In the mid-1980s, more than ever before, television advertising was about big budgets and excess. Bucking that trend was Scientologist and marketing whiz Jeff Hawkins, whose understated, minimalist TV ads for L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics helped launch the book onto the best-seller list—and arguably sparked a worldwide interest in the religion.

Hawkins’ ads featured simple questions like, “Why are you unhappy?” in white print against a black background, backed by edgy music supplied by Hawkins’ friends, and finally, a shot of the Dianetics book splashed against a volcano. The ads cost around $2,000 to make, yet within months of their first nationwide appearance, Dianetics made the New York Times Best Seller List for the first time since its initial publication in 1950—and a special commemorative edition of the book was printed to mark the occasion.

Hawkins estimates he made more than $200 million for the church in his 35 years of marketing Dianetics. Nevertheless, he ultimately paid for his success by being thrown out of the church in 2005. Now living in Portland, Hawkins is writing a book about his experiences in Scientology.

And boy, is he pissed….

“Batshit Crazy”

Hawkins joined the church of Scientology in Los Angeles in 1967.

“People ask me, ‘Was [Scientology founder] L. Ron Hubbard a genius or a con man?'” says Hawkins. “And I say, ‘Yes, he was.'”

“I got into Scientology because it was kinda weird,” he says. “I was a hippie at the time in the late ’60s, and I’d done the whole drug thing, the whole LSD thing, and so ‘weird’ was not an issue with me—you know what I’m saying?”

As he worked his way around the world, doing stints at the church’s Edinburgh and Copenhagen branches, Hawkins was exposed to more and more weirdness. In 1971 he was invited aboard L. Ron Hubbard’s ship, Apollo, where he met the Scientology leader and was given the mission of marketing and disseminating the church to the masses, Hawkins says.

At the time, Hubbard had established his own “photography organization” to promote the church—which Hawkins claims consisted of Hubbard dressing up in a khaki suit, pith helmet, and ascot scarf, and staging bizarre photo shoots on beaches around the world whenever Apollo would dock. Hawkins also alleges that Hubbard was always accompanied by what he called his “messengers”: stunning, provocatively dressed young women.

“He’d establish these sets, somebody would write a script, and L. Ron Hubbard would take these photographs,” says Hawkins. “The whole thing would look terrible. But of course you could never say anything negative about Hubbard’s work.”

As a live-in member of Scientology’s Sea Organization—which was decamped to dry land in the late ’70s but maintained its naval theme—Hawkins says he was able to reach Operating Thetan Level Four: the fourth of eight levels of psychological “clearance” in Scientology. Hawkins was allegedly able to do so without paying the customary $250,000 he would’ve had to pay had he been a “public” Scientologist (someone from the outside world).

Hawkins says Hubbard told him that Earth is a prison planet, and we’re all trapped here. What’s more, the citizens of the galaxy have also been put here and hypnotized by an intergalactic dictator named “Xenu,” and that we are all simply dramatizing the incidents we perceive to be reality. “When you’re in, when you believe in it, you think ‘Oh, he’s this amazing genius who’s unlocked these secrets,’ and it makes a kind of odd sense,” Hawkins admits. “But the minute you break that kind of conditioning, and you really look at it, you go, ‘That’s absolutely batshit crazy.'”

Mad Men

By 1982, Hawkins says he had already shot his fair share of attention-grabbing ads for the religion—whether they involved complex fly-by shots filmed from airplanes or interviewing celebrity Scientologists like former San Francisco 49ers quarterback John Brodie.

Hubbard’s philosophy, says Hawkins, was to use ads to “splash the volcano” at the general public. This was linked to Scientology’s belief that the image of a volcano has been embedded in people’s minds from an experience in a former lifetime. Hubbard is reported to have said that 75 million years ago, Earth’s population was massacred by Xenu, the dictator of the Galactic Confederacy, who stacked us all around a volcano and killed us using nuclear bombs—Hubbard’s 1968 lecture on the “Xenu theory” is now publicly available on the Wikileaks website.

“Splashing the volcano at them was supposed to hypnotize people back, or what they call ‘key them in’ to the whole Xenu incident,” says Hawkins. “And then they would be somehow hypnotized to go and buy the book.”

Hubbard had also taught Hawkins that it wasn’t a good idea to overtly inform the public about Scientology—the best way to market the religion was to find out what was ruining somebody’s life, and then tell them, “Scientology can help with that.”

For his ads, Hawkins attempted to pique a would-be reader’s curiosity using a minimalist campaign that told the viewer a little bit about the religion, thereby encouraging them to find out more.

“I sketched it out on paper first, I had this book in the middle, and I had all these questions around it: ‘What makes people angry?’ ‘Why do people fight?’ ‘Why do people lose their self-respect?’ And I’d look it up in the book and I’d write, ‘go to page 42,’ ‘go to page 43,’ and so on,” says Hawkins.

When the book hit the New York Times Best Seller List, Hawkins was overjoyed.

“I felt great about it at the time because I believed in the subject, I thought it was wonderful, and didn’t think it was invasive to just tell a person about a book and have them buy a copy,” he says.

“But now I feel bad about it, because I think a lot of people got into Scientology because of my campaigns,” Hawkins adds. “And I feel a certain responsibility to correct that. To make the truth about Scientology known.”

Savaged by Miscavige

Hawkins is currently 62, soft spoken, and has no retirement savings, having worked 100-hour weeks for the past 35 years for what he estimates was a salary averaging $2,000 a year. He moved to Portland with his brother Kimball—also a former Scientologist—and started a design firm.

Hawkins is a member of a Yahoo group called Ex-Sea-Organization, where he is in touch with around 120 friends/former members of the church’s management group. Other ex-Sea Organization members vouch for Hawkins’ importance to the church.

“He was a giant as far as Hubbard’s marketing branch went,” says Chuck Beatty, who was a training supervisor in the Sea Organization during his 27 years in what he calls “the cult” from 1975 to 2003.

“He was a long-term trooper of the movement with a huge production record. If you can compare the Sea Organization to Vatican staff, Hawkins was in the marketing and promotion branch of the Vatican for the last 30 years.”

“Jeff was very, very high up over marketing,” adds Larry Brennan, who was a member of Scientology’s Watchdog committee between 1982 and 1984, supposedly comprised of the top 10 members of the church at the time.

“Jeff, probably more than anybody, was responsible for getting Dianetics back on the best-seller lists, and he was very closely involved with Miscavige.”

Hawkins’ own journey out of Scientology began in 1987, a year after Hubbard’s death, when Scientology’s current leader, David Miscavige, took control of the church. Miscavige placed his brother, Ronnie, in charge of Hawkins’ publications organization, and according to Hawkins, began a systematic campaign to discredit his work for the church.

