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For anyone who is on the fence about Tom Cruise and who still thinks he doesn't really know what goes on in Scientology, I strongly recommend you listen to this episode of Tony Ortega's podcast with Claire Headley, ex Religious Technology Center employee about her personal experiences with Cruise.

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For anyone who doesn't follow me on main and is wondering why I haven't been posting, my mom passed away on August so I haven't had the energy to finish any long posts. I am going to start going back to posting soon and sharing some very interesting things soon!

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I am begging people to stop talking about Tom Cruise and Top Gun and memeing about it as if Tom’s not a Scientologist. A sizable portion of Tom Cruise’s annual income is donated directly to the Church of Scientology; Tom and Scientology are inextricably linked and any money you put into Tom’s pocket directly benefits Scientology. If you are someone who is unaware of this, unaware of the extent of his involvement and position within Scientology, or unaware of the abuses and violations committed by Scientology, I urge you to look into it further. There are some great documentaries on HBO and on Netflix, including (but not limited to) Leah Remini’s show Scientology and the Aftermath and the documentary film Going Clear. I’ve just seen a lot of funny haha based memes about Tom Cruise lately and it all just makes me uncomfortable because I’ve seen absolutely no discussion about him and Scientology to accompany it.

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The Federal Government gave $6M to a cult. A literal cult. Investigate this fraud machine and dismantle it for good.

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If anyone is interested in the topic of scientology and would like to ask some questions or just chat about the things that interest them the most, feel free to send me an ask!

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Today’s problematic ship is the Freewinds

The Freewinds is a cruise ship owned by the Church of Scientology. It is the only place where the highest levels of Scientology (Operating Thetan Level 8). The ship has been involved in several controversies since it was taken over by the church in 1986, most notably unreported asbestos and imprisonment of passengers onboard.

In 1987, blue asbestos was discovered onboard (the ship was built in 1968, when the use of asbestos in fireproofing was widespread, as its dangers were not widely known), but nothing was done about the matter. During subsequent maintainance, asbestos was released into the air conditioning system, but not reported. When the asbestos was discovered during a government health inspection in 2008, the Church of Scientology denied there was asbestos onboard, only to hire renovators to remove it afterwards.

In 2011, the former scientologist Valeska Paris claimed she had been imprisoned on the ship for 12 years, with another former scientologist corroborating her claim. The Church of Scientology has denied the claims.

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Claire Headley, ex-top scientology executive and member of the Religious Technology Center (David Miscavage's personal organization) on Top Gun and Tom Cruise:

Transcript: "Glad all you Top Gun fans are enjoying the new movie.

Personally, recent posts about this new movie only serve to remind me of Tom Cruise and his crimes against humanity.

Extreme, you may think?

Destroying families is a crime against humanity. My opinion.

Ask yourself: When is the last time Tom talked to his biological daughter, Suri?

Remember Katie Holmes and her extreme efforts to break free of his and Scientology's control?

Tom Cruise promotes a dangerous cult that destroyed my family too, the same cult that almost cost me my marriage and my life. The same cult that forced me to have two abortions, and which I fled from in 2005 with the clothes on my back and $200 in my pocket, to which they tracked me down, across state lines, to attempt to prevent my escape. Thank God they failed.

So no, I will not watch the movie, nor will I ever support or approve of this scam of a man. Trust me, Tom Cruise knows exactly who he is supporting and the abuses that organization perpetrates. I worked with him while I was there.

No doubt my post will likely "disappear" with Facebook algorithms, I feel better saying it nonetheless. And thank you to my friends who understand. You know who you are."

If anyone is interested on hearing more about Claire and her husband Marc's stories, Marc wrote a book about their experiences called Blown For Good, which you can buy on the book's website.

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Going to post my to-write list of CoS posts here for accountability!!!! Please let me know if there are any particular topics you would like me to cover that aren't mentioned here!

Scientology 101

Why it's important to talk about scientology abuses

Scientology and Queerness

How much does Tom Cruise (and other scientology celebrities) know?

David Miscavage, Chairman of the Board

+ book, podcast, and show reviews!

