There’s an episode from a few years ago of Joe Rogan talking with Leah Remini who was describing her experiences in Scientology. She had a lot to say about the church and how it affected her, going after people, and many other scary things they did.
Thanks for sharing your experience with Scientology. I've been enjoying webworm. I find cults fascinating, yet wish they didn't exist and people were just left to be and find alternative ways to believe in themselves and the goodness of humankind.
I was an undergrad at Massey University in Palmerston North from 2006-2008. There was a church group- the Victory Church- that were actively trying to get students to join. A noticeable proportion of first years usually seen at parties, would drop off from the social scenes to join this Church and never party again. When you would ask around “what happened to what’s her name”? You would find out they married someone they barely knew (another church member).
I remember being approached by one of the recruiters, who comes across as kind, and asks you a bunch of questions and by the end of the conversation pretends to know you well. But I went to a Catholic high school, as an atheist. So, there was no way I would engage past a polite conversation. I also remember at least six months after that initial conversation, the same recruiter called out to me from down the road, as a friend would, using my name. I couldn’t work out where I knew him from at first, but when I realised it was from some random conversation months earlier, I was creeped out! I didn’t engage long and decided that Church was probably a cult. Since that interaction I have always been skeptical of hearing my name called out in public, even if it turns out to be my friends. I get a jolt of anxiety.
I’m quite thankful for growing up as an atheist at a catholic school. It taught me to question. Who knows, if it wasn’t for that background, I could have skipped the fun social aspect of uni-life and fallen prey to the Victory Church cult.
Scientology is a cult defined by size, but shares semblance with official religions for tax advantages. (That said, major churches are basically run by a CEO in a funny outfit. . . look at Anglican holdings in state bonds, stocks, property, forestry etc.) Cultic manipulation seems to come from our prehistory; meerkats for instance punish and shame others for failing guard duty, cults use "framing" techniques for their professed goals, so people feel pressured into approval or advancement, in this case for fees. Hubbard led a terrible life, as is well known by many people now - a threatening, dishonest man with prescription med abuse issues, totally horrible to his partner also. I'm 'sposing they criticize psychiatry in the same way some alternative medicine types disparage "allopathic", or proven forms of science-based healthcare. The reality is their core text "Dianetic" is too clunky and mediocre to compel readers, I think numbers have been falling since the movement's founder passed. Their therapy/confession sessions are up to $800.00 an hour, also it's way past the cost of private college tuition fees to get their bunk certificate which says, essentially, you've studied some abstractions and (thoroughly teenage) poetic statements about 'consciousness' and 'freeing yr mind' etc. People can do meditation courses for ten bucks a pop, same thing, less bullsh*t.
I can not help but think about these times in relation to religion's role when it comes to such situations after reading this post .
I am an Indian ...a land of a lot of religions and personally , i believe that religion is cults developing and becoming larger than they started out as ..with time ... There is nothing more to the concept
For someone who is from a land of a lot of religion ... I find it funny that growing up here was enough to convince me that there is nothing to it other than a bunch of people dressing up and making a show of something that probably does not exist ... Or if it does ... Does not ask for such an exaggerated existence...
I suppose some of us here on earth are just huge suckers for drama...
I know i like my sunday better now ... Waking up late and enjoying brunch .
I entered Scientology in my early twenties and I "did" pretty well. However, two things got me out: 1. If the auditing was THAT effective, why don't we do it for less cost and mass advertise? 2. WheI noted certain inconsistencies in Hubbard's work, I was treated with suspicion. The sent over Sea Org to investigate me. I left eventually and they hounded me for 24 months until I left the Auckland Area.
During 2018 Spring Festival, Scientology was offering free dumplings to local Chinese community. Scientology has changed their original Chinese name科学神教(Literally scientific mythologic religion) to 山达基（a translatiration of its english pronunciation) plus it was banned in china and largely unknown to Chinese so the "religion of science " is quite appealing to some migrants here. Everything is for free. Free dumplings.free festival celrbrations/activities. Free personality tests! . Since then I ve noticed they increased a bunch of asian looking staff or at least leaflet handout helpers. Targeting newly arrived immigrants. On queen st. Between Lush and 2degree. Sometimes across the street. Dressing like real western gentlemen.handing out materials in Chinese. Haven't seen them there lately tho.
