Tag Archives: Independent Scientology

Dear All:

I have resigned from the Church of Scientology under its current leadership by writing a letter of resignation to the Ethics Officers and MAAs of all the orgs where I have been on lines since becoming a Scientologist in 1969. I am now an Independent Scientologist.

The letter is below:

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Dear Ethics Officer/MAA:

I have completed Doubt on remaining a member of the Church of Scientology under its current leadership and have decided to resign as a member of the current Church. Per step 6 of the Doubt formula, I am announcing this to you, the Ethics Officers and MAAs of the orgs where I have been on lines since becoming a Scientologist in 1969. I am now an Independent Scientologist.

Here is my Scientology resume:

• OT 4, mid OT 5
• HDC Class 4 (both pre-Golden Age of Tech, both interned)
• Superliterate
• Minister’s Course, PTS S/P Course; Route to Infinity (Freewinds)
• Range of smaller courses
• Staff admin hatting courses

• Founding staff member of Paris Org (staff there for three years) where I rose to Org officer.
• Staff for one year on NY Day
• Audited for six months at the oldFifth AvenueMission, NYC
• Staff for five years at the Delphian School,Sheridan,OR, where I was a curriculum developer and taught high school French

I felt for a long time that something was wrong, but could not figure out what it could be. I observed a growing number of outpoints. I wrote a report on anything I personally observed that was off-policy or out-ethics. However, I did not look at the anti-Scientology websites, dismissing them as the work of crazies.

The light first dawned for me with the March 6, 2010 New York Times article about Christie Collbran’s tortuous departure from the Sea org. It is hard to ignore the New York Times. But what truly riveted my attention were links in the online article to the June 21, 2009 articles in the St. Petersburg Times (not a paper I usually read), by Childs and Tobin, interviewing Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder about their departure from the Church. Rathbun and Rinder were #2 and #3 international executives for years and could not be dismissed. Their revelation that the current head of the Church, David Miscavige, regularly assaulted his staff shocked me terribly, among other things. A few weeks later, Anderson Cooper of CNN (another source hard to ignore) devoted a week to interviewing high-level departed executives on the topic of Miscavige’s propensity for assault. Marty appeared with Anderson Cooper. It was impossible to ignore what these longstanding former executives of the Church said and impossible to ignore Rathbun and Rinder, both highly credible sources.

Going online and becoming a regular reader of Marty’s blog and other websites, I found more and more corroboration from unrelated sources as the development of blogs and websites has enabled people to speak up online at no cost. The increasing number of outpoints I had observed started to make sense. Gaining power by a coup, David Miscavige, who has increasingly revealed himself to be a true Suppressive Person, has eliminated the checks and balances that once existed in the Church and cowed or exiled any opposition he may have had, it would appear.

Outpoints I have noted include:

