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    bagoflettersAnna Merlan
    5/02/16 9:44am

    She swallowed bleach to get away, I would say that was less "convince" leaders you are suicidal, and more "willing to risk dying to get away" How is there nothing the police/FBI/whoever deals with cults can do?

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      benjaminalloverbagofletters
      5/02/16 9:49am

      It’s coming. Until recently, it was protected as a religion, but that status was revoked this March.

      http://abcnews.com.co/united-states-...

      Dammit guys: this is not ABC News, it’s a parody site. Here’s Snopes;

      http://www.snopes.com/church-sciento...

      Sorry!

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      halenawwwbenjaminallover
      5/02/16 9:52am

      No way!! I hadn't heard about this. This is great news!!!

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    PoodletimeAnna Merlan
    5/02/16 9:49am

    As someone who has followed the Cult of $cientology for a long time, I find none of this in the least surprising or unbelievable. A woman I met on the train years ago told me that as she was escaping, officials at the Sea Org claimed that she owed them $217,000, even though she had worked for the cult 80 hours a week for 10 years for free. Charming people. Let’s come after them for labor laws violations also!

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      roguetraderPoodletime
      5/02/16 10:17am

      The only part that *surprised* me is where her own legal complaint alleges that the organization consistently force their “employees” to have abortions. They’re not employees, they’re slaves. No reason to give the organization even that slim veneer of propriety.

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      TzaPoodletime
      5/02/16 10:23am

      ...Idea. Get organized labor behind all people in that sort of situation to sue Scientology for withheld wages. 80 hours a week for however many years, even at minimum wage, is going to be a decent amount. Like, if you just use a $7 minimum wage it’s nearly 30k per year per person.

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    Mr.Noir, Liberal Hippie KingAnna Merlan
    5/02/16 9:59am

    This sounds depressingly common. In the “Going Clear” documentary (which was awesome and really deserved an Oscar nom, gee I wonder why it wasn't nominated) a woman had the exact same experience and implied that she was hardly the only one who went through that.

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      midnightkitkatMr.Noir, Liberal Hippie King
      5/02/16 10:23am

      It wasn’t nominated for an academy award because it was primarily distributed on television through HBO possibly disqualifying it from nomination. It did however win 3 Emmys.

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      Codename_SailorVmidnightkitkat
      5/02/16 10:50am

      I don’t think that’s true. HBO docs have not only been nominated for Oscars before, Citizenfour (their Snowden doc) won the Best Documentary Oscar in 2015. It had the same distribution model as Going Clear. Going Clear was also on the list of docs that qualified for an Oscar that was provided by the Academy to its members, do it definitely wasn’t disqualified.

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    JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereAnna Merlan
    5/02/16 10:04am

    The married at 17 bit is kinda awful as well.

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      JoanMillerTwoSuitsJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      5/02/16 10:38am

      Yeah, I was like “How old was her husband?” Putting a 12 year old girl to work for Sea Org raises a lot of questions for me.

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      smrknd2JoanMillerTwoSuits
      5/02/16 11:22am

      The “theology” of Scientology is that children are just adult souls (excuse me: Thetans) in small bodies. They have a long history of treating kids like small-statured adults. Putting them to work at 12 is just the tip of the iceberg.

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    benjaminalloverAnna Merlan
    5/02/16 9:43am

    A trial date hasn’t been set. Bert Deixler, an attorney for the Church, told OC Weekly the suit was wrongly involving civil courts in the internal affairs of a religious organization.

    You’re right Bert; they should be facing jail time.

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      EllaCindersbenjaminallover
      5/02/16 9:59am

      Known in legal circles as the “Catholic child-diddlers’ defense.”

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    Gladys HerdmanAnna Merlan
    5/02/16 10:20am

    This is all horrendous and in keeping with the cult’s practices as they’ve been exposed. But it should be pointed out that Sea Org is not high-level — they are low level, essentially the slave labor that keeps the organization’s compounds running.

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      smrknd2Gladys Herdman
      5/02/16 11:25am

      I think Sea Org is best described as clergy. For every Bishop and Archbishop, you have legions of low-level deacons and priests and such. I mean, they’re not priests, but it’s a similar kind of structure. There’s nothing above Sea Org, but just because you’re in Sea Org does not mean you’re in a leadership position.

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      kgeoGladys Herdman
      5/02/16 11:44am

      What is the labor for, do they produce something?

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    KeevaSAnna Merlan
    5/02/16 10:02am

    Just fuck Scientology. Forced abortions to prevent maternity time off. They’re worse than the the extreme far right.

    They are not a church despite their status (gained by filing thousands of groundless nuisance suits against the IRS), they are thugs on the best of days and nothing more than the shell of the tax-exempt lie the pedophile Hubbard created to avoid taxes and conceal his hunger for young boys.

    So, just fuck them.

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      smrknd2KeevaS
      5/02/16 10:40am

      And when mothers are allowed to keep their babies? They literally warehouse them. Parents in Sea Org are still often forced to work 80 hours a week, so their children are kept in childcare which... the conditions that have been described are horrific. Neglect, abuse, and then when the kids reach school age, they are totally uneducated. It’s a very convenient pipeline for more 12 year olds to sign up for billion-year contracts. Ever since the internet let the cat out of the bag about what CoS is really all about, their recruitment numbers have been falling and they’re increasingly counting on the children of current members to be brainwashed from day 1 to stay in the Church.

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      all my friends are problematic (aka do the truffle-shuffle)KeevaS
      5/02/16 10:55am

      Fuck scientology, for sure. But fuck this girl’s parents too. They’re the ones who as adults joined this loonie cult and dragged their poor daughter into it, let her be taken away to Sea Org, married off while she was still a minor, forced to have an abortion and then ‘imprisoned’ for disobedience. If an adult wants to get brainwashed and give up their life to a crazy cult, that’s their choice, but they shouldn’t be allowed to drag their children into it.

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    seeveepeeAnna Merlan
    5/02/16 10:17am

    Can a billion-year contract be enforced legally when signed by a 12-year-old?

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      SL8Rgirl81seeveepee
      5/02/16 10:52am

      can a billion year contract even be enforced at all?

      Do they sue your family when you die for breach of contract?

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      sunshineseeveepee
      5/02/16 11:06am

      No. In order for a contract to be enforced legally, one must first be able to consent. A 12-year-old can’t enforce it legally.

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    BuntyPeachAnna Merlan
    5/02/16 11:08am

    Friends of mine make fun of me because I get so incensed by Scientology but to me they are the incarnation of evil walking on the earth. If they ever started to land grab or show ambition in public politics rather than pure greed and sadism there would be no foretelling what would happen because their system of dismantling freewill is so complete.

    I hope this woman gets justice and I hope the case is able to set a legal precedent and become another all-too necessary beacon for those who would escape.

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      JRWAnna Merlan
      5/02/16 11:37am

      The RPF isn’t alleged; $cientology admits that a “discipline program” exists for the Slave Org. Check out TonyOrtega.org. He’s been covering this case since it was filed - seven long years ago.

      (A seven-year legal battle is what you get when Elrond Hubbard’s minions are funded by Hollywood’s A-List and a bunch of sketchy billionaires.)

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