Shop high-quality unique Scientology T-Shirts designed and sold by artists. No such luck. The aforementioned movie is one of the best political documentaries ever … Everyone seems to really be loving this series. Now that the HBO doc on Scientology has aired, we break down a few of its more damning talking points. This is one of the best Louis Theroux's documentaries ever made. Joe has a private zoo where he keeps 167 tigers. Fifty Best Scientology Podcasts For 2021. Even Hubbard’s novels were declared religious documents after current Scientology leader David Miscavige initiated mass lawsuits against the IRS, then claimed he would pull the plug on them if the church became tax-exempt. ... 10 Best, Worst and WTF Moments at … Going Clear includes footage of a massive rally where Miscavige is shown declaring to his legions of followers, “The war is over.”. Filmmaker and infamous former Scientologist Paul Haggis describes learning this story in Going Clear, recalling that he initially saw it as a test of sanity: It had to be denied in order to prove that you were not crazy and had become sufficiently clear. They would suffer beatings, were doused with water, and were forced to play “musical chairs” — set to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” All of this was designed to elicit confessions of their crimes against Hubbard and Miscavige. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. 9. This documentary was one of the best I've ever seen, and I watch A LOT of documentaries. You’ll learn so much about the lives of children who grow up in the church, of the difficulties experienced by those who try to leave the church, and of the way in which the church persecutes anyone who tries to speak up against them. Yes, it’s difficult to definitively determine what constitutes a religion and what doesn’t. Sure, sane people can see it for what it actually is. If you've ever been remotely curious about wtf the drama was about when people were talking about Tom Cruise being into Scientology, it's definitely worth a watch. © Copyright 2021 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. The “secret” behind Scientology alienated many of the church’s membersOnce members of the church reach the rank of “Operating Thetan III,” they are given Hubbard’s hand-written notes and told the secrets of the church — a tale involving a past alien society perfectly resembling the America of the 1950s (coincidentally the moment when Hubbard came up with the story). The 15 Best HBO Documentaries of All Time. By Esquire Editors. Watch these films from the comfort of your campsite. The 25 Best Documentaries of All Time by malthe-tuxen | created - 22 Jun 2017 | updated - 2 weeks ago | Public My 25 personal favorite documentaries of all time Refine See titles to watch instantly, titles you haven't rated, etc. Listen online, no signup necessary. Also, Louis almost got into a lot of trouble while trying to make this one, guys. Latest was Sensibly Speaking Podcast #279: Scientology, Miscavige and Marketing ft. Jeff Hawkins. A documentary looking at the inner-workings of the Church of Scientology. Troubling enough, certainly. Sort by. From its heartbreaking personal accounts of abuses both psychological and physical, to its eye-opening anecdotes from former members—not to mention its deep, deep recovery of often-startling church archival footage, Going Clear makes for a brutally effective exposé of the church’s exploitation of its members and shady-to-downright-illegal practices. D: Do you think the Church will ever go away? Updated on November 19th, 2020 by Christopher Fain: Following the end of the acclaimed A&E series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, audiences around the world find themselves more curious than ever to explore the world of cults. What began as an honest examination into whether or not the organization deserved its purported disturbing reputation, quickly, and—perhaps unintentionally—confirmed that it did. But authorities took the work to be “psychological folk art” and dismissed it as “a passing fad, like the hula hoop,” suggesting a possible part of the reason for Hubbard’s later vehement disdain rage at the profession. Anyone who likes Dawkins, Hitchens, or Maher (etc) will love this. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.It received widespread praise from critics and was … The Best Outdoor Documentaries Ever, According to You Did your favorite make the list? Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened (2016) Atlas Media. With Paul Haggis, Jason Beghe, Spanky Taylor, David Miscavige. Out of all of Going Clear‘s revelations, this one might be the smoking gun. All Rights Reserved. L. Ron Hubbard’s life was built on a series of lies and bullyingThough much of Scientology’s early doctrine revolved around Hubbard having been cured of wounds and illnesses during his military service, the actual records paint a different story, suggesting that he only suffered from “mild arthritis and conjunctivitis.” He went on to use the threat of suicide to bully his second wife, Sara Northrup, into marrying him; the film recounts an incident when Hubbard violently woke her up for smiling in her sleep, which was allegedly indicative that she was thinking about another man. Learn its history and its significance in meeting the needs of Scientology’s ever-growing congregation. 