One Very Compelling Reason To Protest The Church of Scientology
While covering the DC Anonymous event, I was extremely pleased to have the opportunity to meet Jean Marie, the young woman I wrote about during the last Anonymous protest in February, in person.
Jeanne Marie shared her story on Glosslip Radio, as well as, with the crowd. She is brave and fearless in the way she holds nothing back about the death of her father who committed suicide after being turned away for help from the Church of Scientology.
Jean Marie’s father was a member of the Church for many years, but when he began to suffer from an extreme bout of depression and reached out to his faith for help, they declared him an SP, or supressive person. This fundamentally changed her father and he quickly spiraled into a state of complete despair, and based on her eye-witness account, he did what Scientology instructs its members to do when they have no use for them any longer: go away and die. Like a faithful parishioner, he complied, leaving Jean Marie and her sister and mother alone, with their hearts broken.
I am personally pleased to have been able to capture Jean Marie addressing the crowd once more, and getting to meet her in person. She is even more beautiful than I imagine, as well as sincere, engaging and kind.
Jean Marie, among all the reasons I continue to expose the abuses of the Church of Scientology, I do it for you.
Your story, your heart, and your hurt move me immeasurably.
Where is Scientology’s heart? Where’s their compassion? When will they take responsibility for your pain?
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Wow.
Comment by Narcissus — March 18, 2008 @ 12:05 pm
This is why.
When is the main stream media, AND THE AUTHORITIES, going to wake up?
Shame on them.
Comment by marcab — March 18, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
hey dawn,
just wanted to let you know there was quite the protest outside their “church”in toronto this weekend. glad to see you’ve picked up on this cause- i actually feel not as informed as i should be on this subject but this is all very not right- wow-
Comment by Jason | GetYourOJ.com — March 18, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
The “Church” has no shame when it deems that it’s followers, whom are viewed as cannon fodder, are no longer useful to the cause. Rather than encouraging those members to seek the medical or psychological help that they need, they would rather cling to the notion of reincarnation, reassuring members that they will come back as a Sea Org baby (a tough destiny, considering the documented mass amount of abortions that are encouraged by the SO).
In fact, according to the well known critic “Blown For Good,” there have been so many abortions at Gold Base in Hemet that the young women of the SO have been forced to go to several abortion clinics in the Hemet area in order to hide the multiple pregnancy terminations- babies get in the way, and demand time away from the grand and glorious cause of “clearing the planet,” and therefore are frowned upon.
The women deserve better than this. The babies deserve better than this. The weak, the exhausted and the ill of Scientology deserve better than this- they all deserve their basic humanity.
Let’s put it another way- most religions have a version of an nursing home. The Christians, the Jews, Buddists- they all have some kind of mechanism in place to take care of their ill and elderly. Scientology has been around for 50 years- there should be some elderly members by now, surely?
We all know the answer if you’re ill- it’s being locked in a cold, dark basement for 17 days, to lay in your own feces, being eaten alive by cockroaches, with no medical attention, then when someone panics, to drive past 5 perfectly competent hospitals so that your cult buddy who happens to be a doctor can mess with the medical report. That’s what happened to Lisa McPherson. She placed her trust in the people around her and they failed her, because they all trusted in the tech.
There is no answer if you’re elderly- no Hubbard Memorial Rest Home that I can find. Scientology does not have all the answers. Purif Rundown and Touch Assists can’t fix a burst appendix. Affirmations and emeter audits can’t cure chemical depression.
Believe what you will about an afterlife- this life is just as worthy of hanging onto while you are living it. It does not deserve to be thrown away by a cynical management who rates members only by their usefulness to the hive.
If Scientology persists in claiming that it is the most ethical religious movement on the planet, it needs to start showing some proof of those ethics.
Comment by Nameless (but not anonymous) — March 18, 2008 @ 2:42 pm
You know that is an excellent point. Where are all the old scientologist that they did not leave? Have they been fostered off into state run nursing homes? Is there any way to research death certificates to know if people were scientologist, how or what they died of and how old they were? I’ve seen comments from various ex scienos saying that many of their friends had died relatively young of illnesses that were treatable and died as a result of no treatment. Also the suicides like Jeanne Marie’s dad and others. I mean even LRH was isolated in the last years of his life and their have been leaks about his behavior and drugs in his system. But then they convince people that all they have to do is die so they can go back through that big recycle station out there and pick up a new body and start over.
