Rick moved on to brainwashing: ‘Second, that the group uses a process that can be seen as thought reform or what is popularly called brainwashing. That is a control of information, of the environment and a manipulation of people in such a way as to gain undue influence over them psychologically and emotionally. Third, that the group does harm. That they take advantage of people in one way or another. Now Scientology appears to fit those three criteria in my opinion. And that is why many people have called the group a cult.’
Rick’s three definers of a cult mirror Lifton’s.
What about David Miscavige, I asked Rick? I put to him the allegations that he thumps people. I summarised what Bruce Hines had told me, that Miscavige had come into his office and said where is the mother-fucker? and then hit him. Did Rick find that story astonishing?
‘I don’t know if that story is true or untrue. But what I do know is that David Miscavige is an absolute authoritarian leader, that he has no meaningful accountability to the general membership through democratic, elected church government, and that he pretty much is in a position of leader for life, the same role, in many ways, that L Ron Hubbard once held. In that sense, he can pretty much do what he wants.’
I asked Rick why Miscavige last gave an interview to TV in 1992.
‘He appears at Scientology events. He does photo ops for Scientology publications. But he is not a person that is very friendly or forthcoming with the media.’
What about the money?
‘Scientology is a very rich church. When L Ron Hubbard died [in 1986] his fortune was estimated at about $600 million. So Hubbard amassed assets, cash and Scientology remains a very visibly wealthy organisation. Look at all their building projects just in the last two or three years in cities across the United States and around the world. They have been on a kind of building marathon. Spending millions and millions to refurbish buildings, to build new branches and so on. But I wonder how many members there really are to support all that structure. There is no doubt that it is a very rich organisation.’
A billion dollars?
‘I think conservatively they are certainly over a billion dollars in net assets.’
It is hard to work out a reliable number in the absence of any disclosed figures but if you tot up the real estate assets of the Church in Florida and California you could hit a billion dollars pretty quickly. Add the rest of its assets in the United States in cities such as New York, Washington DC, San Francisco and Europe – there are ten Scientology centres in Britain, including four in prime-sites in London, on the Tottenham Court Road, on Victoria Street near Blackfriars, on Fitzroy Street and New Cavendish Street and 50 acres in Sussex – and that number could easily be two or three billion dollars.
They say 10 million members?
‘I don’t think there is anywhere near the millions of members that Scientology has claimed. In fact some people estimate the membership may actually be below 100,000, based on their fund raising, and people that show up for events and mailings. When Scientology says they have millions of members, I think, what they mean is over the years, from the 1950s, millions of people have at one time or another been on a mailing list. Whether they are really true supporters, take courses, give money to the Church, that’s another question entirely.’
That would chime with my own observation. For example, someone who used to live at our house in London years ago is still sent mail shots and magazines from the Church. I wonder, then, if our house is listed as a Scientology one. For the avoidance of doubt, no Scientologists live in my house, at least, not yet.
What about the private eyes? I told him about the chase when we arrived in LA.
‘That is what Scientology would call a noisy investigation. They want you to know that they are following you. They want you to be afraid. To be very afraid of them, to be intimidated. And the idea of following you all around is to create that kind of fear that they are watching you and it will affect your reporting.’
That seemed to me a terrifyingly perceptive observation.
‘Many people that have been critical of Scientology have experienced a noisy investigation. The objective is intimidation. To get you to stop doing whatever it is that they want you to stop doing. They want control of the public perception of their organisation. And they want their image to be a certain way and if they feel a critical report is coming out they are concerned about that.’
Every critic we have spoken to, Scientology has got an instant label for them. What have they got on you?
‘A 19-page pdf document exists on me on the internet. They have traced back my childhood all the way to the age of eight. I got counselling, I got in trouble as a youth, all of it is in Scientology’s pdf file. I mean that is part of what it is all about. If you criticise them, expect them to literally go through your garbage.’
