Tuesday, January 8, 2013

SOMEWHERE IN MISCAVIGE'S ADDLED BRAIN HE PROBABLY THINKS THIS IS A VICTORY

Posted on 9:25 PM by Unknown

By Felicity Capon

11:50AM GMT 08 Jan 2013

British publishers Transworld have cancelled their publication of a new book on Scientology, after taking legal advice. Lawrence Wright's highly anticipated book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief, is based on his 2011 New Yorker article ‘The Apostate’, for which he interviewed the screenwriter and director Paul Haggis about his decision to resign from the organisation.

Wright is no stranger to investigating secretive organisations. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.

Going Clear examines the Church’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, the church’s finances and its relationships with celebrities such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta. It will be published by US publishers Knopf for American audiences on January 17th with a reported print run of 150,000 copies.

The decision not to publish in this country has prompted questions, particularly as Transworld had previously agreed to it. It seems likely that the threat of libel action in the UK may have contributed to the decision.

Graham Atkins, a partner at Atkins Thomson Solicitors in London who specialise in defamation cases, commented on the decision: “It is more difficult for individual claimants to successfully sue for defamation in the US and therefore it may be that the UK publishers are concerned about prominent Scientologists threatening or commencing libel proceedings in the UK.”

Transworld’s publicity director, Patsy Irwin stated: “Our legal advice was that some of the content was not robust enough for the UK market and an appropriately edited version would not fit with our schedule. The decision not to publish was taken internally.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Wright revealed that he had already received numerous letters from lawyers representing the Church of Scientology and celebrities belonging to it who are unhappy with the content of the book.

In a statement, the international spokesperson for the Church of Scientology, Karin Pouw, said that “The author and publisher refused to provide the Church with a copy of the book and showed little interest in receiving input from the Church during both the writing and the so-called 'fact-checking'.

“Having seen how inaccurate his New Yorker article was, the Church asked numerous times for a reasonable opportunity to assist in helping making his book factual. More than 15 requests were ignored, many not answered at all. From the limited excerpts we have seen, the book contains numerous falsehoods and we think it wise that they chose not to publish it in the UK.”

British libel laws have been long been subject to fierce criticism from writers and free speech advocates around the world. They are considered by some to be overly punitive, particularly as the burden of proof falls on the defendant.

Mike Harris, Head of Advocacy at Index on Censorship said: "Our libel laws remain some of the most archaic in the Western world with cases in the High Court in London costing 100 times the European average. With high costs and an uncertain public interest defence, the publisher may simply have decided to back away rather than risk losing a libel case."

He added: "The government is currently piloting legislation through Parliament to reform the law, but unfortunately it isn't strong enough. Even under these reforms, the chill on public interest publication will remain."

Publication of a book on Scientology is cancelled in the UK after legal threats

Lawrence Wright's book 'Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief' was yanked by its UK publisher Transworld but will still be released in America.

By Husna Haq / January 8, 2013

'Going Clear' will still be released in the US.

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Not since “The Satanic Verses” has a book caused so much controversy within organized religion.

I don't necessarily blame the publishers. A combination of this expensive legal team and Britain's libel laws make publishing criticism of Scientology in this country a daunting task. In America, the legal test for libel is that the plaintiff has to prove the defendant has actual malice to win. In Britain, our laws – under which the defendant has to prove the truth of what he is saying – have prompted repeated calls for change, with many arguing that they stifle free speech. A reform Bill, which critics say is too weak, is currently crawling through the House of Lords.

Publishers might have had other reasons for not wanting my book in the first place, but it was legal concerns, at least in part, that prompted Transworld to cancel their release of Lawrence Wright's much-anticipated work, having previously agreed to do so. While the book launch will go ahead in other countries, perhaps they felt they just couldn't take on Scientology in the UK.

