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An Ex Scientologist Story From Early 90's Which Haunted Me For Years

mistii

Patron
Hello,

I was never a scientologist but I do remember back in the early 90's I was working at an Environmental Firm in Emeryville, CA. One Day I was sitting at my cubicle on a small break I was talking to my father and excited about the house I just bought, my Dad called to let me know he was going to bring me his New House Gift early a lawnmower.....we both laughed about this while talking to my father my mom called me and I hung up with my Dad to talk briefly with my mom. Each time I sounded excited. However, after my telephone calls with my mom and Dad my co-worker popped her head in my cubicle and said how nice you can talk to your Mom and Dad....nd I looked at her puzzled.....

Needless to say we got in a small discussion and she told me that she was an Ex Scientologists who left the church and now her siblings and parents would not speak to her. I remember scrunching my face up like weird and then I said, "it is a church right the Scientology church" and she said "well" .....I was like, "the John Travolta Scientology Church.....she looked at me like she wanted to knock my head off.....

later on she told me her and her family was from near Death Valley, CA and when she was around 2 her family joined Scientology and she pretty much grew up in the Church of Scientology and her husband was an ex parishioner as well but his family was never in.....he was a freshman in college when he joined and his family was never in. This young lady said when her and her husband decided to leave and take their two small children their family and friends from Scientology refuses to speak to them.....her husband decided to move them with his family in Bay Area part of California because his family was never in Scientology.....

I not being in Scientology thought it was weird that a Church was refusing her to speak or be around her family because she did not want to practice Scientology any longer her story sounded like BS to me. With everything going on in Scientology these last several years the movie Going Clear and Leah Remini Show.....I get it now ....just recently I found some old Hearings from 1982 on YouTube and the one that caught me was of this young man named David Ray when he is describing how his Mom and 2 sisters would not talk to him and said he was causing trouble because he left Scientology in other words I know the terminology now "Disconnect" .......and to me that is just horrible, amongst the other mental and physical abuse brought on by the Church Administration or Top Dog Miscavige. I don't respect Scientology as a Church any longer......it sounds more like an organization to me running afoul....

But all these years her story about Scientology haunted me because that was the first time I heard about scientology disconnection policy and it was up close and personal not me looking at a TV screen watching someone talk about it. This young lady did tell me more and why they left but I do not want to tell her story.....it is horrible expensive story just like most ex scientologists and it was too much for me.......I couldn't believe it .......but now I know she was not lying and I wish I could meet up with her now I would hug her and let her know I am sorry for acting so standoffish and having a hard time back then believing her story because my thought process back then was Scientology is a Church ...people of the church would not do this horrible stuff.

Thank you for listening, I appreciate it. Yes, I used to be a die hard John Travolta fan since Welcome Back Kotter.....not as much now.
 

WildKat

Gold Meritorious Patron
Thank you for your story. Reading it reminded me of the concept that people, organizations, can get away with the most horrible things if those things are in the realm of unbelievable. It's easy to brush them off. "No church would do that." "A Senator or Priest wouldn't abuse a child." Etc.
 

ThetanExterior

Gold Meritorious Patron
Welcome.

Scientology is a cult masquerading as a church and operating as a business. Once you get that concept and you realise they are totally ruthless then things they do may start to make more sense.
 

mistii

Patron
Thank you for your story. Reading it reminded me of the concept that people, organizations, can get away with the most horrible things if those things are in the realm of unbelievable. It's easy to brush them off. "No church would do that." "A Senator or Priest wouldn't abuse a child." Etc.

However, it did take years for me to really comprehend her story which is no doubt true.....I was in my 20's back then and now I am in my 40's and it took me almost 20 years to realize she was not making the stuff up.....I feel traumatized and I have never been a scientologist. I found this site in 2012 while catching the METRO train in L.A. when my car was at the mechanic shop and it was right after new years and I stumble across the infamous email page......and I thought about the ex scientologist I met ...who said the courses are really expensive and she was making less than minimum wage.....my thought process was sue them and she was like it is not that easy it is better to leave

Since then I have been doing my own research off and on and most everything this ex-scientologist said seems so true .....but the weirdest thing of all...I like old shows ...I noticed how TV series that were actual hits took aim at Scientology in a subtle way over the years, and episode of Charlie Angels, Seinfeld, Mork & Mindy then John Carpenter had a movie called They Live.....
 

mistii

Patron
Welcome.

Scientology is a cult masquerading as a church and operating as a business. Once you get that concept and you realise they are totally ruthless then things they do may start to make more sense.


