S02.E09: The Business of Religion

[italianguy626]

Quote

A round-table discussion examines the contracts that all Scientologists must follow, and how these contracts often lock members into financial burdens that can lead to hardship and ruin.

Hope I'm not stepping on any toes by starting this.

[toodles]

I'm looking forward to this.  My favorite episodes are the round table discussions.

[KHenry14]

Hey its cheap now. According to Rinder CO$ is having a half price sale going on now. LOL

[RichiesOlderBro]

Anyone read Big League Sales Closing Techniques ?

 

A used copy is going for $149 on Amazon.

[tawny411]

The other episodes are maddening and heartbreaking, but the roundtable discussions are my favorites too. What a scam! You can get a refund, but if you ask for a refund you're declared a suppressive person and unable to get your money back. I never heard that about the Supreme Court decision before. So the IRS is actually ignoring the Supreme Court by favoring Scientology. 

[KHenry14]

This show was both horrifying and maddening at the same time. All pretenses to legitimacy as a real religion flew out the door tonight. Pay for play isn't a theology, its a scam. What religion has hard sell techniques????    

 

One of the best things this show does is document every claim they make. Use Hard Sell techniques? Here's the document that tells you to do that. This makes it very hard for CO$ to claim Leah and Mike are making things up. 

[mbaywife123]

I love it when the CO$ bullshit "secret documents" get leaked , such jibberish as all true legal documents do not allow you to sign away your LEGAL rights. No way, no how. The courts take a hard view on this.

I was always taught that legally when you sign ANYTHING you get a copy of that document on the spot or within a reasonable time ( maybe 72 hours max.) They just keep shooting themselves in the foot over and over again.

Wake up IRS and do your job. Bend this cult over and screw them up the ass big time, strip them of their tax exempt status as they are no church or religion but just a very expensive for "profit" book club/pyramid scheme cult. Read  their own documents ( just like articles of incorporation, LLC's ect.) Make them refile their excempt status because of questionable activity and freeze their bank accounts and real estate holdings for back taxes for further investigation. 

[dwarmed]

Whoa, the donations are tax-exempt for the "church" to collect, but not tax-deductible for the people who make them? How can that be? That really goes to show that the tax-exempt status is bogus and was only granted due to 25 years of harassment. The Co$ is committing fraud, whether they get signed disclaimers or not. They are making claims in writing they know are false, which is only bolstered by the waivers that say they don't stand by their claims.

The refund process is a catch-22? The entire concept of Scientology is a catch-22. The refund thing is nothing compared to the idea that if you don't gain the abilities they promise from auditing, that means you are a suppressive person that can't be helped with auditing. If the "church" abuses you and ruins your life, it's your fault. And they label this circular logic as scientific. Because some creepy guy said so.

[dwarmed]

I do love the irony that this cult which thrived on secrecy and oppression became so oppressive that it drove almost all of the top people out of the organization and prompted them to reveal the inner workings in such detail. Usually, stories of victims in abusive organizations are told by the least powerful in an organization. The top brass can try to discredit them as disgruntled nobodies. But here are people responsible for making the contracts and running the sales operations to describe what really happens. Co$ can't say these people who were in charge didn't know anything.

I also love that the cult's practice of obsessively writing down every word of policy allows for a great paper trail to prove their hypocrisy, fraud, crimes, etc.

[TaraS1]

Could you believe those ridiculous ads they were showing?!  They looked like flyers you get in the mail for the 4th of July sale at JCPenney.  "Secure your eternity by December 31st and get a discount!"  Or something close to that.  I'm Baptist and I've yet to see a "Buy one salvation, get another half-price!" ad at our church.  I should mention that to someone, it could really up our membership numbers...

[Pondlass1]

 Suppose you're a  drug addict from the streets who's lost everything - family, home, job but you want to turn your life around.  All other churches would welcome, take you in and offer help.

Not this cult, I guess.  They'd be holding our their hand for cold hard cash first. 

