Download or read book Beyond Belief written by Jenna Miscavige Hill and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-02-05 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, details her experiences as a member Sea Org—the church's highest ministry, speaks of her "disconnection" from family outside of the organization, and tells the story of her ultimate escape. Piercing the veil of secrecy that has long shrouded the world of Scientology, this insider reveals unprecedented firsthand knowledge of the religion, its obscure rituals, and its mysterious leader—David Miscavige. From her prolonged separation from her parents as a small child to being indoctrinated to serve the greater good of the Church, from her lack of personal freedoms to the organization's emphasis on celebrity recruitment, Jenna goes behind the scenes of Scientology's oppressive and alienating culture, detailing an environment rooted in control in which the most devoted followers often face the harshest punishments when they fall out of line. Addressing some of the Church's most notorious practices in startling detail, she also describes a childhood of isolation and neglect—a childhood that, painful as it was, prepared her for a tough life in the Church's most devoted order, the Sea Org. Despite this hardship, it is only when her family approaches dissolution and her world begins to unravel that she is finally able to see the patterns of stifling conformity and psychological control that have ruled her life. Faced with a heartbreaking choice, she mounts a courageous escape, but not before being put through the ultimate test of family, faith, and love. At once captivating and disturbing, Beyond Belief is an eye-opening exploration of the limits of religion and the lengths to which one woman went to break free.

Download or read book Beyond Belief written by Jenna Miscavige Hill and published by William Morrow Paperbacks. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jenna Miscavige Hill was raised to obey. As the niece of the Church of Scientology's leader David Miscavige, she grew up at the center of this highly controversial and powerful organization. But at twenty-one Jenna made a daring break from Scientology. Now she speaks out about her life, the Church, and her dramatic escape, piercing the veil of secrecy that has long shrouded this world. Jenna reveals unprecedented insider knowledge of the religion, its obscure rituals, and its mysterious leader. From her prolonged separation from her parents as a child to her lack of personal freedoms to the organization's emphasis on celebrity recruitment, Jenna goes behind the scenes of Scientology's oppressive and alienating culture. Yet it is only when her family approaches dissolution that she is finally able to see the psychological control that has ruled her life. Faced with a heartbreaking choice, she details how she made a courageous escape, but not before being put through the ultimate test of family, faith, and love. At once captivating and disturbing, Beyond Belief is an eye-opening exploration of the limits of religion and the lengths to which one woman went to break free.

Download or read book Blown for Good written by Marc Headley and published by BFG Books Inc.. This book was released on 2010-03-31 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marc Headley started working for the Scientology organization in 1989. After leaving in 2005, Marc posted bits and pieces of what went on at the Scientology headquarters (known from inside as the International Base). Marc posted anonymously under the screen name of Blownforgood aka BFG. In September 2008 Marc was invited to speak to an international conference of European government representatives regarding the Scientology organization and their abuses. It was at this time that Marc revealed his identity as Blownforgood. By 2009, the internet posts Marc had written over the years had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, but still there were people who questioned their validity. Stories of grown men being thrown into dirty lakes and pools as punishment? Physical abuse never reported to authorities? How could this happen in modern day America? Two years after Marc wrote about these things and posted them on the internet, a Pulitzer Prize winning U.S. newspaper printed accounts from former staff member who worked at the Int Base that matched and confirmed what Marc had written about. Not only that, Scientology officials admitted that these things had taken place! Find out what they did not talk about in Blown for Good.

Download or read book Going Clear written by Lawrence Wright and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-01-17 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower comes “an utterly necessary story” (The Wall Street Journal) that pulls back the curtain on the church of Scientology: one of the most secretive organizations at work today. • The Basis for the HBO Documentary. Scientology presents itself as a scientific approach to spiritual enlightenment, but its practices have long been shrouded in mystery. Now Lawrence Wright—armed with his investigative talents, years of archival research, and more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—uncovers the inner workings of the church. We meet founder L. Ron Hubbard, the highly imaginative but mentally troubled science-fiction writer, and his tough, driven successor, David Miscavige. We go inside their specialized cosmology and language. We learn about the church’s legal attacks on the IRS, its vindictive treatment of critics, and its phenomenal wealth. We see the church court celebrities such as Tom Cruise while consigning its clergy to hard labor under billion-year contracts. Through it all, Wright asks what fundamentally comprises a religion, and if Scientology in fact merits this Constitutionally-protected label.

