Religion

Stacy Dawn Murphy, 20: Another Death at Scientology's Flagship Narconon Drug Treatment Center in Oklahoma

I just got off the phone with Colin Henderson, who is frenetically monitoring breaking news in Oklahoma, where yet another patient at Scientology's flagship Narconon drug treatment center has been found dead. Jeanne LeFlore of the McAlester News-Capital broke the news earlier today that Stacy Dawn ... More >>

Scientologists Told that Alexander Jentzsch Died of Reaction to "Prescribed Painkiller"

As the Los Angeles Coroner's office continues to investigate the July 3 death of Alexander Jentzsch -- the 27-year-old son of Heber Jentzsch, the Church of Scientology's president -- Alexander's mother, Karen de la Carriere, continues to hear from people in and outside of the church about the days l ... More >>

Case Closed: Paul Thomas Anderson's Script for The Master is Nothing But Scientology

Former Scientologist Marc Headley, who first revealed to the Voice in 2009 that Tom Cruise talked to ashtrays and beverage bottles as part of his Scientology training, has a stunning article in the Daily Beast today that settles, once and for all, what Paul Thomas Anderson's film The Master is all a ... More >>

Scientology and Forced Abortion: Laura DeCrescenzo's Three-Year Legal Odyssey

Laura DeCrescenzo had just got out of a two and a half hour deposition with attorneys for the Church of Scientology when I talked to her on the telephone yesterday at her home in Albuquerque. All told, over the three years she's been suing Scientology for the way she was treated as a young Sea Org ... More >>

Scientology's Shame: Karen de la Carriere Stuns KFI Radio; ALSO: Katie and Suri's Accident

We were first to report the death of Alexander Jentzsch, the son of the Church of Scientology's president, Heber Jentzsch, and the subsequent controversy when the church refused to allow Alexander's mother, Karen de la Carriere, to view his body before it was cremated. We continue to follow develop ... More >>

Alexander Jentzsch's Death Under Investigation After Unusual Responses from Scientology In-Laws

On Friday, we learned that the coroner's investigation into Alexander Jentzsch's death had taken an unusual turn because of some unusual responses from the people who found his unresponsive body. We kept quiet about that until this afternoon at the request of Karen de la Carriere, Alexander's mothe ... More >>

Breaking Away from the Church of Scientology: Reading Marty Rathbun's Manifesto

Between 2004 and 2007, Scientology experienced several defections by high-ranking executives who later wrote books about breaking away from what they characterized as a dangerous and pathological organization. But for many of us who watch Scientology, it is one defector in particular whose story we ... More >>

Mormons: Why Are Thousands of Them Gathering in Upstate New York This Week?

This week, thousands of Mormons are meeting up in Upstate New York for what's called the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Of course, the pageant is getting a little extra attention this year, and not just because 2012 marks the fest's 75th anniversary. G.O.P. presidential contender Mitt Romney is Mormon, an ... More >>

Video from the Memorial of Alexander Jentzsch; Also: Scientology Commenters of the Week

Filmmaker Mark Bunker put together this video of Friday's memorial held Friday for Alexander Jentzsch aboard the ship Spirit out of Long Beach Harbor in California. It's a simple event with a few people on a boat. But don't underestimate its significance. Since she sent out a message to thousands ... More >>

Alexander Jentzsch, Son of Scientology's President, Memorialized At Sea

Yesterday, Karen de la Carriere memorialized her son, Alexander Jentzsch, who was found dead at a home in Los Angeles on the morning of July 3. He was only 27 years old. Because the Church of Scientology would not give her access to her son's ashes, Karen had rose petals cast on the Pacific Ocean a ... More >>

Scientology on the High Seas

Scientology Gets a Smooch from the L.A. Times

In 1990, just before he and his colleague Joel Sappell were about to publish a landmark series exposing Scientology's secrets in the Los Angeles Times, Robert Welkos found that someone had placed in a manila envelope against his home's front door a brochure from a mortuary, encouraging him to plan h ... More >>

SCIENTOLOGY TV: FALL LINEUP REVEALED!