Have they gone through your garbage?
‘I have reason to think that they have gone through my garbage. And not only Scientology, a couple of other groups. There have been incidents where private investigators have gone door to door in a neighbourhood I used to live in, asking questions about me. This was just a couple of years ago. I think that was a private investigator hired and paid for by the church of Scientology. There were efforts to have my phone number forwarded to another number. And my fax number forwarded to another number some years ago. The phone company called to tell me, they didn’t have my passwords on my account, they failed. I believe that was someone working for Scientology. So I have been stalked, I have had private investigators harass me and my neighbours. And I have experienced quite a bit at the hands of Scientology. But that just comes with the territory. If you want to look at them and examine them critically, they will do that.’
The private eyes, the constant filming, people dressed in black. The intense aggression to any kind of open criticism. Is this an organisation steeped in mass paranoia?
‘Organisations like Scientology that have been called cults are mirrors of their founder or leader’s personality. L Ron Hubbard was often described by his critics as paranoid. Even delusional. Some people thought he was mad. Hubbard is the assumed prototype of the most perfected human being that Scientology can offer. He is their model. And they mimic him. You could even say that the whole auditing process of Scientology and its courses are a way to make you more Hubbardist or Hubbard-like. So in that sense what you perceive as paranoia may just be a kind of cloning of Hubbard’s personality.’
We wanted to interview Miscavige and Tom Cruise, the leader and the chief apostle of Scientology. Do you think we are going to succeed?
‘Doubtful. They probably have established that you are not going to do a puff piece, a friendly report that they approve of. And I don’t know that they will give you access to David Miscavige. And Tom Cruise is in a very vulnerable point in his career, and I would think that at this point he is not really happy to do an interview with someone like you that might be critical of his Church.’
His needle is floating?
‘Some people think his career is sinking because of his constant preaching and proselytising regarding Scientology. People here in the States see Tom Cruise increasingly as a weird and a bizarre character. And I think that is largely because of him going on and on about Scientology.’
What is in it for the celebrities?
‘Celebrities are very specially treated and catered to in Scientology. They have these Celebrity Centres where they go. They are waited on hand and foot. They are pampered, they are just treated in a way that some would argue that they feel entitled to, accustomed to, through their celebrity status. And this carries over even into their Church life. So being a celebrity in Scientology is a lot different than being a grunt, being a Sea Organisation member and waiting on celebrities in the Celebrity Centre. And that is why celebrities, they really don’t see the tough stuff compared to the regular rank and file. Certainly not treated like Sea Org members.’
But Cruise, Travolta, the others, because they live in t
he public world, because they are public figures, they must know that out there, there are people who are deeply critical of Scientology. They must know about these stories of people talking about mental torture. Why don’t they act on that?
‘Scientology celebrities like Tom Cruise, John Travolta and others, they don’t believe the stories that are critical about Scientology. They see it as somehow part of a larger conspiracy by drug companies, psychiatrists and media to lynch them. To persecute them. And they don’t believe those stories. They think that they are false, that they are propaganda and they dismiss them.’
I asked Rick about our two minders, Mike Rinder and Tommy Davis? He didn’t know much about Tommy but Mike had crossed his radar – and in Rick’s view held a higher position that his current lowly status suggested.
‘Mike Rinder is often talked about as number two in Scientology. If you will, Miscavige is leader for life and Mike Rinder is something of the enforcer. He deals with Scientology’s perceived enemies and he can be a pretty tough customer. He is associated with the Office of Special Affairs. That is the area of Scientology that is responsible for dealing with the outside world, threats to the church, perceived enemies and so on. So Rinder is the cutting edge of Scientology’s machine that it uses to deal with anyone and everyone outside.’
People have told me that he has a reputation for ripping people’s faces off. Well, what the hell does that mean?
