NYT exposé: Church of Scientology reaccused of forced abortions
UPDATE, 3/11, 9:15a: A subject in the NYT article, Christie Collbran, was interviewed on The Today Show this week…
3/8, 2:24p: First some background on the cult of Scientology from Wikipedia…
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics. Hubbard characterized Scientology as a religion and in 1953 incorporated the Church of Scientology….
Scientology teaches that people are immortal spiritual beings who have forgotten their true nature. Its method of spiritual rehabilitation is a type of counseling known as auditing, in which practitioners aim to consciously re-experience painful or traumatic events in their past in order to free themselves of their limiting effects….
Further controversy has focused on Scientology’s belief that souls (“thetans”) reincarnate and have lived on other planets before living on Earth….
Another controversial belief held by Scientologists is that the practice of psychiatry is destructive and abusive and must be abolished….
… Hence, Scientologist Tom Cruise’s outburst in 2005 against Brooke Shields for seeking psychiatric help and using anti-depressant meds to overcome postpartum depression.
But apparently the Church of Scientology is not opposed to forced abortions, while maintaining a surface (strangely reasoned) opposition to it.
On March 6 The New York Times published an exposé about abuses within the Church of Scientology that include forced abortion, which appears consistent with previous testimonies…
The defectors say Sea Org [elite corps of staff members who keep the Church of Scientology running, known as the Sea Organization, or Sea Org] members were repeatedly beaten by the church’s chairman… pressured to have abortions; forced to work without sleep on little pay; and held incommunicado if they wanted to leave. The church says the defectors are lying….
[T]he Collbrans… could not just up and go….
So [Mrs. Colbran] intentionally conceived a child. She knew that the Sea Org did not allow its members to have children, and she had known women who were removed when they refused to have abortions. She waited until her pregnancy had almost reached the end of the 1st trimester to inform her superiors. It still took 2 months before the church let the Collbrans go, in 2006….
Marc Headley, who belonged to the Sea Org for 16 years… is suing the church for back wages…. His wife, who said the church coerced her into having 2 abortions, has also filed a suit. The couple now have 2 small children.
The church acknowledges that Sea Org members are not allowed to have babies, but denies that it pressures people into having abortions….
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
It’s simple. This is a cult and everyone involved is a weak minded kook! I have lost respect for Tom and Katie Cruise, John Travolta and Kelly, Jenna Elfman, and Kirstie Alley. Don’t ever forget that people in Hollyweird are human too. Skin. blood, and bones. Money and education don’t bring happiness, and I would venture to say that most of these Psychotologists aren’t happy. They are all waiting on that Theaten Mother Ship. *cue the Twilight Zone Music*
Some entertainers worship $$ and they feel they are above God. Thou shall have no other Gods before me. The truth is that if you are indeed talented, God gave it to you. It’s a gift. I believe that Tom Cruise is a Jew by birth, but I’m not sure. Either way, these people are lost souls. They worship a bunch of sci-fi bull. Just because they act, it doesn’t mean they aren’t weak. It doesn’t mean they are smart.
No, actually heather, Tom Cruise is/was Catholic, as are most of the celebrity Scientologists.
Pamela, thank you. I was unaware of that.
I read that John Travolta flew his own plane to Haiti and brought several Scientologists {I think they call them ministers] along to minister to the victims. I’m sure he had good intentions, but that is just so weird to me. I mean, were they trying to convert people???
Talk about a losing strategy. No kids.
I guess the folks are expected to leave their money to Sea Org.
Heather, I’ve done a lot of research on the “church” of $cientology. L. Ron Hubbard some time in the 70’s started a group of operatives within his “church” to start getting dirt on celebrities in order to blackmail them into joining the “church” to bring new people into the “church” through them.
This cult is dangerous and deadly.
see: http://theunfunnytruth.ytmnd.com/
xalaxie, I love your web site!!! I am going to your link now.
oh, btw, the link I provided is not content I made myself. I’m not that talented.
@hippie: Actually, many of them do leave their money to the “Church” of Scientology. And they also have a very agressive marketing strategy, espeically among celebrities. (This is part of one of their more well-known vids, but there are others.) They really do target celebs, not only because having famous faces helps them promote their message more agressively, but because celebrities tend to have more money to give to the organization. And you have to pay into the church in order to advance to the next level of “operating thetan.”
It’s a pyramid scheme under the guise of a religion. I am ashamed the US gives them tax-exempt status.
xalaxie, I just typed a long post and it vanished. I’m on a really slooooooooow computer! Anyway, that was one creepy link!!!! Furthermore, I have heard that once you join the cult, leaving is near impossible!!!!
I heard that during the filming of “War of the Worlds” Tom Cruise had some sort of “tent” that had massage tables or something? And there was something with the child star Dakota Fanning…..trying to convert her or something.
Katie Holmes is an innocent person that was brainwashed into this cult. Tom Cruise seems to like to prey on Catholic actresses (Nicole Kidman was Catholic and actually, I heard after she got married a few years ago, she returned to the Catholic church).
This cult is VERY DANGEROUS.
Liz I don’t know if Tom was Catholic but definitely Katie and Nicole are Catholic.
Nicole Kidman returned to the practice of her Catholic faith which she characterized as a breath of fresh air.
Katie will one day leave Tom and return as well. A mother’s prayers are always answered…..;)
Heather, add to that list Will Smith. He is even going to start a Scientologist school.
Okay, at the risk of offending people here, I find the beliefs of the Scientologists no stranger than those of the Latter Day Saints, but no one thinks they’re a cult.
Evidence of coerced abortions in Scientology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znti7gITZpg (Laura – Pt 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC8-YulbrA8 (Laura – Pt 2)
http://wiki.whyweprotest.net/Evidence_of_coerced_abortions
Phillymiss, please watch the video at the link I posted. These people are dangerous, and they literally own the entire city of Clearwater, Florida, including the police. They are literally getting away with murder there.
Two things: yes, there are people who believe that Mormonism is a cult. Regardless, you don’t hear the kinds of horror stories about LDS that you do about the Scientologists.
As to the comment that Cruise was “a Jew”… first of all, the correct grammar for that would be that Cruise “was Jewish”. Generally speaking, people only use the term “a Jew” if they are disparaging the Jewish people. That is exactly how I took that statement… “I believe that Tom Cruise is a Jew by birth, but I’m not sure. Either way, these people are lost souls.”
What difference would it make if Cruise were to be Jewish? (Which, no, he never was, but so what?)
And oh yeah… I’m Jewish by birth and Christian by faith… so I do tend to pick up on those grammatical inconsistencies that have been historically used to degrade and remove the humanity of certain peoples. (I’m also part Polish Gypsy… I don’t want to even contemplate how many of my relatives went through the killing chambers at Dachau and Auschwitz… both places I have visited and prayed in mourning for those lost…)
That is one scary organization, who knows what they are capable of?
Elisabeth, I meant no offense. I am married to a Jewish man. It would not matter to me if Tom were Jewish or not. Actually, my husband thought he was Jewish by birth. It doesn’t matter to me that he WAS a Catholic either. All I know is that he’s a Scientologist now. @Phillymiss, I had heard that Will Smith was no longer involved. Apparently I was wrong about that one too. I also forgot to mention the Beckmans.