Comment by Mitsu Too — March 18, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvTbRrV6B8A See how wonderful Scientology is? (and yes, this is real… Prepare eardrums for torture)
Comment by Maxwellsmart — March 18, 2008 @ 4:24 pm
the volunteer minister used to wear clergy shirts with white collars. isn’t that special? Great to meet you Dawn. Thank you for posting this and for covering this story since february. You are the Best!
Comment by j-m b b — March 18, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
This. Is why.
Comment by Anoynymause — March 18, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
Hey Maxwell thanks for the link. This is just a poor form of reflexology and T Touch as far as I’m concern. Nothing they are doing there that a good masseuse couldn’t duplicate. What is significant with the use of yellow anyone know? I notice there is a lot of orange shirts or red as well in other Co$ videos. It’s just all so sad really. They actually beleive this is going to help and like Jeanne Marie said it if doesn’t there must be something wrong with you. The tech is perfect. NOT.
Comment by Mitsu Too — March 18, 2008 @ 5:17 pm
According to the ex-Scientologists I know there are much higher than normal incidences of lower sperm motility and genital cancer in men, and corresponding much higher incidences of breast and uterine cancer in women who are OT II and higher.
Why may you ask? According to my ex-Scilon friends, the E-Meter, that wonderful “religious artifact” that has no medical application whatsoever, is essentially a crude lie detector, sending a small electrical current through your body. The thousands of hours that auditing up the Bridge to OT levels eventually takes its toll, attacking the weakest parts of the body- the lymphatic system.
Don’t take my word for it- look it up on the web. Better yet, if the CoS wants to refute my friend’s claims, why not submit the E-Meter to a double blind scientific test by a disinterested third party? Hell, you don’t even have to go that far! According to studies available on the web, just think of this in terms of cold hard numbers.
According to a source who was actually involved in building E-Meters, the E-Meter delivers “2.2 volts across 5000 ohms end up with at 3600 seconds or 1 hour, that’s 2.18 joules per hour.” Now extrapolate that out to thousands upon thousands of hours of auditing. To tell me that there would be no effect on the body in any way, over years of exposure, beggars belief.
And here I thought Scientology was against electro-shock therapy!
Comment by Nameless (but not anonymous) — March 18, 2008 @ 5:37 pm
Pile of dog doo doo. Scientology always, and I do mean always, leaves the door open. Even a declared baby-murdering suppressive person, racking up kills right and left, always has a communication line with the Church of Scientology, if he choose to use it. Yes, the door is left open at least a crack. Even declared suppressive persons who post up stolen videos have the door open a crack. Everyone, of every status with the Church has at least one person in the Church they can communicate with, work with, and get their status changed. Glosslip has piled up another pile of smelly dog doo doo with distorted facts, mis-stated evaluation, misunderstood (but obvious) Church policy.
Comment by Terryeo — March 18, 2008 @ 6:43 pm
Hehe, in response to #6.
I showed a friend that Yellow Tent Video, he sent this back to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzjoKhBklYg
hahahahahaha…gasp….hahaha.
lulz.
Comment by PlainJaneLane — March 18, 2008 @ 6:44 pm
In all seriousness, though, this is exactly why we’re doing this. I’ve mentioned before a woman I talked to who had been raped for years by a church staffer. It was neatly swept under the rug.
Not any more.
Reconnect: April 12th.
Comment by PlainJaneLane — March 18, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
I watched Jean Marie’s speech live via the camera feed from the protest and was moved beyond words. Any doubt I had about protesting the ‘Church’ of Scientology was instantly removed as I saw them for exactly what they are. An evil organization of greed that preys upon its followers.
Thank Xenu that her speech was followed by a RickRoll else I would have been too blinded by anger and sadness to continue that day. My heart goes out to this young lady.
Comment by anon1376 — March 18, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
Every person’s pain is their own responsibility, including that which the Church of Scientology causes them. What, you expect us to take any responsibility? That’s insane. You’re insane. What are your crimes?
Comment by Green Apple — March 18, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
Hey Terryeo…yes the church will leave the door open a crack no matter what. That is so long as you have your check book ready to pay for all those extra auditing, sec checks and courses you’ll have to take. The only doo doo here is unfortuantely what comes out of your mouth. And stay on topic cretin. I doubt Jeanne Marie wants back in your church EVER.