“I think it was because I had been so successful,” Hawkins says. “Almost untouchable. Nobody was going to speak out against me, and I think that frustrated Miscavige.”

Hawkins thinks Miscavige may have resented “sharing the stage,” and the new leader attacked and threw roadblocks in his path. At the end of 2000, Hawkins was allegedly subjected to an “evaluation,” where he was accused by Miscavige of wasting $75 million of church money with bogus marketing.

Hawkins says he survived the evaluation by providing evidence of bringing in over $200 million to the church, as well as a personal commendation for his efforts from Hubbard. Nevertheless, Hawkins says he was assigned to menial labor, but slowly worked his way back into marketing. Then, after writing an infomercial on Dianetics, Hawkins claims he was called into a conference room where Miscavige allegedly hit him in front of 40 people.

“He wasn’t even talking to me but he was saying, ‘This thing that Hawkins has written is just a piece of trash,'” says Hawkins. “And he’d look at me and say, ‘This guy’s evil. See how he’s looking at me?’ And everyone was saying, ‘Stop looking at him like that’—and I’m like, ‘What the hell?'”

Miscavige allegedly asked Hawkins to confess to his “crimes”—from his current, and past lives.

“And then all of a sudden he just jumped up, launched himself across the conference room table in front of 40 people, and beat my face,” says Hawkins. “I had scratches, and bruising, and my shirt was all ripped. Then he knocked me on the floor, and walked out.”

Hawkins is not the only former Scientologist to allege experiencing or seeing violence at the hands of Miscavige. Brennan and Marc Headley—both former Sea Organization members—have made similar accusations.

“Dave would punch or slap people in the face repeatedly when they delivered bad news, or when people talked back with anything other than what he wanted to hear,” says Headley. “I would say over a period of five years between 2000 and 2005 I saw him do this maybe 30 to 40 times. I saw him hit Jeff on at least one or two occasions.”

Hawkins says Miscavige also punched him in the gut and hit him on the side of the head repeatedly on other occasions.

“There was also a lot of verbal abuse, threats, profanity, and on and on. He was just a bully, basically.”

Hawkins was “offloaded” from the base and brought back into marketing three times. “Offloading” meant Hawkins was no longer welcome at the Sea Organization, and that he was in danger of being declared “suppressive,” or a threat to the religion. Once someone is declared “suppressive,” they are forbidden from having contact with other Scientologists.

Eventually, Hawkins decided he’d had enough and wanted to quit. After announcing his intentions, Hawkins claims he was kept for months in a detention center surrounded by barbed wire fences and security cameras, called the Old Gilman House, on the northwest side of the Sea Organization’s base, where he was forbidden departure until he’d gone through “security checks.”

“They get every single ‘crime’ that you’ve ever supposedly committed—and I think, really, they’re collecting potential blackmail material,” Hawkins says. “I eventually confessed to whatever they suggested, just to get offloaded. And following all that you have to sign these gag orders promising never to speak about Scientology, which I did.”

Hawkins says he signed the agreements under duress, and that he is not afraid to speak out, now. He also says that Scientology’s reputation for aggressively pursuing its critics no longer concerns him, because so many people are leaving at once—the base, he says, gradually got more and more restrictive through the 1990s as Scientologists started leaving in greater numbers. Now, he says, the whole thing is surrounded by barbed wire, and Sea Organization members are prevented from leaving. Another former Sea Organization worker, Shelly Corrias, confirms this level of security on the base.

Hawkins also supplied the Mercury with an alleged map of the base, that he cobbled together using images from Google Earth.

Scientology in Portland

“I actually thought that by May, they’d lose interest,” says Gwen Barnard, as we sit in the Scientology Church on SW Salmon and Broadway on Saturday afternoon, July 12. Outside, a group of mask-wearing protesters affiliated with the international anti-Scientology protest group Anonymous are waving signs saying things like “Travolta Was Brainwashed” and “Scientology Kills.”

Regarding the “kills” allegation: Scientologist Lisa McPherson was an allegedly mentally ill woman who died in Clearwater, Florida, in 1995, under the care of fellow Scientologists who had removed her from a local hospital, telling doctors she “did not believe in psychiatry.” The church reached a confidential out-of-court settlement with McPherson’s family over the death in 2004.

Barnard has been a Scientologist in Portland for 33 years, and has worked at its downtown church for 22 years. When I tell her I’m writing about the national marketing of Scientology she is kind enough to give me a phone number in California to call. I also promise to read Dianetics before finishing my feature. (I did.)

“Most of these kids are young, impressionable people that believe anything they read on the internet,” she says. “I mean, if you wanted to know about golf, you’d go and try it for yourself—not picket the golf club.”

But outside the church, the protesters are fervent.

“The church has this militant PR policy of ‘attack, attack, never defend,'” says Jacob Mercy, one of the young protesters, who describes himself as a freelance writer “taking time off to finish a novel.”

“But a lot of their best PR people, their best marketing people are leaving. Hawkins did a great job for them, and now he’s left….”

“This whole protest catalyzed in January,” says another protester, Peter Lee, “when the church demanded that Google remove that video of Tom Cruise.”

The video in question, which is still widely available, features Cruise enthusiastically raving about “LRH” (L. Ron Hubbard), as well as other acronyms, and saying things like, “Being a scientologist, when you drive past an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you’re the only one that can really help.”

Lee, who describes himself as a “white-collar professional,” feels the church preys on people with mental illness and behavioral disorders, and that its marketing is “unethical.”

Later, Barnard gives me a DVD about Scientology and tells me there was a cement block thrown through the Portland church’s window back in January.

Hawkins says he is not criticizing public Scientologists like Barnard, or attacking their right to believe in the religion. There are, after all, some pretty wacky beliefs in Christianity and Mormonism, and Hawkins isn’t speaking out against those.

“Your average Scientologist in Portland doesn’t know anything about what went on in the Sea Organization,” he says. “The last thing I want to do is impugn the average Scientologist, because they’re good, dedicated people.”

Hawkins says, instead, that he is happy to meet with any Scientologist to talk to them about his experiences, any time. He simply feels public Scientologists have a responsibility to find out what’s going on at higher levels of the church.

His Word Against Theirs

It is, of course, almost impossible to verify all of Hawkins’ claims about Scientology, apart from talking with other church members who have since departed. Hawkins predicts that when I call the church’s office of special affairs, they will accuse him of being an unethical criminal, and deny all of his claims.

The church’s international spokesperson Karin Pouw responded to the Mercury‘s request for comment on Hawkins’ allegations in a 14-page letter on July 25.

“Mr. Hawkins’ claims against the Scientology religion are evidence of classic apostate behavior, common in disaffected members of all religions,” Pouw wrote. “He grossly mischaracterizes the church, its purposes, and activities in an effort to harm its reputation.

