A Former Scientologist Speaks Out Against the Cult

Last week, I posted about Australian senator Nick Xenophon‘s inquiry into the Church of Scientology’s tax exempt status because of the crimes they have committed.

Aaron Saxton was an “enforcer of the Church of Scientology’s policies in the Sea Org”

Xenophon cited seven former Scientologists when making his case against them — Saxton was one of them.

Bef [redacted], a student, managed to get an interview with Saxton and asked him quite a bit about the Church of Scientology.

He got some good answers, too.

If you trust what Saxton says, this is damning information. Here are just a couple of the excerpts from Saxton’s replies:

The Church of Scientology has one unique factor about it from other religions. Every other religion, you’re given all the information at the start. So when a person defends the Catholic Church, he can because he has read the entire bible. The average Scientologist has done less than 10% of the actual materials in the Church, he doesn’t know what he’s defending; he has no idea. You could give him Star Trek XI as OT8 and he will defend it, because he must defend the Church otherwise he is instructed to leave.

…

As far as you know while you’re working there, Scientology is dominating the world, and you want it to dominate the world. The goal of the Sea Org is not to have Scientology worldwide, the goal of the Sea Org is to control all activities on the planet and to eliminate all people to who are hostile to their stated goals, whatever they may be.

…

We had a Cadet Org set up at Flag Land Base that had more than 50 children. These kids weren’t allowed to mix with other children, they weren’t allowed to go to a school because they would learn the wrong information about life. These kids, by the age of 7, are telling you that they know that they’ve lived for 75 trillion years, that they know they’re supposed to be superhuman beings, and the reason why they’re not is because they were bad people in a past life, and this is why they lost their abilities. They know that if anybody doesn’t join the Sea Org, that they’re helping to destroy the planet, and they’re an enemy and they are not to be spoken to.

Ugh. Makes me sick.

Read the full interview. Just don’t do it before you have a big meal.

medussa

Holy effing shit.
Is this interview documented? Meaning, do we know for a fact that Milne didn’t make this up, either as a spoof, or to discredit Scientology? (extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, after all)

Cause this is crazy shit for sure…
Beckster

Every other religion, you’re given all the information at the start

This is not factual. Memebers of the LDS faith aren’t informed of what goes on in the temple until they enter the priesthood (men) or get married (women). Of course, you can find all this out on the internets, but the church elders make it very clear that it is sinful to research what happens in the temple.

I am sure there are many more examples of religions where the real information isn’t given to you upfront.
Dave Hodgkinson

Child abuse?
JulietEcho

What Beckster said.
Paul Lundgren

There have been accusations of white slavery against CoS before. The problem is proof: these people are so inculcated into the cult mindset they have no will anymore, and would never agree to testify against the cult for abusive practices. It’s a damned shame, but they’ll get theirs in the end.
Matt D

No way can any organisation be so fucked up – I call Poe (please be a Poe)

If true, HOLY. SHIT…

can people be so weak-willed?

but what if you are born into this travesty? OMG
Fentwin

“So when a person defends the Catholic Church, he can because he has read the entire bible”

I highly doubt this assertion. Most Christians I know have only read bits a pieces. The few people I know that have read the entire bible are my atheist freinds.

Of course this isn’t evidence, just my personal experience. 🙂
Min

Sadly, the Church of Scientology really is that fucked up. Here’s a considerable amount of information about them: http://www.xenu.net/

In many cases, the reason ex-Scientologists don’t testify in court isn’t because they have “no will,” it’s because they’re terrified of what will happen to them if they do so. The CoS is not above destroying your life if you piss them off.
john locke

Unfortunately, those practices sound exactly like what many evangelical groups in the US do, and unfortunately not illegal.

Fentwin, I agree. I laughed when I saw that line. Most Christians I know will be completely lost if you start quoting bits from the Old Testament.
Bef Milne

medussa:
The interview was recorded, for one.

Many of the practices involved and referred to are written in Scientology’s polices which have leaked, I do quote some of these directly (ones allowing illegal imprisonment, tearing apart of families, silencing of critics at any cost) in another post, and these are also widespread throughout the internet:
Secondly, as mentioned in the post, Aaron is in the middle of the current calls for a probe in to the Church of Scientology in Australia after he sent a letter to Senator Nick Xenophon detailing the crimes he was involved in and witnessed.

Here is a videotaped interview with Aaron by a Carmel Underwood:
Aaron doesn’t go in to the same amount of detail regarding specific incidents, however there is still a lot of truly shocking information.

Beckster: “Memebers[sic] of the LDS faith aren’t informed of what goes on in the temple” I know what you mean, though I would guess that Aaron is referring to mainstream, moderate religion and not other cults such as Mormonism.

Matt D: Unfortunately this is no Poe.
“but what if you are born into this travesty?” that’s exactly the problem for most people, now. Many are third generation Scientologists, and the Church of Scientology is NOT an easy organisation to leave; they have all of your secrets in recorded auditing files which they can and will go public with, they will force family members and friends to stop communicating with you, you’ve probably spent your entire life studying Scientology and thus have no real knowledge of how to survive in reality, and so on.

Fentwin: “I highly doubt this assertion. Most Christians I know have only read bits a pieces. The few people I know that have read the entire bible are my atheist freinds[sic].” You’re right, however the content is available in full to be read and scrutinised by the public, and the members can easily find out what the actual doctrine of their own Church is, by picking it up and reading the relevant section. Unfortunately in Scientology, most of the material is secret even to members, and they have to work their way along the “bridge” in order to access it (ie. they have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars).
Bef Milne

I should also suggest that people make sure they read the full article; the excerpts do not begin to explain the evils occurring in the Church; coerced abortions, illegal imprisonment, the brutal assault of female staff..