‘Mike Rinder can be very harsh. He can describe Scientology’s enemies in a very harsh way. And you know it is important to understand how that all evolved. It was all part of L Ron Hubbard’s teachings. That is go after those that are your enemies before they can get you, get them first. And get them better. And find out what their vulnerable areas are and exploit them. It is all part of Scientology’s teachings. The teaching of their prophet Hubbard.’
Why do celebrities get involved in Scientology?
‘Because L Ron Hubbard said so. L Ron Hubbard taught that by recruiting celebrities or important people, VIPs, that you could garner the attention that you wanted in order to recruit other people. So Hubbard taught his followers that they should specifically target notable people, celebrities, movie stars. And they have done exactly that. The creation of the Celebrity Centres is dedicated to that principle. That if you can get someone like Tom Cruise to join Scientology, or John Travolta, these people are icons in pop culture. And you can influence the public, and then you can garner attention and use that to recruit even more people.’
Rick reflected on how the Church deals with critics: ‘Scientology has used litigation at times almost like an article of faith. They have sued anyone that criticised them. They sued Time magazine and they sued an organisation called the Cult Awareness Network here in the United States more than 70 times until they bankrupted the organisation and then they bought its name, its files, its phone number and even I think its post office box, whatever assets it had, in a bankruptcy liquidation sale. They literally took over their former enemy. It would kind of be like the Anti Defamation League of the United States which is run by Jews being taken over by Neo-Nazis.’
The Church’s celebrities dissed the internet. What did he make of that?
‘So Scientology has – probably more than any other single organisation that I can think of that has been called a cult – fought a kind of war on the internet to silence their critics, to purge them from the net, and to keep information that they don’t want their members to read, from appearing on the internet.’
I asked Rick about auditing, the intimate questions about your sex life. Is it possible that that could open you to blackmail?
‘When you are being audited, John, they are taking copious notes. That goes into what is called your pre-clear file or folder. And whatever you say can become part of that file. And many people that become involved in auditing sign a release in which they give Scientology rights over that file that they relinquish. So what that means is that your innermost secrets, the darkest things that you have in your history, in your life, may be revealed and brought out and examined through auditing, which I would see more like interrogation. And the E-meter as a kind of apparatus similar to a lie detector.’
That raises the possibility that you could be blackmailed?
‘Persistent rumours that have come out about Scientology and in particular about celebrities is that they are reluctant to leave the Church because they are afraid. They are afraid of what Scientology knows about their personal life. And I have had calls from former members of Scientology who are not only afraid of what the organisation has on them, but they are afraid that they will no longer be able to communicate with family members that are still in the church. So that is a concern. There are many ways that they can retaliate against someone who has left the organisation.’
That was the gist of the verdict given by Judge Breckenridge in 1984. Rick Ross was saying that nothing much had changed. We left Rick to his lonely war, and went for a bite, wondering what on earth the morrow would bring.
CHAPTER NINE
The Industry of Death
At 6616 Sunset Boulevard you can find the ‘Psychiatry: An Industry of Death’ exhibition. Tommy led me along the line of greeters: Jan Eastman, a blond, middle-aged Australian lady, President of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), Bruce Wiseman, President CCHR for the USA, Marla Filidei, a blond American and the Vice President of the CCHR, Fran Andrews, the executive director, and Rick Moxam, General Counsel for the CCHR – fancy talk for a lawyer. Someone handed me a cup of tea and I stared at the entrance to the exhibition, a great black steel door, suggesting the entrance to a gas chamber or a totalitarian torture chamber, or, to be more precise, a Hollywood set designer’s idea of the above.
Tommy kicked off by introducing me to the lawyer, Moxam: ‘You may recall from the event’ – I think he was referring to one of the ultra-long videos they showed us at Saint Hill what seemed a trillion years ago – ‘Rick was the one who did the brief that went to the Supreme Court on the admissibility, on psychiatrists being no more valid to give testimony on someone’s sanity in a case than anybody else. Do you remember that from the event?’
