My apologies — I mistakenly thought Roberta Blevins episode was airing this week. It is in fact our fascinating interview with Dylan Gill. Roberta will air next week, so you have that to look forward to!
We talk to Dylan Gill, former executive of Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) about the organization established to preserve Hubbard’s words in the event of a nuclear holocaust for all future civilizations, what the symbols etched into the ground mean, the various homes built for Hubbard after his death that are maintained to this day, and much more.
Dylan has been previously interviewed by Aaron Smith-Levin:
And by Tony Ortega for the Village Voice.
This is the Wiki entry on the Church of Spiritual Technology
This is a promotional video about the archiving work done by CST that is promoted on scientology TV.
These are drone footage taken of the various CST properties.
Twin Peaks, CST HQ drone footage
The Hubbard Mansion (Bonnie View) built at the Int base:
Fascinating episode. These remote CST installations really set the Church apart from pretty much any other ‘religion’ I can think of.
So interesting to see what the Church does with it’s tax-free money. What other religion spends it’s donations by fair-gaming critics, building beautiful (and hollow) Ideal Orgs they only dream of filling, and building secret compounds that many of their most senior members don’t even know exist?
This religion really is SUCH an anomaly….
Dylan,
It kills me that you had to suffer years of being homeless. That had to be brutal. I give you mega kudos for surviving and picking up the pieces to make a new life for yourself.
Amazing episode! Does Dylan have a book avail? Also I have been wondering ,of all the survivors who have escaped who has been the biggest threat to the organization? ( meaning the most knowledgeable of everything David has done) Is it Dylan? He seems to have a lot of “inside scoop” Mike and Leah y’all are great. !!!
Great episode as always!
I have a question specifically about Scientology operations in the UK. I know you have spoken before about how the ideal orgs that keep popping up either in the US or globally are essentially a way of offloading funds to avoid IRS scrutiny, and that these buildings are basically empty once the grand opening is over – but the google reviews of the “churches” in the UK (specifically Manchester and Birmingham) are deeply concerning to me. Each site has HUNDREDS of 4/5 star reviews preaching the benefits of Scientology, its members/volunteers working at these locations and the courses. Is it possible that all of these reviews are fake? I don’t want to believe that they’re real and I may have to make the trip to one of the orgs to see for myself…
Keep up the good work Mike and Leah you two fucking rock.
Rob, Scientology employs all sorts of propaganda tricks to try to amplify their actual small numbers in various ways, from disingenuously lying about their real size, to employing their dedicated membership in various campaigns that go to surprising if not bizarre lengths to make them appear larger – and more positively received – than they are.
My guess would be that they coordinated some sort of effort to have every member in the country give positive reviews to not only their own local ‘church’ org, but every other org in the country. Thus what you’re seeing is more likely representative of Scientology’s total remaining active membership in the country, than the actual active membership of any individual org, which is probably in the range of tens of members (Plymouth, for example, is reliably reported to have about 30 maximum, and maybe down to fewer than 10 real diehards).
The questions I have, I’m sure have been addressed before, but I’m really trying to understand, specifically, with John Travolta and his wife and family. First, their son had some disabilities. I know you say that Scientologists don’t see people or children with disabilities as “whole”. So, how did John and Kelly deal with this? Then their son died. Scientology just tells them that it’s better because he is now free of his earthly body? Then Kelly gets cancer. So as a Scientologist she believes this is her fault because she isn’t a good Scientologist? Did she receive any treatment at all for cancer?
Wow. Okay so news to me (guess it is news to everyone though). I had no idea there were Scientologists operating anywhere near me. But that Tuolumne base is really close. Thank you for all you do to educate the public to what Scientology really is.
Mike, great episode as always.
I have a question for your next “Q&A” episode:
Growing up in England in the early 1970s I remember news reports about senior Scientologists being denied entry into the United Kingdom. I remember from the John Sweeney documentary that Scientology is now entrenched in the UK. Could you explain the state Scientology around the world? Have any of the liberal democracies been successful in stopping the organisation? For example, denying tax exempt status.
That’s where their biggest secrets are kept, except for the unwritten knowledge of Miscavige and his “made men” (if any).
Hubbard was an ego maniac. I started to see it most clearly when he did his famous RJ 67 tapes in England. Scientology fell apart because he claimed to have an ultimate answer.
He never tracked his route to his answer. He attacked everyone with his false knowledge of “whole track”. Secondly, his entire theory collapsed. Repetitive scans through his “history of the universe”produced nothing’