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Old 03-26-2013, 10:13 AM   #1
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Default Really interesting book

Thought I'd post it here, once in a while its good to post books that your reading currently.

I'm just finishing up Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill.. If you don't recognize the middle name she's the niece of the current head of Scientology David Miscavige.

It details her life in the Church of Scientology from Birth to when she left the Church in her 20's.

she comes from a family where her Grandfather was in the Church, he got his sons in the Church and their families as well.

This is from the viewpoint, not of the Public Scientologists but she was enrolled in the Sea Org from a very early age, being raised on what was called the Ranch then moving on to the Int base and eventually the Celebrity Center and Flag which is like the home office, she eventually ended up doing a mission in Australia.

Its a book about a young girl that was indoctrinated into the hardcore courses of the church.

Some interesting things about her life

1) Parents are pretty much separated from their kids only seeing them once a week for an hour at best. There was a point where she didn't see her parents for about 3 years. The Church also separates spouses in the Sea Org.

2) Members of the Sea Org sign Billion Year contracts, they usually work about 16 hours a day 7 days a week.

3) Her brother who was a Sea Org member got tossed from the Church he then disowned his family

4) His mother committed a 2D which is a major ethics issue (She cheated on her husband. She was assigned to RPT which is like a Scientology hard labor prison for two years.

5) Her parents decided to leave the church she decided to stay.

6) She talks about the celebrities briefly but this isn't a tell all book about them, she describes the Celebrity experience as much more pleasant then what normal people go through to be a member of the church

7) She doesn't talk about the whole alien Theta aspect all that much, but its fascinating to read about how the audits and the E-Meter work and the different courses that she takes.

8) She talks a lot about her Uncle Dave and how he became far more abusive towards Church Members as time passed, she also briefly talks about the mystery of his wife who made a recruiting mistake and then vanished in 2008, there are actual rumors that she is either dead or being held at a secret Scientology base.

9) She talks about how she left the church, and then formed a group that was extremely critical of Scientology.

Overall its an amazing book and really an interesting read even though it doesn't go into the more strange beliefs that L Ron Hubbard believed in. She does talk about the con of the church and how it works.

In terms of the writing style. I'd say its pretty simplistic, however you can get lost in the terms that the Church uses, you can also get confused by the names of the executives. She'll be referring to Mr so and so who is actually a woman as all executives are addressed as Mr

Would I recommend it, yup
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Old 03-26-2013, 10:55 PM   #2
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Thought I'd post it here, once in a while its good to post books that your reading currently.

I'm just finishing up Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill.. If you don't recognize the middle name she's the niece of the current head of Scientology David Miscavige.
I just finished it too. I was sort of confused at all of her terminology, so I looked up the reason Katie Holmes left Tom Cruise online and of course, all of the terminology was in the article I read. The scientologists are whackjobs. Why not just join the friggen military? How sad people live that way. It's no different than any other religion, they try to keep people down.
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Old 03-26-2013, 11:02 PM   #3
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Well the biggest difference is they don't really worship a diety, they worship the ability to achieve a status of clear.

Its not as much a religion as a self improvement cult mixed with wacky science fiction gone wild
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Old 03-26-2013, 11:05 PM   #4
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Well the biggest difference is they don't really worship a diety, they worship the ability to achieve a status of clear.

Its not as much a religion as a self improvement cult mixed with wacky science fiction gone wild
The past lives situation.. as far as I am concerned they might as well be worshiping a cabbage head for all the sense they make. Like any other 'cult' or 'religion'- the main thing is money (ie Tom Cruise). I am so glad that Katie got their kid out of that mess, and I kept thinking that I could certainly see why she'd want to!
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Old 03-26-2013, 11:22 PM   #5
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The past lives situation.. as far as I am concerned they might as well be worshiping a cabbage head for all the sense they make. Like any other 'cult' or 'religion'- the main thing is money (ie Tom Cruise). I am so glad that Katie got their kid out of that mess, and I kept thinking that I could certainly see why she'd want to!
The past lives is more science fiction to sell the concept of past lives then it is worship ping any uber god.

If anything they worshiped LRH not for his god like status, but for his goal to clear the world and his science behind Dianetics.

Hey, can you point me to the article on Holmes I'm interested in reading it.
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Old 03-27-2013, 04:49 PM   #6
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The past lives is more science fiction to sell the concept of past lives then it is worship ping any uber god.

If anything they worshiped LRH not for his god like status, but for his goal to clear the world and his science behind Dianetics.

Hey, can you point me to the article on Holmes I'm interested in reading it.
Sorry this took so long, I never have any time at work to play on CP anymore
I will try and find the article for you. It was about 8 pages long and it covered everything from Cruise's 'wife audition' to his marriage with Katie, and how the Church treated him differently than others, and a lot of the same terms were used as in book. When I find it I will post it here. It will just take me awhile since I looked at several but found this one most informative. I should have bookmarked it.
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Old 03-27-2013, 05:09 PM   #7
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I remember reading about the TomKat thing in a magazine. Can't remember which one (sorry) It was really interesting.
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Old 03-27-2013, 05:51 PM   #8
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Great site that really questions Scientology and has a lot of information that the Church wishes wasn't out there

http://www.xenu.net/
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Old 03-31-2013, 04:18 PM   #9
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Was this the article?

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/...ce-scientology
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