I'm really enjoying this series, it's presented so well.  What an eye opener.  Money really is the route of all evil.

[ZoloftBlob]

Let's not over praise "all other churches" - they're usually a bit more subtle about *how you have to pay* for their assistance. You don't get help for free, you have to toe their line. Not saying Scientology is "right", just that regular churches aren't necessarily shining beacons of hope.

[Carolina Girl]

14 hours ago, toodles said:

I'm looking forward to this.  My favorite episodes are the round table discussions.

Mine too.  The conversations are most enlightening.  I didn't catch the name of the defendant or his lawyer in the case against CO$ but I LOVE the lawyer's "pit bull" attitude.  This guy is not going to let go.

 

10 hours ago, mbaywife123 said:

The courts take a hard view on this.

Indeed.  In fact, the rule in law is that unless the parties come from equal bargaining strength and sophistication, contracts are to be construed AGAINST the party that drafted it.  There is no negotiation in these contracts.  If this in fact goes before the American Arbitration Association, and AAA finds for the plaintiff, I would anticipate that the next step is going to be a MASSIVE class action suit against CO$.  Can't wait to see what the awards, with pre-judgment interest attached, will be.  And if the class plaintiffs are smart, they'll engage Pit Bull, Esquire, to take their cases.  In fact, it would be just desserts for them if everyone filed an individual law suit - maybe 2000 of them, in district courts all over the country.  Why?  Because of what the CO$ did to secure their "non-profit" designation by the IRS.  The same organization that would come ruthlessly after you and me if we owed back taxes, folded like a cheap card table when faced with 1600 lawsuits filed by Church members claiming that they should be allowed to deduct their donations.  Why they didn't file a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss based on the Supreme Court decision us beyond me.  

I hope Leah touches on the CO$ dealings with the IRS and the history in another roundtable episode.  

[Norasuke]

I noticed that this episode was without the usual interstitial statements from the CO$ disavowing everything everyone was saying (though there was still the blanket statement that starts off each show). Interesting, but maybe it has more to do with the active court case than anything else.

I remember when we paid off our cars and suddenly we had all this "extra" money laying around every month. I think of the first time Luis and his wife and everyone else who's broken free of this giant scam realized they were done paying the CO$ for their bullshit: where did this $100K come from? You mean I can spend it on other things? Wow!

[Ruprecht]

I'm going to have to watch this episode again. It was stuffed with so much information and was a wonderful companion piece to "The Bridge to Freedom". That episode touched on how expensive membership was but focused on the levels. This one was all about the money, money, money. How on earth is it legal for the CO$ to claim they offer refunds but if you ask for one, you are labeled an SP and SPs aren't permitted on church property - which is where you go to get the refund. Gah. 

And Tony Ortega's web site has been covering the Garcia case if you want to go for a deep dive. But I did appreciate how Mr. Garcia was so embarrassed to admit how much money he gave to the church and how duped he felt when he reached OT8. 

Keep it up, Mike and Leah! 

[MaryMitch]

10 hours ago, dwarmed said:

Whoa, the donations are tax-exempt for the "church" to collect, but not tax-deductible for the people who make them? How can that be?

I'm not sure I understand that either... They did say that (1) the Supreme Court said you couldn't deduct a "donation" if it was in return for something of value (there is no quid pro quo), but (2) the IRS didn't care about that ruling and was in fact ignoring it. So people CAN call them donations and deduct the payments for classes or whatever they're called, even though the Supreme Court case said these are not donations.

[iMonrey]

Remember how last season ended with Leah and Mike meeting with attorneys? And we never really heard any specifics or if anything came of that? I wonder if the Garcia case had something to do with it. Maybe the lawyers said the path to bringing down this church is the kind of lawsuit currently pending by the Garcias. Because should they prevail, I can see the floodgates potentially opening for other lawsuits, and ultimately that's what's going to bring down this organization. 