• There has been an unrelenting campaign to build huge expensive buildings, unwarranted by the size of their field and delivery statistics. {Note: This is especially true in my home area ofSeattle.] These are financed by demanding donations from Church members. This is out-policy. See HCOPL 23 Sept. 1970 Quarters, Policy Regarding on org premises. See HCO PL 24 February 1964, Issue II Org Programming on demanding donations for buildings. These huge expensive buildings are also out-gradient
• The org staffs remain paid a pittance while the head of the Church has a lavish lifestyle and these expensive buildings are built. This is an outpoint.
• Flag has been sending promotions for delivering grades, thereby undercutting the lower orgs, which are supposed to specialize in them. Flag is supposed to concentrate on higher level services. This is out-policy. See HCOPL 23 Nov 1969 Allowed Technical Services
• Flag has been boasting in its promotions of speed of delivery. This is out-policy. See HCOPL 17 June 1970 RB Rev 25 Oct. 1983 Technical Degrades
• I receive floods of email from orgs where I have never been and never will be. I called the central database I/C to ask that I only be sent email from the orgs where I am currently on lines and was told that this would be done. It was not. This is enforced communication (out Code of Honor). (I have marked them as spam in my email program.)
• The Golden Age of Tech was launched, implying that LRH, who spent his life training people and is the source of the subject, had failed to give us the right way of training. This is out-policy. See HCOPL 7 Feb. 1965 Keeping Scientology Working, HCBO 8 March 1962 The Bad Auditor, HCBO 22 January 1977 In-Tech, The Only Way to Achieve It.
• It appears that Miscavige has redefined F/N from what LRH gave us to say that the needle must swing at least three times. This is nowhere written by LRH and is out-tech. Overrun must be occurring on a massive scale. This is out-tech.
• There has been a degrade of study tech in the Basics program, which tells the student look up a misunderstood word in the glossary rather than use a dictionary. This is out-tech.  See HCBO 23 March 1978RB Word Clearing Series 59 Clearing Words
• The runway to auditor training has been lengthened by putting in long pre-requisite courses (Pro TRs,Upper Indocs, Pro Metering, and the Basics, which takes over a year all by itself.) The result is very few auditors trained. This is out gradient and hence out-tech. As co-auditing is the practical means by which auditing can occur on a great scale, the number of people being audited is extremely curtailed.
• Sea Org members have been forbidden to have children since 1986. There has been no family time with existing children allowed since 1987. This is an enforced blocking of a dynamic when LRH stressed balance of the dynamics. See Fundamentals of Thought, Chapter 4 The Eight Dynamics.
• There has been a suppressive application of disconnection, breaking up families. This is a misapplication of PTS/SP technology. This is out-tech. See “PTSness and Disconnection,” Introduction to Scientology Ethics (1998). Disconnection is now being used, in fact, as a political tool.
• The prices for auditing and courses are so high that the average middle income person cannot afford them. This is an outpoint.
• The e- meter, an essential auditing tool, is priced at over $4000 and probably costs about $200 to make. (I thought we were supposed to be clearing the planet.) This is an outpoint.
• The supposed statistics of great expansion from Management are false. One has only to walk into one’s empty local org to see this. This is an out point.
• My OT 5 has been very poorly handled.

The statements of OT VIIIs Geir Isene (http://elysianchakorta.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/geir_isene_doubt_cos_2009-08-07.pdf) and Luis Garcia (https://markrathbun.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/a-letter-from-garcia.pdf) could not be dismissed either. Both Geir and Luis are highly intelligent and credible.

I am grateful for my many gains and wins in Scientology and continue daily use of the spiritual and mental technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

Should the leadership and direction of the Church change for the better, I would consider rejoining. Please remove me from your mail, email, and telephone lists at this time, however.

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I won’t describe the levels of shock, horror, and personal loss I have felt or the difficulty in confronting all this and arriving at this moment as the participants in this blog are surely familiar with same.

It is beyond pitiful that Miscavige has not been handled internally long ago and that we are relying on journalists and bloggers for information and hoping the FBI will march in to put in ethics on our church from the outside.

I remain devoted to the spiritual, mental, and ethics, technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

Once Miscavige falls, as fall he must, the Church needs to be reorganized so such a person cannot again seize and maintain control. As we know, LRH was not a fan of democracy. (“The common denominator of a group is the reactive bank. Thetans without banks have different responses. They only have their banks on common. They agree then only on bank principles,” HCPOL 7 Feb. 1965 Keeping Scientology Working).  Note that LRH wrote that before he developed the Upper Bridge.

Perhaps there could be a convention of OT 7s and above to choose the CEO of the Church. At those case levels, the bank is no longer an issue.  This would be somewhat like the College of Cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, which chooses the Pope. All OT 7s and above could be invited. Candidates for CEO position would make a presentation and the group would vote to choose one.  The CEO would report to the OT group regularly and could be removed by a 60% vote of same if need be.

It does not hurt to think ahead a bit.

With thanks to those courageous Independents who have preceded me,

Claire Yurdin (Adams, Luhrs)