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WELCOME TO THE FREEWINDS

The Freewinds is a religious retreat that marks for Scientologists the pinnacle of their journey to total spiritual freedom. Its position at sea is designed to provide an aesthetic, distraction-free environment off the crossroads of everyday life. As a center of spiritual enlightenment, it is a place where lives are transformed.

Its calm and friendly atmosphere comes from within, from dedicated officers and crew whose work aboard the Freewinds provides an incomparable sailing experience. Amid its service and amenities that begin at the gangway, everyday challenges of life seem to vanish.

Scientologists not only progress upward on their spiritual journey upon the high seas, they contribute tens of thousands of volunteer hours to Church-supported humanitarian missions that are implemented by the Freewinds wherever it sails.

Civic and religious leaders from throughout the islands and Latin America recognize the Freewinds as a place of profound personal renewal, but also as a source of solutions to meet their needs through the Church’s humanitarian programs and interfaith initiatives. Drug education , human rights , literacy , learning and ethics are part of the broader social mission through which the Freewinds has spawned partnerships. With the help of island port and civic officials, national police and military services in Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, the message of human rights and humanitarian action is coming to all.

To the maritime community, the Freewinds is a model of quality, service and safety. The highly trained and experienced Freewinds officers and crew have provided safety and security training for more than 100 Caribbean port authorities, coast guards and maritime organizations.

The beacon of the Freewinds shines with the promise of a better life, a better world and the accomplishment of dreams. It carries a signal of hope when seas are stormy and when the path is unclear, bringing a meaning to the spirituality that underlies its larger mission—to light the way toward an infinitely better existence.

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Something Can Be Done About It

The Real Story of the Freewinds

May 6, 2019 By Mike Rinder 103 Comments

With the recent outbreak of measles on the Scientology ship, Freewinds , Leah and I thought it important to highlight some points that are the real story about this ship.

With the exception of Newsweek, generally the media is missing the boat.  Their focus is on a case of measles rather than the bigger picture of the Freewinds.

To directly answer the least important question:  Do Scientologists believe in vaccinating?

Most Scientologists have little faith in “Wog” (non-scientology) medical care. L. Ron Hubbard believed medical doctors wanted to maintain their monopoly on “healing” and therefore they rejected his “discoveries.” He thus proclaimed them enemies.

Scientologists are taught to believe they are superior beings who can heal themselves with Hubbard’s technology. He proclaimed through the use of Dianetics a person will not even contract common colds.

With that said, there is no exact proscription about vaccines written by Hubbard, though he certainly believed “Big Pharma” was deliberately drugging the world to control the population.

The Daily Beast article “Inside Scientology’s Measles Infested Million Dollar Cruise for True Believers”,  includes the following:

Among the most visible anti-vaxx advocates is Scientologist, Jenna Elfman, who came out against SB-77, a 2015 California bill requiring vaccinations before students enroll in school. 

At an anti-vaxx rally in May 2015, Elfman  told  the crowd that when “You open up the door of taking away parents’ rights, you open the door to a constitutional slippery slope.” In a Facebook post from that year promoting a petition against the bill, Elfman asserted, “There is no health crisis (unless they care to create one— wait for it….).” Danny Masterson, another Scientologist (and one facing  multiple accusations of sexual assault ; he denies them), circulated the same petition, calling the bill in  a tweet  “California fascism.” And both Juliette Lewis and Kirstie Alley, also prominent Scientologists,  came out  against the bill. “NO on SB277…no no no…protect your rights to CHOOSE the vaccines your kids and YOU have…they are NOT all HARMLESS…”  Alley wrote . “Ur kids,Ur choice [sic].”

Most fundamentally, scientologists believe that if they do get sick, it is only because they are connected to someone or something that is negative about scientology. More on that below…

Scientology and “Wog” Medicine

Wog is a derogatory term used by scientologists to describe non-scientologists or things/ideas not based on Hubbard’s ideas.

Scientologists pity “wogs” — they consider them lower level humanoids unable to truly cope with life and rise to their full potential because they have not availed themselves of the “tech” provided by Hubbard. It is a cold view of the world and everyone in it. Scientologists are only solicitous to wogs to humor them in the hope they will create a good impression and perhaps get them to join up and hand over some cash. Behind your backs, scientologists are generally condescending towards everyone who is NOT a scientologist.

“Acceptable Truths”

Scientologists are taught and believe they are above wog medicine AND wog law.

They are taught how to lie to authorities and tell what is called in scientology an “acceptable truth” to avoid “negative PR” or trouble. Scientologists are trained to tell a “Shore Story” which will be acceptable to the “wogs” “on shore” to protect the operations of scientology (in this case aboard the Freewinds ).