Dog bloke and I think we can. A word about him. His name is Humfrey Hunter, he is a literary agent turned publisher, his company is Silvertail Books and his father and grandmother were German Jewish psychiatrists. Together, his dad and granny wrote the book that set out the medical evidence that Mad King George suffered from porphyry, the basis for Alan Bennett's The Madness of King George.

I lost my temper with Tommy Davis inside the brainwashing section of the Church's exhibition on psychiatry, "The Industry of Death". Scientologists believe that psychiatry is Nazi pseudoscience. They believe that the Holocaust was planned and carried out by psychiatrists. If you are doing a book about Scientology, then you cannot do better than having the son and grandson of two German-Jewish psychiatrists as your publisher. You don't need capital to publish a book on Scientology – you need courage.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with us are a number of ex-members of the Church who possess that quality. They would, they say, be willing to give evidence in our defence were the Church to sue us: Mike Rinder, former head of the Office of Special Affairs, who quit the Church in 2007 after goading me alongside Tommy; Marc Headley, who says he was audited by Tom Cruise and came with me on my visit to the Church's Trementina Base in New Mexico, where the Church has buried Founder L Ron Hubbard's lectures on discs of gold in an H-bomb-proof vault; Amy Scobee, former head of the Church's Celebrity Centre, and more.

But perhaps the Scientologists will do no more than threaten and bluster. Carter-Ruck were first hired in 2007, Mike Rinder told me, to prepare a case against Panorama. But at the last moment, the Church's Chairman of the Board, David Miscavige (Tom Cruise's best man at his wedding to Katie Holmes and a man accused of violence by several ex-Scientologists, a charge he and the Church flatly deny) pulled out. If they go ahead this time, it should make for an incredibly interesting court case.

"The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology" is published by Silvertail Books and is available in paperback (£12.99) and e-book £3.20 on amazon.co.uk

AND FOR YOUR INTEREST, HERE'S SCIENTOLOGY'S REPORTING OF SWEENEY'S PANORAMA DOCUMENTARY:

BBC	PANORAMA DESPERATE LIES
A FREEDOM SPECIAL REPORT

Lies—and Lives—of Desperation
After plummeting into disgrace, a BBC reporter and the self-admitted perjurer he hired will try anything to regain even a vestige of their former status.

One has to wonder why, after the 2007 programme about the Church of Scientology resulted in corporate embarrassment for the BBC, that the broadcaster would spend more than £100,000 of public licencing fees to pull John Sweeney—the reporter who became an international laughingstock for his antics—back from the depths of journalism hell and have him do yet another programme on the Church of Scientology. (Watch the video: Panorama: Desperate Lies.)

One wonders, too, why the BBC from its highest corporate officers would allow John Sweeney to assemble a cortege of disgraced and broken individuals, clearly with an axe to grind, to do his bidding and all at the expense of the British taxpayer.

A defining moment in the career of Sweeney was the now-infamous “exploding tomato” episode—the very words Sweeney used to describe himself—when he went psychotic in front of cameras in a 2007 interview of the international spokesman for the Church of Scientology. (Watch the video: Panorama Exposed.)

Sweeney’s irrational, incoherent rant revealed him at his blustering worst. Thank goodness there was someone there to film it or Sweeney—and the BBC—would never have admitted to this deplorable behaviour.

“I am hugely embarrassed. I look like an exploding tomato and shout like a jet engine and every time I see it makes me cringe.
I let the side down and the BBC down and I am ashamed.”
—John Sweeney

With any veneer of restraint stripped away and his personal demons laid bare, Sweeney that day plumbed new levels of embarrassment not only for himself andPanorama, but for the BBC. The meltdown drew worldwide attention, endless parodies and more than 1.3 million YouTube hits.

Mainstream TV commentators were shocked at Sweeney’s behaviour, and they had a field day reporting it on virtually every English-language news network around the globe.

“He snapped,” said ABC Australia. Fox News in the United States quipped, “It sounded like a seal. ARRR! ARRR!”

