[Another year passes and Scientologists like Geoff Levin still can’t see their loved ones after their families have been ripped apart by “disconnection.” So, for this Father’s Day, we’re reposting the heartbreaking piece Geoff wrote for us two years ago.]
While here in the US today many children will be reconnecting with their dads for Father’s Day, some of us know that it’s not going to happen this year.
Some of us are ex-Scientologists. And when you leave Scientology, you run the risk of being labeled an enemy of the church, what it calls “suppressive persons.”
When that happens, Scientology instructs everyone who wants to remain in good standing with the organization to cut that “SP” out of their lives.
I myself followed this “disconnection” policy after my own brother, Robbie Levin, left the organization in 1984. He was declared “suppressive” for leaving the church. And so I had to disconnect from him then if I wanted to remain in good standing. And the way my mind worked then, I did not want to “lose my eternity.”
By the year 2017 I had a different view of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. I disobeyed that disconnection order and reunited with Robbie. The result was that I was declared suppressive. And now the people who were close to me had to make that choice.
And that’s how I lost my kids.
My son Collin wanted to receive Scientology services and found out that he couldn’t because of my status. He asked me to call the ethics officer at Celebrity Centre. He wanted me to get back on the correct path. The lead ethics officer at CC demanded that I come in and see her. I said “nope, not happening.” I did suggest she could meet me anywhere else. She declined and then threatened me with an instant declare. (I told the whole story on Leah and Mike’s podcast, episode 22, if you want to hear all the details.) So after I talked on the phone with this young woman, my son Collin had to disconnect from me in July 2017.
Then my daughter Savannah followed in early 2018 with a phone call where she was being coached on what to say to me. At the time I was giving her money every month because she needed it for college. She informed me she no longer needed it. What? Then she said “Dad, do not call me, text me, or email me any more.” I asked her, “you mean nothing ever again?” She said “yes, nothing.” I questioned her on who had worked with her on how to “handle me” and disconnect. She got pretty flustered with that question. And that’s the last time I talked to her.
And that was the end of my existence as an active dad. Now I’m a dad in waiting. I’ll never give up hope. If I could get out after 46 years, anyone can leave. In 2021 I found out I had a life-threatening disease. My operation was successful. Do you think my children knew or cared? Now this Father’s Day feels like a black void. A void I have learned to live with. I feel bad for my kids. This is more harmful for them than me. I still send them birthday cards, wish them happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. No one is stopping me from communicating with them. However, they have been taught to be victims. To run from their alleged enemies. They are the effect of spiritual blackmail and my belief I was helping them by educating them in Hubbard’s teachings.
This is Scientology’s legacy. Fear, anger, delusion, blackmail, prejudice and lies. I am so grateful I am out. No one tells me who I can communicate with or not. I make my own decisions and chose my friends and those who will not be my friends. And I’m still willing to communicate with anyone.
I am looking to broadly expose Scientology with the full length documentary I produced which is about ready to go to festivals and be sold. And my kids are in it, although they refused to be interviewed or give a statements. And my band’s album was released the first of this year and many of the songs tell of my long arduous journey as a zealot. They are all part of the story in “Brothers Broken.”
So dads, please savor your time with your children. And you who have dads, give them a big hug on Father’s Day. Most all of them deserve it.
— Geoff Levin
Another milestone for the Celestial Scribe
Happy Bloomsday 2024, for those who celebrate, and today not only happens to be Father’s Day here in the US, but June 16 also marks another milestone that is important to your proprietor: The birthday of Arizona astronomer Robert Burnham Jr.
He would have been 93 this year, and as it turned June 16 here in New York last night, we happened to be in the backyard with our telescope, which we figure is the best way to remember Bob.
Two years ago, we had the extreme pleasure of traveling to Flagstaff to take part in a remembrance of the author of Burnham’s Celestial Handbook at Lowell Observatory, where he had worked from 1958 to 1979. A piece about that event was published here at the Bunker, and we still have our 11,000-word biographical piece about the man that we first published in 1997 at Phoenix New Times archived at the dot org site.
So, once again: Happy birthday, Bob, and thank you for such a wonderful guide to the night sky, so chock full of wonder and wisdom.
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Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
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Thank you Tony for reposting my story. I forgot I wrote it.
Disconnection is a horrible sociopathic practice that in the end destroys the group that practices it. And I will continue to work to expose Scientology. It is an organization that brings out the worst in us. Thanks to your tireless reporting and the efforts many others this organization is dissolving rapidly.
I'm sorry Geoff. It's so hard to understand how LOVE between parent and child(ren) can be torn apart and denied each other. That's where I stood with this human puzzlement until one day I understood that Black Souls truly do exist and that they like controlling this aspect of humans that they do not possess in any other way.
I hope, pray, wish one day that you and your children can enjoy each others' Love "in the flesh."