“I take personal offense from the allegations being made about Mr. David Miscavige,” Pouw continued. “I know him personally, and I can tell you in no uncertain terms that the disgusting claims made by Mr. Hawkins could not be further from the truth. Mr. Miscavige is known by all those who have had the honor of meeting him or working with him as someone dedicated to the well being of staff and parishioners of the Church of Scientology and devoted to his fellow man and the improvement of society.”

Pouw wrote that Hawkins’ dismissal from Scientology was for reasons which, if disclosed, “would likely impugn his integrity and cause personal embarrassment.” She wrote, “Mr. Hawkins’ claims that he was the cause of Dianetics‘ success are laughable, if only for the reason that the book was a run-away success long before he had anything to do with it.”

Pouw also wrote that Hawkins’ complaints about having only been paid $2,000 a year and working 100-hour weeks in the Sea Organization “[are] tantamount to a de-frocked priest, after years of service to the religious order, publicly complaining that he lived an ascetic life, wore a robe at all times, could not marry, and studied the Bible every day.”

Hawkins, Pouw wrote, “knew when he joined [the Sea Organization] that his membership required total commitment to the religion, without any expectation of monetary compensation.”

In reference to the alleged advertising technique of “splashing the volcano,” Pouw wrote that “no religion should be taken to task about its beliefs nor asked to defend or ‘clarify’ its beliefs in response to bigoted assaults.”

Lastly, Pouw wrote that Hawkins’ support of “the religious hate group Anonymous” was evidence of his bias—Hawkins has appeared at some of the group’s protests with a sign about Miscavige.

“In forwarding Mr. Hawkins’ bigoted agenda, you are also forwarding a plan of hate and crime,” she wrote, referring to the Mercury.

After getting Pouw’s letter, the Mercury also received a phone call from Tommy Davis, Pouw’s boss at the church. Davis denied that Hawkins was prevented from leaving the base during his offloading process and further denied all of his other allegations.

“I know Hawkins, and I have known Mr. Miscavige for 17 years,” Davis told us. “Jeff Hawkins was a copywriter and these weren’t his ads. He didn’t work with or even report to Mr. Miscavige. There wasn’t a connection there. He and Marc Headley and Larry Brennan are flat out, flat out liars. They’re opportunists, they’re media hounds, and they’re liars. They cannot substantiate the things that they’re claiming and they cannot even begin to do so. They were dismissed from the church.

“I have no idea why he would choose to turn on and so violently attack his former faith,” Davis continued. “To focus on things like this is a shame because there is a much bigger story going on with Scientology right now that is far more interesting.”

Davis also forwarded an email from Mitch Brisker, whom he alleged was “the real creator” of the Dianetics ads.

“Jeff Hawkins was a soft-spoken and mild-mannered guy who found himself in way over his head in the world of advertising and marketing on a global scale,” wrote Brisker.

In regard to Pouw’s statement about how it would cause “personal embarrassment” to Hawkins if the reasons for his dismissal were ever disclosed, Hawkins says it “means they’ve gone back through my private confessional files and culled out anything they think would cause me embarrassment.”

“It’s blackmail,” he says. “It’s also character assassination by innuendo. I say, if they actually have something, then produce it, and face a defamation suit. If they have nothing, then they have no right to infer they do.”

Hawkins says Dianetics may have been successful in 1950, but that was “35 years before I picked it up and remarketed it.

“Pouw says I joined the Sea Organization and therefore have no right to complain,” he continues. “Well, I never signed up to be physically and emotionally abused, deprived of sleep, privacy, or basic human rights.”

Hawkins also says he is not a member of the Anonymous group, since “I don’t wear a mask or hide my identity.”

As to Mitch Brisker: “Brisker was a director I hired in the 1980s to film some TV ads I wrote. He never wrote anything. For Brisker to pass judgment on my personality based on a casual business relationship 20 years ago is arrogant to say the least,” Hawkins says.

“This is, sadly, a standard response by the Church of Scientology to anyone who lifts the curtain of secrecy and provides a look at the very real abuses that go on behind the scenes,” Hawkins says. “First, they categorically deny everything. Second, they ‘attack the attacker,’ attempting to defame and impugn the character of any critic or whistleblower. It would be refreshing if they devoted at least some of that energy to putting their own house in order.”

Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.

89 replies on “Selling Scientology”

  1. Thank you for writing this excellent article. We look forward to watching the cult of scientology crumble into the sea. You are helping.
    Jeff Hawkins is a hero. He’s fearless and deserves our respect.

  3. This article is astonishing, from the view that the Church was permitted to actually defend itself against this nonsense brought forth by a couple of pissed off drop-outs who did not make it in the religious order of the Church of Scientology. That’s actually seldom, so thanks, Matt, for that.

    On the other hand you totally miss out on the reasons why Hawkins left the organization. Why did he? You don’t say. Why did he leave and then years later comes along to throw mud at his former friends? That would be an interesting question, more interesting at least than to read again those internet stereo-types about scientology which mark an article improperly researched.

  4. Who is Anonymous?

    We are the face of chaos and the harbingers of judgment. We’ll laugh in the face of tragedy. We’ll mock those who are in pain. We ruin the lives of other people simply because we can. Hundreds die in a plane crash. We laugh. The nation mourns over a school shooting, we laugh. We’re the embodiment of humanity with no remorse, no caring, no love, or no sense of morality.

    Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFjU8bZR19A

  7. This church was good at selling their version of LA-LA LAND. Sometimes reality creeps in and causes a rift. Its natural. Great article!
    The church of Scientology still owes me a book for playing one of their hokey interactive games. They ran out. Likely story.

  8. Hawkins sounds crazy, but so do the geniuses that believe we all got blown up out of a volcano by an evil galactic overlord. Maybe they need a new spokesman.

    HI BILLY MAYS HERE FOR SCIENTOLOGY

  9. Great article!

    “would likely impugn his integrity and cause personal embarrassment.”

    This all but confirms a Spy magazine article from more than a decade ago. They claimed that during the cleansing process, one is to release all their blocks, y’know, all the really embarrassing secret stuff. They claim that this is what attracts the body thetans.

    According to the article, they hold this stuff over the members, if there’s any suspicion of dissent.

    I’m sure a panic ensued when Karin Pouw introduced
    the letter she submitted to her superiors. thus prompting the damage control phone call from her superior.

    This is the most damaging article on the Scientology, I’ve read.
    In their own words, no less.

  10. @ critical scientologist

    Perhaps if you took the time to read Jeff’s story, Counterfeit Dreams, you’d know the answers to your questions. (Assuming it’s not blocked by your Scientology netnanny, that is).

    Oh, and I’m not sure how you can say ‘he did not make it’, as he worked there for years, pretty much ran the marketing department, and made the Church millions. Sounds to me like he made it. Or, could it be he did make it, and you’re just trying to discredit your critic? Always attack, never defend, eh Scilon?