Inside Edition observed, “If you are interested in becoming a television journalist, his behaviour was a fine example of what not to do.” CNN said his conduct exposed “a critic, at his worst.”

In Canada, CBC News noted, “His on-camera freakout has put him on YouTube and the BBC on the spot.”

Sweeney himself issued a public apology: “I am hugely embarrassed. I look like an exploding tomato and shout like a jet engine and every time I see it makes me cringe. I let the side down and the BBC down and I am ashamed.”

Worst-Case Scenario

Incredibly, even after the prestigious British investigative journalists’ Frontline Club dismissed Sweeney from its membership, and after journalism classes in three UK universities presented the Sweeney model as a worst-case scenario even for tabloid stunts, the BBC kept him on.

In the midst of the imbroglio, Sweeney’s boss at Panorama, editor Sandy Smith, was dragged before his own cameras. Visibly uncomfortable and twitching, he attempted to explain Sweeney’s outlandish outburst, but could only mumble, “It’s not something to praise, is it?”

Still, Sweeney was not fired from his job, nor—amazingly—was he banned from going near Scientology as a subject. Instead, he was given BBC support to carry out a strictly personal agenda—at great expense and gross misuse of licence fees exacted from the public. His new mission: to regain his former reputation by somehow expunging his record and making it seem as though someone else—other than Sweeney himself—was responsible for his unprofessional conduct.

And for revenge, it appears he intends to blame it all on the Church of Scientology.

BBC Engulfed in Scandal

Perhaps Sweeney is not alone in that BBC has a host of similarly unprofessional reporters. In the “Crowngate” affair, BBC staffers edited footage of the Queen to depict her leaving a photo shoot in a huff, ostensibly after being asked to remove her crown. Nothing of the sort happened, and the Queen was reportedly “furious” at the deception.

Next the BBC was forced to admit that six of its televised children’s and charity programmes had duped their audiences through fraudulent contests—a pattern John Whittingdale, Chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee of the House of Commons, labeled “astounding deceptions” and which prompted him to say, “The whole credibility of the television industry is now under question.”

In July 2007, BBC Director General Mark Thompson ordered all 16,500 programming and content staff to take a mandatory course in honesty entitled “Safeguarding Trust.”

“We do have a lesson to learn,” admitted Thompson, and reportedly took the course himself.

But training in trust apparently didn't gather much traction. The scandals continued. It soon surfaced that the BBC had kept for itself more than £106,000 ($165,000) pledged to such charities as Children in Need. British journalists condemned this latest as “immoral and disgraceful” and “another hammer blow,” while a UK donor advisory organisation pointed out that “people are not going to want to phone in anymore—their confidence will be really hit by this breach of trust.”

In 2008 alone, the BBC was fined £495,000 ($773,000) by Ofcom, the British communications regulator, for its ethical breaches. In August 2009 it was disclosed that a BBC camera operator had pretended to be a member of the public and had thrown the results of a game show. Investigation by the Editorial Standards Committee (ESC) of the BBC Trust unearthed 21 separate breaches of editorial guidelines involving three different shows.

The ESC found “serious and repeated breaches” of guidelines in regard to “misleading audiences” and “staging and re-staging events.” John Whittingdale told the British press, “It is extraordinary that this has been allowed to happen given earlier incidents over fakery. Licence fee payers were given categorical assurances that steps would be taken so such incidents could not happen again. This raises serious questions about how effective the BBC’s compliance measures have been.”

The pattern became obvious when BBC One, the flagship channel, was shaken by another scandal involving outright fakery. For a “documentary” that aired in July 2010 about the Lawrence Weston neighbourhood of Bristol, camera crews had filmed menacing gang members, their identities obscured by hoods and scarves, hurling epithets at police officers. The only problem with the footage as broadcast: It was reportedly shot by a BBC Panoramacrew in a neighbourhood three full miles from the subject of the documentary.

“I was absolutely appalled at what I watched,” one Lawrence Weston resident told The London Daily Mail. "It was a blatant misrepresentation… It was nigh-on slanderous.”