Thank you, after sorting out all the crazy stuff I see that now......hopefully their tax exempt status will be re-reviewed and Scientology become disqualified as a church. :yes:
 

Gib

Crusader
Thank you, after sorting out all the crazy stuff I see that now......hopefully their tax exempt status will be re-reviewed and Scientology become disqualified as a church. :yes:

The IRS nor the USA government give the COS status as a church. Only people, or citizens of the USA may believe that because of marketing, and repeating that slogan they are a "church".

The IRS and USA government only recognize the COS as a non-profit organization. That is the difference.

One may ask themselves and do a google search to get more learned about religion and non-profits:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/purpose-nonprofit-organizations-56562.html

What does all that have to with scientology, why us ex members known it's a bunch of bunk that the COS does NOT do charitable work. :yes:
 

mistii

Patron
The IRS nor the USA government give the COS status as a church. Only people, or citizens of the USA may believe that because of marketing, and repeating that slogan they are a "church".

The IRS and USA government only recognize the COS as a non-profit organization. That is the difference.

One may ask themselves and do a google search to get more learned about religion and non-profits:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/purpose-nonprofit-organizations-56562.html

What does all that have to with scientology, why us ex members known it's a bunch of bunk that the COS does NOT do charitable work. :yes:


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4295374/Tom-Cruise-Prince-Philip-meet-Buckingham-Palace.html

Thank you, for letting me know that.....Now I am wondering What is Tom Cruise up to then?
 

TheOriginalBigBlue

Gold Meritorious Patron
However, it did take years for me to really comprehend her story which is no doubt true.....I was in my 20's back then and now I am in my 40's and it took me almost 20 years to realize she was not making the stuff up.....I feel traumatized and I have never been a scientologist. I found this site in 2012 while catching the METRO train in L.A. when my car was at the mechanic shop and it was right after new years and I stumble across the infamous email page......and I thought about the ex scientologist I met ...who said the courses are really expensive and she was making less than minimum wage.....my thought process was sue them and she was like it is not that easy it is better to leave

Since then I have been doing my own research off and on and most everything this ex-scientologist said seems so true .....but the weirdest thing of all...I like old shows ...I noticed how TV series that were actual hits took aim at Scientology in a subtle way over the years, and episode of Charlie Angels, Seinfeld, Mork & Mindy then John Carpenter had a movie called They Live.....

In the video in this post Karen discusses the contracts and waivers that every Scientologist signs.

http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthre...annel-Part-2&p=1134891&viewfull=1#post1134891

I was very pleased to see Karen flesh this out.

They create a legal trap very early on and members may sign similar and upgraded and refined agreements whenever they start a new course or action. These agreements used to be kind of clumsy and probably served more to intimidate people but after many decades of challenges and being reviewed by high powered legal firms I suspect they now constitute a formidable Faustian protection against litigation.

The government has proven to be very ineffectual at addressing abuses due to things like First Amendment interpretations and a political regard for other religious groups who also support lax governmental interference. I am encouraged by this recent article where the administration is demonstrating a willingness to define actual behavior conducted under the cloak of religion and cultural diversity to be legally unacceptable. Scientology is an American version of Sharia after all, so anything that criminalizes Sharia may also ultimately criminalize Scientology's conduct.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/06/trumps-executive-order-mandates-government-reports-on-honor-killings-committed-by-migrants/

President Donald Trump’s executive order halting the importation of refugees from six terror-exporting countries also includes a section requiring the government to publicly release information on crimes committed by foreign nationals, including honor killings of women.
///
 

mistii

Patron
In the video in this post Karen discusses the contracts and waivers that every Scientologist signs.

http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthre...annel-Part-2&p=1134891&viewfull=1#post1134891

I was very pleased to see Karen flesh this out.

They create a legal trap very early on and members may sign similar and upgraded and refined agreements whenever they start a new course or action. These agreements used to be kind of clumsy and probably served more to intimidate people but after many decades of challenges and being reviewed by high powered legal firms I suspect they now constitute a formidable Faustian protection against litigation.

The government has proven to be very ineffectual at addressing abuses due to things like First Amendment interpretations and a political regard for other religious groups who also support lax governmental interference. I am encouraged by this recent article where the administration is demonstrating a willingness to define actual behavior conducted under the cloak of religion and cultural diversity to be legally unacceptable. Scientology is an American version of Sharia after all, so anything that criminalizes Sharia may also ultimately criminalize Scientology's conduct.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/06/trumps-executive-order-mandates-government-reports-on-honor-killings-committed-by-migrants/

President Donald Trump’s executive order halting the importation of refugees from six terror-exporting countries also includes a section requiring the government to publicly release information on crimes committed by foreign nationals, including honor killings of women.
///

Thank you
 

GAJ420

New Member
Welcome.

Scientology is a cult masquerading as a church and operating as a business. Once you get that concept and you realise they are totally ruthless then things they do may start to make more sense.