    I’m intrigued as to how one DOES ‘make it’, then, if Jeff didn’t. How much money do you have to give Miscavige to ‘make it’? Does he stop punching you in the stomach once you’ve ‘made it?’ I’m intrigued. Please, elaborate.

  11. Is that the same Tommy Davis who twice appeared out of nowhere when John Sweeny tried to interveiw critics in the BBC documentary scientology and me?. The same Tommy Davis who made allegations of bomb threats/death threats by Anonymouse on CNN only to have John Roberts say tell him the F.B.I. can not find proof of any said bomb/death threat’s.

  12. Davis and Pouw have no other option but run on the dead Hubbard’s orders, like these abominable orders from Hubbard on the subject of how to run propaganda campaigns. This following applies both to why Pouw and Davis malign Hawkins and why they malign anonymous also, I quote from current Church of Scientology policy called: “OFFICE OF SPECIAL AFFAIRS NETWORK ORDER
    15, 18 February 1988 Confidential, BLACK PROPAGANDA …. Our propaganda is dirty…. We do this trick by survey and attack…. we become re-classified as attackers and the enemy as bad hats …… We just run propaganda campaigns….It reclassifies our attackers as evil people… Achieve for ourselves a dominance in classifying ourselves and others. by L. RON HUBBARD, … official Church policy.”
    Hubbard has embedded disgraceful policies into the heads of the official followers, and they have to operate on the dead Hubbard’s DNA! Chuck Beatty, Pittsburgh

  13. Scientology Davis and Pouw have no other option but run on dead L. Ron Hubbard’s orders, like these abominable orders from Hubbard on the subject of how to run propaganda campaigns. This following applies both to why Pouw and Davis malign Hawkins and why they malign anonymous also, I quote from current Church of Scientology policy called: “OFFICE OF SPECIAL AFFAIRS NETWORK ORDER
    15, 18 February 1988 Confidential, BLACK PROPAGANDA …. Our propaganda is dirty…. We do this trick by survey and attack…. we become re-classified as attackers and the enemy as bad hats …… We just run propaganda campaigns….It reclassifies our attackers as evil people… Achieve for ourselves a dominance in classifying ourselves and others. by L. RON HUBBARD, … official Church policy.”
    Hubbard has embedded disgraceful policies into the heads of the official followers, and they have to operate on the dead Hubbard’s DNA! Chuck Beatty, Pittsburgh

  14. You have got to love these comments. There is not a single non-Scientologist who would so fervently defend the religion against accusations like this. There are multiple accounts of physical abuse coming from David Miscavige, do you think they all sat around a table to come up with the idea of spreading that around?

    Anonymous is the internet. If you read about webpages being hacked without a name of the perpetrators being available; then they are Anonymous too.

  15. Matt, thank you for writing this article. Actually, giving both sides equal rights is quite good.
    Since the ‘Church’ of Scientology is not willing to get rid of their criminal element, Anonymous has to do it for them. Forcing people off their medication, peer-pressuring them to have abortion, using kids for slave-labour is not good. No matter how you twist words and use acceptable lies: “We don’t worship Xenu.” No of course you don’t. He’s the villain in your play. Would the catholic church worship satan?
    You can believe all you want. You can not prey on others to get the money to do this.
    Please read
    http://www.exscientologykids.com/voicesinunison.html,
    read Jeff’s Counterfeit Dreams blog at
    http://counterfeitdreams.blogspot.com/2008/04/chapter-one-going-home.html,
    read the stories at
    http://forum.exscn.net.
    As much as i’d like it to, these are not made-up stories. Timelines can be checked, and almost all people who are leaving the cult now corroborate their stories.
    Since the FBI and the SEC are now actively researching this i urge everyone with information about their crimes to come forward NOW and actively help stop the abuse.

  16. Hey Critical Scientologist…

    Why did Hawkins leave the church? I don’t know, maybe it was the stated verbal and physical abuse perpetrated on him and others by the de-facto leader of your cult?

    Or maybe he just realized that you are all “BATSHIT CRAZY”. Yeah, I like that one a bit better.

    The cult of scientology will FALL.

    8/8/8

  17. There are many, many even sadder stories than Jeff Hawkins’. Exscientologykids.org has a number of personal accounts of now-adults who grew up in Scientology, and were abused, denied proper education, and neglected by their parents whose energies are completely absorbed by “clearing the planet.” Children are being worked 80+ hours a week, with no pay. Please, please educate yourselves further on their stories, because more children are in the same situation today, RIGHT NOW.

    As sad as Mr. Hawkins’ account of his experience in Scientology is, he was a “golden boy” during much of his time inside, and entered Scientology as an adult. No one deserves to be beaten, or sent to the “Rehabilitation Project Force” labor camp Scientology keeps, as Mr. Hawkins was.

    He’s out now. Please remember the children who aren’t.

  18. Well written piece. I’m pleased to see an article of this very tempestuous subject matter take such an objective stance. I’m equally impressed with Mr. Hawkins’ decision to speak out against such an oppressive organization. His story is matching the stories of so many others in both scope, detail, and follow-through. I read this article and I can’t help but notice glaring similarities to the stories of Jenna Miscavige Hill and Tori Christman.

    One does not need to dig deep anymore to find the truth of the argument against this bait-and-switch scam disguised as a business disguised as a church.

    All I can hope for is a reformation of this organization. The current management and leadership of Scientology has turned the eccentric beliefs of science fiction writer into a profiting and racketeering cult of epic proportions.

    Best of luck in your journey to come up to present time, Jeff Hawkins.

  19. It is, of course, hilarious that Pouw and Davis who never even met Hubbard and only came along after Miscavige took over would even dare to criticize someone who was a) in it far longer than they have been and b) actually worked with the Tub O’ Lard himself.

    Poor old Tommy Davis – he probably got his rear kicked for fair after the Sweeney debacle – beeing the son of Anne Archer doesn’t make him any smarter.

  20. Thanks for publishing a story that must be told. The church of Scientology has gotten away with crimes, fraud and abuse because they had lots of lawyers and because they had “confidential” confessional blackmail material on their victims. I honor all those who are now willing to go against this abusive organization.

    It is so revealing that, even here in the comments, members of the “church” are making veiled threats of blackmail against Jeff. By their own words, they condemn themselves.

    This good article is another step towards full disclosure of the truth about Scientology. Well done Matt and Jeff.

  21. Critical Scientologist? There is no such thing because critical thinking and any disagreement is banned by a central policy called Keeping Scientology Working.

    As for why he left, that is clearly stated in the article, so you should try reading the article. Why do you lash out at something you don’t know anything about?

    Personally, I thought the most damaging part about this article were the official responses. They damn themselves with their own words.

