Episode 1: Scientology Deaths and Suicides
July 28 Episode 1: Scientology Deaths and Suicides
What does scientology teach about illness, disease, depression and death. No surprise, it’s unconventional.
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View Documents (7)
Scientology Deaths and Suicidestology
See this blog post for an analysis and more detail about scientology beliefs and practices
View Online
Dianetics cures
Hubbard’s claims for curing disease and preventing colds in Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.
Auditing eradicates cancer
L. Ron Hubbard claim in his book A History of Man.
Leukemia treated by Dianetics
Hubbard claims “at least 8 cases” had been treated with Dianetics after medicine “gave up.”
Hubbard on Doctors
Hubbard equates “medicos” with monkeys who “monkey around” and make things worse.
44 Comments
Loved the show and the podcast! I’ve learned so much about Scientology that I never knew. I’m not nor have ever been a Scientologist, but have just been curious of it and why people stay in the cult.
Just something that jumped out at me and I hope it doesn’t come off critical, the preferred term is that someone died by suicide rather than committed it.
Can’t wait for more of the podcast. You are both fantastic!
Stunning work to Mike and Leah. Profoundly grateful for your honesty and relentless pursuit of this insane cult. Please don’t stop. Wish I could help!
So great to hear you guys continuing your worthy crusade! I think you’ve already made a huge difference by airing these “dirty secrets” of this EVIL organization. Let’s hope 99% of it’s followers will just up and bolt one day soon.
Love y’all guys thank u Leah and Mike!!!
I have so many questions! I have a Scientology building near my job and because of that I have so many questions!!!! Where can I ask all of the questions? Lol, great show
You can find answers to many of them on my blog — click on the link on the home page. Or watch Scientology The Aftermath on A&E or Hulu…
I have read Leah’s book, watched the series, and done some research; however, I still can’t find an answer to my question as it is very specific. How or who may I send my question to?
Thank you!
Post it here
Hi, Mike, I’m sorry for the delay! I didn’t get a notification that you had responded. However, I hope you and the family are staying well and healthy.
My question is, in Leah’s book, she talks about an incident in which Suri could be heard screaming/crying from the bathroom. When Leah entered, she found Suri on the bathroom floor with Tom’s family looking and talking to Suri like you would any adult. (I wasn’t sure if the Thetan but in a small body concept applies to an infant that young)
Now, in one of the aftermath episodes, and I’m sorry I cannot remember the specific survior’s story, they speak about how their mom was looked down upon and treated differently because her son was acting out. If I remember correctly, Scientology alleges that the way a child acts is a direct reflection on how the mom acted and how she spoke while pregnant.
Circling back, and after seeing that episode, it reminded me of that passage in Leah’s book.
Therefore, my question is, with how Suri was acting in the bathroom and at any other times, was Katie judged or looked down upon for this or are any of the celebrities immune to that type of scrutiny?
Thank you!
Please please please talk to Reckless Ben (YouTuber) about their experience infiltrating the cult. 🙏
Dear Leah Remini and Mike Rinder,
Thank you for the learning opportunities you are supplying the world!! Leah, keep the NY attitude coming!! Makes me homesick when you go on a curse laden rant!!! I love listening to a New Yorker just lay it down!!!! Keep it all coming!!!
Great job you two. Keep up the good work. I once applied for a job at a reading room in San Diego during the sixties. I was tested and turned down because I was too involved in my church and they thought I wouldn’t be able to follow their guidance. I am so glad that God protected me that day. This was before I even knew what Scientology was. Keep on exposing them for what they are.
SO happy to have you two back in my life. You’re my first podcast ever. I’ll be listening every week!
Only think I would ask for is an org (pardon the pun) chart of how Scientology is set up organizationally. It’s the way my f-ed up brain works, and there are all these orgs, I get confused. Oh, and “bases!” Leah mentioned “land base” this week, for example, that I’d never heard. Related, I love the glossary on this page.
I follow you both on Insta and Twitter, and now here. Congrats on the Emmy nom. You better win this time!
Thank you both, and your entire team for your public service to this country (and technically the world). It seems wrong to say happy to hear you again, right? Looking forward to the day when the two of you don’t need to work so tirelessly to get this cult shut down. I can only hope it’s inevitable extinction comes sooner rather than later.
Until then, just keep doing what you do and let us know how we can help.
Love you guys!