The amount of money the CO$ has  (over a billion!!) probably includes more than member dues, though. If I'm not mistaken most of the "church's" assets are in property rather than income from their members - especially with such a small (and dwindling) membership.

[KHenry14]

Essentially the Garcia case is a can opener into the bowels of Co$.   Should this case get legitimized (no small thing) Co$ could be in a whole lot of hurt as the case gets right to the heart of their scam. Allowing the Garcia case to go forward will allow for a ton of subsequent cases to be brought, over all sorts of issues, like the bogus refund policy and the quid pro quo issues. IMO, if the case goes forward Co$ may go out of business

Edited October 25, 2017 by KHenry14

[pinguina]

I find the round table discussions so interesting.  As someone upthread commented - it is all about MONEY!   Money for courses, money for materials (books, "tapes"), money for going up the bridge, money for family members to advance on the bridge, money for future courses, money for audits, money for future audits, money for future steps/rungs (?) on the bridge, money for membership, money for anything else they can think of to charge its members.

I'm amazed that not one person who is in this cult cannot see that getting money is the underlining reason for this cult.  It's when they get out that they realize that churches don't do this.  They realize that they have time and money for "extras".  Don't they see that in "regular" people?

1 hour ago, Ina123 said:

That's pretty broad brush. I guess I must attend a special church. We do not require tithing. We do not require you to put money in the collection plate. Literally anyone can join who openly professes Jesus Christ as their Savior. And we are those terrible Baptists. All sarcasm aside, the vast majority of churches I know of have no monetary requirement. Do people tithe and put money in the collection plate, yes, willingly and with no expectation of anything but fellowship and worship and a helping hand when needed.

I agree Ina123!  The church that I attend has a variety of services for its members but also for anyone who "wanders" in and needs help.   Classes are offered, we have special speakers throughout the year, we have limited courses (they run about 4 - 8 weeks).  We raise money or goods to help people in our community (not just church members).  We raise money for specific purposes (like a new hall, furniture for classrooms, new AC/heating unit, etc.  When it is paid for we stop giving money.  

I found how they offer "refunds" and get around it...I have no words!   What a scam!!!!

[Ruprecht]

Oh! The real capper for me was that there is literally a disclaimer for every "benefit" you receive as a member of the CO$. So we promise you'll get superhuman powers (but no promises!) and if you don't get those powers, we've got an answer for that. You're an SP! Good luck getting your refund now. 

[Carolina Girl]

1 hour ago, KHenry14 said:

Essentially the Garcia case is a can opener into the bowels of Co$.   Should this case get legitimized (no small thing) Co$ could be in a whole lot of hurt as the case gets right to the heart of their scam. Allowing the Garcia case to go forward will allow for a ton of subsequent cases to be brought, over all sorts of issues, like the bogus refund policy and the quid pro quo issues. IMO, if the case goes forward Co$ may go out of business

I would have been very interested to see how far Mr. Garcia and Pit Bull, Esquire had progressed into the "discovery" process.  If they can get that far, they can start deposing these people under oath, make document requests, and get answers to interrogatories and requests for admission.  And it's not like CO$ gets to dodge this - they can object, sure. based usually on the premise that the request is not designed to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence, but if Pit Bull files a motion to compel - the Court ORDERS them to produce (witness, documents, etc.), this is what I believe Miscavage fears most.  

On Twitter, at the "#ScientologytheAftermath" hashtag, CO$ bots routinely appear to smear everyone.  It's quite fun to poke them with the pointy end.  

[Ruprecht]

Because it's relevant to last night's episode, here is a post from Tony Ortega's blog about the arbitration of the Garcia's case with CO$. It includes a Facebook post from Mr. Garcia that is freaking awesome. 

[KHenry14]

Wow, Got evidence? Rejected. Got a question? We aren't here for that. But trust us, we are neutral, fair arbitrators. 

Oh and Mr. Arbitrator, I don't think the Garcia's are likely to come back into the fold anytime soon. 

