POLL: Scientology tied with Satanism for America's most 'unfavorable' religions

We want to thank the people at YouGov for bringing us a holiday present and a chuckle as the year 2022 goes into its last week.

The British market research company, which has a branch in the US, recently polled Americans about their feelings about 35 different religious groups.

A sample of 1,000 people were asked to judge the “favorability” of organizations as disparate as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and others.

As you might expect, Christian denominations tended to do well, with “Christianity” and “Protestantism” coming in first and second, with the highest favorability to non-favorability ratio.

Amish, Judaism, and Buddhism rounded out the top five.

At the other end of the scale were groups that had more non-favorability than favorability, such as Islam, Mormonism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

But those scores were vastly exceeded by the two groups who were tied at dead last: Scientology and Satanism.

Yes, the Hollywood-friendly group that boasts such familiar faces as Tom Cruise and John Travolta has as much revulsion from the public as an organization whose only recognizable face is Satan himself.

The chef’s kiss, of course, is that Scientology prides itself on public relations methods designed by founder L. Ron Hubbard.

We could go on and on about this result, but we thought some congratulations were in order. Scientology, take a bow.

“My congratulations to Scientology. With so many hard-working Scientologists, it must be a tough blow. If anyone could tie for last place with Satanism, it would have to be you. Great work!” — Sunny Pereira

“Congrats Tony on helping to position Scientology on par with Satanism for the least-liked religious group. Your continuous exposure of the abuses and fraud in Hubbard’s church have made a huge difference. I’d say Scientology’s PR stats are ‘lowest ever’.” — Geoff Levin

“Scientology in popular culture is synonymous with abuse. Day after day some new horror story emerges. Sometimes the abuse is splitting up the family as in disconnection, sometimes it's another Fair Game hit. Then on top of all this after finally reaching ‘OT Levels,’ spending $400,000 to reach the secret Holy Grail, the client is trained to talk to his attached spirits and exorcise or jettison them. Laughter.” — Karen de la Carriere

“Congratulations & thanks to Tony and every person who has taken the time to expose the abuses of The Church of Scientology! They are last because of their own insane actions and the people exposing them. Once more....tick tock.” — Tory Christman

“L. Ron Hubbard said that news media are Merchants of Chaos. That was just another ad hominem attack on those who would expose his con. When hard-working journalists with integrity endeavor to report (like every single day for years) the abuses and craziness of Scientology, aided by the long arm of the Internet, the public at large, to greater and greater extent, see that cult for what it is. This poll is evidence of that fact.” — Bruce Hines

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Continuing our year in review: The stories of July 2022

July started out with news from Australia: Between 2016 and 2021, the country had gained 2 million in population. But over that same period, the number of Scientologists had gone down by 26! Another census poked holes in Scientology’s “expansion” myth.

As long as Valerie Haney was going to be forced into Scientology’s “religious arbitration,” she nominated actress and Scientologist Elisabeth Moss to be one of her arbitrators.

For our podcast, Claire Headley told us some things we hadn’t heard before about what she had seen for her own eyes about Tom Cruise in Scientology.

Bruce Hines brought us another gripping narrative about his time in the Sea Org, this time about a harrowing stint at the filmmaking studios at Int Base.

As we expected, Scientology tried to derail a new labor trafficking lawsuit with motions to force the case into arbitration, and we had their documents for you to look at.

Bruce Hines also did a podcast with us and told us a wild Shelly Miscavige story we hadn’t heard before.

On July 17, we published a photo of Danny Masterson during his DJ Donkey Punch days that we thought would have more impact on the media.

Two days later, Pete Griffiths regaled us with a fun tale about how he’d run a Scientology mission after he was declared suppressive!

Scientology filed its petition in the Bixler case to the US Supreme Court, and we had it for you to look at.

Jon Atack got married, and Paulette Cooper came out with a memoir.

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2021: Chris Owen on Scientology’s war with psychiatry. New court documents in Brian Statler’s shooting death. Our motion to quash a subpoena served on us by Tom Mesereau in Danny Masterson’s criminal case. And more accounts about life in Scientology from Sunny Pereira, Pamela Nickel Williams, and Cathy Mullins.

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2020: Covid bailout loans went to Scientology churches, front groups, and schools. Some LAPD emails demonstrating a cozy relationship with Scientology were released. Kelly Preston died at 57 and Lisa Marie Presley lost a son to suicide. Bryan Seymour’s ‘Black Ops’ series was cancelled and Leah Remini blamed Tom Cruise. Leah Remini and Mike Rinder began a new podcast series. And Leah gave us her unpublished chapter on Tom Cruise to post here at the Bunker. And a potential Biden VP pick, Karen Bass, gets called out for her Scientology support.

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2019: Brendan Tighe and Sunny Pereira told us more shattering disconnection stories. Chris Owen unearthed what was really behind the 1960s FDA investigation of Scientology. Miss New York would no longer shill for a Scientology front organization after our reporting. Mike Rinder made public an LAPD report about a woman who fled Scientology after being lured in by Jason Dohring at the Celebrity Center.

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2018: Photos from Maiden Voyage included what would become an infamous shot of David Miscavige getting pinned with a medal. A witness in the Danny Masterson investigation provided proof that they were being subjected to frightening harassment. With trial nearing, Laura DeCrescenzo served David Miscavige with a notice to appear. A stunning new story of Scientology financial crime begins to unfold in the tale of Efrem Logreira and an ice cream party. Chris Owen reconsidered the UK ban on Scientology on its 50th anniversary. We reported the puzzling suicide of a young Scientologist visiting the Flag Land Base. And Sunny Pereira treated us to her Scientology passport!

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2017: Clay Irwin snagged images from the spy camera aimed at his house. L. Ron Hubbard explained how you could crush a planet between thumb and forefinger with OT powers. Scientology billionaires yoked the fortunes of the world’s biggest-selling drug to an ongoing windfall for Scientology. Tommy Davis’s Hollywood dream ended, and so did his marriage. Paulette Cooper turned 75.

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2016: How the parents of a Kazakh woman got her back from the Sea Org. We marked the passing of Steve “Sarge” Pfauth at 70. We found that Joey Chait’s story was more complex than some had it. Rebecca McKee told us how she reunited with her high school sweetheart. And we said goodbye to Arlene Cordova.

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2015: We wrote about Scientology’s day care from hell. Brian Sheen’s full Scientology story turned out to be pretty fascinating. Chris Shelton emceed us in Denver. And Nick Lister dished on Tom Cruise ruthlessly putting ethics in on his own family.

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2014: Our Independence Day special, when Jeremy Powers defied disconnection and came home. We said goodbye to John Joseph, a man who cared. Camilla Andersson went public after 29 years in Scientology. And we live-blogged ID network’s show on Elli Perkins (which featured your proprietor).

A LOOK BACK AT JULY 2013: Leah Remini defects, Shelly Miscavige speaks, Jim Lynch exteriorizes, and Christian Stolte rocks.

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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

Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain

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