Two AntiCult Movement Evangelists Defend Their 40 Year Careers Trying to Scare People About ‘Cults’
Jon Atack and Steven Hassan have been the Jimmy Swaggart and Billy Graham of the Anti-Cult Movement for well neigh 40 years now, and I hear they’re just about ready to get some science to back up what they’ve been preaching to vulnerable Exes – real soon now! So it’s no wonder Jon and Steve […]
Critical Thinking on Scientology and Anti-Scientology
I used to think that as long as I was not in the cult of Scientology any more, I would never fall into the unquestioning, partisan mindset that I had adopted when I was a Scientologist.
The Social Construction of the Anti-Scientology/Anti-Cult Narrative
The more power that you assign to subversive techniques such as “mind control” the easier it is for Ex-members to explain their membership and participation in minority religious groups after they’ve re-entered the mainstream.
The Moral Equivalence of Scientology vs. Anti-Scientology Fair Game
Is Fair Game better when it’s applied to Scientology? Can there be an immoral equivalence when what Scientology does is then done back at them? Either you are against hypocrisy, cruelty and abuse, or you are not – no matter who does it.
Cult Expert, London School of Economics Social Science Professor Eileen Barker Submits Herself to the Gearty Grilling
Why do anti-cultists reject science so much? When they call a social scientist a “shill” or a “quack”, where is their quantitative data that disputes the work of that social scientist? I have never once seen them offer any scientific data to dispute the results of any of the scientists they wish to discredit with […]
Embrace Your Inner Scientologist
To dismiss that part of your life, to wall it off under labels of “delusional Scientologist” or “weak” or “crazy loon” is to remain in a dissociative state – to continue living a fractured life with some of the best parts of you buried underneath a wall of self-hatred and shame.
Post Ex-Scientology
A Post-Ex has integrated the arguments, and “truths”, he made as a Scientologist with the arguments, and “truths”, he made as an Ex/Anti-Scientologist. He has seen the disconnects and the contradictions there, and repaired them. He no longer walks around with an opposite self inside him, with which he is at war.
Adjusting to Mainstream Society After Scientology is Not “Recovery”
The cult recovery paradigm of Ex-Scientology sets up a whole bunch of things you think you need to “recover” from because you were in Scientology. This is a dysfunctional view. Paradigms are insidious things. They can hide all the assumptions and viewpoints and framing you are using to “understand” something. It’s always a good critical […]
Scientology & Hindsight Bias: An Ex-Scientologist’s Deadliest Disease
The human mind has certain biases which routinely, and falsely, color the perceptions of people called cognitive biases. One of the most important for a former cult member to know about is called the “hindsight bias”, or the “I knew it all along” effect.
How L Ron Hubbard Tricked You: Re-Defining “Individuation” Like That’s A Bad Thing
What if being a Scientologist was never a really a disease in the first place that you needed to “recover from”? What if it was just one part of your own much longer spiritual journey that taught you many important lessons, and from which you emerged stronger and wiser than ever? How would you know?
The Capture Stories, Escape Stories, and Atrocity Stories of Anti-Scientologists
Sociologists who study the issues surrounding minority religions have identified 3 types of stories that form a socially-constructed narrative of a leave-taker’s experience inside their former group. These types of stories are not unique to Ex-Scientology. They have been found to occur as common coins passed around by those who leave, assuming a role which […]
Is Scientology a Religion? Leah Remini Now Says It’s Not
When you look at the cosmology of Scientology from the viewpoint of social science – its rituals such as auditing, training, dissemination, and its clearly religious teachings on the thetan, the mind, and even Xenu – it is inescapable that Scientology is a religion.
Tony Ortega Confirms That Leah Remini Got that Out-of-Context “Scientologists Are Pedophiles” Quote From Him
If Leah Remini and Mike Rinder can help get one criminal conviction on the Church of Scientology through their “Scientology and The Aftermath” reality series, or help one lawsuit succeed against them for real injustices, no one will be happier than I. But when I see another Ex-Scientologist flip into nightmare mode on who they […]
How L Ron Hubbard Tricked You: Scientology Logic vs. Logic
The key to understanding the true value of Scientology’s logic system called the Data Series lies in understanding the idea that there are many different types of logic. Each logic was built for a purpose, and each logic performs a particular function. For instance, binary computer logic was created to turn off and on electricity […]
Why Legal vs Illegal is Way More Important than Moral vs Immoral in Dealing with Scientology
Anti-Scientologists who want to “end the cult” are not thinking things through. Unless Scientology is doing something illegal, no one has the power to “end” them. You actually do not want to live in a society where the government, or even you, have the power to take away someone else’s religion. This is why the […]
You Still Have Control
An interesting article written about victims of abuse from Slate.com on February 8th 2014 by Samantha Gelmer, the woman who was sexually abused as a 13 year old by the film director Roman Polanski. Her message, while written within the context of sexual abuse, applies just as strongly to anyone who has experienced religious and […]
How L. Ron Hubbard Tricked You: The Scientology OT Levels
Consider that this is a trick that L Ron Hubbard pulled on Scientologists. Think about the terror a Scientologist experiences, and the ways their inner thoughts and environment are controlled by this trick. It’s a very vicious and uncaring one. It was a trick Hubbard used without regard to a Scientologists interests at all – […]
Michael Shermer’s “The Believing Brain” & “Why People Believe Weird Things”
Michael Shermer has written two books, “The Believing Brain” and “Why People Believe Weird Things”, which have been life-changing reads for me. There are several key points made in these books which can help a person understand Scientology, and Scientology-like experiences, in brand new ways. For me, a key point came early in “The Believing […]
Has Anti-Scientology Completely Shot Its Wad?