You two are AMAZING! May God bless you abundantly for all you doing! I am wondering if LRH has a history of being abused and/or himself abusing. This victim blaming and then their forced auditing (even going back into “past lives”) to find answers makes me wonder. It’s seems there may be some serious wounds there for him to go to such extents as he has in the creation of Scientology. It’s like he was able to get his sci-fi novels to be played out in real life! I want you to know that I pray for Holy Spirit to guide and protect you two always! Let us join our Lady of All Nations as She taught us to pray, “Lord Jesus Christ son of the Father, send now your Spirit over the earth. Let the Holy Spirit live in the hearts of all nations that they may be preserved from degeneration, disaster and war. May the Lady of All Nations, the Blessed Virgin Mary, be our Advocate. Amen!“
Leah and Mike,
Welcome back! Thank you for your bravery and insights. I was never a Scientology, but did attend a cult-like church when I was younger. Luckily my parents saw it early and got us the fuck out of there. Hearing the stories resonates with me and I will be discussing it with my psychiatrist.
Leah, your voice is so unique that anytime anyone hears it they visualize your lovely face., just be you. Please do not omit all of your rants, they feel passionate and unscripted.
Perhaps you can come up with a tagline in order to end each episode. It takes away the awkward “goodbye” moment. You know, something like, “Remember, Scientology is a cult, not a secret celebrity club.” Or “Stay sane and remember L. Ron Hubbard was a fucktwit.”
Great, am I “fair game” now?
Keep up the great work.
For anyone interested here’s a list of COS related suicides
https://whyweprotest.wikia.org/wiki/Scientology_Suicides
I love your podcast! Leah, I have always been a fan. I think you are awesome! Did you know your website is flagged as a dangerous site? Hmmm…wonder to put that on you? Haha. Scientology is one fucked up cult!
I’ve watched every Doc about this cult; bought and read all kinds of books, including Leah’s; watched every episode of your TV show, and I love you guys. Leah, I’m begging you, allow Mike to finish his thoughts and sentences, please. You interrupt him so much, and it’s distracting to the flow. I’ll continue to listen, but please stop interrupting.
I’ve noticed Taryns twitter account has been silent for some time. Any idea why?
I have made it a daily habit for the past year or so to peruse some of those accounts and report tweets about you both as abusive and harmful. Maybe you could talk about how all that works and encourage people to report the abusive tweets. If we bombard twitter with reports, maybe the accounts will finally get shut down
I have a question… would Kelly Preston been embraced by her family as she went through the last stages of cancer or pushed aside because of the belief that she caused the cancer by doing something against the practices of the cult?
So glad y’all are back. I was struck by what you were saying about Scientology parenting.
My first friend was a Scientologist. Her parents are still in, as are her and her sister (both were featured on the CoS channel last year). I remember her explaining the bridge to me as well as a nine year old could, the family was audited in their home, and there was definitely a philosophy of children = little adults. But with all that, they seemed… normal? Her parents were and are devoted, affectionate, cared for her when she was sick. We lived next door to each other and went to the same schools for 12 years; she was never raised by anyone else (that I saw). We’re both in our 30s now and she’s still a parishioner. Is this outside the norm? Are there “moderate” Scientologists? I have no idea what to make of it (other than wanting to smack her when she posts about the evils of psychiatry).
Thank you for doing this work.
Leah! Girl your voice is ICONIC! What are you talking about!? Do you know how many dudes say, “Man, I coud listen to her all day.”? Stop trippin- you sound great as usual. If you ever want to hear a fellow New Yorker’s (unwitting) experience with a Scientology “super cleanse” in a portable sweat box on my cousin’s front porch, do I have a story for YOU! Highlights include cursing out the supervising moderator as well as Yankees opening day lol.
I know you guys asked for suggestions, so how about an episode with Jenna Miscavige-Hill or Jason Beghe? Love the podcast!!
I’m curious how Scientology is dealing with the COVID pandemic, especially given the number of cases in Florida.
I wonder if you’ll talk about Independent Scientology…I’d be interesting in hearing about that.
Great show, don’t forget that your audience is global so you need to explain the legal frame and wording, for instance PPP I got the idea of what it is, but a simple explanation for your global audience would help.
Leah and Mike great again. In case you may need a suggestion could be how the cult indoctrinate (implant?) people and how ptsness, success stories, starrated checkouts are valid tools to make the person to believe everything is true and accept it and think with it.
Even after decades that people have left they still have this indoctrination coat on them.
You guys are such a dynamic duo. Very fun to listen to.
I have a couple of questions for Leah:
1. Has your publicly leaving and criticizing Scientology had any affect on your career, good or bad?
2. This one might be silly, but I know you’ve mentioned that Kevin James told you not to try to convert him while you guys were doing the King of Queens, and it made me wonder what his reaction was when you did leave Scientology.
Really enjoying the podcast so far. I’m obsessed with cults, especially Scientology, and just want more! I can tell you guys are still finding your flow so keep it up.
