The Church of Fear by John Sweeney

The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology, John Sweeney.   London: Silvertail Books, 2013.  e-book, 290 pps.


John Sweeney is an investigative reporter.  He is the "tomato face" who lost it in front of several Scientologists during an interview.  To his credit, he rapidly admits his faults and apologizes where due.  Following outsiders around and spying on them is rather creepy.  "Creepy" is a word that Sweeney uses a lot in The Church of Fear.

The Church of Fear re-counts Sweeney's experiences with high-ranking Scientologists [N.B. but not David Miscavige] in various places.  There is a torturous anti-psychiatry exhibit, films which are too long, and a lot of history in this book.  During the course of the book itself, several of the officials which Sweeney had contact with split from Scientology.  A split means leaving behind loved ones who are still bona fide Scientologists along with leaving behind Scientology the organization itself.  Even the outs who are not out outs-- out outs are people who no longer take stock in any of the Scientology dogma; singular outs regret that the dogma of which they are still fond has gotten corrupted by bad practices throughout the years-- have had to be disconnected from friends and loved ones.  

Sweeney endorses Robert Jay Lifton's work throughout The Church of Fear.  [I also have Lifton's definitive work Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism in my possession.  It is slated for review at a future date].  Sweeney provides a framework for understanding the pull of Scientology upon its members.  It is not so easy to pack it all in and leave Scientology, particularly if one is a member of the Sea Org.

Who to believe?  On one side, there are prominent public Scientologists like Tom Cruise and Juliette Lewis.  [I never much cared for Tom Cruise as an actor.  I've been a fan of Juliette Lewis.  I like her because she can be said to be quirky.  And I like quirky].  On the other, there are some ex-Scientologists who have written very poignant memoirs.   And there are words that keep appearing.  Dead Agent, Estates Project Force, Fair Game, Xenu.  Then also, the legendary [legal word: alleged] temper of David Miscavige.  To those who are still in Sea Org, these questions must be asked: Did he ever strike you? Did he ever strike someone you know?  Is he verbally abusive? 

Xenu.  I will not fault anyone for believing in Xenu.  After all, the claims of other religions are equally fanciful.  Those other claims are somewhat embedded in American culture.  Indeed, many of us grew up with them.  A belief in Xenu is no more absurd than believing that a deity knocked up a virgin, donkeys and snakes talked, or that some deity or deities communicate directly with certain human beings.  Whether the mysticism occurs out in space or in the cargo cults of Polynesia or at the internal altars of the faithful matters not.  There is something to be said for the temporary appeal of a personal mysticism.  A sense of getting some real answers coupled with a feeling of being a deity's special snowflake can be intoxicating.  Been there some years ago.  Done that.  Got burnt out.  This mystical stuff is hard work-- a definite downside to it.  At any rate, I maintain that belief in a space opera sort of gospel is no more odd than belief in the tenets of any mainstream religion. 

Sweeney's book points up some differences between the influence of Scientology in England versus its' influence in the United States.  In England, Scientology is not considered to be a religion by the powers that be.  In the United States, it is.  Because Scientology is considered to be a religion by the laws of this land, Scientology has a certain legal standing.    Does religious standing matter in the United States?  Most assuredly it does.  In the United States, the rights of a religious body exceeds the rights of its' detractors.  What else?  England does not have an assemblage of actors and actresses who have converted.  Scientology in Hollywood has been successful in recruiting actors and actresses for the cause.

Scientology has a bundle of lawyers and loyal adherents who have proven able to deliver more than sufficient butt-hurt to its' critics.  Ex-Scientologists, reporters, journalists, investigators, and bloggers have all suffered.  The specific and precise use of the word "creepy" in The Church of Fear is rather telling. 

Scientology does not have the monopoly on twisted tales of deviance.  Genocide committed in an African country involving in part a Roman Catholic church with members of "the wrong tribe" inside being bulldozed to death upon the direct orders of a priest.  Child brides and rape.  WWASPS.  Suicide bombers.  The refusal of a government influenced by fundamentalists to embrace stem cell research.  Not allowing AIDS organizations to tell adults in foreign countries that the use of condoms can and does prevent some percentage of HIV-related deaths.  Acting upon a belief that the life of an unborn fetus takes precedence over the life of a mother or a rape victim.  Those atrocities have been addressed in other places.  It is my sincere belief that we must force ourselves to talk about these things no matter where we find evidence of them.  The perpetrators count on our silence and our shame.  Denial of basic human rights will continue to occur within Scientology and elsewhere for as long as we cower and shrink away from these unpalatable truths. 
  
sapphoq reviews says:  The Church of Fear is useful to those who are seeking outsider information on Scientology, to folks looking to get out, to ex-Scientologists, and to students of comparative religions and/or totalitarian regimes.  Sweeney's writing is crisp-- if a tad repetitive in places-- and his history of psychiatry is succinct.  The repetitive dialogue and introspection within illustrate how even the brain of a seasoned war journalist can get twisted when Scientologists are talking.

This book continues to bear witness to certain [legal word: alleged] practices of the Church of Scientology which to us as outsiders appear to be part of a widespread culture of abuse within its' ranks.  Much safer to read this book than to actually visit any Scientology center anywhere in the world.

They are words.  They are copy-left.  If for some reason, you want this thing, clicky to save to your computer.  