[LilWharveyGal]

Mike has posted an analysis of $cientology's response to this week's episode.  Spoiler alert:  It's basically, "Oh yeah?  Well, your wife's sexually deviant! Nyah nyah nyah!"

[Carolina Girl]

14 minutes ago, KHenry14 said:

Wow, Got evidence? Rejected. Got a question? We aren't here for that. But trust us, we are neutral, fair arbitrators. 

Oh and Mr. Arbitrator, I don't think the Garcia's are likely to come back into the fold anytime soon. 

Arbitration is supposed to be impartial.  Judge Wittemore ought to be ashamed of himself.  He could and should have ruled that the rules for the Scientology arbitration were completely biased.  If you had a case involving a dispute with your insurance company, and your policy had an arbitration clause, I can't think of any Judge worth his salt who would have approved of an arbitration policy that stated "the arbitrators in this matter will be selected from a list of managers from the Insurance Company."  

Hopefully. he can appeal whatever ruling this biased body produces.  This isn't justice.  

[peaceknit]

6 hours ago, Carolina Girl said:

21 hours ago, toodles said:

I'm looking forward to this.  My favorite episodes are the round table discussions.

Mine too.  The conversations are most enlightening.  I didn't catch the name of the defendant or his lawyer in the case against CO$ but I LOVE the lawyer's "pit bull" attitude.  This guy is not going to let go.

 

I wonder if he is being harassed by the Scio attack dogs himself.

[italianguy626]

33 minutes ago, Carolina Girl said:

Arbitration is supposed to be impartial.  Judge Wittemore ought to be ashamed of himself.  He could and should have ruled that the rules for the Scientology arbitration were completely biased.  If you had a case involving a dispute with your insurance company, and your policy had an arbitration clause, I can't think of any Judge worth his salt who would have approved of an arbitration policy that stated "the arbitrators in this matter will be selected from a list of managers from the Insurance Company."  

Hopefully. he can appeal whatever ruling this biased body produces.  This isn't justice.  

I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on TV, but I think Judge Wittemore probably allowed the arbitration hearing to occur so that any ruling at trial wouldn't be overturned on appeal. So, he put the lawsuit on hold, allowed Scamatology to have its phony-baloney arbitration hearing, and now the Garcia's lawsuit will hopefully be reinstated and allowed to go through.

The Scamatology playbook has been to delay, delay, delay and delay some more until they cannot delay anymore, then quickly settle so that a trial, and all the wonderful depositions and discovery that comes with a trial, doesn't see the light of day. I am so hoping the Garcia's don't settle and aren't persuaded to accept a settlement offer.

[Rowan]

With every show I watch, I get more and more anxious for this disgusting sham of a religion to get taken down hard. I wish someone would stand outside their buildings and handout dvds of just this very episode. From the info in this epi alone, how many new recruits would be like, "Nah. Don't think so!" 

[dwarmed]

Was I imagining things or did one of the photos in this episode showing Co$ members in their red shirts approaching passers-by on the street also show said passerby putting her hand up to the red shirt, as in 'no way, don't bother me.' That's definitely not a promo shot.

39 minutes ago, Rowan said:

From the info in this epi alone, how many new recruits would be like, "Nah. Don't think so!" 

If people don't walk out when they see the orientation video telling them walking away from Scientology would be as stupid as blowing your brains out, I'm not sure anything else would be convincing. How much of a red flag does one need?

[LegalParrot81]

The guy who did the orientation video has left the church......and guess what, they didn't give him his money back.

Larry Anderson

[Pondlass1]

It's weird to me that they keep referring to it as "the Church" and "parishioners".   As someone pointed out - it's really just a VERY expensive book club that you cannot unsubscribe from.

The members that are free to come and go surely must see that the Co$ isn't doing anything to help anyone (as shown in the glossy videos).  All the terrible weather events lately - I've not heard the news reporter saying ... YAY here comes the Scientologists to save the day and offer help. They've not donated one red cent.  I guess the hurricanes and earthquakes are the peoples' own fault?