Download or read book Inside Scientology written by Janet Reitman and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2011-06-13 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The most complete picture of Scientology so far.” —Garry Wills, New York Times Book Review Based on five years of research, access to confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, Janet Reitman sheds some long-awaited light on the ever-elusive religion of the Church of Scientology. Scientology, created in 1954 by pulp science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world’s fastest growing religion, with millions of members and huge financial holdings. Celebrity believers keep its profile high. But Scientology is also a very closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation. Its attacks on psychiatry and its requirement that believers pay as much as tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for salvation have drawn scrutiny. Ex-members use the internet to share stories of harassment and abuse. Reitman offers the first full journalistic history of the Church of Scientology in an account that establishes the truth about the controversial religion. She traces Scientology’s development from the birth of Dianetics to today, following its metamorphosis from a pseudoscientific self-help group to a global spiritual corporation with profound control over its followers and ex-followers. This is a defining book about a little-known world. “[A] searing expose.” —People Magazine “A masterful piece of reporting.” —Washington Post “This book is fearless.” —Wall Street Journal “[A] frightening portrait of a religion that many find not just controversial, but dangerous.” —Boston Globe “[Reitman's] revelations — including abuse allegations against church leader David Miscavige and details about the organization's aggressive courtship of Tom Cruise — come with impressive backup.” —Entertainment Weekly

Download or read book Perfectly Clear written by Michelle LeClair and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The revelatory memoir by former "poster girl for Scientology" Michelle LeClair about her defection from the Church, her newly accepted sexual identity, and the lengths to which Scientology went to silence it. For years, Michelle LeClair, former President of Scientology's international humanitarian organization, tried to reconcile her sexual orientation with the anti-gay ideology of the church. Michelle finally ends her horrific marriage, finds the love of her life, a woman, and ultimately leaves the Church. But the split comes at a terrible price. Her once pristine reputation is publicly dragged through the mud, the police raid her home, her ex-husband tries to gain full custody of their children, and the multi-million dollar business she built from scratch is utterly destroyed. In this tell-all memoir, Michelle offers an insider's perspective on Scientology's pervasive influence, secret rituals, and ruthless practices for keeping members in line. It's a story of self-acceptance, of finding the strength and courage to stand up for your emotional freedom, and of love prevailing.

Download or read book Ruthless written by Ron Miscavige and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Now a #1 New York Times bestseller* "Compulsively readable..." —LA Weekly “Excoriating memoir" —Publisher's Weekly “A sad and painful but bravely told story.” —Kirkus Reviews The only book to examine the origins of Scientology's current leader, RUTHLESS tells the revealing story of David Miscavige's childhood and his path to the head seat of the Church of Scientology told through the eyes of his father. Ron Miscavige's personal, heartfelt story is a riveting insider's look at life within the world of Scientology. Not for sale outside the U.S.

Download or read book Troublemaker written by Leah Remini and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2015-11-03 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An eye-opening, no-holds-barred memoir about life in the Church of Scientology, now with a new afterword by the author—the outspoken actress and star of the A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath Leah Remini has never been the type to hold her tongue. That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood. But being a troublemaker has come at a cost. That was never more evident than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology. Now, in this frank, funny, poignant memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices. Indoctrinated into the church as a child while living with her mother and sister in New York, Remini eventually moved to Los Angeles, where her dreams of becoming an actress and advancing Scientology’s causes grew increasingly intertwined. As an adult, she found the success she’d worked so hard for, and with it a prominent place in the hierarchy of celebrity Scientologists alongside people such as Tom Cruise, Scientology’s most high-profile adherent. Remini spent time directly with Cruise and was included among the guests at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes. But when she began to raise questions about some of the church’s actions, she found herself a target. In the end, she was declared by the church to be a threat to their organization and therefore a “Suppressive Person,” and as a result, all of her fellow parishioners—including members of her own family—were told to disconnect from her. Forever. Bold, brash, and bravely confessional, Troublemaker chronicles Leah Remini’s remarkable journey toward emotional and spiritual freedom, both for herself and for her family. This is a memoir designed to reveal the hard-won truths of a life lived honestly—from an author unafraid of the consequences. Praise for Troublemaker “An aggressively honest memoir . . . Troublemaker is the most raw and revealing Scientology memoir to date.”—Entertainment Weekly “Leah’s story is a juicy, inside-Hollywood read, but it’s more than that. It’s a moving story about the value of questioning authority and how one woman survived a profound crisis of faith.”—People