Said another: “I was shouting at my TV as I watched it. I couldn’t believe they had twisted things so much.”

The programme in which Sweeney “reported” on the Church of Scientology three years ago was as absurd as it was abhorrent—and no wonder, considering the ethically bankrupt "newsgathering" methods employed.

The Meltdown, the Disease

Into the 2007 maelstrom came the Sweeney “meltdown,” a symptom of the disease that afflicted both the BBC and itsPanorama show—then and now.

First were the outrageous questions, intended only to inflame, prefaced with the likes of “some people say” to imply Sweeney had an actual source for his spurious allegations. “Some people” is not a “source” in any real journalist’s lexicon; it’s a sham and the mark of a dishonest tabloid reporter.

Next came the utter mockery of an actual reporter’s craft by staged and re-staged events—cheap gimmicks like knocking on delivery doors and fire exits and pretending Sweeney was barred from entering various Scientology buildings. Security cameras recorded the bizarre and senseless scenarios of Sweeney marching up to, over and over again, seldom-used, untended “back doors” and pounding righteously on them—until his camera crews finally got their shots just right.

And most significantly, of course, was that shameful blowup—and blowout—when interviewing the spokesperson of the organization he was ostensibly “investigating,” the moment that brought Sweeney and the BBC international infamy.

Had the Church not videotaped Sweeney to document his actions, he likely would have denied that the incident ever happened—just as he would have denied staging events for his cameras. But unable to lie his way out of the hysterical meltdown viewed by more than a million, Sweeney concocted a ludicrous scheme: Blame it on the Church.

Sweeney cooked up a 2010 Scientology story, wheeling out not only Mike Rinder, but Rinder’s “best good buddy” and now “corroborator,” the violent, vengeful anti-Scientologist, Marty Rathbun—like Rinder, a disgraced and dismissed apostate.

Rathbun’s latest accomplishment? Getting himself arrested on drunk and disorderly charges in a city most tolerant of alcohol and bad behaviour—New Orleans.

Thus, a devil's triangle was formed: Sweeney, enlisting a “source” to speak for his agenda; Rinder, seeking a forum for revenge; and Rathbun, enjoying the role of “corroborator” (and, since July, hoping no one notices his rap sheet).