  22. “Anonymous” posting at 7:57 is obviously a scienologist not a member of anonymous. That’s what the religion of scienology does: lie and lie some more. Watch your wallet, that’s all they like about you.

  23. I am a member of Anonymous. I would not destroy private property nor break laws in the process of exposing this cult. This is a perfect example of what $cientology does to try to discredit its detractors: the person that wrote the comment that starts with

    Who is Anonymous?
    We are the face of chaos . . .

    This is a $cientology cult member posing as Anonymous saying inflammatory things like “we laugh at a plane crash”. Welcome to the world of $cientology. lol They will do anything to make the public scared of us so our message will not be heard. Read for yourself and decide. Take a look at http://www.whyaretheydead.net/ to see why some people hold signs that say Scientology Kills

    Thanks for speaking out Jeff, and watch your back!

  24. Dear Critical Scientologist,

    Did you miss the part of the article where the Church of Scientology was criticized for “attacking the attacker” rather than actually responding to the allegations? Do you understand the concept of irony? Do you know that it applies to you at the moment. Cheers!

  25. If you want to see how reliable and credible Tommy Davis is,just watch the BBC documentary on Scientology with John Sweeney.It’s no wonder that Sweeney exploded after days of being harrassed by this slimeball and his colleagues.
    Wake up,Scientologists,you need to see the truth abut the organisation you belong to and not keep believing Miscavige’s lies.
    And I’ve met a lot of Anonymous people,all of them good people,plus they have a sense of humour-which Scientology severely lacks!
    http://www.xenu.net

  26. Dear Criticial Scientologist,

    had you read the article, you would know that Mr. Davis did, in fact, give the reasons why Mr. Hawkins left your cult. To summarize for you (as we’re sure you’re very busy trying to “handle” us), these are the reasons:

    David Miscavige beat him in full view of 40 fellow Scientologists, who did nothing to stop or report the crime.

    He was “offloaded” from marketing three times. We presume this means he was dumped in the RPF by Miscavige, but we are sure you know better than us.

    On a side note, we admire how doggedly you cling to the failed tactic of “always attack, never defend”. In particular, your fellow Scientologists’ actions in Battle Creek. Now that would make for an interesting article.

  27. Remember that thing about how Scientology responds to criticism by attacking the attacker, attempting to impugn their character? See if you can spot any of that already in these comments. Particularly when a man name Terryeo starts posting.

  29. Great article, Matt! I’m certain I’m one of many who applaud the hard work that went into this article and the courage of the Merc in general for printing it in the first place. Truly exceptional journalism!

    My heart really goes out to someone like Jeff who, at 62, has no retirement to show for all of his years of dedication. While Jeff isn’t the only one to be stuck in this sort of situation, it’s disappointing to think that an organization that claims to be morally and ethically righteous would leave someone in this position.

  30. It is too bad that you didn’t discuss how the IRS has shut down this organization more than once and Hubbard himself spent the final days of his life on the lamb outrunning arrest warrants; or that the majority of the nations of the world have banned the organization from their shores calling it a tax avoidance scheme or an out right cult.

  31. This article only confirms my opinion of Hawkins. Couldn’t make it then, can’t make it now. Pity he couldn’t have been as creative when he worked for the Church.

  32. Great article Matt. I have not really had a handle on what Scientology really was. This article was informative and balanced. Love to see all the Scientologists get on here and provide their thoughts as well.

  34. As a Sea Org member I’m outraged at the misrepresentations Hawkins is making. His descriptions of conditions in the Sea Org is a work of fiction, and I can’t begin to understand why he would make such outrageous and false claims. I pity him, that he has to go to such lengths, attacking a group that is doing so much good in the world, to get his little corner of fame.

  35. “humanity with no remorse, no caring, no love, or no sense of morality” – that sounds like Scientology to me. Why? Because I’ve read L. Ron Hubbard’s “scriptures”.

    For example, “There is a strange mechanism in some men, an aberration of a decadent age, which causes them to seek out and help and protect the pitiful and weak… a failure is postulated at the beginning of such an association. However much the weak member may be raised on the tone scale by this association, the person on the higher level is inevitably lowered.”
    – L. Ron Hubbard (founder of Scientology) in the Scientology book “Science of Survival”

    Scientology doctrines teach followers that they are the harbingers of judgment, and it is the mission of every Scientologist to “clear” the planet. Alarming and immoral methods are authorized, according to Scientology teachings:
    “There are only two answers for the handling of people from 2.0 down on the tone scale, neither one of which has anything to do with reasoning with them or listening to their justification of their acts. The first is to raise them on the tone scale… The other is to dispose of them quietly and without sorrow… The sudden and abrupt deletion of all individuals occupying the lower bands of the tone scale from the social order would result in an almost instant rise in the cultural tone and would interrupt the dwindling spiral into which any society may have entered. It is not necessary to produce a world of clears in order to have a reasonable and worthwhile social order; it is only necessary to delete those individuals who range from 2.0 down”
    -L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology founder, in the Scientology book “Science of Survival”

  36. “humanity with no remorse, no caring, no love, or no sense of morality” – that sounds like Scientology to me. Why? Because I’ve read L. Ron Hubbard’s “scriptures”.

    For example, “There is a strange mechanism in some men, an aberration of a decadent age, which causes them to seek out and help and protect the pitiful and weak… a failure is postulated at the beginning of such an association. However much the weak member may be raised on the tone scale by this association, the person on the higher level is inevitably lowered.”
    – L. Ron Hubbard (founder of Scientology) in the Scientology book “Science of Survival”

    Scientology doctrines teach followers that they are the harbingers of judgment, and it is the mission of every Scientologist to “clear” the planet. Alarming and immoral methods are authorized, according to Scientology teachings:
    “There are only two answers for the handling of people from 2.0 down on the tone scale, neither one of which has anything to do with reasoning with them or listening to their justification of their acts. The first is to raise them on the tone scale… The other is to dispose of them quietly and without sorrow… The sudden and abrupt deletion of all individuals occupying the lower bands of the tone scale from the social order would result in an almost instant rise in the cultural tone and would interrupt the dwindling spiral into which any society may have entered. It is not necessary to produce a world of clears in order to have a reasonable and worthwhile social order; it is only necessary to delete those individuals who range from 2.0 down”
    -L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology founder, in the Scientology book “Science of Survival”

  38. I’ve been a Sea Org member for many years and I’m outraged by Hawkins’ misrepresentations. Hawkins is a classic example of someone who couldn’t cut it, trying to make a name for himself by slinging mud. That the Portland Mercury would print this makes me wonder what else they report as “true.”

  39. Was Hubbard wrong???

    Look around and tell me you can’t believe at least a little that we live on a prison planet and are hypnotized by Galactic Emperor Xenu.

    Makes as much sense as anything else I’ve heard lately.

