There is no actual "science" in Scientology.  Like Christian "Science," it is a faith-healing cult with some naturalistic fallacy in the mix. The pseudo-science begins with L. Ron Hubbard's appropriation of a gadget called an "e-meter," or electropsychometer, which measures galvanic skin response.  It is akin to a "lie detector" (which is also pseudo-science).  The mark stooge customer (Scientology began as a business, not a religion) holds two "cans" while answering a series of questions posed by an "auditor."  The process is called auditing.  L. Ron Hubbard believed ..read more

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (2021) by Kristen Kobes du Mez. I borrowed the audiobook version of this book from my local public library, not knowing anything about it.  I expected a screed but it was remarkably neutral (-ish) and straightforward history of the authors, organizers, and celebrities of the religious right from the 1950s to the election of Donald Trump. Her previous book, A New Gospel for Women: Katharine Bushnell and the Challenge of Christian Feminism (2015) was about gender bias in Christianity from a feminist persp ..read more

Something wicked this way comes.... from the Mormon community.  As if the Ruby Franke/Jodi Hildebrandt situation weren't depressing enough, John Dehlin's "Mormon Stories" podcast explains it in the context of modern Mormon trends. After learning about Jodi's visions and Ruby's delusions, I thought these women were just crazy people who found a religious context for their symptomology. But no... they are the symptomology and a toxic thread within Mormonism is the disease. John Dehlin and his guests explain that visions, possession obsession, and end-times theology are promoted i ..read more

This week, Idaho authorities released some of the evidence in the case of the "Eight Passengers" mommy vlogger Ruby Franke and her business partner, bad therapist Jodi Hildebrandt.  Ruby and Jodi pled guilty to four felony child abuse charges each and will serve as little as four years in prison to a maximum of thirty years.  (Redditors have compiled the evidence here.) If you haven't followed this case, the "eight" passengers were the two parents and their six children. Ruby's tactics were questioned at the time, and CPS were contacted, but no legal action was taken. Ruby refu ..read more

Shortly after my previous post about the Aftermath Foundation, they announced new board members, and people working on the short-lived billboard project have spoken out. The new board members include British apostate Jon Atack, who left Scientology in 1983 and wrote one of the must-reads about Scientology, A Piece of Blue Sky and interviews people on his YouTube channel, "jon atack, family and friends," Phil Jones, whose self-funded "Call Me" billboard campaign, inspired this year's billboard, and Stefani Hutchinson a "never-in," (a term coined by YouTube commentators when the SPTV moveme ..read more

A few ex-scientologists who were featured on Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath have set up a foundation to raise funds for the work they were already doing to help Sea Organization members (the equivalent of priests and monks) to escape the cult.  For those in the main facilities, life is extremely circumscribed:  they have no access to the internet or libraries, many have no high school diplomas (or have even gone to high school), they live and eat communally, and they are paid a very tiny stipend as "religious volunteers."  They have almost no ability to live on the ..read more

L. Ron Hubbard, (all informational links in the post go to Wikipedia pages unless otherwise specified) founder of the "church" of Scientology, would be 113 today.  Scientology has a few annual celebrations, and the anniversary of the birth of "LRH" is one of them.  (This is a bit odd, because Scientology believes in past lives and the eternal nature of the spirit, or "thetan," so every day is probably at least one birthday for him.)  Hubbard died, or "dropped his body" in 1986, and may or may not be spreading the good news of Scientology on another planet, a.k.a. "Target Two ..read more

Book Review: Leah Remini Troublemaker Leah Remini's autobiography interweaves the events of her life with her exposé of the problems with the "Church" of Scientology. That's because almost her entire life revolved around Scientology, as it does with many of its members. Like other cult religions, members spend an inordinate amount of time (and in the case of Scientology, money) devoted to being "good" members. In her TV series on A&E she interviews past members about the abuses of the church: bleeding members' financial resources, forcing families to "disconnect" from members w ..read more

Washington Post: Minn. Parents Let Son (7) Suffer wounds, inflamed Pancreas, With No Medical Attention Before He Died, Police Say The parents had “issues with going to doctors”, they told authorities, and instead relied on their own research, giving the boy vitamins, “medical honey” and Neosporin, adding later that they “prayed” for the boy’s health. Incredibly, this is a misdemeanor! In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said the office initially approached the case as a homicide, given the boy’s physical injuries and apparent emotional trauma. But after a year of reviewing th ..read more

Some Questions about the Creation Story as told in Genesis: How could there be days before the Sun was made?  (Gen 1:3 vs. Gen 1:14-18) How could there be plants before there were night and day?  (Gen. 1:11-16) God made the Sun, the Moon and the Stars but not planets?  Where are the planets?  (Gen 1:14-19) If God is all-powerful why did he need a day of rest?  (Gen 2:2) Why aren't microscopic plants and animals mentioned? Why did God make livestock and then tell Adam & Eve to eat only plants?  (Gen 1:24; Gen 1:29) Why does Chapter 2 have a different version ..read more