If you give money to people telling you about galactic emperor, volcanoes and E-meters, you deserve to get taken for every cent because you are a m0r0n.

Lest we forget that you are following a 'religion' started by a SCIENCE FICTION WRITER.

[KHAAANNN]

and a really BAD one at that.

[anelder]

Your propensity to lump all "religions" or system based upon a particular faith together is off the mark.

Just a little investigation will show you that most of the original religious denominations a more likely to be hurting for that "money" you say they are all in it for.

[LMPE]

As far as I'm concerned, all organized religion is a cult.

[TiffanyHusseinBanned]

Wow. How profound. Religions are technically cults just like a frats and sororities.

[maggie05]

just because you buy into religion as something OTHER than a cult does not make it so. I agree with LMPE.

[DeSwiss]

Agreed. - Fanned.

"A cult is a religion with no political power." ~ Tom Wolfe

[JohnFromCensornati]

Right. The number of members seems to be the main distinction.

[TiffanyHusseinBanned]

Nope. The distinction is how far out of the mainstream a group actually is.

If Scientology wants to be treated like every other religious cult, they have to openly discuss the premise of their religion like every other religion.

For example, a Christian/Catholic will discuss the virgin birth and the resurrection with anyone interested. A Scientologist dare not discuss Xenu because the person hearing about Xenu for the first time can become ill and d i e.

They also have to stop suing its former members.

[SCLAW]

There are functional differences:

Do mainstream religions do this--I think there is a distinction to be
made--and a more nuanced approach desireable.

Query--
if your son or daughter said she was pursuing Unitarianism,
would you seriously feel the same if the choice had been Scientology
or the Moonies?

I sure hope not--either way your position collapses
under its own weight.