There’s nothing like finally getting what you’ve wished for. The last few years have been an Anti-Scientology spooge dream: A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist writes a best-selling expose’ on Scientology, which turns into an Emmy-winning, Oscar nominated movie, followed by a Louis Theroux smarmy send-up, followed by 2 Seasons of an Emmy-winning TV reality show […]
Scientologists vs Anti-Scientologists: Equally Unable to Tell the Truth About Scientology.
Consider this: Just as Scientology is not as good as a Scientologist tells you it is, Scientology is also not as bad as an Anti-Scientologist tells you it is.
A Study List for Life After Scientology
Your assumptions can be quite insidious. You must study the actual subjects that Hubbard “spun” for you – from sources completely independent from L Ron Hubbard – so as to challenge your own assumptions, separate out Hubbard’s installed ones, and inspect them for their weaknesses.
Binded and Blinded By the Tribal Mind
Once I’d spotted that my thinking was tribal, I was no longer consumed by my tribe’s survival. I resented that the tribe had taken over my thinking. I could finally see the eclipsed and thoughtless cruelty of my former tribe.
Basic Skepticism for Anti-Scientologists
I’ve been practicing Basic Skepticism on marauding Anti-Scientologists on the Internet. It’s pretty much unstoppable. Here’s how it works.
Scientology and The Source Family Cult
Last night, I watched a very good documentary profiling The Source Family cult. This was a cult that operated a number of health food and vegetarian restaurants in Los Angeles in the late 1960’s and early 70’s and which featured lots of great sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Yeah baby. I think it is a good […]
Apply Basic Skepticism to Scientology & See How it Holds Up
Basic skepticism is seeking out or asking for positive evidence in support of a claim, and then evaluating the soundness of that evidence. It is not giving out evidence that counterclaims are false, or giving out evidence that all similar claims “do it too”. It is simply looking for or asking for positive evidence in […]
Healing From Scientology Abuse is Not a Social Media Activity
If you were not abused in Scientology, and you say so in the various social media platforms on the Internet, then you can be accused of being heartless to those who were. A common way to avoid that is to forget your own viewpoint and to take up other peoples’ problems of abuse as your […]
Documentary “Deprogrammed” Now Streaming on Netflix
This documentary contains a very good discussion of the limits of power that people have over those who make religious and spiritual choices that others don’t like.
How L Ron Hubbard Tricked You: Two Scientologys
Have you ever noticed that there are two Scientologys? When you study the chronological development of Dianetics and Scientology, and you watch L Ron Hubbard develop his tech and policies, you can really see the change from one Scientology to another as it evolved from the 1950’s into the late 1960’s and 1970’s. All the […]
Critical Thinking: What Percentage of Children Are 2nd Generation Scientologists?
What percentage of Scientologists grew up in Scientology? What percentage of the children of Scientologists followed their parents into Scientology? Critical thinking is good, right? In the same way that asking critical thinking questions can get you out of Scientology, asking critical thinking questions can get you out of Anti-Scientology, too. It can restore a […]
Consonance & Dissonance in Thinking About Scientology
The human mind wants to think about things – especially important things – as either ALL GOOD, or ALL BAD. Not both. A mixture of good and bad in the mind gives you a feeling of dissonance – disharmony, conflict, chaos. Thinking about things as ALL GOOD, or ALL BAD, gives you a feeling of […]
Catastrophizing Scientology
Don’t catastrophize Scientology or your experiences in it. Always work to keep your experiences in Scientology in perspective.
Smarm & Exploitation in Louis Therouxs My Scientology Movie
If you’ve written enough screenplays, you learn that the main difference between the good guy and the bad guy in a movie is that for one, you know his motives for the actions he takes in the story, and for the other, you don’t. Good guys can kill people, blow up cars and bridges – […]
If Anti-Scientologists Love Science So Much, Why Don’t They Use It?
One of the most hysterical and unscientific beliefs of the Anti-Cult movement is that “brainwashing” and “Mind Control” is at work whenever anyone becomes a member of a “cult”. These ideas are assumed and unquestioned by members of the anti-Cult Movement. They’re the basis of their anti-cult beliefs. But when asked for any study that […]
Celebrity Anti-Scientology: The Drama Queen Paradigm of “Cult Recovery”
Celebrity anti-Scientology is a hell of a drug. Presenting all your trauma, over and over to a sympathetic audience on TV can create and maintain your whole self-identity for you. And it can get you all the status & fame you desire. But is it good for you?
Does Science Refute God?
Thrilling debate by 4 very smart people on whether “Science Refutes God”.