  40. Was Hubbard wrong???

    Look around and tell me you can’t believe at least a little that we live on a prison planet and are hypnotized by Galactic Emperor Xenu.

    Makes as much sense as anything else I’ve heard lately.

  41. For the public, staff and sea org scientologists reading this I sense that you may be in a condition of doubt. You should run this formula immediately:

    1. Inform oneself honestly of the actual intentions and activities of that individual, group, project or organization brushing aside all bias and rumor.

    2. Examine the statistics of the individual, group, project or organization.

    3. Decide on the basis of “the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics” whether or not it should be attacked, harmed or suppressed or helped.

    4. Evaluate oneself or one’s own group, project or organization as to intentions and objectives.

    5. Evaluate one’s own or one’s group, project or organization’s statistics.

    6. Join or remain in or befriend the one which progresses toward the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics and announce the fact publicly to both sides.

    7. Do everything possible to improve the actions and statistics of the person, group, project or organization one has remained in or joined.

    8. Suffer on up through the conditions in the new group if one has changed sides, or the conditions of the group one has remained in if wavering from it has lowered one’s status.

  42. You missed the best part about Karen Pouw, from
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karin_Pouw

    “Tony Ortega interviewed Pouw for a 1999 article in the Phoenix New Times, and wrote that according to Scientology, Jesus was a false memory implanted into humans as a result of the Xenu space opera.[15] When Ortega asked Pouw about this theology, she responded: “So what if we believe Jesus is a figment of the imagination?”

    Clearly they are in CYA mode, and deep, deep denial.

  43. Give me a break. I am a former Scientologist and lived on a Scientology base in LA for nearly a near. When news got around about Mr. Miscavige visiting this base, a great fear and anxiety was rampant with the staff. I did not meet him personally, but based on their behaviour, I KNEW that they were scared of him. Cut the bullshit, C of S. Stop living a lie and being so hell-bent on protecting the image of your “Church”.

    We are smarter than that. Your PR tactics are a FAIL.

  44. Give me a break. I am a former Scientologist and lived on a Scientology base in LA for nearly a near. When news got around about Mr. Miscavige visiting this base, a great fear and anxiety was rampant with the staff. I did not meet him personally, but based on their behaviour, I KNEW that they were scared of him. Cut the bullshit, C of S. Stop living a lie and being so hell-bent on protecting the image of your “Church”.

    We are smarter than that. Your PR tactics are a FAIL.

  45. This article is great. I am a member of Anonymous and as such would love to call bullshit on everything the CO$ people in here have said. I guess you don’t mind the cult turning you lot into habitual liars do you?

    GO ANONYMOUS!
    8/8/8

  49. Thanks for covering this issue. We’ve been working hard to try and let the public know about these injustices and hopefully it will help inform them on what’s going on within their own community. You should run an article about the local org and the campaign of theft they carried out at our local libraries.

  50. I love how the majority of the public can easily tell that Scientology is a cult… but when it comes to Mormonism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam… then all of the sudden it’s OK to believe in absolutely ridiculous delusions.

    If a religious person were to describe to a psychologist what they believed, without their beliefs being a cultural norm, they would be diagnosed as schizophrenic.

  51. come on PDX, is this the best you can give it? bring it. quit wimping out, let’s hear how you feel about the cult of greed and power and money-grubbing and book-stealing and baby eating and illegal protestor-following. COME ON.

  52. I love how Scientology’s response to everything a critic says is “HE’S LYING! HE’S AN EVIL LYING LIAR!” Wanna bet some Scientology accuses of of the same for posting this?

  54. I applaud this gentleman’s bravery, and the Mercury for publishing his words. It’s dangerous for anyone to criticize the “Church”, given their well-known policy of harassing, threatening and character-assassinating anyone who dares to tell the truth about what Co$ is really about. They’ll try to call him a religious bigot, a liar, a madman, a criminal with something to hide. They’ll deny the accuracy of the know widely-known Xenu story and the rest of Hubbard’s hilarious schizoid rantings; And they’ll deny that they are essentially a for-profit criminal enterprise. Fortunately, enough people have pressed on in the service of truth, despite their understandable fears of Co$ thuggery, and the truth about this conspiratorial sham of a “religion” is finally becoming known.

  55. Beware! The “Hundred die in a plane crash. We laugh” etc quote? That is NOT part of Anonymous’ credo.

    That and the video are yet ANOTHER tactic CO$ is trying to use to discredit its critics. They’ve been posting YouTube videos for months now that LOOK like Anonymous’, hoping to confuse the public. Typical? Absolutely. And just another black mark against their name. They’ll say and do ANYTHING, absolutely anything, to avoid being expose.

    All it does is cement the perception of them as being a totally corrupt, evil organization like the mafia or the Bush Family.

  56. By their criminal acts, rampant lying and misinformation, the suppression of dissent and their anti-moral attitude you know that the spawn of Hubbard’s writings is an abominable, cancerous growth in mankind’s collective wealth of ideas and knowledge. The people who’ve fallen under its sway must be freed.

    As the recently deceased Aleksandr Solshenitsyn quoted a Russian proverb: “A word of truth shall outweigh the whole world.”

  58. The cultists come out of the woodwork!
    Great article, to anyone who is interested, this is only the tip of Scientology iceberg, do some research. Check out L. Ron’s son, L. Ron Hubbard Jr.

  59. Thanks for writing this article, Matt. I know Jeff Hawkins and vouch for his integrity and tenacity for the truth. It is too bad the cult of scientology has Karen Pouw and Tommy Davis try to cover up the felonious batteries of David Miscavige, who can be acccurately characterized as a violent psychopath. Neither Pouw or Davis have any firsthand knowledge of what transpired when Jefferson Hawkins was working at the Int Base. They just say what they are told to say, or else.

  60. I have a few questions for the two “Sea Org members” that have posted hear.
    1. When was the last time you saw a real doctor?
    2. When was the last time you saw a dentist?
    3. When was your last day off?
    4. How many hours did you work this last week?
    5. How late did you stay up last Wednesday night?
    6. When was the last time your senior (boss) yelled at you?
    7. Where are you on the bridge?
    8. How big is your bething area.
    9. How many others sleep in the same room (if you are not married)?
    10. How many times have you been married while inside the Sea Org?

    If you answer all these honestly, it will tell the story that Jeff is truthful.

    One other thing I want to point out. Sea Org members and Scientologists aren’t allowed to even so much as look to the internet for anything about Scientology unless told to do so for PR reasons by the church. You know it (Scientologists) and I know it. Unless you want a sec check. And an ethics handling.
    Davis and Pouw are staight up liars. The disconnection policy is real. There are far too many people who have experianced it for themselves for a couple of PR slaves to try to cover it up with an out right lie.
    Sorry but the church has dug it’s own grave.
    You can’t keep treating people like trash and not hear about it later. It’s time the church got it’s own ethics in.
    Thank you for writing this article Matt, it takes guts to write even the truth about the church. And that’s all you need against them.
    And thank you Jeff for telling your story. With the way Scientology goes after it’s critics.