I've been trying to convince a dabbling friend of this for the past few weeks to no avail. So frustrating
 

dchoiceisalwaysrs

Gold Meritorious Patron
I've been trying to convince a dabbling friend of this for the past few weeks to no avail. So frustrating

Ask how your friend thinks 3-5 hundred thousand dollars is a dabbling bridge. Of course if she wants (s)he could up it a bit to a million or a bit more to clear his block, cause scientology is way behind in it's 50 years goal of clearing the planet and will definitely asking for far more than a million...
 

dchoiceisalwaysrs

Gold Meritorious Patron
Hello,

I was never a scientologist but I do remember back in the early 90's I was working at an Environmental Firm in Emeryville, CA. One Day I was sitting at my cubicle on a small break I was talking to my father and excited about the house I just bought, my Dad called to let me know he was going to bring me his New House Gift early a lawnmower.....we both laughed about this while talking to my father my mom called me and I hung up with my Dad to talk briefly with my mom. Each time I sounded excited. However, after my telephone calls with my mom and Dad my co-worker popped her head in my cubicle and said how nice you can talk to your Mom and Dad....nd I looked at her puzzled.....

Needless to say we got in a small discussion and she told me that she was an Ex Scientologists who left the church and now her siblings and parents would not speak to her. I remember scrunching my face up like weird and then I said, "it is a church right the Scientology church" and she said "well" .....I was like, "the John Travolta Scientology Church.....she looked at me like she wanted to knock my head off.....

later on she told me her and her family was from near Death Valley, CA and when she was around 2 her family joined Scientology and she pretty much grew up in the Church of Scientology and her husband was an ex parishioner as well but his family was never in.....he was a freshman in college when he joined and his family was never in. This young lady said when her and her husband decided to leave and take their two small children their family and friends from Scientology refuses to speak to them.....her husband decided to move them with his family in Bay Area part of California because his family was never in Scientology.....

I not being in Scientology thought it was weird that a Church was refusing her to speak or be around her family because she did not want to practice Scientology any longer her story sounded like BS to me. With everything going on in Scientology these last several years the movie Going Clear and Leah Remini Show.....I get it now ....just recently I found some old Hearings from 1982 on YouTube and the one that caught me was of this young man named David Ray when he is describing how his Mom and 2 sisters would not talk to him and said he was causing trouble because he left Scientology in other words I know the terminology now "Disconnect" .......and to me that is just horrible, amongst the other mental and physical abuse brought on by the Church Administration or Top Dog Miscavige. I don't respect Scientology as a Church any longer......it sounds more like an organization to me running afoul....

But all these years her story about Scientology haunted me because that was the first time I heard about scientology disconnection policy and it was up close and personal not me looking at a TV screen watching someone talk about it. This young lady did tell me more and why they left but I do not want to tell her story.....it is horrible expensive story just like most ex scientologists and it was too much for me.......I couldn't believe it .......but now I know she was not lying and I wish I could meet up with her now I would hug her and let her know I am sorry for acting so standoffish and having a hard time back then believing her story because my thought process back then was Scientology is a Church ...people of the church would not do this horrible stuff.

Thank you for listening, I appreciate it. Yes, I used to be a die hard John Travolta fan since Welcome Back Kotter.....not as much now.

Yes Mistii. It does make sense you found it so repulsive that you had a hard time believing it. Thank goodness those days are over and scientology is now becoming well known and believed for what it is. An organization so repulsive that it is know as a merchant of chaos.
 

Enthetan

Master of Disaster
I've been trying to convince a dabbling friend of this for the past few weeks to no avail. So frustrating

You could ask how long Dianetics and Scientology have been around (since 1950's). In all that time, what are the results?

For high-end people, even a few percent increase in ability would translate into tens of thousands to millions of dollars in additional yearly income.

If Scientology could, objectively, make a person even 10% more effective, if it could get a lawyer to win 10% more cases, a stock broker guess right even 10% more of the time, a salesman close even 10% more deals -- there would be a line of people with suitcases full of cash stretching from the doors of Flag all the way to Tampa.

And yet there isn't.

Where are the people who Scientology has made so much higher in ability, that they stand out as stars in their fields?
 

phenomanon

Canyon
You could ask how long Dianetics and Scientology have been around (since 1950's). In all that time, what are the results?

For high-end people, even a few percent increase in ability would translate into tens of thousands to millions of dollars in additional yearly income.

If Scientology could, objectively, make a person even 10% more effective, if it could get a lawyer to win 10% more cases, a stock broker guess right even 10% more of the time, a salesman close even 10% more deals -- there would be a line of people with suitcases full of cash stretching from the doors of Flag all the way to Tampa.

And yet there isn't.

Where are the people who Scientology has made so much higher in ability, that they stand out as stars in their fields?

In the RPF.
 
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