Comment by Mitsu Too — March 18, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
Re: #11 - Terryeo.
(He always gets a rough ride, doesn’t he?? Kudos for keeping it up!! I mean that!) I’ve read quite a few of these articles, and Terryeo keeps showing up with defences for scientology. I can’t imagine that he’s part of any concerted effort of scientology to stifle criticism…… he’s really bad at it (no offence, Terryeo). Every church has bad parts - usually the members are the first to point them out. If you could let us know what you think are the bad points of how scientology is managed and then point us to why it should still be considered a religion, that would help out a lot!!! Please!! And suppressive perosons actually exist???!!! Please elaborate! Thanks very much for your time, Terryeo.
Thomas.
Comment by Thomas — March 18, 2008 @ 9:13 pm
I see that at least one member of Scientology is attempting to open some semblance of dialog on here (assuming they are indeed members). I would like to ask why, if the “religion” is the answer to the world’s problems, it is not available to the world? In the “real world” when something is good for society we teach it and share it with each other. I would also like to know if there are any educated scientists within the scientology community who have researched scientology’s treatment and devices, and published peer reviewed papers even if only for internal use? It seems rather odd to me that an organization with a derivation of “science” or “to know” as its name, and that claims to base its doctrine upon facts seems to rely heavily upon faith in its descriptions on its own website. I wonder how well a scientologist member assimilates with society given that it comes across as a community that wishes to segregate itself. Are these meter devices developed by electrical engineers? If these devices are so useful for the members, would it not serve the community well to allow the market to manufacture them with some competition so as to make them more affordable to the members of the community? I get the feeling that the average scientologist is unable to answer these questions, but I just thought I would ask.
Comment by dont_tase_me_bro — March 18, 2008 @ 9:47 pm
Terryeo is a well knwn Scientologist, posting eveywhere. Actually Terryeo isn’t just one person, it’s a name decided upon by the scientologists Black Ops office, the OSA, and is used by several of their brood to try to BS people into thinking they’re being picked on when in reality they are nothing but a criminal organization. Check out http://www.xenu.net for more.
Comment by Centurian 10 — March 18, 2008 @ 10:07 pm
k here again.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Do not come on here impersonating other people, be they Scientologist or Anonymous.
If I catch the remarks, I will delete them. Your account will be marked. If you’re going to fight, make it a fair fight.
Comment by k — March 18, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
Exactly what k said. We’ll delete any off-topic, pointlessly salacious, or just plain mean comments.
Oh, and we’ve asked nicely, but maybe people haven’t come back to see it. But don’t post as someone who has a given moniker. Think about why that’s f*cking lame?
Please. We are reasonable folks.
Thanks.
Oh and I reserve the right (as does k) to put anyone in their place who insults either of us.
We’re girls, we do stuff like that.
Comment by D — March 18, 2008 @ 10:57 pm
Her story is utterly heartbreaking.
The fundamental problem with the Church of Scientology is its horrendous lack of compassion.
Regardless of the legal definition of religion, surely, society considers a religious group to be one that is compassionate.
Comment by Unnamed Person — March 19, 2008 @ 12:55 am
Alas, there are lots of other unknown or known suicides into the cult, and in many countries. I know personnaly a lot of people having thought to commit, having tried to commit or having committed successfully suicide directly or indirectly because of the cult methods.
Incredible as it may seem, some suicides have even been committed by people who, believing in scientology, thought they could choose a better family in a “next life”, since they were’nt satisfied with their “present life” family.
Lots of other corpses still remain under carpets and in drawers of the cult upper direction in Hemet or in Los Angeles, Cal.
Comment by roger gonnet — March 19, 2008 @ 2:54 am
As a Scientology parishioner, I have gotten to endure the “anonymous†attacks on my church. So why the big lie about it’s not against the members of Scientology? The only evil wrong-doers “anonymous†is facing up to are themselves in a mirror. You’re cowards. I still go to my church. I’m not a coward. I’m still doing Scientology. And please don’t come back with the generality “It’s the church!†Meaning me, but you want to make it out that there is a big bugaboo somewhere you are talking about. Put up or shut up on your allegations. And that doesn’t mean me, you vicious bleaters.