I did not.
‘Sure thing,’ I told Tommy.
‘OK, good,’ he said.
The CCHR claims to be wholly separate from the Church of Scientology. Ex-
Scientologists say the CCHR is its creature. Tommy just so happened to address what was on my mind. He indicated Team CCHR: ‘They also happen to be Scientologists. Jan is OT5, Bruce is 7, Marla is Clear, Fran is Clear and Rick is 7.’
Clear is where?
‘Before you start the OT levels,’ said Tommy.
Very good.
‘Makes sense? Any questions?’
What is your level? I asked Tommy.
‘Clear.’
That was weird. Tommy was clearly a senior figure in the Church presiding over this unprecedented access and yet he was low down in the pecking order, almost at the bottom rung of LRH’s Road to Total Freedom.
Good. I turned to Mike. And…?
Mike: ‘I am not telling you.’
Well, everybody else has…
Mike: ‘OT5.’
Very good.
Remember: OT3 is the ‘Wall of Fire’, when you find out about the space alien Satan, Xenu. The different OT levels mean that of the seven Scientologists present, Bruce, Rick, Jan and Mike knew about Xenu, but Marla, Fran and Tommy did not; nor could Bruce, Rick, Jan and Mike tell Marla, Fran and Tommy about Xenu lest they kill them by telling them the secret their minds were not ready for. During the previous day at the Celebrity Centre, Tommy professed not to know about Xenu – so if the Xenu story is correct he did not lie, but his mum, Leah, Kirstie and Mike did. The Scientologists were not just lying to me; they were lying to each other. This is the hard-wiring problem which results from a ‘religion’ which keeps its Holiest Writ secret from the lower levels. In Lifton’s book, he tells the story of a Catholic bishop
unsuccessfully brainwashed by the Chinese Communists who, upon his release, summed up his admiration-tinged condemnation of his captors in the simple statement: ‘They lie so truly.’
Is the CCHR separate from the Church? Jan told me that it included non-Scientologists and was set up ‘independently by the Church’ which didn’t sound very independent to me. Very good, I said, and asked, what was the ratio of non-Scientologists to Scientologists?
‘Wouldn’t have a clue,’ said Jan.
Are you sure?
‘Absolutely.’
As of that moment outside the CCHR, the organisation’s ratio of non-Scientologists to Scientologists was zero-to-seven.
Very good, smashing, lovely cup of tea, thank you. Shall we go into Dante’s gates of hell?
The great steel door swung open to reveal an interior of Stygian gloom.
From the early 1950s, psychiatrists blew the whistle on the Church. In return, L Ron demonised the doctors of the mad, accusing ‘psychs’ of ‘extortion, mayhem and murder’. Hubbard believed that psychiatrists were plotting a conspiracy to take over the world on behalf of the Soviet Union: ‘Our enemies are less than twelve men. They are members of the Bank of England and other higher financial circles. They own and control newspaper chains and they, oddly enough, run all the mental health groups in the world… Their apparent programme was to use mental health, which is to say psychiatric electric shock and prefrontal lobotomy, to remove from their path any political dissenters. These fellows have gotten nearly every government in the world to owe them considerable quantities of money through various chicaneries and they control, of course, income tax, government finance. [Harold] Wilson, for instance, the current Premier of England, is totally involved with these fellows and talks about nothing else.’
Harold Wilson, for all his many faults, did no such thing. Hubbard’s hatred of psychiatry spawned a novel Battlefield Earth, which John Travolta turned into a film of the same name in 2000. The plot of both turns on the war between the evil Catrists, which is, perhaps, a pun on the back-end of the word ‘psychiatrists’, and the alien Psychlo species. Critics say the wretched Psychlos of Battlefield Earth are L Ron’s prophecy of how humanity would end up under the thumb of psychiatry were it not for Scientology.
The Church of Fear: Inside The Weird World of Scientology Page 16