[Carolina Girl]

16 hours ago, italianguy626 said:

I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on TV, but I think Judge Wittemore probably allowed the arbitration hearing to occur so that any ruling at trial wouldn't be overturned on appeal. So, he put the lawsuit on hold, allowed Scamatology to have its phony-baloney arbitration hearing, and now the Garcia's lawsuit will hopefully be reinstated and allowed to go through.

The Scamatology playbook has been to delay, delay, delay and delay some more until they cannot delay anymore, then quickly settle so that a trial, and all the wonderful depositions and discovery that comes with a trial, doesn't see the light of day. I am so hoping the Garcia's don't settle and aren't persuaded to accept a settlement offer.

For a non-legal civilian, that's a pretty darn good take.  The only problem is that I did not catch whether the arbitration was binding or non-binding arbitration.  If it's the former, and the judge let it go through under the premise described, Garcia is screwed.   Do we know?

[LegalParrot81]

1 hour ago, Carolina Girl said:

For a non-legal civilian, that's a pretty darn good take.  The only problem is that I did not catch whether the arbitration was binding or non-binding arbitration.  If it's the former, and the judge let it go through under the premise described, Garcia is screwed.   Do we know?

Everything I've read about the case simply says arbitration.  It was my concern too that if it's binding, it's done.  

[Norasuke]

2 hours ago, Pondlass1 said:

The members that are free to come and go surely must see that the Co$ isn't doing anything to help anyone (as shown in the glossy videos).  All the terrible weather events lately - I've not heard the news reporter saying ... YAY here comes the Scientologists to save the day and offer help. They've not donated one red cent.  I guess the hurricanes and earthquakes are the peoples' own fault?

I thought about that, too. The party line is that Scientology is doing so much good in the world, so much, you guys, believe me. All they need to do is donate (significantly and publicly) to disaster relief to check that particular box, as it were. (It wouldn't absolve them of everything, of course, but it would give them an easy answer to "How exactly have you helped save the world lately?") I suppose clearing the planet comes first, and that, well, that takes time.

[italianguy626]

1 hour ago, Carolina Girl said:

For a non-legal civilian, that's a pretty darn good take.  The only problem is that I did not catch whether the arbitration was binding or non-binding arbitration.  If it's the former, and the judge let it go through under the premise described, Garcia is screwed.   Do we know?

Thanks, one of my good friends from high school is a lawyer and he frequently presents cases to me to get my take on whatever the issues are, putting me in the role of "prospective jury member". He also explains "lawyer logic" to me as he says it can be different than everyday civilian logic.

Scamatology would really not want any case to go to trial. That's how the OTIII level and Xenu story got out. It was read into the trial record for the Fishman and Geertz case. IIRC, Scamatology tried to block it by claiming "trade secrets" but the judge in the case overruled and allowed the information to be in the public record of the trial. This was around the dawn of the world wide web, and the information quickly spread.

[italianguy626]

Here's a recent article from the Palm Beach Post regarding the Garcia case.

Relevant graph regarding the arbitration:

Quote

Aside from the constitutional reason, Whittemore said the Garcias were fully aware that any dispute they had with the church would be decided by Scientologists. During the nearly 30 years they were church members, Luis Garcia signed more than 40 documents in which he agreed that any dispute would be decided “solely and exclusively through Scientology’s Internal Ethics, Justice and binding religious arbitration procedures.” [ed. emphasis mine]

[Maelstrom]

I love the roundtable episodes! They provide such an interesting look at the nuts and bolts of how the CO$ promises X while delivering Y and threatening Z and disclaiming A. "Give us your money and you'll get these awesome powers! But first sign these papers saying you won't really get those awesome powers. And if you don't get awesome powers you're clearly evil. So there's no way our awesome powers would help you anyway. So, how much money are you giving us?" It's so obvious to us poor WOGs that they talk out of both sides of their mouths (not to mention their asses too) but they just can't seem to see it themselves. So sad.