Here is a perfect example of a “Shore Story” offering up an “acceptable truth” about the measles case on the  Freewinds . It is a typical L. Ron Hubbard inspired “Nothing to see here, we are law abiding citizens on the Scientology Fun Ship”…

According to Bonner, “As Scientologists, we follow every law. The woman is now OK and the measles has past [sic],” — no, they absolutely do NOT follow every law. Not even close.

“We have not been given her identity or whereabouts and none of us care.” And neither should you — we don’t want anyone outside the bubble being able to track this person down and discover who ELSE she may have been in contact with.

“We are “All” prepared to stay onboard the ship for the duration. The staff is wonderful and amazing and we’re all having fun training!!” In fact, the only people REALLY enjoying this are the scientology registrars who have a captive audience to suck money out of.

The Harsh Truth 

If a Scientologist or sea org member gets sick, they are immediately pulled into a scientology interrogation to find out who they are connected to that is “anti-scientology” and what transgressions against scientology morals they have been involved with in order to “pull in” this bad situation. In scientology, especially if you are a staff member, you are penalized for being sick.

They are grilled on the lie detector meter (called an e-meter) to see if they have seen Going Clear or The Aftermath or have read anything “negative” about scientology.  Once they have the intel, the victim is then sent to the “Ethics Dept” of the Sea Org where they are met with an Ethics officer or Master At Arms, (MAA) who has been provided with the “confessions” and their punishment is determined. For parishioners this often entails handing over money.

Being labeled PTS

This is an acronym for Potential Trouble Source. A state that Hubbard described to explain those who get sick or are involved in accidents despite their participation in scientology (which in theory should prevent bad outcomes such as this). It is “explained” that by looking on the internet or talking to your mother, father, sister, child or anyone who is negative or questions scientology, you become “PTS”. Those sources of negative information are making you sick . You are connected to Suppression. Evil. Unless you disconnect from the evil, you will be trouble to yourself and scientology.

The “PTS” then has to agree in writing that they will no longer look at anything negative about scientology, L. Ron Hubbard or David Miscavige and they very often have to make up the damage to the group for their evil deeds.

If a sea org member is sick, in addition to uncovering their “connection” to negative information or people, they are also interrogated on the e-meter with demands to know what their “evil intentions” are towards scientology and mankind. These sessions do not end until you come up with an answer. And then you are required to confess to wanting to purposely infect the ship or something similar, and admit to seeking the destruction of David Miscavige and every man, woman and child on earth.

This is why scientology has so many “confessions” from former Sea Org members they pull out once those people start exposing the abuses of scientology.

If the “flap” is bad enough, the Sea Org member can be removed from his or her post and be assigned to the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) for months and years. There they will be physically and emotionally abused beyond the average abuse Sea Org members bear in order to reform their thinking.

What is the Sea Organization

In 1967, seeking to avoid the efforts of governments to investigate his activities, L. Ron Hubbard took to sea where he would be outside the jurisdiction of the US and British authorities.

He created the Sea Organization, a paramilitary organization that runs scientology in accordance with Hubbard’s policies and directives.

Sea org Members profess their loyalty to Hubbard and scientology by signing a billion-year contract. They live communally and forfeit their former  lives, possessions and relationships. Scientology and the Sea Org becomes their ONLY life.

Scientologists believe it is a great honor to hand over their children to the Sea Organization.  For it is the Sea Org that is literally responsible for saving mankind.

Nowadays Sea Org members cannot have children. But before those rules were implemented, both my children were born and raised in the Sea Org by the Sea Org.  My wife and I did not raise our children. The Sea Org did. They were (and still are) Sea Org members first. Our job was our Sea Org job, not parenting.  We rarely saw our children, no distraction was tolerated to Clearing the Planet. No bed time stories, no family vacations, outings, first school plays, graduation of Kindergarten, dances, Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day etc etc. It is a horrible way to grow up, and I wish now I could change it.

The Sea Org creates a nazi youth mentality in children. Their Sea Org training is harsh, their miserable lives are clouded by the idea that they are on a very important mission, giving them a sense of purpose and creating an alternate personalty devoid of empathy and compassion. They are in reality groomed to be victims of abuse (and to some extent so is every child raised a scientologist).

This explains why it is so easy for young Sea Org members to disconnect from even their scientology parents.

The Freewinds is NOT a Cruise Ship

The Freewinds delivers Scientology’s ultimate service: OT VIII. It is the only place in the world where this most exalted level of scientology is available. (Though there are only a handful at any given time who have completed OT VII ready to do OT VIII so they allow other scientologists to come on board for lower level services as long as their bank accounts are adequate — at times the Freewinds has been so cash-strapped it could not buy fuel so sat at dock for weeks).