  61. Right on sir… I am glad you have the courage to speak out against the CULT!!! Ex-members bring a lot to the table that is very much respected and appreciated

  64. Sirs:

    To truly grok Scientology read “The True Believer”, Eric Hoffer’s 1951 master work on the nature of mass movements. The description of the lengths to which a true believer will go should scare any rational man or woman deeply.

    I remain your humble servant,

    Jacomus

    P.S. Grok is a word from Robert Heinlein’s 1961 book, “Stranger in a Strange Land”, from which the model of the perfect Scientologist was developed. It means, roughly, to deeply understand and to have incorporated that meaning into one’s psych.

  65. I applaud Mr. Hawkins for coming out and telling his story. He is not alone. There are many other people coming out of the cult telling very similar stories. I know we are hearing the truth about what this cult does to it’s members. Regardless of who is protesting, the cult is dangerous and is violating laws and human rights. They are feeling the pressure as the public is learning their true nature and objective. If they had nothing to hide, why have they been hiding for so long? Let the people out of the RPF. Abolish the RPF!! What religion has a punishment camp that resembles a prison? This is insanity.

  66. my best friend of many years, and one of our mutual friends have both been deeply involved with the “church”. between them they lost $75,000.00 before access to the same sorts of information brought them separately to the same conclusions!

  68. I am an ordinary, average Scientologist. I did not know about this article until I came across it while surfing the ‘net. I’ve been a member for nearly two decades. During that time, I’ve had the opportunity to work on staff and in Sea Organization projects. I’ve read both sides of the Anonymous story and the apostate stories.

    There is something people who aren’t familiar with Scientology need to realize. It takes A LOT to get excommunicated from the Church. You have to continually be unethical with no remorse and without ever reforming to be excommunicated. There has to be enough evidence to prove that you are a total dirtbag to get kicked out.

    It’s a shame that the kids in Anonymous have been so completely snowed by the former members. It’s like a grand sociological experiment that shows how aimless internet hackers can be tweaked into action by individuals who have severe axes to grind. And who have been grinding those axes for years.

    I’m not suggesting that there haven’t been abuses. There must have been, otherwise the former members wouldn’t have been excommunicated. They were doing the abusing.

    Every movement and organization has its lunatic fringe. Welcome to the fringe and its followers in the form of Anonymous.

    I would think that Portland Mercury readers are intelligent enough to figure THAT out.

    Again, not to say that every former member is a nut but I would guarantee that they were at least affected by nuts who eventually got the boot.

    There is a pattern however. The most strident ex-members always seem to have had the strongest unethical behavior.

    Well, I guess it could be a coincidence. I just wish the general public wouldn’t be so gullible as to believe these guys. I suppose it’s just easier to believe the worst about something than to truly have critical thinking.

  69. Typical Scientologist, stating things AS FACT that they have only been told by the Church of Scientology. Such arrogance! You have NO proof of anything you say. None. It is “fact” to you because you were told it by your “all knowing” church, and you will not, cannot look for yourself. You, Mad Hatter, are a fanatic, taking all your information from your church without EVER thinking, without EVER looking for yourself.

    You think, Mad Hatter, that the whole world should blindly accept the Church of Scientology’s word for EVERYTHING, just as you do. You are upset when this doesn’t happen.

    But the rest of the world can still look. The rest of the world can still think. The rest of the world can still reason.

    You, dear Mad Hatter, are the lunatic fringe. Some day, when you poke your head out of the fuzzy-false bubble created for you by your little Church of Scientology, you will know how badly you have been lied to, how badly you have been conned, how badly you have been betrayed by your church.

  70. @Mad Hatter
    In actual fact, it takes almost nothing to be “excommunicated” (declared suppressive) by the organization of scientology. I was told to stop speaking to my brother (who had been declared) or I would be declared. Since my brother is more important to me than their con, I kept talking to my brother and now I’m an SP. I didn’t do lots of unethical things or even one huge unethical thing. All I did was continue to be family to my brother.

  71. @Mad Hatter
    “It takes A LOT to get excommunicated from the Church.”

    That’s completely false. Scientology “justice” doesn’t work like that. “Excommunication” from the Church of Scientology can be done very, very easily.

    In the Church of Scientology’s “justice”, there are no “rules of evidence”; anything may be determined “true” or “false” at a whim. In Scientology’s “justice”, the accused has no right to confront his accusers or even SEE the “evidence”. Proceedings are done behind closed doors and the accused might not even know about them! The “findings”, if published, contain only generalities, no facts, no proof.

    Given this kind of “justice”, it is no wonder that getting someone “excommunicated” from the church is the easiest thing in the world, even when the accused has done NOTHING wrong.

    No, Scientology “justice” only protects the leaders of the church, not the accused, not the public.

  73. I can tell you all from being a Scientologist for over ten years and from attesting that it saved my life, that Scientology is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. A huge concept that is pushed and pushed in Scientology is the subject of “personal integrity”, and “what you know is what you know”. I know that Scientology works for me, and that’s all I need to know. Does it piss me off that articles like this get written, from crazy, ex-Scientologists that screwed up somewhere along the line and couldn’t deal with the consequences? Of course. But it doesn’t change my opinion and my knowingness that this religion WORKS, and for me, this is all I need to know. My advice to anyone reading this article is for you to find out about Scientology for yourself, and not from reading some biased, half-assed article in the Mercury. Mercury, I love you, but you have failed me with this non-sequitor and non-sensical article. Stick with entertainment news.

  74. it is hilarious, they even used the same formula in response that they used on my first article… in the wash post on Christmas day 1994

    in Jeff’s article

    “Jeff Hawkins was a copywriter and these weren’t his ads.”

    heh, the standard line, ” it’s all lies…”

    Karen Pouw’s handling is “make nothing of it” in order to quell interest and certainty..too bad no one believes anything they say.. except those in Hubbard’s trance.In the 1994 Wash Post article ..”Lerma was a low level staffer” (that wrote and signed checks payable directly to L Ron Hubbard that cleared through Societe Anonyme in Lichtenstien.)

    In Scientology I was indoctrinated by Hubbard’s drivel that the media never gets it ‘right’…and always lies, when I read Rich Leiby’s 1994 article, everything was correct, and it was an epiphany, part of my recoevry from the scientology mind-rape, to read something and notice everything was true and accurately rendered, except… except the one line he was conned into using from a fax and fone calls from Sylvia Stanard, scientology OSA PR DC.

