I really cannot wait to watch Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, the documentary that has blown the lid wide open on the religion and some of its less scrupulous practices. Call me nasty names but I love a good exposé, especially when it comes to a religion dreamt up created by a revered science-fiction writer.
We have covered the initial reaction to the film premièring at Sundance (HERE) and the trailer (HERE) – now we see Huffington Post has made a list of the most shocking allegations from the film and we’re having a snoop.
Huffington Post compiled a list of 16 allegations but we’ve chosen seven of the juicier ones below. The documentary has already aired on HBO in the US although when we will get to see it remains a mystery. Without further ado…
L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology creation story
When Scientologists reach level OT III, they are shown the “secret materials,” as director and former member Paul Haggis described them: Hubbard’s hand-written account of the creation myth. According to this, 75 million years ago a galactic dictator named Xenu froze people and dropped their bodies into volcanoes. From there, the disembodied spirits, or thetans, apparently jumped into newborns bodies. According to Hubbard, these multiple thetans crowded in our bodies are the source of our anxieties and fears.
Hubbard spent time in a black magic cult
Before founding Scientology, Hubbard befriended rocket and chemical engineer Jack Parsons who was a part of black magic cult Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), which followed the teachings of Aleister Crowley. According to “Going Clear,” Hubbard became Parsons scribe and assistant on a magical operation to impregnate a goddess-like woman to create the anti-Christ.Hubbard told his second wife he murdered their daughter
When Sara Northup, Hubbard’s second wife, threatened to leave him unless he got psychiatric help, he reportedly kidnapped their daughter Alexis. According to written accounts from Northup, Hubbard told her he “cut [Alexis] into little pieces” and dropped her in a river. Then he would call back and tell Sara that their daughter was alive.There was a Scientology “prison camp”
Former Church member Sylvia “Spanky” Taylor, who was once the liaison between the Church and John Travolta, was sent to the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), or what she described as the “prison camp where you’d go for re-indoctrination.” According to the film, when sent to the RPF, people would have to do hard labor for “30 hours on, 3 hours off,” eat table scraps and sleep on dirty, wet mattresses.
The Church apparently has a blackmail folder on John Travolta
According to Wright in the film, when there were rumors of Travolta wanting to leave Scientology, the Church created a “black PR package” that has “all the damaging material” from his private auditing sessions. Travolta also reportedly refused to have his sessions video taped, but secret cameras were hidden anyway.The Church supposedly found Tom Cruise a new girlfriend
According to Wright, Cruise was “overheard to complain that he needed a new girlfriend” when he was in Spain at the opening of a new Scientology center. The Church then found a young Scientologist, Nazanin Boniadi, and reportedly had her braces removed, bought her $20,000 of clothes and colored her hair “to Cruise’s liking.” She was then told she would be Cruise’ girlfriend, but the relationship soon ended. Boniadi apparently signed a non-disclosure agreement with the Church.If members leave the Church their friends & family are forced to “disconnect”
The biggest reason to not leave the Church for many Scientologists is fear of “disconnection.” This is when all friends and family members still with the Church are told to cut ties with those who leave, or those deemed Potential Trouble Sources (PTS), or Suppressive Persons (SPs). Many former members included in the film haven’t seen or spoken to their family or friends since they left.
It really is about time we found out the truths surrounding this religion. Then again if the power of the Church of Scientology (and their paramilitary Sea Org wing) is to be believed it takes some brave film-makers to tackle the subject.
You can check out the rest of Huffington Post’s list HERE, it really does make for some ‘out there’ reading.
[source:huffpost]