My experience with Scientology is pretty boring. They have a fairly large building across the street from the University of Texas at Austin (home to 50,000+ college students). It definitely gives off "front for some other activity" vibes. Never saw any sort of activity, except when a car drove through the front entrance of the building. There was much speculation about the cause of that accident.
First things first: It’s highly likely that I am the only Swiss person that has subscribed to this wonderful newsletter (my strategy to not go completely insane in these strange times is to read as much as I can about everything that doesn’t have the word Corona in it).
Switzerland (and especially the part of the country I live in) is a stronghold for cults. Last year, there were around a thousand reported cults – which I think is a lot for such a small country. The most famous is (or was) probably the UFO religion Fiat Lux with its leader Uriella who passed away last year.
I had an encounter with Scientology when I was about twenty years old. Since my brain seems to be rotting and that incident was 15 years ago, I don’t remember all of it, but it went something like this: I was casually walking around Zurich, in the narrow alleys of the beautiful old part of the city, when I was addressed by a guy in his thirties. I immediately knew that he was a member of some cult – living here makes you develop a certain sense for it. What was strange was that he didn’t have any books or pamphlets with him, usually they try to force them upon you. I was soon to find out why that was: Zurich’s Scientology headquarters were only a few steps away in a pretty old house.
Being an agnostic for as long as I can remember and knowing fully well that I was speaking to a member of a cult, I was intrigued when he asked me if I wanted to learn something about myself and how his organization (he never once during the whole time said the word “Scientology”!) could help me being a better person and reach my potential.
Maybe it was naïve for a young woman on her own following a strange man into a building. Actually, I’m pretty sure it was. But I was curious. So I followed him into a small office, equipped with all the pamphlets and books that I missed when I met him outside.
Then followed what was supposed to be a casual chat but was indeed an interrogation. They sure know their way to get information out of the people they’re trying to get in their clutches! I got angrier and angrier the longer this went on, but I kept my friendly and curious mask. I was thinking about what this might do to a person not knowing who they are talking to. I tried to answer in ways that would make him have to change direction. I invented fields of interest I didn’t have but that I guessed they wouldn’t have info about, but he kept his cool. In the end thanked him and left without any leaflets, thoroughly angry about the fact that this cult is even allowed to exist.
I never told my mother about this until recently, when she shared her experience with the cult. When she was in her twenties, her best friend and her boyfriend were briefly members of Scientology. One night, my mother burned all their books because she was so angry that her friends had joined a cult. The two didn’t stay there long though have never joined any religious group again.
What really shocked me is how they get people into joining them. When they try to lure you in, it’s not about religion. It’s about becoming a better person, about reaching your potential, which of course sounds good for an unsuspecting person. They are very good talkers.
Years later I had a co-worker who was a member of the church of Scientology. I was shocked when I found out because I rather liked her. A funny woman, a few years older than me, good at her job. We had lots of fun working together. It didn’t occur to me that she didn’t celebrate her birthday because she was a scientologist, I guessed that this was because like me, she didn’t think it was that big a deal to get older. I was wrong.
I once caught her reading the Watchtower during break and when she saw me trying to take a glance at what she was reading, she said “that wouldn’t interest you” and never had she been more right and wrong at the same time. She had gotten to know me as a flaming agnostic and knew better than to talk to me about religion – when indeed I would have loved to know more about what it’s like to be in a cult.
I found this fascinating. I live in Clearwater, home of the Scientologist outside of LA, and I have had so many encounters. I can say that your encounters were far more pleasant than anything I saw or dealt with. Let me know if you would like to hear them.