This is the pinnacle of scientology at the top of “The Bridge to Total Freedom” — a confidential level that all Scientologists seek to achieve. Most scientologists spend a large part of their lives, sacrificing careers or families, but certainly hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get to OT VIII. Before this, they must progress up the Bridge and through the earlier “OT Levels.” These materials are confidential to scientologists until they have made their way “up the Bridge”, but they have been available on the internet for years.

Hubbard promised immortality and spiritual freedom as one progresses up his Bridge. For scientologists, Hubbard’s “technology” holds the answers to life, including promising you can be cured of the causes of all illness and disease on OT V (New Era Dianetics for OTs or “NOTs”).  OT’s believe that they will be given the keys to move into their next life with TOTAL recall of this life. They are sold lies. That is why many who finally reach OT VIII leave. They realize they have made it to the top and it is not what was promised and hoped for during their ascent.

Horrors of the Freewinds

The Freewinds promotes itself as being “off the crossroads of the world”, and this is in some ways true. It is outside the purview of the US Government. It is not in the media spotlight. It is an enclosed and controlled world with no outside intrusion.

The majority of people on board the Freewinds are the crew of the ship. Sea Org members. They exist in an isolated bubble within the larger bubble that is scientology.

The Freewinds , has over the years, been a convenient place to keep dissidents or those scientology does not want in public view. Even things that would otherwise generate interest or outrage have gone largely unnoticed (See for example when it was discovered the ship was contaminated with blue asbestos and Sea Org and other workers had been exposed).

Former crew members of the Freewinds have provided extensive testimony concerning abuses aboard, including deaths being covered up and people held against their will.

In 2004 a Mexican Sea Org member who was an engineer on the ship named Jorge Arroyo went insane. He needed professional mental help. Instead he was locked in a small room under guard. He hanged himself in the shower. When his body was discovered, the ship left Aruba and sailed to Curaçao, because the Freewinds had better public relations there. Jorge’s body was removed in a black bag so that no one saw. Jorge’s brother, who was also an engineer on the ship, was lied to and told he had a heart attack. Jorge’s family in Mexico was told the same lie. This is something the Mexican Government should be investigating.

Ramana Dienes-Browning wanted to leave the Sea Org. She was forced to spend a year in the engine room and on decks (doing hard labor) as punishment for wanting to leave.

Colm McLaughlin was held against his will, escaped onto the dock and was wrestled back to the ship — the local dock-workers were told he “was drunk.”

Don Jason escaped by using a rolling pin to slide down the lines tying the ship to the dock.

These are the real stories that need to be told. They are the tip of the iceberg.

The Freewinds being in the news for the first time is the opportunity for the truth to be revealed.

As with everything in scientology, whenever you scratch the surface it is ALWAYS worse than it appears at first glance. This is not a cruise ship with an isolated case of the measles, it is a scientology prison-ship full of ugly secrets.

May 9, 2019 at 1:13 pm

lRH promised victory over death. He also said”The way out is the way through”. Therefore to win over death, one must die.

May 9, 2019 at 12:07 pm

When I left the Freewinds when it was discovered that I had AiDS they sent me to”Dr” ( He is not a licensed doctor) James Keppler who told me that the meds the doctors would give me were worse than HIV AIDS. He was very opposed to vaccinations and gave me materials to read opposing them. He worked on LRH in 1978. As a result of his “advice’ I very nearly died.

May 8, 2019 at 11:59 am

Mike’s right in saying the freewinds is NOT a cruise ship, they have a pool onboard I don’t think a single person used it during the entire time I was there, I saw one person using the gym, these features are up on deck and probably kept there for show rather than intended for use. Similiarly they have someone who is supposed to encourage you to go ashore for activities, the majority of public don’t leave the ship, and even if you do you have such time pressure on you that there is no enjoyment to it, I think the most time we had was 3 hours off one time, and even then we had to work late catching up on the crappy course they make you buy when you get on the ship. You can’t even relax at meal times, apart from the fact you are running to a deadline you are expected to rate every meal and if you give it anything less than outstanding then you get a member of the kitchen crew coming to speak to you as otherwise they get into trouble for being ‘downstat’. There is the obligatory sea org recruitment video showing, and beware if you are young and single you are an ideal candidate for high pressure tactics to get you to stay and become a staff member. You have to complete a routing form to get onto the ship, running round finding people to sign this can take two days, of course it includes a visit to the IAS office, as well as others each trying to get extra money out of you eg for upgraded accommodation, buying scientology themed crap from the onboard ‘gift’ shop. They take your passport away and to get it back you have to complete the leaving routing form, once again they try to get you to stay longer and you have to convince them you have had a wonderful experience even if you can’t wait to leave that hell hole!