Part Three: Never Go Full Anti
Scientologist and Anti-Scientologist alike can not think. They are both too militantly tribal to be able to think rationally. Here’s how.
Professor Hugh Urban Responds to Tony Ortega’s Stereotyping of “Religious Studies Types”
I’ll hand this to Tony, whenever it is to his own advantage, he does make stabs at being intellectually honest. In this case, he published a response to his criticism of professor Hugh Urban and his stereotyping of all social scientists who study religion as “religious studies types”. Professor Hugh Urban is the Director of […]
Stephen Hassan Misrepresents the Science on “Brainwashing”
In a recent article about ideological influences on wikipedia, Hassan writes: “The Unification Church page then disparages critics, such as myself, as incorrectly stating that the group brainwashes members. Yet, I was a member and experienced this firsthand. Sociologist Eileen Barker is a cult apologist and made her career stating the Moonies do not do […]
Apostasy – Is it Really Just David Miscavige Trying to Discredit You?
Apostasy: It’s not just for the Bitter Ones Sitting on the Porch of Infinity on the Fringes of the Internet any more. Don’t look now, but it could be you!
Cognitive Dissonance – More About
Jeff Hawkins wrote a post a few years ago detailing much of the basics behind Cognitive Dissonance Theory, and I am very grateful that he did, as this theory is fundamental to understanding not only how cult dynamics work, but how human beings work. I’m currently listening to free online lectures from a Social Psychology […]
Evidence in Reasoning With Scientology Beliefs
There is an interesting quality to logic and how the human mind uses it. Logic is used by the mind like a ladder, with one step leading to the next step, and the next, etc. If one of the steps in the ladder of logic is false, the rest of the steps after that can […]
Scientology Was a Test of Our Character
People who got themselves involved in Scientology were continually presented with all kinds of moral choices about how they would treat their fellow man. Because Scientology is a cult, it takes all the social traits of human groups, and turns them up to an intensity that can only be described as ELEVEN. If the bullies […]
Sociopathy in Anti-Scientology
Read over this very quick selection of tweets by Anti-Scientologists on the subject, and see all the support they are giving to a murderer.
I Grew Up in the Westboro Baptist Church. Here’s Why I Left
This will knock your socks off.
Eileen Barker on Cults as a Social Problem – Not a Psychological One
This is an excerpt from sociology professor Eileen Barker at the London School of Economics. A link to the full pdf is provided below. I post it because it is a different view of ‘cults’ than we are given in the standard anti-cult movement’s narrative. I think this different, more objective view is healthier for […]
What You Have to Look Away From In Order to Remain an Anti-Scientologist
Back when I used to be a Scientologist, I would look away from a lot of things in order to remain one. Even in that little bubble, there were things that I was aware of which were “truths” that I didn’t want to look at. For instance: I didn’t want to look at the idea […]
Thinking the Worst of Yourself as a Scientologist
How gullible can some Ex-Scientologists get? Jon Atack wrote a post on Tony Ortega’s blog, accusing everyone who was ever involved in Scientology of being gullible. I commented about Jon’s broad-brushed generality of anyone who ever called themselves a Scientologist. It gave me the chance to use the word “hootenanny” (twice), and I have been […]
Ex-Scientologists: Are You Being Emotionally Manipulated?
A cool even head is always smarter and more effective at eradicating abuse, if it does exist, than a hotheaded ideologue. And it will be harder to manipulate you. Good luck out there.
Searching for Evidence That the Church of Scientology Paid Social Scientists to Shill for Scientology
There is a claim made by many anti-Scientologists, such as Tony Ortega, Mike Rinder, Chris Shelton and others, that the Church of Scientology paid social scientists and other academics in the field of religion to alter their research and to write articles favorable to Scientology. Since objective scientific research is important to critical thinking about […]
Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath Attack Their Critics Too
The Church of Scientology isn’t the only group to go after their critics: Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath goes after their critics just as dishonestly!
The Truth Rundown, Scientology’s Most Brutal Brainwashing Technique
Have you heard that the term “brainwashing” is a nebulous term that doesn’t describe anything, and been told that it should be beneath you to say that a “religion” brainwashes people? What exactly is a brainwashing technique? Chris Shelton describes what a brainwashing technique is, very specificly and very clearly, in his exposure of the […]
Brainwashing in Scientology: Security Checking & OW Write Ups
Former ED International of the Church of Scientology Bill Franks Reveals L Ron Hubbard’s Efforts to Create Brainwashing in Scientology.
Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath Has Still Presented No Evidence of Criminal Activity by the Church of Scientology
Last night’s episode of Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath was a round table discussion of former Scientologists, and independent Scientologists, exposing the upper levels of Scientology so that people can make more informed decisions about their involvement. For that reason, it was a very valuable episode. And Tony Ortega has gotten people who have […]
Nathan Rich Responds to the Church of Scientology’s Vicious Attack Videos on Him
For Nathan Rich Scientology was simply not something he wanted to get involved in – ever. No matter how much they forced him, Scientology was not ever something that was going to work for him. And he makes a very good case about how it actually harmed him from a very early age. This video […]
