Because of various problems with Blogger, I've copied everything as of November 26, 2012 over to WordPress. The new location is Ask the Scientologist. I am not deleting this blog and will still accept comments and answer questions here too, but any new articles will appear at the WordPress location. I apologize if this causes any problems.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Church of Scientology Implodes

There for awhile, people kept asking each other, "When will the Church of Scientology collapse?" I kept saying, it's happening now, but because the church puts up a good façade, it wasn't so obvious.

Well, now it's obvious that we are seeing the inevitable collapse of the Church of Scientology.

Let me show you the signs and my predictions for the future.

Already we saw churches closing, excused as "combining" with nearby churches, but now we are seeing churches actually disappearing, closing their doors.

Already we were seeing the membership numbers drastically dropping, and every day, newly out ex-Scientologists are telling their stories, getting in touch with old friends.

Already we were seeing the "formidable" attack machinery of the church falling apart, failing. But, today, they have so few trusted staff that they can no longer fight more than one battle at a time -- and they have so many more than one battle today.

Major news outlets have written exposés on the church, but that's just the bare start. More news reports on the Church of Scientology's criminal activities are being prepared at this moment.

Already we have seen the church's deepest, darkest secrets exposed -- not just their "confidential OT Levels" but the pervasive abuse, criminal actions and blatant lying at the very highest levels of the church. Strong legal actions against the church are in progress, official investigations are in progress. Things are not looking good.

The church's ship, the Freewinds, is floating around nearly empty. The big cash cow has become a big cash drain. As you may know, the ship was kicked out of Curaçao for all their bad behavior and is now home-ported in Colombia.

Flag, the biggest church in Scientology, has collapsed. To try to stem the collapse they forbade all field auditors within 90 miles from delivering any services, but that didn't help. Now they are trying to steal all public from every other church, promoting that all those services are now available at Flag. They are desperate and in big trouble.

The other churches are mostly empty and struggling to pay their bills -- often many months late and getting later. Staff simply aren't getting paid.

The church's so-called "missions" are disappearing but it's hard to tell. Most missions are out of someone's home and only open a few hours a week. The difference between an "open" and "closed" mission isn't very much.

The Church of Scientology claims there are thousands of "Scientology Groups" but none of them can be found. It appears all their groups have closed.

It is a catastrophe, and just getting worse.

Here's what's coming up.

First, you will see David Miscavige spending a lot of time on the Freewinds. (I'll give you a hint on why: There is no extradition from Colombia. As long as he is "at sea" or in Colombia, he can hide from the law.)

Second, there will be many more church closings. Those that aren't closed will become empty, most lights turned off, most rooms unused. They may retain a receptionist who will "show movies" to anyone foolish enough to come in. A few services will be available, and only at limited times. If they own the building outright, and as long as they don't have to pay taxes, they will be able to keep these dark, empty buildings "open" for a long time.

Scientology will implode into Clearwater, meaning that the major center, major focus and remaining activities will happen there. Scientologists who remain True Believers will be forced to move to Clearwater as local churches close and services become difficult to obtain.

At some point, the advanced churches at the Los Angeles "Big Blue" center will "expand" to Clearwater as well.

The much-vaunted "new buildings" that the church owns will become a liability, since they are all now worth much less than what was originally paid for them. Some, like "Big Blue" are so old and poorly maintained that they can only be torn down.

We will see fewer and fewer Scientologists as all this goes down. The Freezone will expand a bit with the influx of those who still believe in Hubbard's technology, but even that group will eventually suffer from the fact that all Hubbard's secrets have been exposed, all his lies have been documented.

For those who wanted to see the Church of Scientology collapse, keep your eyes open because that's what's happening right now.
-

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The "Science" in Scientology

If you've read anything from the Church of Scientology or talked with a Scientologist, you've heard the claims, "Scientology is based on science."

Typical claims from the Church of Scientology:
"Dianetics technology works and is an effective science of mental health"
Hubbard applied "modern science to accomplish the goal of religion throughout history. "
"Scientology, drawing on the same advances in knowledge that led to the understanding of nuclear physics, provides modern answers to these questions."
And look at the titles of L. Ron Hubbard's early works:
  • Dianetics: Evolution of a Science
  • Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health
  • Science of Survival
They push this line hard. You can't have much of a conversation with a Scientologist without this claim coming up. "This isn't about belief," they will claim, "this is scientific."

It is interesting to me how Scientologists can spout this line and never, ever think about what it means. One might assume that Scientologists understand the concept of "science", "scientific research" and the "scientific method", many Scientologists are quite well-educated. Why, then, do they believe that Scientology is scientifically based?

Let's take a look at what is involved in science and scientific research and how this compares with Hubbard's work.

Now, I don't want to get into a long, dry dissertation on the scientific method. That's boring and a bit off the subject. Let's just take a high level view.

What is the primary activity of scientists? Research. The fundamental aspect of all science is research. Careful, accurate, honest, well-documented, repeatable research.

To be accepted as valid science, any research must be transparent. That is, any legitimate, interested person should be able to read the research documentation, duplicate the research work and validate or disprove the original findings.

So where is Hubbard's original research? Hubbard claimed to have done lots and lots of research before developing his technology and writing Dianetics. Where is his research?

Now, you must understand the Hubbard was a pack-rat. It is doubtful that he ever threw anything away. If you've visited the L. Ron Hubbard Museum in Hollywood, you would see how much he saved. He saved toys, diaries, tools, merit badges, everything. Some of it is displayed in the museum, but there was too much to display all of it.

So, where is his research?

No one has ever found any research papers, documentation, notes -- nothing. And, believe me, they looked. Are we to believe that Hubbard saved his scout merit badges and threw away his Dianetic research?

No research papers. None. So, of course, no one has ever vetted his "research" or his findings.

Even today, there is no proper research or documentation on any of Hubbard's findings. In fact, David Miscavige vehemently rejects any attempts to validate any of the claims of Scientology or Dianetics. You want to get attacked by the Church of Scientology? Tell them you are testing their claims.

This is not science. When you have a "technology" with no research, no documentation of research, no validation of findings, that is simply not science. That is belief.

I have no problem with people believing anything they want. But, until the Church of Scientology allows independent validation of their claims, it isn't science and it will never be science.

So, Scientologists: Look up the word "science". Look up "scientific method". And then stop trying to claim Scientology has anything to do with science. You have a long, long way to go and a lot of major changes before you could earn that title.
-