This promotional item claims there are 6,600 Sea Org members. That is the absolute best case scenario -- any figures ever put out by scientology are exaggerated, if not completely made up. It's probably a thousand or more less than that, but we will take them at their word. 1,200,000 people for each SO member to clear is a pretty tall order. Especially as in the entire history of scientology, they have not yet cleared 10% of that number. Yes, in 70 years they aren't even close to 120,000 clears. They continue to hover around half that number. There were this many SO members in … [Read more...]
Scientology “Volunteers”
My recent post, Bonnie's Sad Tale, noted the use of the term "volunteer" repeatedly to describe working as an org staff member. I commented that this "volunteer" status is a legal sham. It is simply a way of taking advantage of the law -- and that no org staff are actually "volunteers." It's simple to prove. If they cease to "volunteer" before completing their contract, they are given a bill for services they have taken in "exchange" for their work (a freeloader bill). That, by definition, is not a volunteer. And they also have to sign a contract. And they are promised "wages." And they … [Read more...]
Scientology Recruitment
Scientology's quest for money is unrelenting. They rake in tens of millions (perhaps hundreds) each year. But they have to spend at least some of it to satisfy IRS requirements. They don't ever give it away. One of the things they spend it on is new buildings (they always say they have opened "a new church" but in fact they have not opened any new churches since the one in East Harlem NY and before that the one in Inglewood and before that, nobody can recall). Buildings remain assets on their books, so the statistic of "total reserves" does not go down (total reserves is cash, property, … [Read more...]