Last year, the Church of Scientology bought the studios that had been the home for KCET, the public television station in Los Angeles. Now, news organizations are reporting that Scientology plans to use the facility for its own TV station, and broadcast the way other religions do. So far, however, ... More >>

Scientology Auditing Kids: Proof From Church's Own School Website

For the last two weeks, we've been asked one thing more than any other: what was Suri facing as a six-year-old in Scientology if she hadn't been taken out of it by her mother, Katie Holmes? Does indoctrination in the church start at such a young age? As we reported earlier, in 1961 Scientology foun ... More >>

Scientology Relents: Will Hold a Memorial for Son of Church President, Mother Not Invited

The Voice has received a reliable report that Heber Jentzsch, president of the Church of Scientology International -- who has not been seen in public since about 2004 -- is being allowed to leave Scientology's desert base east of Los Angeles in order to attend a memorial for his son, Alexander. A ... More >>

Scientology Reacts to TomKat Divorce from Nixon-Era Playbook

On Sunday, we talked to former Scientology executive Marty Rathbun and agreed with his predictions for how the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes divorce would go. The next day, the former couple announced that they had reached a settlement. So how did we do? Prediction 1: Katie would get sole custody of Suri ... More >>

Tom Cruise Gets Visitation Rights? Why Don't We, Ask Ex-Scientologists Cut Off From Family Members

Fans of Katie Holmes are celebrating that she seemed to get just about everything she wanted in her divorce settlement with Tom Cruise -- reportedly, she's getting primary custody of Suri, and Tom will get visitation rights. And with Katie registering with a Catholic Church in Manhattan, it's a good ... More >>

10,000 Scientologists Got This E-Mail Today About "Disconnection," their Church President, and a Mysterious Death

This morning, more than 10,000 Scientologists found an e-mail from Karen de la Carriere in their inboxes, written in jargon that they will understand, and informing them of the controversy surrounding the death of her son Alexander Jentzsch. As we reported first on Thursday night, de la Carriere le ... More >>

Prehistoric Aggression: More Reasons Katie Holmes Was Smart to Avoid Scientology Marriage Counseling

In its print edition today, the New York Times is catching up to something we printed on Wednesday about the weirdness of Scientology's marriage counseling. After news broke that Katie Holmes was divorcing Tom Cruise, various news outlets relied on Scientology PR to give the impression that, as ABC ... More >>

Katie Holmes Will Get Custody, But Tom Cruise Will Save Face For Scientology: Using Marty Rathbun and L. Ron Hubbard as Guides

This afternoon, Tom Cruise's former auditor, Marty Rathbun, laid out his predictions for how the Cruise-Holmes divorce is going to go, based on his extensive history helping to run the church. Rathbun predicts that Tom Cruise will give up sole custody of Suri as long as Katie Holmes goes along with ... More >>

No Memorial Service for Scientology President's Son? "So Despicable, It's Almost Beyond Words"

Thursday evening we broke the surprising news that Alexander Jentzsch, 27, son of the Church of Scientology International's president, Heber Jentzsch, had been found dead at the home of his estranged wife's parents in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning. Last night, about 24 hours after our story appear ... More >>

SCIENTOLOGY CRUMBLING: An Entire Church Mission Defects as David Miscavige Faces Leadership Crisis

For several years, we've been reporting about a crisis in Scientology as key members of the church -- including some of its highest-ranking former executives -- have left the organization and spoken out about its abuses. One by one, longtime, loyal Scientologists have announced that they are fed up ... More >>

Scientology Leader David Miscavige's Disappeared Wife Shelly: What We Know

One of Scientology's many intriguing mysteries is the disappearance of church leader David Miscavige's wife, Michelle "Shelly" Barnett, who hasn't been seen in public since around 2007. We've written about Shelly Miscavige in the past, about her strange disappearance, and about the equally mysterio ... More >>

SCIENTOLOGY PRESIDENT'S SON DIES; DEATH OF ALEXANDER JENTZSCH KEPT FROM MOTHER, AN EX-MEMBER

I just received this anguished e-mail from Karen de la Carriere, formerly a member of the Church of Scientology who studied directly under L. Ron Hubbard and who was at one time married to the current (and disappeared) president of the Church of Scientology International, Heber Jentzsch... My son i ... More >>

Scientology's Own Promotional Material Attests to 15-Year-Olds in the Sea Org

As we explained yesterday, TMZ probably messed up when it claimed that Katie Holmes was filing for divorce because she feared that her husband Tom Cruise and Scientology would send her daughter Suri away to the Sea Org, which is a "boot camp." We went to some lengths yesterday to point out that the ... More >>

Scientology Marriage Counseling Comes Down to This: "What Have You Done to Tom?"