Comment by anonymous scientologist — March 19, 2008 @ 10:33 am
Anon sci @ 24: Thanks for the copy-and-paste posting on multiple threads, dick.
If you’re sincere in your comment (and I have my doubts about that), then you need help with your paranoia. See a psychologist, pronto.
Comment by Narcissus — March 19, 2008 @ 11:02 am
@anonymous scientologist
“As a Scientology parishioner, I have gotten to endure the “anonymous†attacks on my church.”
You should have put “attacks” in quotes, not Anonymous. There haven’t been any attacks alluded to by your writing tone unless you consider assembling and protesting and disseminating information an attack.
“So why the big lie about it’s not against the members of Scientology?”
Uhm, you just said in your previous sentence, “attacks on my church”. A lot of us may not agree with or find humor in what you believe but we really aren’t aginst you believing in it. I personally don’t see it as any stranger than Christian mythologies or belief in prayer or faith healing. In reality it’s really not any different than any religion except for the way it operates. If we were against the beliefs, why would we promote and have the support of the Freezoners?
“The only evil wrong-doers “anonymous†is facing up to are themselves in a mirror. You’re cowards.”
Sciplant attacks…next.
“I still go to my church. I’m not a coward.”
Have you personally investigated any of our claims or do you just believe what you are spoon fed? You’ll find that, if you do try and thoroughly investigate these things, you’ll be sec checked, named a PTS, and possibly sent to the RPF. I’d say you’re the coward for not bothering to find answers for yourself…which is rather ironic considering that it’s one of the tenets of Scientology.
“And please don’t come back with the generality “It’s the church!†Meaning me, but you want to make it out that there is a big bugaboo somewhere you are talking about.”
If making yourself the victim in this allows you to turn a blind eye to the allegations leveled at your Church and it’s leaders, then so be it. But, Anonymous doesn’t mean any members any harm. EVEN the staff that are screwing things up for you. There is an ultimatim echoed in every corner of the internets and in every mask at the protests: reform or collapse. We are only expediting the Churches arrival at one or the other, all the damage is self inflicted…we just shined a light on it.
“Put up or shut up on your allegations.”
All in due time. Get the paper shredders fired up lads and lasses, you’ve got visitors.
“And that doesn’t mean me, you vicious bleaters.”
Funny how you essentially martyred yourself and made us look like the bad guys while simultaneously issuing attack after attack. Bravo, you really are the very model of a modern Scientologist. I’d like to see more people initiate in level-headed debate on par with Billy Sheehan from the wise beard man videos. He adamantly denied all allegations and wouldn’t talk about most of the things he was asked but at least he was pleasant.
Comment by Anon, Anon, My Boyfriend's Back! — March 19, 2008 @ 11:21 am
Terryeo, Of course they let all lapsed $cientologists back into the fold. The minute they return, they get the old 1-2 punch. They are fleeced of all their money, and then sent sent into the RPF as cheap labor.
Comment by tomkat-thetan — March 19, 2008 @ 11:26 am
I hope that Operation Reconnect will address these issues as well as cover Scientology’s core ideologies of breaking up families.
Comment by Fredric L. Rice — March 19, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
Jean Marie, thank you so much for standing up to the cult and telling them the truth.
Comment by Mary — March 19, 2008 @ 9:12 pm
That something so horrible could happen to such a kind hearted person is just tragic. The fact that it could happen in general is horrible. I commend her for the courage it took to stand before 300 plus people and the very church responsible for her father’s downward spiral, and relate her story to the world. I wish I could say I was as brave as her. We fight so her story isn’t repeated in other families.
Comment by Kaden — March 19, 2008 @ 9:53 pm
What frightens me, is that just a few years ago, before I knew what much of that terminology meant and had a better idea of the CoS’ history, I probably would have watched the video of this young woman and thought she’d lost her mind. Like many, I would have just dismissed it as angry, delusional ramblings. I’ve no doubt that certain aspects of scientology was “designed” this way intentionally for this purpose. If you were unaware of what she is saying really meant, honestly, what would you think?
This is where I feel that what anonymous is doing is most significant. They are making it easier for people to come out and talk about what has happened to them easier on so many levels other than just providing safety in numbers.
Comment by liz — March 20, 2008 @ 5:35 pm