Also, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know (as an atheist, I was) that Saxton believes the average Scientologist is “just as deluded as the next guy” re: beliefs, ie. he doesn’t think Scientologists believe anything more absurd than Christians etc. However, the difference is huge human rights offenses that are written in to the Church’s policies and executed by staff, completely condoned by the organisation. To use an example Aaron gave me, it would be like the Catholic Church telling their Priests they have to sexually abuse Children.
Sunioc

As far as modern religions go, Scientology is at the top of my list of most scary. I’ve read quite a bit about Scientology, and I can only conclude that they’re a terrifying criminal organization. I would suggest reading Road To Xenu by Margery Wakefield, as well as Social Control in Scientology, to get an idea of what the organization is really about. Both are public domain, and available along with a lot of other material on the cult at http://www.factnet.org/Scientology/books.htm
Beckster

I know what you mean, though I would guess that Aaron is referring to mainstream, moderate religion and not other cults such as Mormonism

What’s that quote? The only difference between a religion and a cult is the amount of real estate they own. Mormons own a lot of real estate! But aren’t they all essentially cults? I have to say though my mormon relations are far more rational than my evangelical relatives.
Logic

How can anyone defend this obvious cult, its one big scam. I personally believe all these celebrity’s are joining due to blackmail or some shit. They get people killed, take all their goddamn money and will drop you in a second if you question them.
Bef Milne

Sunioc: I agree with you wholeheartedly that Scientology is a “terrifying criminal organization”. Having read many personal accounts from former Scientologists in the past, one thing that Aaron’s story delves into that others haven’t is personal responsibility – not blaming the management for his actions, but putting himself in front of the firing squad in order to bring public attention to the real issues here – the horrible abuse of basic human rights.
Epistaxis

These kids, by the age of 7, are telling you that they know that they’ve lived for 75 trillion years, that they know they’re supposed to be superhuman beings, and the reason why they’re not is because they were bad people in a past life, and this is why they lost their abilities. They know that if anybody doesn’t join the Sea Org, that they’re helping to destroy the planet, and they’re an enemy and they are not to be spoken to.

Well, we let all the other religions do that.
Bef Milne

Epistaxis: but these children are educated only on Scientology materials, there is no educational curriculum on material not written by L. Ron Hubbard. These children are not allowed to associate with kids outside Scientology, and then they’re told if they don’t join the paramilitary force, Scientology’s private army, they will be disowned by their parents – meaning absolutely all of their knowledge is of no use, they have no friends or family and are effectively useless.

It is extremist and cult-like, and you’re right that it does occur elsewhere; in other extreme religious sects and cults. This is exactly the point; Scientology is a dangerous cult and it should not be tax exempt or allowed to continue to commit these human rights violations.
Lagunatic

I agree with those who are scared of this “religion”. Out of curiosity I did some research on Scientology a while back and was so frightened about what I was reading that I stopped. I was actually afraid that I’d be targeted by them. I’m not normally a paranoid person but these people are bat-shit crazy!!
Lagunatic

Some stuff:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/10/paul_haggis_ditches_scientolog.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972865,00.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9363363/inside_scientology/3 (the story that got me started)
Lagunatic

This stuff has already probably been posted – please forgive me, I’ve got a cold so information isn’t being processed properly (which I’ve decided is a great excuse for being dumb and lazy and I intend to use it a lot in the future)

http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/ebner_undercover_scientology_spy_magazine_1996.phtml
Bef Milne

Here are a couple more articles written by myself today on the true issues with the Church of Scientology

http://footbullet.net/2009/11/25/scientology-scandals/
Bef Milne

http://footbullet.net/2009/11/25/scientology-private-navy/
muggle

First let me state flat out that Scientology is an evil, abusive, scary cult. That said:

I flat out think Aaron is lying about at least some — if not most — of this. The stories don’t even make sense and contradict each other. He lost me with that bit about the 15 year old girl in Los Angeles. It might have been credible if she were 18 but 15 year olds don’t have the choice. All the parents would have to do is bring the cops to drag her ass out of there and then there’d be some nice publicity about harboring a runaway and speculation about just what went on with this minor while she was there.

The story about kidnapping the couple also rings false. Plus, if they’re so hell-bent on raising (literally) an army to take over the world and are brainwashing these children so thoroughly with so much success, what possible motivation would they have for ordering abortions? Frankly, they would be doing the opposite and ordering breeding if Aaron’s story was true instead of contradicting itself.

Also, gimme a break with the exaggerations. Half the people went insane after two and a half months locked up. Scientology owns half of Florida. He likes “half” like some fools like “hundreds”.

I have my theories for his motivation. It’s a scary story designed to make us all tremble in fear. He admits to some rank so has some motive (if they really seek world domination and that one I can believe) to make us all tremble in fear.

Um, so not trembling, Aaron. Sorry. (That was sarcastic what I really meant was up yours.) Not really worried that you can take over the world country by country, state by state, city by city, town by town. Good luck with that. One big mistake you presume is that owning half the businesses in Florida (yeah, sure you do) wouldn give you control of Florida. Nope, not even owning them all. Businesses aren’t without influnence but don’t forget a little thing that does exist in America even though it often seems dormant — power to the people.

So, Aaron, fuck you. I’m not falling for it. And I’m not cowtowing to it. I’m not advocating jumping the gun to illegally infriging on Scientology’s rights so you can cry victim and gain power against law suits or legal action you do deserve. And if you mess with me or mine, I am going to take action. This is one bitch, you’d never succeed in suppressing. Never. Do I make myself clear?
Lagunatic

@ mugggle – sooooo, you don’t agree w/ him then? 😉
muggle

Not exactly, Lagunatic. 😀