Posted on 03/16/2013 7:58:08 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Church of Scientology has lashed out at a new book by its leader's niece, which recounts a stolen childhood and how she was brainwashed and cut off from her family before eventually escaping.
In "Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology And My Harrowing Escape," Jenna Miscavige-Hill -- whose uncle David Miscavige runs the secretive group -- also claims she was forced to work as a child.
But a spokesman for the Church said her claims were "false" and denounced "efforts to exploit Mr Miscavige's name."
"The Church has long respected the family unit while accommodating and helping those raising children," Karin Pouw, spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology International, told AFP.
"The Church does not engage in any activities that mistreat, neglect or force children to engage in manual labor. The Church follows all laws with respect to children," she said, accusing Miscavige-Hill of "apostate behavior."
In the book, published in February, the 29-year-old tells of hard labour she and other children were forced to do in the 1990s in the Ranch, in a remote part of the California desert.
The Ranch, near San Jacinto, 90 miles (150 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, was "like a military boot camp, with grueling drills, endless musters, exhaustive inspections, and arduous physical labor that no child should have to do."
The children saw their parents for only a few hours per week. They did not receive any education in the traditional sense....
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
(’preciate you postin’ this)
“What about the movie Battlefield Earth?”
Never saw it, or read the book. Was it really as bad as folks say it was?
It made Ishtar seem decent.
Oh my God they made children work? And take baths and probably brush their teeth , those animals.
I just now realized my parents were Scientologists.
I think they knew their treatment of their children was wrong. The treatment was hidden from notice to avoid the consequences. Hubbard believed that the first function of all of existence was to survive. He was using the children as guinea pigs to prove his theory.
and body guards
also claims she was forced to work as a child.
But the book could just make her a rich woman.
Follow the money.
At least the Edgar Winter music for it was pretty good.
I certainly hope this young lady has a body guard and a host of excellent lawyers.
Oh my God they made children work? And take baths and probably brush their teeth , those animals.
I just now realized my parents were Scientologists.
People need to wake up to the fact that there is nothing wrong with kids working, if there is then kids have been mistreated for thousands of years.
“Never saw it, or read the book. Was it really as bad as folks say it was?”
Yes. It’s 90 lost minutes of my life I mourn to this day. And the sad part of it was that I was watching it at home and could have turned the VCR off at any time...
One story that I heard about them finally getting the IRS label, is that John Travolta told Bill Clinton that he'd go easy on the BC character in some movie if he'd convince the IRS to give them the religion tax id...
Around the same time, give or take, Germany bestowed the "Cult" classification on the organization.
Thought the book was decent but the movie really sucked.
No. Never. Scientology is incapable of doing anything wrong!
Like a train wreck, one just can't turn away.
Indeed, what has a few generations of preventing kids from doing any meaningful work brought us?
Scientology attempts to deal with man's fundamental spiritual nature. As such it is no less a religion than Buddhism.
The more interesting question is why does the US government decide what is and what isn't a religion?
Indeed, what has a few generations of preventing kids from doing any meaningful work brought us?
Scientology attempts to deal with man’s fundamental spiritual nature. As such it is no less a religion than Buddhism.
The more interesting question is why does the US government decide what is and what isn’t a religion?
But i believe the word religion comes from the word ritual, which was here long before Christianity, so i believe religion is the correct definition for any false Christian Church.
Makes sense, since what distinguishes Christianity is the total absence of ritual from its practice...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.