My favorite moment had to be Leah laughing uncontrollably at that stupid Orientation video to the point where she had to hang onto Mike's arm. And then once they showed the clip I was laughing uncontrollably, too. "You could walk out of here right now. But it'd be stupid. Or you could dive off a bridge or blow your brains out." LOL Seriously, who wrote that shit?

I think the true gem of the night for me was "Suppressive Reasonableness." Which, as we now know, is the inability to confront evil. Yeah. I'm still trying to puzzle out how in the world those words make any sense together, let alone mean what the CO$ says they mean. Of all the BS jargon they've coined, I think this takes the cake.

[dwarmed]

I never knew Evil =  people keeping the money they earned. Thanks, Scamology. 

[Carolina Girl]

6 hours ago, LegalParrot81 said:

Everything I've read about the case simply says arbitration.  It was my concern too that if it's binding, it's done.  

I'd love to get a good look at the arbitration clause in the contract.  

[3girlsforus]

Aside from the constitutional reason, Whittemore said the Garcias were fully aware that any dispute they had with the church would be decided by Scientologists. During the nearly 30 years they were church members, Luis Garcia signed more than 40 documents in which he agreed that any dispute would be decided “solely and exclusively through Scientology’s Internal Ethics, Justice and binding religious arbitrationprocedures.” [ed. emphasis mine]

 

Will they be able to appeal based on the ideas that even binding arbitration is supposed to be impartial and their situation clearly wasn’t? If not, why wouldn’t every contract say something like ‘any dispute will be resolved in arbitration overseen by the group you want to sue’. That seems like something that is so absurd it would void the contract once they can prove the arbitration wasn’t impartial. 

Edited October 26, 2017 by 3girlsforus

[iMonrey]

Quote

 I wish someone would stand outside their buildings and handout dvds of just this very episode. From the info in this epi alone, how many new recruits would be like, "Nah. Don't think so!" 

I have a hard time believing the church has had any new recruits or sign-ups in the last several years, unless it's in some far-flung country that doesn't have internet or TV. I mean, who would sign up for this after a quick Google search? I think their only members are those who joined in the pre-internet age and are still brainwashed, plus anyone born into it that simply hasn't gotten out yet.

[KHenry14]

4 hours ago, italianguy626 said:

Here's a recent article from the Palm Beach Post regarding the Garcia case.

Relevant graph regarding the arbitration:

Which tells me that Pit Bull Lawyer has a plan well beyond the arbitration. He would have a pretty good idea on what would happen, and they wanted to get this on the record so they could take their next steps

[luvmylabs]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I have a hard time believing the church has had any new recruits or sign-ups in the last several years, unless it's in some far-flung country that doesn't have internet or TV. I mean, who would sign up for this after a quick Google search? I think their only members are those who joined in the pre-internet age and are still brainwashed, plus anyone born into it that simply hasn't gotten out yet.

Or the children of current members.

[dwarmed]

From the article:

Quote

Under the leadership of Miscavage, “the Church of Scientology has strayed from its founding principles and morphed into a secular enterprise whose primary purpose is taking people’s money,” according to Garcia’s lawsuit

The ‘morphed’ part is bullshit since this has always been a money-making scam, but maybe they need to say that to highlight it’s not about religion, it’s about fraud. 

[TVismydrug]

On 10/26/2017 at 8:14 AM, Pondlass1 said:

It's weird to me that they keep referring to it as "the Church" and "parishioners".   As someone pointed out - it's really just a VERY expensive book club that you cannot unsubscribe from.

The members that are free to come and go surely must see that the Co$ isn't doing anything to help anyone (as shown in the glossy videos).  All the terrible weather events lately - I've not heard the news reporter saying ... YAY here comes the Scientologists to save the day and offer help. They've not donated one red cent.  I guess the hurricanes and earthquakes are the peoples' own fault?