1 comment. (This part of the church’s belief system has also been memorably dramatized in an episode of South Park.) If you only ever read one book about Scientology, make it Jenna’s memoir. 5. A galactic overlord named Xenu called in mass numbers of people, “ostensibly for tax audits,” and took to a prison planet (actually Earth). (Part 3 of 6) "The World's Best Scientology Documentary Ever" (New episode every Monday) In this episode of "The Worlds Greatest Scientology Documentary ever," we explored the first step everyone must take along their Scientology journey: the Purification Process. Remini won three Emmy awards for … She then went on to investigate the church further through the lens of her own experiences in the documentary series, "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath," which ran from 2016 to 2019. Close • Posted by 1 hour ago. World's Best Scientology Documentary Ever. 10. Paper magazine caught up with the actor as he arrived at the Sundance Film Festival in January, just before the premiere of director Alex Gibney's buzzy documentary, "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief." Those recruited for the Scientology army sign a billion-year contract . According to the documentary, Kidman’s phone was tapped and she was tailed by private investigators; Cruise’s own auditing sessions were allegedly pored over by Miscavige, who received “daily reports” on how the couple were doing. Though it has been difficult to determine how much the church earns in full, Wright says that he discovered tax records while researching his book that suggested just three of the 20 or so major organizations comprising Scientology had earned upwards of $1.5 billion. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is a 2015 documentary film about Scientology.Directed by Alex Gibney and produced by HBO, it is based on Lawrence Wright's book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief (2013). What 2020’s Hardships Taught These Seven Business Leaders About Community, ‘Saved by the Bell’ Star Dustin Diamond Diagnosed With Stage 4 Cancer, New York Dolls Guitarist Sylvain Sylvain Dead at 69, ‘I Don’t Think She Deserved to Die’: Black Activist Who Filmed Ashli Babbitt Shooting Speaks Out, With Stay-at-Home Mandates in Place, These Companies Are Helping Couples Do Date Night In, ‘Steven Universe’: How Rebecca Sugar Turned TV’s Most Empathetic Cartoon Into an Empire, Sects, Cults, Cannibals: Reza Aslan on His Controversial Fringe Religion Show, 10 Best, Worst and WTF Moments at 2016 MTV Movie Awards. Based in part on her 2015 book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, Leah Remini’s very personal, alternately sassy and poignant docuseries, focuses primarily on the stories of escaped former members like herself. 100% Upvoted. Scientology: the Donald Trump administration of religions. But Scientology enjoys a privilege that even the ever-profiting President doesn’t: no taxation, with representation for an organization that collects fees from its constituents as part of its graduated “enlightenment.” (And at some point, the mechanism of our legal system could force the release of Trump’s tax records.). reports that he left the church after using a story from Greek mythology to lie about having been reincarnated. The film which takes an unconventional approach, after the Church of Scientology refused to cooperate in making the documentary. Miscavige describes it as a place to become “destressed” through menial labor, but Taylor describes it as “30 hours on, three hours off.” Eventually, she became pregnant, something the church describes as an “unpractical burden” for members of Sea Org, leading it to pressure many into having abortions. But the protection of the IRS (and the first amendment) allowed for the sidestepping of otherwise required payments. Yet as much as Hubbard claimed Scientology wasn’t a form of psychiatry or psychology, and even as the church eventually took the mental health professions to be its enemy, Hubbard sought validation from those some people, sending materials about the book to the American Psychological Association. Now that 'Going Clear' — the HBO exposé on Scientology — has aired, we break down 10 things we learned from the damning documentary. As in legal threats were made by the church against Louis in response … Buy/rent on Amazon Buy/rent on iTunes. Alex Gibney's HBO documentary 'Going Clear' reveals some of Scientology's most controversial secrets. A number of her peers would do the hard work of scrubbing and fixing up the ship to make it seaworthy, while Hubbard would later, smoking cigarettes and “surveying his kingdom.” She also recounts how he would join the laborers after dinner and wax philosophical about the “fifth invaders.”