Scientology Crack Up?
Can a crack-pot organization crack up? It looks like Scientology might be, and John Travolta hasn't even left yet. It's hard to believe that an organization that first saw into the ways of the intergalactic warlord Xenu could be in trouble, but stranger things have happened. From the Sunday edition of The Guardian:
If there has been a catalyst for many of the Scientologists' most recent problems it has been provided by a newspaper in Tampa, Florida ”“ the St Petersburg Times ”“ which covers the area including the organisation's spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. The paper ran an investigative series featuring interviews with former members of the church's leadership. These included Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, two of the highest-ranking executives to leave Scientology.
According to the two men's accounts ”“ denounced as "lies" by Miscavige and Tommy Davis ”“ Miscavige routinely assaulted his lieutenants, including Rinder, 50 times. In one article, citing the testimony of four former members, the newspaper described Miscavige administering a vicious beating to another senior church figure, Tom De Vocht. The men described a complex system of internal justice, enforced by security checks and the threat of isolation as a so-called "suppressive person" or SP.
In the interviews the men admitted using violence against other members of the church, often, they claimed, at the behest of Miscavige, also alleging that the church used private information gathered on its members to bully them and force them to do its bidding.
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