Years ago, before starting university, my friend and I travelled around the US for a few weeks. We were in Los Angeles and in dire need for a bathroom when we came across the Museum of Psychiatrics. Never having heard of it and in hope of a free and clean bathroom, we went it. We realized at once that this wasn't a real museum but our bladders were about to burst. There weren't any bathrooms for the publics, so after a bit of forth and back with the nice ladies at the reception desk, and writing down our made up addresses we went to the staff bathroom. As a joke we also checked out the utterly bizarre exhibition.
A few years laters, my friend and I were flatmates and living a few blocks from the local Scientology church. One day my friend brought home a copy of Dianetics she had found on her way home.
Being an atheist and well aware of Scientology, I was curious and read the whole book. On one hand, it was quite cleverly made with suggestive question like "Do you ever feel that you're not reaching your full potential?" or "Do you ever think you could be happier?". On the other hand, the theory or religion explained in the book was so... dumb. I don't remember any specifics but I remember wondering how one would fall for this nonsense.
kind of serendipitous, my Mum and i were just discussing this yesterday! quite a few years back she and her husband at the time were going to the EKKA (a fair/agricultural show in Brisbane) when at the entrance a man literally GRABBED her by the arm and gave her a book about their cause and made her pay the $20 for it because it was so awkward/hard to get out of. luckily my grandfather found out and went to their headquarter and gave the “book” back and retrieved her $20. scary to think that i was almost a scientology baby...
Do you have access to Leah Remini's show where she talks to ex-members and exposes the many misdeeds of the organization? I was disturbed but not very surprised to learn about the rampant child sex abuse that takes place.
I hate that they run those personality tests in high-tourist areas here in Melbourne. They nestle in amongst all the other buskers without any Scientology branding, just a happy looking "Personality Test" sign.
You'd think (hope) that it would be hard for them to properly get their hooks into people in that setting, but it still must let them seed their ideas to so many unsuspecting people
There’s an episode from a few years ago of Joe Rogan talking with Leah Remini who was describing her experiences in Scientology. She had a lot to say about the church and how it affected her, going after people, and many other scary things they did.
Thanks for sharing your experience with Scientology. I've been enjoying webworm. I find cults fascinating, yet wish they didn't exist and people were just left to be and find alternative ways to believe in themselves and the goodness of humankind.
I was an undergrad at Massey University in Palmerston North from 2006-2008. There was a church group- the Victory Church- that were actively trying to get students to join. A noticeable proportion of first years usually seen at parties, would drop off from the social scenes to join this Church and never party again. When you would ask around “what happened to what’s her name”? You would find out they married someone they barely knew (another church member).
I remember being approached by one of the recruiters, who comes across as kind, and asks you a bunch of questions and by the end of the conversation pretends to know you well. But I went to a Catholic high school, as an atheist. So, there was no way I would engage past a polite conversation. I also remember at least six months after that initial conversation, the same recruiter called out to me from down the road, as a friend would, using my name. I couldn’t work out where I knew him from at first, but when I realised it was from some random conversation months earlier, I was creeped out! I didn’t engage long and decided that Church was probably a cult. Since that interaction I have always been skeptical of hearing my name called out in public, even if it turns out to be my friends. I get a jolt of anxiety.
I’m quite thankful for growing up as an atheist at a catholic school. It taught me to question. Who knows, if it wasn’t for that background, I could have skipped the fun social aspect of uni-life and fallen prey to the Victory Church cult.
Scientology is a cult defined by size, but shares semblance with official religions for tax advantages. (That said, major churches are basically run by a CEO in a funny outfit. . . look at Anglican holdings in state bonds, stocks, property, forestry etc.) Cultic manipulation seems to come from our prehistory; meerkats for instance punish and shame others for failing guard duty, cults use "framing" techniques for their professed goals, so people feel pressured into approval or advancement, in this case for fees. Hubbard led a terrible life, as is well known by many people now - a threatening, dishonest man with prescription med abuse issues, totally horrible to his partner also. I'm 'sposing they criticize psychiatry in the same way some alternative medicine types disparage "allopathic", or proven forms of science-based healthcare. The reality is their core text "Dianetic" is too clunky and mediocre to compel readers, I think numbers have been falling since the movement's founder passed. Their therapy/confession sessions are up to $800.00 an hour, also it's way past the cost of private college tuition fees to get their bunk certificate which says, essentially, you've studied some abstractions and (thoroughly teenage) poetic statements about 'consciousness' and 'freeing yr mind' etc. People can do meditation courses for ten bucks a pop, same thing, less bullsh*t.