Download or read book Captive written by Catherine Oxenberg and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now updated with a new afterword, Captive is an emotional, ripped-from-the-headlines exposé that lays bare the secretive cult that shocked the world—for fans of Leah Remini’s Troublemaker and Lawrence Wright’s Going Clear. I am a mother whose child is being abused and exploited. And I am not alone. In 2011, former Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg joined her daughter, India, at a leadership seminar for a new organization called NXIVM. Her then twenty-year-old daughter was on the threshold of starting her own professional life and they both thought this program might help her achieve her dream. But quickly, Catherine saw a sinister side to the program that claimed to simply want to help its clients become the best versions of themselves. Catherine watched in horror as her daughter fell further and further down the rabbit hole, falling under the spell of NXIVM's hypnotic leader, Keith Raniere. Despite Catherine’s best efforts, India was drawn deeper into the cult, eventually joining an elite “sorority” of women members who were ordered to maintain a restricted diet, recruit other women as “slaves,” and were branded with their leader’s initials. In Captive, Catherine shares every parent’s worst nightmare, and the lengths that a mother will go to save her child. Catherine’s efforts finally led the FBI to take notice—and the journey is not yet over. A powerful depiction of a mother’s love and determination, and with horrifying insider details never revealed in any news story, Captive will keep you reading until the very last page.

Download or read book The Unbreakable Miss Lovely written by Tony Ortega and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1971 Paulette Cooper wrote a scathing book about the Church of Scientology. Desperate to shut the book down, Scientology unleashed on her one of the most sinister personal campaigns the free world has ever known. The onslaught, which lasted years, ruined her life, and drove her to the brink of suicide.The story of Paulette's terrifying ordeal is told in full for the first time in The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, published by Silvertail Books. It reveals the shocking details of the darkest chapter in Scientology's checkered history, which ended with senior members in prison, and the organization's reputation permanently damaged.'A thrilling account of a reporter's duel with a controversial church' - Kirkus Reviews'A brilliant exposition of how a child who escaped the Nazis grew up to be hunted by the Church of Scientology' - John Sweeney'A page-turner packed with barely believable facts. The details are worthy of John le Carre' - Jon Atackwww.theunbreakablemisslovely.com

Download or read book The Invention of Satanism written by Asbjørn Dyrendal and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2016 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by three experts in the field, The Invention of Satanism examines contemporary religious Satanism as the product of historical, ideological, and social processes.

Download or read book Fair Game written by Steve Cannane and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2016-10-01 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As astonishing as it is compelling -- Steve Cannane's extraordinary insight into Scientology in Australia is investigative journalism at its very best. From Rugby League players trying to improve their game, to Hollywood superstars and the depressed sons of media moguls, Scientology has recruited its share of famous Australians. Less known is that Australia was the first place to ban Scientology, or that Scientology spies helped expose the Chelmsford Deep Sleep Scandal. Numerous Australians have held senior posts in the organisation only to fall foul of the top brass and lose their families as a result. Based on years of interviews and research, Walkley Award-winning journalist Steve Cannane tells for the first time the fascinating story of Australia's vital involvement with this powerful, secretive and punitive cult.

Download or read book Escaping Scientology written by Karen Schless Pressley and published by Bayshore Publications. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Artists Peter and Karen Schless were seduced by Scientology's celebrity spirituality, and detoured from Hollywood careers to join its extremist group, the Sea Org. In leader David Miscavige's inner sanctum, they built their mental prison as they melded into its radicalized lifestyle where danger, captivity and abuse were normalized. After three escapes, Karen chose between two unbearable options.

Download or read book Stolen Innocence written by Elissa Wall and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Both creepy…and quite moving.” —New York Times Book Review “Wall’s story couldn’t be more timely.” —People Stolen Innocence is the gripping New York Times bestselling memoir of Elissa Wall, the courageous former member of Utah’s infamous FLDS polygamist sect whose powerful courtroom testimony helped convict controversial sect leader Warren Jeffs in September 2007. At once shocking, heartbreaking, and inspiring, Wall’s story of subjugation and survival exposes the darkness at the root of this rebel offshoot of the Mormon faith.