    “Lerma was a low level staffer”

    Welcome to the big time Jeff Hawkins, can I retire now, for real?
    Warmest regards
    Arnie Lerma
    Lermanet.com Exposing the CON

  75. Since Tommy Davis and Karin Pouw deny that Jeff Hawkins ever worked on Dianetics, I would like them to explain this image from their very own publication, Highwinds issue 18, 1995. Jeff Hawkins at far left.
    [img]http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa298/little_bear_victor/PDO_HW18_1995.jpg[/img]
    Victor

  76. Dear Jenny, I know what you mean about Scientology saving your life. I felt that way too, back in 1968 when I started in Phoenix, Arizona. But after the things I saw in the next two years, I knew that the organization was evil. I was in the Sea Org early on, was on the Apollo (it was still called the Royal Scotman) and I worked for L. Ron Hubbard directly in various jobs. I witnessed people being locked in the chain locker (in the tiny space left when the anchor chain is in it) for more than two days — not let out for any reason and given garbage to eat. I witnessed people being put to work in a ballast tank, not allowed to leave, fed leftovers from the meals, cut off from all contact with other crew, and left there for days and days. I witnessed terrified students, who had come on the ship from all over the world to become Cl VIII auditors, ridiculed, yelled at, and then thrown into the harbor (about the equivalent of being tossed off the top of a two story building). By the way, the harbors were disgusting — rats, dead dogs, garbage, feces and so on.
    So Jenny, yes, some of the teachings are beneficial. But many of the beneficial things that can be learned or discovered in Scientology are available elsewhere. Hubbard admits that he found much of value in older teachings. And those teachings still exist. The difference is, they do not require their followers to endure inhumane acts nor do they require their followers to commit inhumane acts. Think about that.

  77. Mad Hatter – you said “It’s a shame that the kids in Anonymous have been so completely snowed by the former members. It’s like a grand sociological experiment that shows how aimless internet hackers can be tweaked into action by individuals who have severe axes to grind. And who have been grinding those axes for years.”

    1. Anonymous is not “kids”. That’s another line you’ve been fed. In fact, the average “profile” of the anons I know are between 18 and 50, they have spouses and children, they work normal jobs.

    2. The Anonymous movement began on its own, without instigation by former members. So how could they have been “snowed” by those former members when they didn’t start talking to them until well into the movement? They couldn’t.

    3. Being an “average” Scientologist, you of course would not be privy to the abuses that go on at the higher levels. And that’s sad. If you knew a fraction and saw it firsthand, you couldn’t get out fast enough.

  78. Critical Scientologist, I would like to point out a couple things that you seem to have missed:
    “Dave would punch or slap people in the face repeatedly when they delivered bad news, or when people talked back with anything other than what he wanted to hear,”
    “Eventually, Hawkins decided he’d had enough and wanted to quit.”
    “…you have to sign these gag orders promising never to speak about Scientology, which I did.”
    “Hawkins says he signed the agreements under duress, and that he is not afraid to speak out, now.”
    David Miscavige was beating up Hawkins, he took it until he could no longer stand it. He left, going through security checks and signing documents promising not to speak up against the Church of Scientology. These documents were signed under duress and have no real legal backing. Now that he has the support of Anonymous, he has no fear of speaking up because any attempt to Fair Game him would become a major foot bullet for the Church of Scientology.

  79. The amusing thing about A Cat’s complaint about complaints about Scientology’s ‘religious order’ completely avoids any discussion of that ‘order’, or its ‘Billion Year Contract’ or long history of slave labor and child abuse.

    Zinjifar

  80. This is a well written article. Jeff Hawkins is a man of humility and integrity and I can vouch for him being the man who put Dianetics back on the best seller list. Before he came up with the ads, I was a lowly and rare volunteer selling the book to new people at a time when hardly any other scientologists had the guts to talk to new people, much less sell them a Dianetics book. I made a point to follow the ad campaigns and what was going on at Int Marketing because the ads not only helped me sell more of the books but also gave the book the name recognition that got it on the NY Times best seller list. Like Jeff, I am no longer in the cult and do what I can to help get the truth out, hoping to make up for having misinformed and mislead so many. Jeff’s story is a powerful piece. It can be found at his blog, Counterfeit Dreams counterfeitdreams.blogspot.com

  82. Stuuuuuuupid people. You are right, there’s nothing more wacky about Scientology versus Christianity or Mormonism because they are all wrong. Crutches to the weak of mind, easy answers to the dull of thought, and a waste of time for all of us that have to tolerate these cult worshiping morons. Every day with religion in this world is one less day that man could be free.

  83. “There are, after all, some pretty wacky beliefs in Christianity and Mormonism…” You’re right, there are! because all these religions are THE SAME THING: lies. However, Scientologists must be a special kind of stupid because… com’on, really? It was fabricated IN OUR LIFETIME. We saw the lie get created, and you’re still buying it?

    Man will never know freedom so long as blind faith in ghosts and goblins clouds our judgment.

  84. This was a great article. Interesting and scary at the same time! The more I read, see, and hear about Scientology, the more I am convinced it is EVIL!

  85. most excellent article indeed, i had my many suspicions over the years on that strange sect called “Scientology” but had no real prove on just how phony it all was.

    after all the good book does say that there would be false Christ’s and counterfeit religions in abundance, before he returns those way overdue rented movies back to us entitled’ left behind to rethink my actions in life? and that number one blockbuster coming to a world near you. the end of days,

    (that marvelous full-color 3-D version without Arnold)

  86. Scientology is NOT A RELIGION! Therefore it is not bigotry to attack it and it’s members who are accomplices to the MURDERS of numerous victims. If we are FAIR GAME, then ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR! DESTROY SCIENTOLOGY!
    Scientologists

    GET OUT OF OUR MINDS
    GET OUT OF OUR LIVES
    GET OUT OF OUR CITY

  87. Dear Scientologists,
    You have my sincere sympathy and condolences for being brainwashed and used as you are. The ‘attack never defend” policy you practice is based upon Hubbard’s understanding that there is NO defense for his amoral and sociopathic philosophies. He knew this and therefore developed a “workaround” inasmuch as you cannot defend the indefensible, therefore attack the critic not the criticism.
    I notice in all the replies here not one of you address the issues, only impugn the character of those that refute lies your cult espouses. It is a sad thing to see so many lives wasted on the word of a man who believed he was Lucifer. I urge all of you who’ve posted here to research the life of LRH and ask yourself – if someone promoted the philosophy of “the only way to control people is to lie to them” is he telling YOU the truth?
    Best of luck climbing out of the rabbit hole.

  88. @anon.petit.fi, from what I understand, the scientologists are taught that LRH was this amazing explorer-researcher, studying “primitive” cultures and winning ridiculous amounts of awards and medals. Unfortunately most of them are prevented, by ‘church’ management, from ever finding the truth for themselves. It’s such a tragedy.

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