This required a plan:
Convince embittered and vengeful anti-Scientologist Mike Rinder, former external affairs executive in the Church who was demoted for gross malfeasance, to come out of the woodwork and play the part of “source” in Sweeney’s melodrama. All Sweeney has to do is get Rinder to say “Tommy Davis caused John Sweeney’s blowup.” (See Mike Rinder: A Walking "Hate Crime.")
Against this reprehensible backdrop, Sweeney cooked up a 2010 Scientology story, wheeling out not only Mike Rinder, but Rinder’s “best good buddy” and now “corroborator,” the violent, vengeful anti-Scientologist, Marty Rathbun—like Rinder, a disgraced and dismissed apostate. (See Marty Rathbun: A Brief Chronology of Monumental Disasters, The Career of “Kingpin” Rathbun.)
Rathbun’s latest accomplishment? Getting himself arrested on drunk and disorderly charges in a city most tolerant of alcohol and bad behaviour—New Orleans. Even the “we’ve-seen-it-all” French Quarter police could not and would not tolerate Rathbun’s conduct on July 10, 2010. Mounted officers threw him to the ground, carted him off and tossed him in jail.
Thus, a devil's triangle was formed: Sweeney, enlisting a “source” to speak for his agenda; Rinder, seeking a forum for revenge; and Rathbun, enjoying the role of “corroborator” (and, since July, hoping no one notices his rap sheet).
Rinderama for Panorama
Who is this source, Mike Rinder? The former spokesperson had long before been removed from his position of authority and inexplicably walked away from his religion, his job, his wife and his children in 2007.
Nearly three years later, in April 2010, seeking to safeguard his place as a Panorama “source,” Rinder decided to pull his own Sweeney-style stunt. Rinder, Rathbun and two minions showed up at the Clearwater religious retreat of the Church of Scientology with tape recorders and cameras rolling.
Rinder demanded to see his son—the son he had completely ignored while the young man battled and survived a rare and highly aggressive malignant cancer. The son sent an unmistakable message that he had no desire to see the man who was attacking the religion of the entire Rinder family.
With no sign of concern at his own son's rebuff, Rinder—whose purpose, after all, was not to see his son but to stage an “incident”—in Sweeneyesque fashion performed for the cameras: “Now I actually have the evidence that I will take back to the BBC.”
A short while later, Rinder’s brother flew 10,000 miles from Australia to Florida to join Rinder’s estranged wife and adult daughter to attempt to contact and help Rinder. But when Rinder saw his family approaching, he barked that he was on the phone with John Sweeney, talking about them.
Then, in a stunning display of violence against the family he had deserted three years earlier, Rinder turned the well-intentioned family intervention into injury for his former wife. She said of that day, “Mike’s hands were gripping my arms so tightly I could feel his fingers actually digging into my bones.” She was so severely harmed that an ambulance was called and a police report filed. True to form, Rinder “tipped off” a local tabloid paper about the incident, fictitiously casting himself as the victim.
“Kingpin” Rathbun
Like Rinder, Marty “Kingpin” Rathbun is another former external affairs failure who had been removed from his position within the Church for gross malfeasance. He left the Church suddenly in 2004, but not before he left his own explanation as to why: “I have a proven proclivity for creating some of the greatest catastrophes in Church history when allowed to have some leash.”
Though not known to the Church until years later, Rathbun is a suborner of perjury (one who convinces others to lie under oath), a liar, and best remembered for violently attacking none other than Mike Rinder.
Apparently Rinder and Rathbun are willing to put past grudges aside to take revenge against the Church. And who better to confirm Rinder’s lies than his angry and vengeful, now “best good buddy,” Marty Rathbun?
Sweeney Sweepstakes
So there is the Sweeney Sweepstakes 2010, disgracing even tabloid TV with his phony "reporting" and falsities. Like the 2007 programme, Panorama’s 2010 "newsgathering" violates more BBC Broadcast Guidelines and British Office of Communications (Ofcom) codes than one can count. And that’s just in the reporting process itself. (See How Not to Report the News, aka Pretending to Be a Panorama of Information.)
These include “doorstepping” (staging ambush interviews on unsuspecting victims), inventing purely fictitious stunts, fraternising with religious detractors while consistently treating members of a recognised religion with contempt, and engaging in outright religious bigotry.
The list goes on:
BBC Guidelines, Section 3: “We should not distort known facts, present invented material as fact or knowingly do anything to mislead our audiences.”
Ofcom Broadcasting Code, Section 5.1: “News, in whatever form, must be reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality.”
Ofcom Broadcasting Code, Section 5.7: “Views and facts must not be misrepresented.”
Ofcom Broadcasting Code, Section 5.8: “Any personal interest of a reporter, which would call into question the due impartiality of the programme, must be made clear to the audience.”
Ofcom Broadcasting Code, Section 7: “Avoid unjust or unfair treatment of individuals or organisations.”
The public is now waking up to this latest scandal in gross misuse of BBC-extracted licence fees—and John Sweeney, Panoramaand the BBC must bear the responsibility.BBC on Notice
The Church, interested only in fair and accurate reporting and willing to cooperate at every turn—as long as Sweeney, who clearly disqualified himself due to his past and present chicanery, was removed from the project—went to great lengths to provide a wide range of factual information toPanorama and BBC executives. More than 50 letters were sent to the BBC providing information about the Church of Scientology and its activities and expansion, as well as detailing infractions by the Sweeney travelling circus.
All letters were disregarded. Requests to meet with Church representatives were repeatedly refused. Sweeney was not removed from the programme.
Further, the BBC repeatedly refused to provide specifics of any of Sweeney’s allegations. Instead, in a classic circle-the-wagons manoeuvre, the corporate cabal defended Sweeney’s operation, thereby condoning his expensive and corrupt no-facts, no-substance attempt at self-redemption.
The public is now waking up to this latest scandal in gross misuse of BBC-extracted licence fees—and John Sweeney, Panorama and the BBC must bear the responsibility.