. The church essentially went to war with the IRS over tax exemptionThe film recounts a full-on battle between the IRS and the church over the notion of tax exemption for Scientology on the basis of it being a religion. Last night, HBO aired Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Alex Gibney’s documentary exposé of the Church of Scientology and its founder, science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. The 6 Best Documentaries to Watch While High Hannah Meadows June 11, 2017 Firing up a documentary whilst high is hardly a new idea, but it’s usually a good one (hello, Planet Earth ). Best High “They said heroin would be the best high I ever had… They lied.” Between 1995 and 2002, the number of American teens aged 12 to 17 who used heroin at some point increased by 300 percent. She covers a lot of topics specific to believers, using jargon that only other Scientologists would be … Their spirits were shown massive films of crucified people, after which they become “thetans,” the neurosis-inducing “souls” of people within Scientology’s mythos. Scientology blackmails its members with private “audit” sessionsThroughout the film, Taylor wonders how Travolta has been continually kept in thrall to the church, particularly when he has the power to push back against many of its practices. Want more Rolling Stone? 4. Sep 29, 2019 Courtesy. 8. Remini wrote a best-selling memoir in 2015 titled "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology," which shone a light on her ordeal with the church. 3 America's Most Dangerous Pets (2011) In one of the best Louis Theroux documentaries, he tries to uncover some of the most dangerous pets in America where he meets Joe “Exotic”. Beware false prophets, indeed. Scientology and Me turned out to be important less due to the documentary itself, but because of Scientology’s interference with the production, and … This could be very Pollyanna of me and very naive, but I do believe that good will win out in the end. Because the series aired well after Going Clear, it was a smart decision on Remini’s part to focus more on her interviewees’ first-hand accounts of their time with the church—there wasn’t much of any substantive exposé left to go around after the earlier film. It's so sick the number of people who comment, we read them all. The assembled auditing sessions constitute a perpetual Sword of Damocles, capable of, in theory, bringing him or any other member down at any moment. Hubbard sent letters about Dianetics to the American Psychological AssociationThe religion’s early documents had a foundation of psychological concepts, such as the idea of “going clear,” based on a proposed distinction between separate halves of the brain. This is one of the saddest documentaries you will ever see, but also one of the best cult documentaries available. Look no further than My Scientology Movie for a take on the subject that’s more absurdist fun than it is seriously alarming. Eventually, the Hole led several Scientologists, including Rathburn and now-activist Mike Rinder, to leave the church. Factual information on drug abuse can save lives—a public service message. Directed by Alex Gibney. Available in a range of colours and styles for men, women, and everyone. We want to hear from you! 2. The organization had taken aggressive action to counterattack (including a full-page ad in The New York Times) after the movie’s premiere at Sundance last January, and now that the film has finally aired on the cable channel, they’re likely to go on the offensive as a whole new audience begins to discuss some of the Scientology’s more terrifying, disturbing practices. Scientology’s win over the IRS allowed the church to rake in moneyThat victory, and Scientology’s subsequent assumption of non-profit status, has allowed the church to amass enormous sums of money without necessarily spending it in the way religious organizations traditionally do. Since Theroux was categorically denied any access in order to make a straight documentary, the filmmakers chose to instead film actors “auditioning” for scenes of alleged church scandals and capture the ensuing chaos of Scientology officials’ reactions, including filming the church’s agents filming the filmmakers in some kind of demented visual evidence-gathering standoff. The late Christopher Reeve was best known for playing Superman in the '70s and '80s, but he was also a Scientologist for a while. And, once the relationship was over, the church apparently attempted to “assign” Cruise a new girlfriend — Homeland actress Nazanin Boniadi. 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