That's funny, book club you can't unsubscribe from. Back in the 80's, there was just such a club, get 12 hard cover books for 99 cents, and then we will keep sending them until you go into witness protection, or die! The subsequent books were like 40 bucks a piece.

Obviously, Scientology is that, on a much larger, much more expensive scale!

On 10/24/2017 at 10:12 PM, RichiesOlderBro said:

Anyone read Big League Sales Closing Techniques ?

 

A used copy is going for $149 on Amazon.

Reminds me of that movie with Alec Baldwin, Glen Gary Ross, him screaming at them ABC-Always Be Closing!

[laprin]

I'm going to be really pissed if under the new tax plan, my taxes go up while Co$ is getting away with not paying taxes. 

[luvmylabs]

27 minutes ago, laprin said:

I'm going to be really pissed if under the new tax plan, my taxes go up while Co$ is getting away with not paying taxes. 

Whether my taxes go up or not I'm STILL pissed that CO$ gets away with paying no taxes and is considered a religion!

[TheGreenWave]

Just when you think you can't be more horrified with this group: quota pressures on "Reges" or else they have to do hard labor (gives me a different take on them standing outside those CO$ centers hoping someone comes in for a "free" personality test).  And then $450 million just sitting there in pre-paid accounts at only ONE location of CO$.  DISGUSTING.  When Leah was freaking about people's mortgages, or giving up tuition, or nothing to eat because they gave all of these pre-payments (I can't remember the CO$ term), I was equally disgusted.

They have to be successful getting their exemption removed.  Head of the "church" called COB and all they do is sell, sell, sell.  IT IS A FREAKING CORPORATION!  No religious exemption!!!!

[Automne]

On 10/26/2017 at 7:09 PM, iMonrey said:

I have a hard time believing the church has had any new recruits or sign-ups in the last several years, unless it's in some far-flung country that doesn't have internet or TV. I mean, who would sign up for this after a quick Google search? I think their only members are those who joined in the pre-internet age and are still brainwashed, plus anyone born into it that simply hasn't gotten out yet.

In this day and age, with the Internet being what it is, post-South Park/Simpsons $cientology episodes, Tom Cruise's erratic behavior and him insulting Brooke Shields, and how Katie Holmes left him (and the "Church") like a woman leaving her abusive husband, it's probably becoming increasingly difficult to get new recruits because they're widely considered a joke. At best, they're a punchline. 

Now with Leah Remini's public exit, her demand for answers to Shelly Miscavige's disappearance, and this show, the general public is slowly becoming aware that $cientology is a joke, a fraud, a nuisance, and in some areas, downright dangerous.

Also, with the Xenu and thetan stuff getting out, how can the "Church" justify having new recruits pay out the ass to get to the point where they can be taken out on a boat and open a locked box in the middle of the ocean to be given those secrets when it has been available via the Internet and pop culture for years?

And clearly, nobody has died or gone mad from these revelations.

[Neurochick]

On October 25, 2017 at 7:15 PM, Rowan said:

With every show I watch, I get more and more anxious for this disgusting sham of a religion to get taken down hard. I wish someone would stand outside their buildings and handout dvds of just this very episode. From the info in this epi alone, how many new recruits would be like, "Nah. Don't think so!" 

In August we have "Harlem Week" and on the last day there's this huge street fair.  I was walking around and BOOM, the "Church" of Scientology had a HUGE booth but you know what?  People stopped and looked because their booth was huge and they kept walking.  The folks were practically shoving their literature in people's hands.  See, there is a "Church" of Scientology in Harlem, but it's not in a well traveled area, unlike the Mormon temple which gets a lot of foot traffic.  

The thing is, there are plenty of churches in Harlem, the Baptists, the AME, the Church of God in Christ and the Catholic Church, and most with pretty damn good choirs (which is what the tourists come to see but that's another story); I thought, "damn, these folks are desperate, they're usually not here hawking their wares."