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Sunday, January 6, 2013

SCIENTOLOGY POPS UP IN THE STRANGEST STORIES - THIS "PROPHET" WHO CHURNS OUT MIRACLE MONEY SEEMS TO BE A CHIP OFF MISCAVIGE'S BLOCK

Posted on 4:00 PM by Unknown

Prophet evicted in rent row [with Scientology]

Staff Reporter 2013-01-04 22:01:00
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Prophet Passion Java
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KINGDOM Embassy Ministries, led by Prophet Passion Java, was yesterday thrown out of its First Street premises in Harare following a rent dispute with the property owners.
The church hall and the offices were located at NCR Building at the corner of First Street and Samora Machel Avenue.
Church authorities yesterday denied that they had been evicted.
Prophet Passion’s personal assistant Mr Israel Mathews yesterday said the church would resume its lunch-hour services on Monday.
“We were having roof leaks and we decided to move the property out of the building so that it would be fixed,” he said.
However, the Deputy Sheriff — armed with an eviction order — yesterday removed all the church’s movable property and placed new locks on the doors.
The church’s property was yesterday strewn over the pavements at the building even when the rains pounded the city in the afternoon
Chairs, musical instruments, pulpit, curtains, electrical gadgets and many others were dumped along the street.
Church members and other Christians who had come for the daily lunchtime prayers were turned away.
People received the news with mixed feelings and different comments could be heard from witnesses.
One man who refused to give his name was heard saying: “How could you evict a man of God who does miracles?”
Despite indications that an eviction was in process, the church’s representatives denied that it was an eviction, claiming that they were moving to bigger premises.
Sources, however, revealed that a dispute over rent with Scientology Church of Zimbabwe, who are the owners of the building, led to the legal action.
Prophet Passion has hogged the limelight with his congregants testifying that the youthful could churn out miracle money.
He also made headlines late last year after throwing a series of lavish birthday parties as he was celebrating with other prominent prophets.
The flamboyant the youthful prophet Java, who is well known for 'personal prophecies' where he can correctly prophesy one's national ID Number, cell number and other personal information, had the whole of First Street closed last year as the man of God celebrated his 24th birthday for the upteenth time.
An inside source told said the first celebration party was a surprise one for the prophet while he was coming from Botswana. On the day he rounded up 110 street kids before treating them to pizza, chicken and a US$1,200 chariot birthday cake.
It is said that the party then moved to a hotel and according to the source, he was joined in the celebrations by big shot Prophets Uebert Angel and wife from the Spirit Embassy, Tabernacles of Grace Ministries leader Apostle Batsirai Java (who is Prophet Passion Java's brother) and flamboyant Nigerian 'Oga' Chief Okeke.
"This time around, the A-listers who dined at the hotel were also treated to an even bigger cake that had the face of Prophet Passion at an event said to be worth US$10,000," revealed the source.
Reports claim that proceeds from the 3 parties were distributed to street kids including US$5,000 that he was showered with by his friends and confidantes, it is alleged.
"His wife Prophetess Yasmen has been running a foundation for the underprivileged called Heart in Service (HIS) where she forwarded all the money given to Prophet Passion," said the source.
The third and final (so far) was an intimate ceremony for various church leaders at the young couple's base in Borrowdale Brooke.
This is the second time Prophet Passion has grabbed headlines this year. In June, the man of God grabbed headlines after being accused of cohabiting with Yasmen. Prophetess Yasmen's grandmother, Kulsum Rahman, who has been her legal guardian said she was shocked to read about her granddaughter being referred to as 'PROPHETESS' in the newspapers and posters splashed on the streets.
Prophet Passion also pulled a shocker when he allegedly advertised in the press a banner that read: "The only prophet in Zimbabwe who can prophesy your ID number."
He alleged that he discovered his gift in his early teens when he saw "a set of spinning numbers in the air", which turned out to be a schoolmate's ID number.
"I was born with a special gift. When I was young, I used to have strange dreams depicting me in heaven, surrounded by angels. I have the power to foretell one's future," he was quoted saying. Plus the Herald

