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Mike Rinder's Blog

Something Can Be Done About It

Those Who Came Before Us

By 19 Comments

 

Following my recent blogpost on Kristi Wachter’s excellent site, this is another fantastic piece of work found at the Why We Protest Scientology Wiki site providing a list of Former Scientologists Who Have Spoken Out

This list has taken a tremendous amount of work to compile — it not only includes the names of the people but a vast majority have links to where their public statements were made. Incredible.

This list totals 3276 names — a huge number when you consider there are less than this number of OT VIII’s in scientology today, and probably around this many Sea Org members. The ratio of those who leave and speak out to those who leave quietly and never say anything is probably around 10 to 1. It has often been said there are more EX scientologists than current scientologists and that is almost certainly a fact.

Thank you to the people who have devoted the time to put this together. I include a link to a 2018 article about the creation of this list by TrevAnon (Trevor Horn).

Comments

  2. I think the number of people who have left scn after at least 2 years, whether as staff or public, is much higher. In the region where I live, there is a small org, and the people I know or have met who have left the cult in the last 20 years number in the dozens. If I multiply this by all the orgs and missions in Italy, we surpass several thousand. I think the cumulative worldwide figure far exceeds hundreds and hundreds of thousands. If one were to include those who only did a couple of courses and then left, the number would become infinitely larger.

    Reply

      • I think that estimate is probably pretty accurate — in the 70’s quite a lot of people did get into scientology.

        Though the number of active members today I think is around 20-30k worldwide. Someone just sent me an AI estimation which I will publish soon…

        Reply

        • I’ve seen it pointed out that there are about 140 local orgs, and we almost never see pictures of even 50 people at any of them. So the math on the CofS’ active membership is pretty brutal, even adding in however many are clustered around Saint Hill and especially Flag in Clearwater.

          I seem to recall insider numbers pointing to maybe around 35,000 total IAS members at a point not too far in the past. I’d guess that’s down to more the range you suggest, but only around half are really active, with quite a few having long ago been “regged” to buy lifetime memberships but not having stepped foot in an org in a long time.

          Reply

      • Trev, Thank you. My estimate was based on taking that small org as a sample and assuming a similar average elsewhere. The figures match up.

        When I was in the Sea Org, I made an estimate of the number of first starts compared to those who stayed, and then those who stayed compared to those who actually continued for the next 2 years taking courses related to the bridge. And with each step, the number dwindled enormously. If I remember correctly, out of 30/40 first starts, after 2 years you had maybe 2 or 3 people still there.
        Maybe someone more but not more than 5 out of 30/40.

        Reply

  3. Wow. That is incredible alot of work has gone into that. With the amount of people’s names and links to thir stories. It’s crazy how many people Scientology has gotten away with harming in many ways.

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  4. What you said. “This list totals 3276 names . . . The ratio of those who leave and speak out to those who leave quietly and never say anything is probably around 10 to 1”

    Which means 3276 “speakers” to 328 “quiets”.

    I have a hard time believing this is what you meant to say.

    Reply

      • Now you’re talking!! Looks like the Clive’s postulate has been reached in spades. ‘10,000 out and publicly saying so is all it will take to turn the tide’.

        Yo Clive,
        I was looking through yer list of Seven and Oh Tea Ate comps and had a couple questions. The first is why you list them alphabetically by first name? That seems very illiterate to me …. just sayin.
        The second is that I didn’t find my name on it. FWIW, I have saved my ATE cert along with all of the emails, notes, comm with ethics officers, family members, etc. that went down in the years between 2009 and 2013 (my declare year) so that my future generations of grandkids can refer to it as desired and make their own conclusions.
        I’m thinkin of doing a little time capsule and putting it in a safe deposit box and if they would like to receive what I intend to set aside for them, they will have to read the data and provide a written success story to the executor of the trust.
        Hope that helps with yer little “on or through” exercise.
        I’m a big fan of the THROUGH part ……….as I’m THROUGH with yer bullshit!!!!!

        Reply

  5. Looking through that list there are so many people who have spoken out against the abuses. All of them have alot of guts to speak out against this criminal cult.

    Reply

  6. I made the list. Score! I need to point out that I left in 1984. I didn’t speak out until 2024. Why did I keep silent so long?

    1. Fear. I worked for the GO. I knew what those people. I knew what they could do to you. OSA is the GO on steroids despite their claims to the contrary.

    2. Misplaced sense of honor. When you work in the upper echelons, protecting the founder of the “religion,” you form an omertà that is next to impossible to break through. When I first started talking, I wasn’t sure how much I’d say before I went back behind my rock. Now I’m not sure I’ll ever go back behind that rock again.

    As for why I spoke out? The Danny Masterson mistrial and the fact that those brave women went back to court. That mistrial was devastating to me. I believed every single word those women said because I had lived it. For them to rise from the ashes and go after him again made me realize I needed to get on the record that this was not a one off but something that was embedded in the DNA of Scientology.

    I am in a unique position of having continued communication with my non Scientology parents until they died shortly after I left Scientology. My mother saved every letter I wrote, every photo I sent, I have some of her responses. Therefore I have letters and photos to refresh my memory. The letters are carefully constructed lies, but they put me in the mindset and allow me to reconstruct what happened. I “read between my lies” to my parents to create the truth of what happened then.

    I hope there is a tipping point in my lifetime.

    Reply

    • Thank you Val. Everyone has their reasons and it must be dealt with personally IMHO. I applaud your conquering of your tipping point!!

      Cults certainly have mastered the use of FEAR. These days my litmus test for an individual, group, government, and so on is ONE, “Are they trying to scare me?”
      And TWO, is it being done for MONEY, CONTROL or education.

      The last, EDUCATION, is pretty rare but there are those who do that. Mikes Blog and the Aftermath qualify and they fail the test of being a Cult …… IMHO!

      Reply

  7. A tangent thought that hit me from out of left field — The finale song from “Hairspray.”

    “You can’t stop the beat!”

    My mind takes frequent detours. I’ve learned to live with it.

    Reply

  8. I paid homage to one of the first high-level execs to have ever escaped Scientology in my blog post, “From the Scientology archives … Robert Vaughn Young.” I’m sure his story was an inspiration to many unknown voices over the years who eventually exited. Mike may want to pen a post on his memories at some point in the future. My research on Vaughn was a fascinating project.
    https://bit.ly/44EQ8RB

    Reply

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