Since news of the Katie Holmes-Tom Cruise divorce filing broke last week, media outlets have been scrambling to put together basic information about Scientology, which appears to be central to the couple's split. We couldn't help notice that numerous news organizations have been relying on Scientol ... More >>

Tom Cruise is 50: It's Time To Grow Up

You're going to hear a lot about the troubles that Tom Cruise finds himself in as he turns 50 years old today. We thought we'd take a different tack. We've often thought that Rona Barrett's 1984 interview of a pre-Scientology Tom Cruise is one of the most revealing. We see a young man with half a d ... More >>

Tom Cruise's Former Scientology Auditor: "He Should Let Katie Have Everything She Wants"

As we wait to see how nasty the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes divorce becomes, we asked Tom's former Scientology auditor and legal affairs adviser, Marty Rathbun, to speak to us about the last time Cruise was in this position. In 2001, Cruise and Nicole Kidman ended their 10-year marriage, and it was Rat ... More >>

Radar Gets It Wrong: How Scientology Is Likely To Be an Issue in the Divorce of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise

Yesterday, RadarOnline, one of several online tabs trying to churn out incremental stories about the celebrity story of the year, grabbed for attention by quoting two lawyers who said it was unlikely that Tom Cruise's Scientology would be allowed as an issue in his divorce with Katie Holmes. Aside ... More >>

A Day in the Tweeting Life of Rupert Murdoch

When it rains, it pours.The CEO of NewsCorp is a recent inductee to the Twitter community, joining this past December and, for someone who owns a sliver of the world, still only has 250,000 followers or so. But such perfect timing: just as the Parliamentary inquiry into Murdoch's business was heatin ... More >>

What Katie Holmes is Saving Suri From: Scientology's Interrogation of Children

There seemed to be more public derision than sorrow yesterday greeting the news that Katie Holmes had filed divorce papers in New York while her husband Tom Cruise was in Iceland filming a movie. There was consensus among the tabloids that this split is over Katie's concerns about the couple's chil ... More >>

SCIENTOLOGY ABANDONED BY L. RON HUBBARD'S GRANDDAUGHTER AND DAVID MISCAVIGE'S FATHER

Multiple sources are telling the Voice that Scientology's International Base in California has experienced stunning new defections -- Roanne Leake, who is L. Ron Hubbard's granddaughter, has "blown" the base, which was her home for more than 20 years. But just as shocking, at about the same time, th ... More >>

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes Splitting Up: Scientology Has Bigger Problems

People magazine is reporting that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are ending their marriage, which should surprise just about no one. Holmes was hand-picked for Cruise by a nervous David Miscavige, as Scientology's leader wanted to prevent what had happened during Cruise's previous marriage, when a Sci ... More >>

Luka Magnotta's Scientology Screed: "I Wished Every Night That Tom Cruise Would Adopt Me"

Luka Rocco Magnotta is in custody now and has pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed, dismembered, and even ate some of his Montreal boyfriend before absconding to Berlin, where he was apprehended. Meanwhile, Magnotta's extensive online legacy is still being mined by the curious, and our tips ... More >>

Scientology Plays Denver's Police Chief Like a Violin

We recently brought you footage of Sacramento's mayor, former NBA player Kevin Johnson, gushing about Scientology at the opening of an "Ideal Org" in that city. Since that fancy new building opened in California's capital, additional celebrations have occurred in places like Orange County and Denve ... More >>

Debbie Cook -- Exiled by Scientology?

Tampa Bay Times journalists Joe Childs and Tom Tobin have done it again, surprising us with yet another gem of reporting on the Church of Scientology. This time, they learned from a man named John Donley, who worked as a media consultant for Debbie Cook, that she and her husband, Wayne Baumgarten, ... More >>

The Master Gets Its Scientology On in 2nd Trailer

The second trailer to Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming film The Master was just released, and this time we get a look at Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams along with Joaquin Phoenix. We gave PTA credit for being wily with his first trailer -- for years, we've all been waiting to see how much The ... More >>

Scientology Sunday Funnies: Neil Gaiman's Mum Builds a Civilization!