A careful writer stalks the truth about Scientology

By Charles Mcgrath / New York Times News Service

Published: January 06. 2013 4:00AM PST

“Going Clear: Scientology, Celebrity, and the Prison of Belief" by Lawrence Wright (Knopf)

AUSTIN, Texas — The writer Lawrence Wright doesn’t seem at all the sort of person you’d find in public wearing a black cowboy shirt emblazoned with big white buffaloes. He’s shy, soft-spoken, a little professorial.

But as if he didn’t have enough to do, besides working on three plays simultaneously and getting ready to publish a new book in two weeks, Wright has been taking piano lessons with Floyd Domino, the two-time Grammy winner, and on a recent Saturday, in his buffalo shirt, he played in a concert at the Victory Grill here with the band WhoDo. Wright was at the keyboard, and sang solo on “Sixty-Minute Man" and the Count Basie tune “She’s Funny That Way." Not bad for a bookworm.

“I decided a while ago that I would only do things that are really important or really fun," Wright said. “This is really fun."

More fun, probably, than dealing with lawyers. His new book, “Going Clear: Scientology, Celebrity, and the Prison of Belief" (Knopf) is about the famously litigious Church of Scientology, and he said he has received innumerable threatening letters from lawyers representing the church or some of the celebrities who belong to it. (Transworld, Wright’s British publisher, recently canceled its plans to publish “Going Clear," though a spokeswoman insisted that the decision was not made in response to threats from the church.)

The book — which recounts the history of Scientology through the interwoven stories of key figures like L. Ron Hubbard, the religion’s founder, and celebrity Scientologists like John Travolta and Tom Cruise — claims among other things that the church has virtually imprisoned some of its members, threatening blackmail if they try to leave, and that its current leader, David Miscavige, has physically abused some of his underlings.

The book won’t do anything to enhance the image of Scientology, already diminished by Janet Reitman’s 2011 book, “Inside Scientology: The History of the World’s Most Secretive Religion."

In a statement, Karin Pouw, a Scientology spokeswoman, said Wright and his publisher refused to provide a copy of the book in advance and “showed little interest in receiving input" from the church. “The portions you cite from the book are preposterous lies," she said, adding that “the allegation about Mr. Miscavige is false and defamatory."

But Wright insists that he did not set out to write an expose.

“Why would I bother to do that?" he said. “Scientology is probably the most stigmatized religion in America already. But I’m fascinated by it and by what drives people to Scientology, especially given its image."

He added: “There are many countries where you can only believe more or you can believe less. But in the United States we have this incredible smorgasbord, and it really interests me why people are drawn to one faith rather than another, especially to a system of belief that to an outsider seems absurd or dangerous."

Wright, whose previous book, “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaida and the Road to 9/11," won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007, is no stranger to writing about secretive organizations.

In the case of Scientology, he said, he had been looking for what he calls a “donkey" — a character strong and sympathetic enough to carry a complicated story.

“I don’t mean it in a disparaging way," he explained. “A donkey is a very useful beast of burden."

In 2010 he finally found one in Paul Haggis, the winner of back-to-back Oscars for “Million Dollar Baby," which he wrote, and “Crash," which he wrote and directed, who defected from Scientology in 2009, after 34 years in the church, during which he rose to one of its highest ranks.