Download or read book Banished written by Lauren Drain and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Banished is an eye-opening, deeply personal account of life inside the cult known as the Westboro Baptist Church, as well as a fascinating story of adaptation and perseverance. You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and Elizabeth Edwards, all in front of their grieving families. The WBC is fervently anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and anti- practically everything and everyone. And they aren't going anywhere: in March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the WBC's right to picket funerals. Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC, it's perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later. Lauren spent her early years enjoying a normal life with her family in Florida. But when her formerly liberal and secular father set out to produce a documentary about the WBC, his detached interest gradually evolved into fascination, and he moved the entire family to Kansas to join the church and live on their compound. Over the next seven years, Lauren fully assimilated their extreme beliefs, and became a member of the church and an active and vocal picketer. But as she matured and began to challenge some of the church's tenets, she was unceremoniously cast out from the church and permanently cut off from her family and from everyone else she knew and loved. Banished is the story of Lauren's fight to find herself amidst dramatic changes in a world of extremists and a life in exile.

Download or read book Pet Whisperer written by Sarah-Jane Le Blanc and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-08-19 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sarah-Jane Le Blanc grew up with no particular interest in animals. A down-to-earth mother of two with a job working with disadvantaged children, other people's pets didn't feature very highly in her thoughts - until an event in 2005 which changed the direction of her life. Over the course of several evenings, just before going to sleep, Sarah Jane kept getting a clear image in her mind of a dog called Dan, who had a sad story and was trying to contact someone. This experience led her to investigate animal/human communication. From taking on her first 'client' - a claustrophobic horse - Sarah-Jane's skills went from strength to strength. She soon realised she had a rare gift for animal 'clairsentience', being able to detect the emotions and past traumas of those who cannot speak, and to heal them with her thoughts. Sarah-Jane tells her amazing story of how she became a real-life Doctor Dolittle. She uses what she calls 'soul-to-soul' therapy, which has helped countless pets and their owners resolve problems. Sarah-Jane's message is that animals suffer emotional pain and anxiety, just like we do. Her work proves that we can reach out across the species to communicate with the creatures that share our lives, as they too, can help us to heal ourselves.

Download or read book Commodore s Messenger written by Janis Gillham Grady and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-07-25 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At age 12 Janis was thrust into a role that no one, not even L. Ron Hubbard himself, could have predicted the outcome, for within not too many years Janis and her fellow Commodore's Messengers, as they were called, would be running the whole of International Scientology. But that is the story of a later book. Commodore's Messenger begins by taking the reader into the life of the first family of Scientology in Australia, Yvonne and Peter Gillham and their three children, Peter Jr., Terri and Janis. Life for the Gillhams is not without its challenges in Australia, but nothing compared to what happens when the family moves to England after dealing with the banning of Scientology in Victoria. Things spiral out of control as Hubbard leaves England and takes to the sea, to continue his research into higher spiritual states for mankind, as he puts it, or to escape the long arm of the law as many critics contend. Yvonne and her children soon find themselves enmeshed in Hubbard's inner circle, Yvonne with Hubbard himself as one of his trusted aides, and the children with Hubbard's own family. When Yvonne joins the newly established Sea Organization, to support Hubbard in his seafaring adventures, her children find themselves aboard what would become the flagship of Hubbard's burgeoning navy. Having children underfoot does not fit well with the serious nature of Hubbard's plans to expand Scientology's worldwide impact. So, he determines to make these children useful. He begins using them to send messages to various parts of the organization aboard the Apollo, hence the name Commodore's Messenger. With this as a background, know that the story Janis has written comes from the earliest days and the epicenter of Scientology's Sea Organization. As a messenger, Janis was with Hubbard a minimum of 6 hours a day and often times much longer. She was privy to all his moods from sunny to thundering; as a messenger, she was intimately familiar with everything happening on board the ship as well as throughout the Scientology network. But Janis was also her own person and as a teenager, she lived a life that few of her peers could ever hope to have lived. I found myself literally agog at some of the early experiences that Sea Org members somehow survived in the organization's early years. Hubbard's cavalier regard for the lives of others was astonishing, as Janis relates some of the storms encountered by Sea Org vessels ill-equipped to be piloted by those with so little seamanship training. It is a wonder no one was killed. This is the first of three books. Dan Koon