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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums6 Crazy Things Revealed In HBO's Explosive New Scientology Documentary 'Going Clear'
1. The Church of Scientology allegedly split up Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
The Daily Beast's Marlow Stern, who was in attendance, explains:
According to the testimony of Marty Rathbun, formerly the second-highest ranking official in the Church of Scientology who left in 2004, Scientology head David Miscavige was suspicious of Cruises second wife [Nicole Kidman], whose father was a renowned psychologist in his native Australia. Scientology is vehemently opposed to psychiatry and psychology, and Rathbun claims that because of Kidmans father, she was labeled a "Potential Trouble Source" (PTS)...
"I was to facilitate the breakup with Nicole Kidman," Rathbun says in the film. Rathbun alleges in the film that the Church of Scientology then waged an aggressive campaign to get Cruise to dump Kidman, including having a private investigator wiretap her phone ... Furthermore, Rathbun says the Church of Scientology "re-educated" Cruise's adopted children with Kidman, Connor and Isabella, into turning against their mother so that Cruise could retain custody.
2. John Travolta allegedly stays with the church because it has too much dirt on him and has threatened to make his private info public.
Vulture's Bilge Ebiri writes:Travolta, it's suggested, is kept in the group because they have mountains and mountains of dirt on him, the result of years of spiritual "auditing" (the process by which Scientologists basically reveal their deepest secrets, which are then cataloged and brought out whenever someone needs some, uh, encouragement, as the Mafia likes to say).
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/going-clear-sundance-premiere-scientology-bombshells-2015-1#ixzz3TexAAmnL
Going Clear is supposed to air March 16th on HBO.
Turbineguy
(37,392 posts)lies in its being a secret. It's the only power it has. And nobody likes a blackmailer.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)I would love to see this. Don't have HBO yet.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)octoberlib
(14,971 posts)When it launches, consumers will be able to subscribe to HBO Now directly from HBO for the first time, rather than through a cable, satellite or telco TV distributor such as Comcast or Verizon. The retail price is expected to be $15 a month when purchased directly from HBO, or about what consumers pay when they order HBO through their cable, satellite or telco provider.
http://www.ibtimes.com/hbo-talks-apple-be-launch-partner-coming-web-service-hbo-now-exclusive-1835882
It's not any cheaper than getting it added on to your cable service , though. I'm sure it'll be available somewhere, eventually.
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)Scientology is hilario-terror-licious.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)Warpy
(111,417 posts)This one features one of Scientology's enforcers who has since left the "church."
They are rather less hospitable to them in the UK than the US is.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)RKP5637
(67,112 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)And why not start with Xenu?
And why call it a church when it's an evil fucking cult?
R&K
AC_Mem
(1,979 posts)This cult needs to be exposed.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)Last edited Sat Mar 7, 2015, 12:30 AM - Edit history (1)
You Austinite DUers know which one I'm talking about. Anyway, one day when I was out walking down that sidewalk, someone standing outside of it invited me in to take a "survey." Having nothing better to do that day, and being the trusting soul that I was, not to mention not knowing anything about Scientology at the time, I agreed to participate.
Anyway, they had this booth where the survey was to be taken and inside was an electronic screen, basically it was for a personality quiz. Once I took the survey, they produced a result that said I was a self-hating misanthrope that needed the "church's" help to "get better." Right away, being even the skeptic of organized religion that I was then, I saw right through the scam and declined the invitation to join.
Plus there was my having done a little research on the Jonestown Massacre in my younger days, so I was able to recognize a cult when I saw one, and I was quite sure at the time that these guys were a cult.
I walked right out and chucked the results of that "survey" in the nearest garbage can.
If anything, the experience of taking one of their surveys educated me to what these fraudsters were all about.
rpannier
(24,350 posts)One of them took the test, oddly, got the same result as you did
Told all of us and some went down on different days and took it and got the same result as he did
I thought about taking the test, but didn't see wasting my time on something with a foregone conclusion
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)They would wait for us on bicycles. As we biked home from high school (good opportunity for them, since no adults were around), they would cruise up beside us, start a conversation any way they could think of, and would then stick to us like glue, trying to get us to check out their "religion".
One of my friends was from a family that had recently come to the U.S. from Taiwan, he got sucked into their cult, ended up owing them a lot of money. I don't know the details of how that worked, it was like some kind of pyramid thing where new recruits had to find other recruits and kick donations from them up the chain, or I guess they would end up owing money if they didn't get enough new recruits.
Whatever the details, it sucked. I personally was hit up by these clowns somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 times. We all complained, the city police got involved, but for the most part the Scientologists were breaking no laws so the cops weren't really any help.
Thespian2
(2,741 posts)but who on earth believes these monsters who are destroying people in the name of a "religion?" Only brain-dead, brain-washed unfortunate humans believe scientology is anything other than a brutal cult founded to suck money from their captives. Opposite of anything Jesus said.
devils chaplain
(602 posts)Marr
(20,317 posts)Obviously, anyone who did something untoward is not a Real© Scientologist.