In 2011, Wright published a profile of Haggis in The New Yorker, and in the course of the fact-checking process Tommy Davis, the international spokesman for Scientology, did Wright an unwitting favor. He showed up in The New Yorker offices with four lawyers and 47 white binders full of material about the church.

“I suppose the idea was to drown me in information," Wright recalled, “but it was like trying to pour water on a fish. I looked on those binders with a feeling of absolute joy."

In all, Wright spoke to some 200 current and former Scientologists, only a few of whom insisted on anonymity. He started with Haggis, he said, and one name led to another. It helped that, starting in 2009, a number of high-ranking officials had broken from the church and began talking to the St. Petersburg Times, now called the Tampa Bay Times. (The spiritual headquarters of Scientology is in nearby Clearwater, Fla.)

“The church for decades has been mopping up as much information as they can," Wright said. “That’s why there are so few photographs in the book. They’ve also silenced people through nondisclosure agreements and through intimidation. But this has not been a perfect job on the part of the church.

“There are a lot of people out there who were very high up in the church and know a lot about it who have become outspoken. I’m very lucky to come along at a time when a lot of these people are ready to talk."

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JOHN SWEENEY FUCKING WITH THE SCION SECURITY NOOBS

Posted on 4:00 AM by Unknown

I know the OSA Ronbots will be monitoring these comments so please, please please look for the Cruise Miscavige sex tape and blow..... you'll be set up for life!!

TOM CRUISE on NORTON - SUNDAY MIRROR TV REVIEW

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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

SOMEWHERE IN MISCAVIGE'S ADDLED BRAIN HE PROBABLY THINKS THIS IS A VICTORY

Publication of a book on Scientology is cancelled in the UK after legal threats

Lawrence Wright's book 'Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief' was yanked by its UK publisher Transworld but will still be released in America.

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Monday, January 7, 2013

SWEENEY vs SCIENTOLOGY NUTTERS AND WHY HIS BOOKS PUBLISHER IS REALLY ON HIS SIDE

'Scientologists believe the Holocaust was planned and carried out by psychiatrists'

Five years on from the Panorama outburst that resulted in a worldwide viral viewing, John Sweeney has written a book on the dangers of the cult religion

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Lies—and Lives—of Desperation
After plummeting into disgrace, a BBC reporter and the self-admitted perjurer he hired will try anything to regain even a vestige of their former status.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

SCIENTOLOGY POPS UP IN THE STRANGEST STORIES - THIS "PROPHET" WHO CHURNS OUT MIRACLE MONEY SEEMS TO BE A CHIP OFF MISCAVIGE'S BLOCK

Prophet evicted in rent row [with Scientology]

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A careful writer stalks the truth about Scientology

By Charles Mcgrath / New York Times News Service

JOHN SWEENEY FUCKING WITH THE SCION SECURITY NOOBS

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SWEENEY vs SCIENTOLOGY NUTTERS AND WHY HIS BOOKS PUBLISHER IS REALLY ON HIS SIDE

'Scientologists believe the Holocaust was planned and carried out by psychiatrists'

Five years on from the Panorama outburst that resulted in a worldwide viral viewing, John Sweeney has written a book on the dangers of the cult religion

Related articles

Lies—and Lives—of DesperationAfter plummeting into disgrace, a BBC reporter and the self-admitted perjurer he hired will try anything to regain even a vestige of their former status.

SCIENTOLOGY POPS UP IN THE STRANGEST STORIES - THIS "PROPHET" WHO CHURNS OUT MIRACLE MONEY SEEMS TO BE A CHIP OFF MISCAVIGE'S BLOCK

Prophet evicted in rent row [with Scientology]

Related news

A careful writer stalks the truth about Scientology

By Charles Mcgrath / New York Times News Service

JOHN SWEENEY FUCKING WITH THE SCION SECURITY NOOBS

Lies—and Lives—of Desperation
After plummeting into disgrace, a BBC reporter and the self-admitted perjurer he hired will try anything to regain even a vestige of their former status.