Hi David ,
I can not help but think about these times in relation to religion's role when it comes to such situations after reading this post .
I am an Indian ...a land of a lot of religions and personally , i believe that religion is cults developing and becoming larger than they started out as ..with time ... There is nothing more to the concept
For someone who is from a land of a lot of religion ... I find it funny that growing up here was enough to convince me that there is nothing to it other than a bunch of people dressing up and making a show of something that probably does not exist ... Or if it does ... Does not ask for such an exaggerated existence...
I suppose some of us here on earth are just huge suckers for drama...
I know i like my sunday better now ... Waking up late and enjoying brunch .
Stay safe
xo
I entered Scientology in my early twenties and I "did" pretty well. However, two things got me out: 1. If the auditing was THAT effective, why don't we do it for less cost and mass advertise? 2. WheI noted certain inconsistencies in Hubbard's work, I was treated with suspicion. The sent over Sea Org to investigate me. I left eventually and they hounded me for 24 months until I left the Auckland Area.
During 2018 Spring Festival, Scientology was offering free dumplings to local Chinese community. Scientology has changed their original Chinese name科学神教(Literally scientific mythologic religion) to 山达基（a translatiration of its english pronunciation) plus it was banned in china and largely unknown to Chinese so the "religion of science " is quite appealing to some migrants here. Everything is for free. Free dumplings.free festival celrbrations/activities. Free personality tests! . Since then I ve noticed they increased a bunch of asian looking staff or at least leaflet handout helpers. Targeting newly arrived immigrants. On queen st. Between Lush and 2degree. Sometimes across the street. Dressing like real western gentlemen.handing out materials in Chinese. Haven't seen them there lately tho.
Not a cult but this story did make me chuckle https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-52843846?ocid=wsnews.chat-apps.in-app-msg.whatsapp.trial.link1_.auin
My experience with Scientology is pretty boring. They have a fairly large building across the street from the University of Texas at Austin (home to 50,000+ college students). It definitely gives off "front for some other activity" vibes. Never saw any sort of activity, except when a car drove through the front entrance of the building. There was much speculation about the cause of that accident.
Perhaps interestingly, the Scientology Network has been promoting tweets into my feed recently. Seems like they've got that TV channel on the go! https://twitter.com/ScientologyTV/status/1264691871734837248
First things first: It’s highly likely that I am the only Swiss person that has subscribed to this wonderful newsletter (my strategy to not go completely insane in these strange times is to read as much as I can about everything that doesn’t have the word Corona in it).
Switzerland (and especially the part of the country I live in) is a stronghold for cults. Last year, there were around a thousand reported cults – which I think is a lot for such a small country. The most famous is (or was) probably the UFO religion Fiat Lux with its leader Uriella who passed away last year.
I had an encounter with Scientology when I was about twenty years old. Since my brain seems to be rotting and that incident was 15 years ago, I don’t remember all of it, but it went something like this: I was casually walking around Zurich, in the narrow alleys of the beautiful old part of the city, when I was addressed by a guy in his thirties. I immediately knew that he was a member of some cult – living here makes you develop a certain sense for it. What was strange was that he didn’t have any books or pamphlets with him, usually they try to force them upon you. I was soon to find out why that was: Zurich’s Scientology headquarters were only a few steps away in a pretty old house.
Being an agnostic for as long as I can remember and knowing fully well that I was speaking to a member of a cult, I was intrigued when he asked me if I wanted to learn something about myself and how his organization (he never once during the whole time said the word “Scientology”!) could help me being a better person and reach my potential.
Maybe it was naïve for a young woman on her own following a strange man into a building. Actually, I’m pretty sure it was. But I was curious. So I followed him into a small office, equipped with all the pamphlets and books that I missed when I met him outside.