 
Am I a Suppressive Person?  I am probably one of the worst sort-- I am an atheist.  My non-theistic status makes me persona non gratis in many places where believers of all kinds gather.  Not only do I prefer natural explanations to supernatural or preternatural explanations, I am also a supporter of Anonymous.  For anyone who has been living in a vacuum, Anonymous is [an idea] known for its' OpChanology protests near the Scientology Headquarters in California some years ago.  Anonymous continues to campaign against Scientology as the epitome of thought control.  [These days, some politicians and federal agencies in the United States are also doing a pretty fair imitation of thought control in my unasked for and unwanted opinion].  On the plus side, I am not in contact with any Scientologists [as far as I know] and I intend to keep it that way.      

So yeah.  The Church of Fear is highly recommended.


     If we as a race of humans are to evolve beyond a 
     need for belief in childish tales, we must create our 
     own meaning.  Because life itself is devoid of meaning.  
     We are not special snowflakes.  We are each of us 
     alone in our own skins.  Once we get with that, 
     we will perhaps be less subject to the many seductive 
     and false promises of the snake oil sales forces.   ~ sapphoq

Atheist Manifesto by Michel Onfray

Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, Michel Onfray.  New York, Arcade Publishing: 2007, 2008, 2011.  e-book, 210 pps.

Michel Onfray is a French atheist whose writing should be better known in the States than it is.  His writing is scholarly and his grasp on history is immediately clear.  Atheist Manifesto is engrossing.  Onfray addresses the bloody parts of history that the institutions of the peoples of the book have orchestrated, the political scene behind the figure of Jesus, and the forgeries and fakery inherent in the whole mess.  I was amazed to learn that Dewey was anti-intellectual-- this is a factoid that the folks teaching the teachers neglect to mention when covering him.  I was aware that William James was a bit on the whoo-whoo side but Onfray's writing really brings this home.  A lot to learn in this volume, even for the seasoned atheist.

sapphoq reviews says:  Michel Onfray's Atheist Manifesto should not be ignored.  It is a definitive work and points up why the old "you can believe what you want and so can I" is intellectually dishonest.  This book should be required reading in divinity schools.  It is deconstruction of monotheisms at its very very best.  Highly recommended.

Exposed: Internet Sex Predators by R. Stephanie Good

Internet Sex Predators, R. Stephanie Good.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007.  ebook, 193 pps.

I like case histories.  Case histories are kind of like snapshots into the secret lives of others, a sort of quasi-professional voyeurism.  Shrinks have always loved case histories.  Especially if the identified patient of the case history is dead.  In that case, they call them "psychological autopsies".  The dissection of the dead life is done with words and report folders and a team meeting.  Maybe it's mental masturbation.  So much of life these day is just that.  Some folks like to get their quota by watching those television talk shows-- the ones where you hope that none of your relatives insist that you come along with them to be a guest on but also the ones where you scan the list of guests to see if any of them are your neighbors.  The television docs are on the rise too these days.  Jerry Springer had to tone things down, I myself enjoy Christina on the Spanish station, Sally Jesse Raphael died, I don't know if Doctor Ruth is still around or not.  Exit most of the civilized talk shows and enter the doctor shows.  The docs tell you how to live or how not to live, send your kids away to abusive kiddy camps and "therapeutic treatment" places, make yummy snack foods, and talk about how your pee and poop should look.  With samples.  So lots of folks sit around and tune into these sorts of dirty laundry shows increasingly run by doctors and other perceived experts.  Instead of doing that, I am visiting dearly demented dad or out in the woods with the dog when those shows air.  I get my kicks from case histories of the printed kind.

Exposed: Internet Sex Predators is a series of case histories that R. Stephanie Good has aided the F.B.I. with.  She poses as an un-adult-- someone that grown men and women should not be approaching on-line for sex-- and goes into chatrooms.  She is very specific about what constitutes entrapment and what doesn't.  The pervs approach her persona.  The rule is that they are the ones who have to start with the sex talk first.  Once she ascertains that the perv private messaging her is not just into trading, she allows the perv of the moment to continue the conversation over a period of days or weeks when necessary.  The end result is usually a bunch of penises being transmitted to the e-mail box of a young teen and a request for a meeting.  

I had a gay male acquaintance who was a minister and a bit screwed up.  He did things like entertain strange men in the back of cars near bars and have sex with men with H.I.V. without condoms.  He didn't believe that H.I.V. transmitted A.I.D.S.  He was also fond of telling me some old saw about the cops in Fort Lauderdale who used to arrest gay men for peeking through glory holes in the public bathrooms and well, doing it through those same holes.  I never understood why anyone would want to jack off in a bathroom, especially a public bathroom which by definition is usually scummy.  My former acquaintance didn't really understand entrapment.  He figured that any contact with an undercover cop meant that the cop was enticing the future arrestee by mere presence.  I guess cops in Fort Lauderdale must all be tanned appealing hunks.  Who knew?  At any rate, lots of these sicko b-tards on the internet looking for teens also claim that they are being entrapped when caught.  Must be similar to the "But officer, some dude back there threw this bag of drugs into my car!" line that is heard so often on the television show Cops.

sapphoq reviews says:  While Exposed: Internet Sex Predators doesn't add much new to the discussion, it is rather enjoyable for those of us who like case histories in the printed form.  An easy read.  Not as knowledgeable as a John Douglas on how perps operate.  Even so, a good enough book.  Recommended to true crime afficianos who like Ann Rule and other case histories.