{"id":27504,"date":"2013-04-08T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T11:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=27504"},"modified":"2013-04-06T20:09:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-06T19:09:00","slug":"escaped-scientologist-goes-public-about-cult-brainwashing-and-labor-camps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/04\/escaped-scientologist-goes-public-about-cult-brainwashing-and-labor-camps\/","title":{"rendered":"Escaped Scientologist Goes Public about \u201cCult\u201d Brainwashing and Labor Camps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>3 Apr 2013 &#8211; A former Scientologist that was on a compound since childhood is now going public with a book and media appearances to speak about the brainwashing, child labor camps, as well as other horrors that she witnessed and experienced.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Despite its enduring popularity in public Hollywood, the Church of Scientology has been riddled with scandals involving terrible human rights violations.\u00a0 For a long time, the things that actually went on inside the church of Scientology were largely unknown, but in recent years there have been a series of whistleblowers, and documented cases of people escaping from labor camps.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27505\" style=\"width: 82px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/jenna-miscavige-hill.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27505\" class=\" wp-image-27505\" alt=\"jenna-miscavige-hill\" src=\"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/jenna-miscavige-hill.jpg\" width=\"72\" height=\"84\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-27505\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jenna Miscavige Hill (Photo: Wikipedia)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>One such whistleblower is Jenna Miscavige Hill.\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jenna_Miscavige_Hill\"  target=\"_blank\">According to Wikipedia: <\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Jenna Miscavige Hill<\/b>\u00a0(born 1984) is a former Scientologist who, after leaving the Church of Scientology in 2005, has become an outspoken critic of the organization. She is the daughter of Ron Miscavige, Jr. and the niece of current church leader David Miscavige.<\/p>\n<p>Hill, with Kendra Wiseman and Astra Woodcraft (both also raised in Scientology), founded the website exscientologykids.com. She has been interviewed about her experiences within Scientology by a number of media outlets, including ABC\u2019s Nightline in April 2008, and on Piers Morgan Tonight in February 2013 discussing details of the church.<\/p>\n<p>In 2000, when Hill was 16, her father and mother left Scientology. Hill states that due to the Scientology-ordered practice of disconnection with relatives and friends who don\u2019t support Scientology or are hostile to it, letters from her parents were intercepted and she was not allowed to answer a telephone for a year.<\/p>\n<p>She described her experience from ages five to 12 as this: \u201cWe were also required to write down all transgressions \u2026similar to a sin in the Catholic religion. After writing them all down, we would receive a meter check on the electropsychometer to make sure we weren\u2019t hiding anything, and you would have to keep writing until you came up clean.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>September 2012 she announced that she will be releasing her life story in her book <i>Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape<\/i>, published under the William Morrow imprint of HarperCollins.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gympietimes.com.au\/news\/i-was-brainwashed-and-robot-scientology-church\/1814188\/\"  target=\"_blank\">A recent interview was transcribed by Gympie Times:<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jenna was the third generation of Scientologists in her family and grew up on a compound in California. At the age of seven, she was admitted to the \u201cSea Organisation\u201d (Sea Org) \u2013 the executive branch of Scientology\u2019s most dedicated followers.<\/p>\n<p>She was made to sign a billion-year contract that bound her immortal spirit (known as the \u201cThetan\u201d) to lifetime after lifetime of dedication to the organisation.<\/p>\n<p>She was also, as camp medical liaison officer, responsible for the health and well-being of her fellow trainees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone of this struck me as odd at the time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLooking back I feel completely brainwashed. I didn\u2019t even know what I liked or what sort of person I was. I was just a robot of the church.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jenna says that she was made to incur several hours a day of gruelling labour from the age of six until she was 12.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wore uniforms and would be digging trench holes for irrigation and rock hauling. We would be doing 25 hours of heavy-duty labour a week. My hands were always full of blisters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Any dissent from the group could result in a bucket of ice water thrown over their heads or \u201cpigs berthing\u201d \u2013 spending the night on an old mattress in a dilapidated room filled with bats.<\/p>\n<p>Those who resisted authority were declared \u201csuppressives\u201d and cast out.<\/p>\n<p>Jenna became isolated from the outside world. She was taught that non-Scientologists (referred to as Wogs \u2013 Well and Orderly Gentleman) were ignorant.<\/p>\n<p>Jenna\u2019s testimony paints a picture of mistrust and suspicion sowed among the students by the leaders, urging them to tell on each others\u2019 misdemeanors or else be considered an \u201caccessory\u201d and face the same punishments.<\/p>\n<p>Jenna explains that any violation of rules could result in offenders being sent to the Orwellian-sounding Rehabilitation Project Force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was like a reprogramming camp for inmates who strayed in an attempt to bring them back into line. Offenders could be sent to a segregated location in the base for at least two years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Between the ages of 12 and 18, Jenna saw her mother only twice and father four times.<\/p>\n<p>Jenna\u2019s parents left the church when she was 16, though she decided to stay on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy that time, I didn\u2019t know my parents. I thought that my life and world was always going to be the church. The idea of leaving at that time was just scary to me.