Then followed what was supposed to be a casual chat but was indeed an interrogation. They sure know their way to get information out of the people they’re trying to get in their clutches! I got angrier and angrier the longer this went on, but I kept my friendly and curious mask. I was thinking about what this might do to a person not knowing who they are talking to. I tried to answer in ways that would make him have to change direction. I invented fields of interest I didn’t have but that I guessed they wouldn’t have info about, but he kept his cool. In the end thanked him and left without any leaflets, thoroughly angry about the fact that this cult is even allowed to exist.
I never told my mother about this until recently, when she shared her experience with the cult. When she was in her twenties, her best friend and her boyfriend were briefly members of Scientology. One night, my mother burned all their books because she was so angry that her friends had joined a cult. The two didn’t stay there long though have never joined any religious group again.
What really shocked me is how they get people into joining them. When they try to lure you in, it’s not about religion. It’s about becoming a better person, about reaching your potential, which of course sounds good for an unsuspecting person. They are very good talkers.
Years later I had a co-worker who was a member of the church of Scientology. I was shocked when I found out because I rather liked her. A funny woman, a few years older than me, good at her job. We had lots of fun working together. It didn’t occur to me that she didn’t celebrate her birthday because she was a scientologist, I guessed that this was because like me, she didn’t think it was that big a deal to get older. I was wrong.
I once caught her reading the Watchtower during break and when she saw me trying to take a glance at what she was reading, she said “that wouldn’t interest you” and never had she been more right and wrong at the same time. She had gotten to know me as a flaming agnostic and knew better than to talk to me about religion – when indeed I would have loved to know more about what it’s like to be in a cult.
Hi David,
I found this fascinating. I live in Clearwater, home of the Scientologist outside of LA, and I have had so many encounters. I can say that your encounters were far more pleasant than anything I saw or dealt with. Let me know if you would like to hear them.
Great job as always on the article
Years ago, before starting university, my friend and I travelled around the US for a few weeks. We were in Los Angeles and in dire need for a bathroom when we came across the Museum of Psychiatrics. Never having heard of it and in hope of a free and clean bathroom, we went it. We realized at once that this wasn't a real museum but our bladders were about to burst. There weren't any bathrooms for the publics, so after a bit of forth and back with the nice ladies at the reception desk, and writing down our made up addresses we went to the staff bathroom. As a joke we also checked out the utterly bizarre exhibition.
A few years laters, my friend and I were flatmates and living a few blocks from the local Scientology church. One day my friend brought home a copy of Dianetics she had found on her way home.
Being an atheist and well aware of Scientology, I was curious and read the whole book. On one hand, it was quite cleverly made with suggestive question like "Do you ever feel that you're not reaching your full potential?" or "Do you ever think you could be happier?". On the other hand, the theory or religion explained in the book was so... dumb. I don't remember any specifics but I remember wondering how one would fall for this nonsense.
kind of serendipitous, my Mum and i were just discussing this yesterday! quite a few years back she and her husband at the time were going to the EKKA (a fair/agricultural show in Brisbane) when at the entrance a man literally GRABBED her by the arm and gave her a book about their cause and made her pay the $20 for it because it was so awkward/hard to get out of. luckily my grandfather found out and went to their headquarter and gave the “book” back and retrieved her $20. scary to think that i was almost a scientology baby...
Do you have access to Leah Remini's show where she talks to ex-members and exposes the many misdeeds of the organization? I was disturbed but not very surprised to learn about the rampant child sex abuse that takes place.
I hate that they run those personality tests in high-tourist areas here in Melbourne. They nestle in amongst all the other buskers without any Scientology branding, just a happy looking "Personality Test" sign.
You'd think (hope) that it would be hard for them to properly get their hooks into people in that setting, but it still must let them seed their ideas to so many unsuspecting people
oh my god I LOVE the celebrity center tour! I absolutely love being told I have a deadshit personality and I need IMMEDIATE guidance and help.
such a wild ride every time