…in which impressionable novitiates are put through bizarre psychological exercises, including being brainwashed into thinking they can levitate ashtrays; are indentured into slave labour to enrich the leadership of their church; and whose silence is enforced by having to sign billion-year pledges of loyalty. This is coming out thanks to courageous whistleblowers who are taking their church to court.
Nope, not the Catholics this time; nor the Anglicans; nor even the Mormons. It is of course that reliable bastion of wingnuttery, the Church of Scientology. (The “billion years” bit was probably a giveaway. Such are the timescales of Xenu.) One hopes that this will be all over the news, and that we’ll see a column from Ruthie Gledhill calling for the immediate laicisation of Tom Cruise.
And hopefully, a precedent set for other sects that rely on stealing the labour of their adherents…
Madam Miaow said,
April 10, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Yes, I’d quite like to get get paid for the years spent getting our own Krups and Lenny into the media. Endearing the way so many of our dearest supporters of workers rights have so much in common with this crew.
Doloras LaPicho said,
April 10, 2010 at 10:33 pm
L Ron Hubbard: a pill-popping, rum-swigging, wife-beating, friend-cheating, cheque-bouncing, ass-wobbling, race-hating, goat-bombing, homophobic, coke-sniffing, chain-smoking, salad-quizzing, warrant-dodging no-good conman. I was privileged to go on a couple of the Anonymous demonstrations in my home town back in 2008.
robert said,
April 11, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Hollywood comes up with its own religion – combine spirituality with Tom Cruise and you know we’re entering the twilight zone.