Here in the United States we are celebrating our independence, and we hope you are too, wherever you are.
Last year, your proprietor was feeling especially patriotic in these dark times and so for the first time we spent Independence Day where it all started, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
This year, also feeling concerned about how this old democracy is doing, we’ll be taking in the fireworks in Boston, on another patriotic pilgrimage.
As usual, however, we mark Independence Day here at the Bunker by asking readers to tell us about their own declarations of freedom from Scientology indoctrination. What first led you to question your involvement in the organization? How did you negotiate the tricky path of leaving if you still had family members in?
If you’ve told us before about how you left Scientology, what’s changed for you in the last year or two? Has your conception of your Scientology experience changed over time? Would you have done things differently to leave the group if you could?
And for the never-ins, tell us which of the escape stories you find most illustrative, most exciting, most devastating.
And maybe most importantly, what advice can you offer to those under-the-radar types who today are sneaking a peek at this website as they consider whether it’s time, finally, for them to declare their own independence and dissolve the bands which have connected them to David Miscavige and the Church of Scientology?
Following up on Janis Grady’s alert
Janis Grady set us another message after yesterday's appeal…
So far I have found out that Andrew Barton was in the RPF and RPF's RPF for seven years in LA and then Clearwater before routing out in Clearwater in 2003.
So it would appear he has been gone from the Sea Org for 20 years, which would explain why in 2013 Lizzie didn't know where her brother was after not being in touch with him for at least six years. It shows that even while in the SO they don't stay in touch with each other!
A couple of the people who left the SO around the same time as Andrew were later working for field Scientologists, so there is that possibility that he got a job with Scientologists, having been in good standing for routing out and not blowing.
Thanks again everyone.
— Janis
Chris Shelton is going Straight Up and Vertical
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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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Tory’s exit story will always be my favorite, because I virtually watched it happen, in her own words on a.r.s. Some people were skeptical, even me at first, but then the group was populated by a lot of skeptics.
And of course, The Headleys, and Valerie Haney.
Even those who quietly disappear have arrived at an irrefutable truth, and they are all important and instructive.
I would love to see a film that tells some of these exit stories.
I've been out for 20 years now. My understanding has changed markedly from my initial mental stance. When I first left, I thought Hubbard's initial vision and leadership had been corrupted. I was rebelling against the depredations of people who had (I thought) twisted Hubbard's creation. I tried to warn everyone of the lies that were being told about Hubbard's last days and his death.
But, as the years have gone by, starting soon after I declared my leaving, I have learned more and more from ex-scientologists, excellent reporting by Tony and others, and the numerous great books written by people with inside knowledge. Now I know that the current leader has absorbed all the deception and depredations of Hubbard and added his own psychopathic sadistic twists. Incapable of honesty or decency, this mini-demagogue has taken Hubbard's creation to it's inevitable corrupt end-game.
I understand now that Hubbard was ALWAYS corrupt and deranged. He was always a con-man, filing people with lies that spoke to their broken lives and heartbreak. Taking advantage of their unmet need for belonging and meaning.
The continuing pattern will go on until it self-destructs while being taken apart by ex-members, scholars, and the legal and criminal justice systems. We see it in real-time. It never topples fast enough, but it is crumbling before our eyes. The activism of ex-scientologists and responsible journalists like Tony bring it out of the shadows and create the awareness in the society that enables action of the justice systems.
It is unfortunate that the mind-fuck is so deep for many of us, that it takes many years to reach a point where we could bring charges, or to have enough resources to take things to court.
To all who have spoken out, brought charges, written books and who continue the fight, my hat is off to you all. The tide against Hubbard's creation and it's miniature current leader is rising, and we see the beginning of it's final collapse. Thank you all.