Scientologists don't really have a Sunday service. They like to say that they do, because they crave mainstream acceptance. But unless Xenu rested after six days and L. Ron Hubbard just forgot to mention it, there's no reason for Scientologists to treat Sunday any differently than every other day of ... More >>

VIDEO: Watch Sacto Mayor and Former NBA Star Kevin Johnson Suck Up to Scientology

Our West Coast counterpart, staff writer Josh Dulaney at the Voice's sister paper OC Weekly, has been dishing on Scientology's spiffy new "Ideal Org" there in several spicy posts. In a story last week, Josh mentioned that William Dalton, the mayor of Garden Grove, California (population: 170K), lav ... More >>

How a Scientologist Loses Faith in His Church: A Case Study

One of the reasons Debbie Cook's infamous New Year's Eve e-mail had such a huge effect was that it provided a look from inside at what was tearing apart the Church of Scientology. Cook's e-mail spelled out in high relief what ex-Scientologists had been telling us were the issues causing so many lo ... More >>

Scientology Book Bonanza! Jeff Hawkins Delivers, and More Reasons for Librarians to Hide

Friday, we told you about a spate of new books on Scientology that are in various states of publication. We're happy to say that there's even more on the way, and we wanted to highlight one you can get into your e-book reader right now. If you read our stories about Scientology, you've seen how muc ... More >>

It's a Scientology Book Avalanche! RUN FOR COVER!

A slow week was suddenly broken wide open as we were hit with an avalanche of new books, promised books, and barely-begun books with one thing in common: Disapproval of David Miscavige's brand of Scientology. After the jump, we'll tell you about the book that legendary cult-busting attorney Paul Mo ... More >>

Scientology Wins a Major Award Again! Galaxy Press Vindicated!

Last June, we told you about how proudly Scientology crowed in its press releases that it had won "Telly Awards" for some of its DVDs. We went on to explain that it's kind of difficult not to win a Telly, which gives away thousands of awards to up to about a quarter of the businesses that bother t ... More >>

AUDIO: "Touch Me," Creepy Scientology Goon Repeatedly Tells Protester

"Touch me" the man says again and again. "Touch me." In what should go down as one of the most skin-crawling audio tapes in recent Scientology history, we hear a church operative repeatedly challenge protester David Love to provoke an incident so that Love can find himself in a world of legal hurt ... More >>

Is Luka Magnotta, Canadian Porn Actor and Murder-Dismembering Suspect, a Scientologist?

As the world tries to hunt down porn actor and murder suspect Luka Rocco Magnotta, Canada's National Post today pointed out something interesting -- Magnotta, 29, apparently converted to Scientology a few years ago. Activists over at WhyWeProtest.net, naturally, were on to this months ago, when Mag ... More >>

Amanda Palmer Dramatically Answers Questions About Her Connection to Scientology

A few weeks ago, we noted that Amanda Palmer -- the musician who performs as a solo act and as one half of the Dresden Dolls and Evelyn Evelyn -- made a rather dramatic appearance at Kate Bornstein's book party, held at Dixon Place. Right about that same time, Palmer was also making news for taking ... More >>

How You Can Help a Film About Kate Bornstein Happen (Plus: Scientology Sunday Funnies!)

Filmmaker Sam Feder has opened Kickstarter funding for a documentary about recent Village Voice cover gal Kate Bornstein. Go to Sam's page to find out how you can help finish the project!

VIDEO: Dianetics Day 2012! See People Who Can't Wait to Go "Clear"!

Our tipsters continue to funnel us the best Scientology material at a rapid rate. May 9 was Dianetics Day -- 62 years since the day in 1950 when L. Ron Hubbard first published Scientology's Ur-text, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health -- and already we have in our hot little hands the vid ... More >>

L. Ron Hubbard in his Own Words: Mr. Charisma?

In March, we brought you excerpts from this year's big LRH Birthday Event held in Clearwater, Florida. We'd been sent a copy of the three-hour presentation, and pulled out what we felt were the best portions to share with you. In the time since, we're kind of surprised that a full version of the vi ... More >>

Ursula Caberta on Scientology: "You Have to Be Always Watching Them"

This week, a 90-minute documentary about Scientology's intelligence-gathering wing, the Office of Special Affairs, aired on the French and German cultural channel ARTE. Titled "Office of Special Affairs: Der Scientology-Geheimdienst" (Scientology's Secret Service), it included interviews with seve ... More >>