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@ashton-slashton thank you for recommending Leah's show, it's a wonderful and important series since it really goes into the human side of the church and how it affects people's lives while they are in and after they leave. The full name of the show is Leah Remini: Scientology and The Aftermath for those interested who haven't watched it yet (I believe it's not available on Netflix everywhere but I am sure there are ways of finding it!).

Also if anyone is interested in knowing more about Mike Rinder, he wasn't only a top executive and DM's right hand man, but he was also the head of the Office of Special Affairs which is the department of scientology in charge of "dealing" with critics under a set of policies and directives by L. Ron Hubbard known as Fair Game. Mike Rinder's blog is a wonderful resource and him and Leah also have a podcast on this exact topic called Scientology: Fair Game, available on basically every podcast platform. If you are at all interested you can also check out Mike's blog!

If you support Tom Cruise and his movies you have to be comfortable with the fact that your money is going towards Scientology and its abusive practices.

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I want to make a couple of points about this because I have seen multiple posts about this issue:

While Tom Cruise is absolutely a victim in his own right and is indoctrinated, he is in a very privileged position in the organization. He is very aware of the abuses that go on, he has been to the int base many times, has had sea org members work for him personally, and he speaks to David Miscavage every day. He is not clueless like most public scientologists, he absolutely knows what scientology does and thinks it's justified. Same thing with John Travolta to a lesser degree (see Spanky's story on Going Clear).

A lot of money if not most of what scientologists make goes to the church. It's a pay as you go religion and the church also requires members to pay a subscription to the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) as well as asking for donations for new buildings called Ideal Orgs. That money goes into those orgs, hiring private investigators to harass people, hiring lawyers and other legal expenses, and David Miscavage personally. The money you give to Tom Cruise is sure to go into furthering the abuses of Scientology, that is certain.

If you are comfortable with this knowledge and decide to keep supporting his work, that is absolutely your choice but please do your research to be sure you are making an informed decision. If anyone wants more info, my ask box and DMs are always open.

If you support Tom Cruise and his movies you have to be comfortable with the fact that your money is going towards Scientology and its abusive practices.

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Jason Beghe Scientology Interview

Jason discusses his exit from Scientology and the organisation’s strategy | January 2009

Source: Youtube

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If you support Tom Cruise and his movies you have to be comfortable with the fact that your money is going towards Scientology and its abusive practices.

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With Scientology and the Aftermath getting popular on Netflix, I just wanna bring to attention something that's been said by many ex-Scientologists.

Stop making jokes about Xenu. Stop making jokes about 'worshipping aliens.' Scientologists don't even hear about the Xenu story until theyre several years and several thousands of dollars deep in the religion, when they've invested too much to be put off by something as confusing as the Xenu story (and many have said the general reaction to hearing it is "oh... Uh. That's it?"). Zeroing in on the Xenu story misses the point, and undermines the pain that Scientologists endure, especially when they leave the church.

Most people fall into Scientology because their introduction to it is through self help courses masquerading as affordable and nonreligious, or through Scientology's drug rehab programs (which have literally killed people). There's a non zero chance your school may have been, at some point, targeted by one of Scientology's sockpuppets, such as Youth for Human Rights, or Drug Free World/The Truth About Drugs. Scientology has a history of preying on vulnerable people, such as people struggling with mental illness or drug abuse, single parents, and victims of abuse.

Scientology is a multimillion dollar exploitation machine that silences victims of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, human trafficking, and financial abuse. Scientology tears apart families and has been responsible for numerous deaths, either due to negligence at their rehab facilities (Narconon), forced confinement (Lisa McPherson), murder (the Fort Harrison Hotel deaths), or driving victims to suicide by destroying their livelihoods, relationships, and mental health.

If you want to dig at Scientology, stop mocking the 'crazy alien story' and arm yourself with the facts.

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A fantastic article by Tony Ortega and a very relevant one with Tom Cruise's new movie coming out.

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New header! From the SO contract via the Fair Game podcast website.

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Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard on queer people. Via Leah Remini on twitter