Hey guys. Interesting podcast. Just a suggestion. I think that if you want to reach and captivate the broadest audience instead of a very specific crowd, I think you need a producer on your team that can help weave all of the stories and narratives into a cohesive story. There is so much passion in Leah but a lack of organization of thoughts. There is a lot of name dropping and terms used without any context for the listener. I know you have an index on your website but I doubt many listeners will look. Most will listen to an episode, get lost and move on.
This was not meant as a slam against you guys, but an outsider’s view from someone who knows little of scientology but would like to learn more from insiders like yourselves.
Bravo! I love listening to you both and am so glad you started this podcast to continue your efforts. I was never a Scientologist although I have had a few experiences including having been asked to do PR for a video of theirs that my client licensed. One meeting in their building was all I needed.
I always be here to cheer you both on and if I can every do anything to help, just let me know. They’ve got to be stopped.
SP
I am super fascinated and interested in this topic, but I would like to give some constructive feedback- Leah needs to tune it down a notch, it’s clear that she feels strongly about the topic but her constantly interrupting mine when he’s about to say something interesting or putting words in his mouth is driving me nuts. Also I fear her passion and very clear disdain and disgust could actually hurt credibility – when something is so personal you can’t be objective and there is a lot of potential for confirmation bias.
Show has a lot of potential but if Leah doesn’t chill out a little and let mike talk I might stop listening. I want this show to succeed, it’s important information.
Hey guys, thank you for the podcast.
I think it is a great idea and a great form of transferring information in the modern age!
One major issue I had with this specific episode is that Leah is making one sweeping generalization “all children who are raised in scientology” are not being raised by their parents, but by scientology.
As a 2nd gen kid raised in scientology I can tell you that not all parents/guardians make scientology the main caretaker of their kids.
I understand that it was probably Leah’s experience, but I want to stress that it was not what all kids raised in scientology experienced.
I’ve experienced both extremes of scientology “parenting”:
1) When my grandfather was head of the household, me and my sis were raised 99.5% by him. I’ve never been sent to ethics in this time, never been sent to any sort of handling. I had maybe half a dozen hours of auditing. I’ve not been forced to do the purif. I didn’t have to use scientology study tech. Scientology was pretty much fun and games, invader forces, the matrix, my gramp’s past lives and so on. “8 hours plus” of scientology a day? More like 8 hours of scientology per year.
2) When he died and my mom became head of the household, she gave us to the nannies and we were living in a scientology facility 24/7 while she was off to join staff and stay on the other side of the country.
So not all kids of scientologists “are spending their days and nights” at scientology. That is what shitty, horrible parents/guardians do to them. The decent parents/guardians have enough brains and enough willpower to just say “no thanks” and raise their kids their own way and giving scientology only as much access to them as they see fit and proper.
There are good and bad parents and prolly some in between. They need to be clearly distinguished and the bad ones should not be given any excuses.
Does a person have to go through the PTS process if they only have a cold or the flu?
Yes
wow. also, thank you for responding.
So glad y’all are back. Catching up as we speak. If there wasn’t enough to hate about this cult, they would consider my Autistic son “degraded”!?!? I’ve got an idea, come down to Oklahoma, tell me, & tell my wife(who is from Long Island), that our son is “degraded”, see how that works out for you. My “degraded” son has more love, kindness & acceptance in his little finger, than that entire shit show, that calls themselves a church. FOH… Thanks again for spreading the truth.
Please please please start advertising this more!! I found this by accident! Also, would love the version with video to be on Youtube! Love what you guys are doing!!!
Today’s podcast was great! I enjoyed listening to it.
One thing I heard Leah quickly mention was that Marty Rathbun went back into Scientology. Is this recent?
I had not heard or seen that he had rejoined especially when I had seen him on Aftermath and in Going Clear.
Are you or would you be willing to speak/expand on this?
Thank you!
AN upcoming episode will address this topic.
I only just started listening. How do Scientologists feel about the pandemic? Do they not wear masks thinking it won’t hurt them?
Leah and Mike,
I have NO DOUBT that the FBI has infiltrated them. It will take YEARS for them to complete the operation/s that they have going on – so that they can get the overwhelming evidence that they need. They can’t tell you about it. They can’t say a single word.
I watched the doc series several times because I just couldn’t soak up enough information, but I only just recently learned about the podcast. I just listened to this episode and this is definitely one of the topics of discussion that burns me up the most. The blatant disregard of the health and well being of your “parishoners”, particularly children, just makes me sick to my stomach. How a parent can refuse their child medical treatment, or a spouse can just watch their partner die and say, “Well, they’ll be back.” Ugh. And Leah, I scream at the TV/podcast with the same obscenities you do…keep up the good work!