\u201d Jenna stayed on.<\/p>\n<p>In 2001, Jenna met her husband at the Sea Org and they started dating.<\/p>\n<p>Marriage followed soon after and they were sent on an assignment to Australia where, against church rules, they watched TV and searched the internet.<\/p>\n<p>It was here that she first encountered negative comments about her uncle.<\/p>\n<p>Jenna also struck up a friendship with a pregnant woman, which made her start thinking about her own life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cScientology rules stated that Sea Org executives couldn\u2019t have children. I felt like I could be really missing out. I slowly became more aware of the outside world and started to see how regular people lived.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2005, Jenna made the decision to leave the church.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI realised it wasn\u2019t the place I had always thought it was and I could no longer look away from its abuses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But her husband suddenly had doubts about leaving; the church was trying to persuade him to stay without her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey had pulled Dallas aside and were telling him bad things about me and my family and convincing him to stay. They told him that if he left, he wouldn\u2019t be able to speak to his family. It all backfired on them and we got out together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jenna calls her uncle \u201cevil\u201d for the forced labour and theft of her childhood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s disgusting that they completely take advantage of innocent and vulnerable children,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>She feels he doesn\u2019t follow any religious creed, but is motivated by the power and authority.<\/p>\n<p>The church issued a statement, in response to Jenna\u2019s book, that it does \u201cnot engage in any activities that mistreat, neglect or force children to engage in manual labour.<\/p>\n<p>The church follows all laws with respect to children. Claims to the contrary are false.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It says it always respects family units and that Jenna\u2019s recollections are at odds with those of many of her contemporaries who are still in the church. Jenna says they are lying.<\/p>\n<p>What does she think about prominent Scientologist celebrities such as Tom Cruise who are proud and in praise of the church?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEither he doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s happening or is wilfully ignorant about it. Those inside who know what goes on have a responsibility to speak out against it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since leaving, Jenna has rebuilt her relationship with her parents. Jenna says she wrote the book to bring closure to the past.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to turn this horrible episode into something meaningful and in the process show the dark side of a church that presents itself as benign. I hope it will discourage others from joining and convince those on the inside to see it for what it is and leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wtsp.com\/news\/article\/299516\/8\/Jenna-Miscavige-talks-about-Scientology\"  target=\"_blank\">Another interview with a mainstream media outlet revealed more details about the forced child labor camps:<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Heather Van Nest:<\/strong>\u00a0What was the worst thing that happened to you as a Scientologist?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jenna Miscavige:<\/strong>\u00a0The worst part, I believe, is the robbing of your education, and taking away your childhood, and taking you away from your parents so you have no one to turn to. You have no one in your corner, and essentially brainwashing you from such an early age.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Heather Van Nest:<\/strong>\u00a0You talk in your book about your uncle\u2019s power over the church and members even fear him. You have even called your uncle \u2018evil.\u2019Explain why?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jenna Miscavige:<\/strong>\u00a0He\u2019s the head of this organization- the one responsible for child neglect and abuse, to separating people from their families, to<strong>having people work there\u2026 100 hour weeks with little to no time off,and I thought it was about helping people.<\/strong>\u00a0I thought maybe we have to make some sacrifices in that way, but there are so many things imposed on its members that are pointless. They\u2019re not helping anybody. It\u2019s just about control and power at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Sources:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>^http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jenna_Miscavige_Hill<br \/>\n^http:\/\/www.wtsp.com\/news\/article\/299516\/8\/Jenna-Miscavige-talks-about-Scientology<br \/>\n^http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/news\/national\/scientologist-exposes-church-brutal-child-labor-camp-article-1.1291350<br \/>\n^http:\/\/www.gympietimes.com.au\/news\/i-was-brainwashed-and-robot-scientology-church\/1814188\/<\/p>\n<p>_________________________<\/p>\n<p><i>J.G. Vibes<\/i><em> is the author of an 87 chapter counter-culture textbook called <a href=\"http:\/\/aotmr.com\/books\/alchemy-of-the-modern-renaissance\/\"  target=\"_blank\">Alchemy of the Modern Renaissance<\/a>, a staff writer, reporter for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.intellihub.com\"  target=\"_blank\"><strong>Intellihub.com<\/strong><\/a> and Executive Producer of the Bob Tuskin Radio Show. You can keep up with his work, which includes free podcasts, free e-books &amp; free audiobooks at his website <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aotmr.com\/\"  target=\"_blank\">www.aotmr.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/intellihub.com\/2013\/04\/03\/escaped-scientologist-goes-public-about-cult-brainwashing-and-labor-camps\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 intellihub.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>3 Apr 2013 &#8211; A former Scientologist that was on a compound since childhood is now going public with a book and media appearances to speak about the brainwashing, child labor camps, as well as other horrors that she witnessed and experienced. She was made to sign a billion-year contract that bound her immortal spirit (known as the \u201cThetan\u201d) to lifetime after lifetime of dedication to the organisation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}