Scientology makes an exception for ABCMouse honcho, will hold memorial for Doug Dohring

Our readers know that we’ve become accustomed over the years to writing remembrances for Scientology figures because the church itself is usually silent about the passing of even some of its most important figures.

Just a couple of weeks ago, for example, we learned that Norman Starkey, one of the highest ranking Scientologists for many years, had been dead for four years and the church said nothing about it.

And also recently we announced the death of one of Scientology’s most important underwriters, the major donor Doug Dohring, who not only has give more than $30 million to the church, but was able to do so because he’d made a fortune as the mastermind behind ABCMouse, the toddler education software.

We expected that, as usual, Scientology itself wouldn’t utter a peep about Dohring, but we were wrong about that. It turns out that in a couple of weeks, some kind of memorial event will be held at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida in Dohring’s honor. (The Fort Harrison is the centerpiece of Scientology’s “Flag Land Base,” and the place where Scientology leader David Miscavige has been based in recent years.)

Other events of this nature have been rare, with a couple of other recent exceptions. Scientology did recognize Chick Corea after his 2021 death, and a small ceremony of some kind took place last year for Kirstie Alley. Both were closed to the public.

We also expect that the tribute to Dohring won’t be open to the public, but it’s remarkable, we figure, that it’s taking place at all.

To be fair, one of Scientology’s bedrock principles is that we are all eternal beings called “thetans” who live countless lives, and we simply jump into a newborn down at the maternity ward after the corpus we’re walking around in breaks down at the end of this lifetime. So Scientologists can have a pretty casual attitude toward death, with their concept that it’s simply a quick transition to a new lifetime.

However, it still seems striking that Scientology often says nothing about the deaths of longtime members who have spent so many years dedicated to the cause, such as with Starkey.

But Dohring, at least, will get his due.

If you happen to go to the ceremony, we’d love to know how it comes off.

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