May 8, 2019 at 1:53 pm

Thanks for the info on the Ship Gimpy. One thing to add. If you make the mistake of recognizing a friend of yours sitting at the OT VIII table at meal time and join them at their invitation, you will be asked to leave and get another seat somewhere else, as “this table is solely and only for those on OT VIII.” I asked why others can’t sit there too and they said that OT VIII is an important auditing thing and they don’t want their VIII’s having any invalidations or bad reactions from sitting with “others” (read “the unwashed”). They don’t want their VIII’s going PTS they said. Talk about elitism.

May 8, 2019 at 1:56 am

Is anyone on or near the dock/ship in Curaçao so that if/when the quarantine is lifted, the world will be able to see who was on that ship, if there were any “famous” people aboard. If there isn’t someone there, there should be.

May 7, 2019 at 10:15 pm

All blame falls on the leader who must have pulled in this PR disaster. His “church” is dying, his flock is abandoning him, and he has ousted anyone who could handle the situation.

What a piss-poor leader he is!

May 7, 2019 at 5:25 pm

Monica Pignotti was in the Sea Org who worked on the Apollo from 1970 to 1975.

Monica Pignotti discusses her Scientology Experiences (1989) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qy3DbO8CDI

May 7, 2019 at 1:55 pm

I came upon this the other day. It made me think of LRH and how he’d steal anything with a kernel of truth, wrap it in his mystery sandwich BS and call it his own. I don’t believe the Tao Te Ching (Way of Life) has ever purported to heal physical ailments through the power of the mind, but if you read this with the eyes of a con man looking to make a buck you sure will.

“The Way of Life” (ISBN 0451626745)

-71- “To know you are ignorant is best; To know what you do not, is a disease; But if you recognize the malady Of mind for what it is, then that is health.

The Wise Man has indeed a healthy mind; He sees an aberration as it is And for that reason will never be ill”

Yeah… I think he metaphorically means you’ll never be ill… not “You’ll never get the flu again and if you do, you did something to deserve it!”

May 7, 2019 at 1:39 pm

Bernard Bonner: “As scientologist, we follow every law”… (Every one that we’re forced to follow, that is). Given any chance, we’ll do a “Kim Jong Un” and SAY we’re going to comply while actually doing the complete opposite.

May 7, 2019 at 8:19 am

If you think that Scientologists look down with pity on “wogs,” it takes no stretch of the imagination to think what Int/Gold Base staff members thought, not only about wogs but fellow Scientologists and not only fellow Scientologists but fellow Sea Org members. But not only fellow Sea Org members, but fellow base staff Sea Org members. Basically, it came down to the fact that everyone except for LRH and David Miscavige was a completely useless degraded being. Of course, we all know where that viewpoint originated, don’t we, Dave?

May 7, 2019 at 10:49 am

Hubbard? Miscavige learned at the feet of the master, and while he’s carried on as an effective narcissist and sociopath, he’s had other handicaps like not being such a glib and even charismatic public persona, nor having the flair for creating the illusion of a constant flow of new “tech” to keep followers on tenterhooks.

May 7, 2019 at 7:06 am

We learned how to “Game the system” and playing Games. No excuse for that. I wish there where more people who would address this phenomenon of playing games. Sometimes with other people life.

May 7, 2019 at 12:01 am

The section on “Being PTS” is an excellent example of magical thinking.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking

May 7, 2019 at 12:40 pm

Kyle – Many years ago after I left Scn I took up Transcendental Meditation for two or three months but I got bored with it. They had this worldwide meditation day when everybody around the world was supposed to meditate at the same time of day which would cause some kind of shift or impact on world consciousness. Good intentions I guess. I don’t know if they still do it.

May 7, 2019 at 1:10 pm

In TM they give you a mantra which you repeat over and over in your mind while meditating, taking the mantra ever “deeper”. It turns out my mantra was the name of some Hindu goddess. TM used to say that some of their advanced meditators could levitate but debunkers said they only saw people who seemed to be hopping a bit.

May 6, 2019 at 8:51 pm

I think the govt just wants to stay out of it and look the other way because of the cult being labeled a “religion “. I blame the government for granting the cult tax exempt status. I ju set hope no new people get involved in the cult. It’s funny to hear how they didn’t have $ to pay for gas? Why don’t they use their billions $. It’s also funny how it’s suppose to raise your IQ. But yet it takes these “smart” OT8s to finely realize they’ve been scammed, IM not a fast student, or even considered “smart”, but I could tell something was never quite right with Hubbard’s material. That shows you right there that their IQ never gets raised.

May 6, 2019 at 7:59 pm

I can only hope that someone on that ship is desperate enough to get off that they talk. Unfortunately, they may be too scared since the ship is now docked in its home port. If the stories about the others attempting to flee in curacao are remembered, it will likely make them less likely to believe that they will get help.

I also hope that the news stories continue to probe scientology. I noticed a slight uptick in stories this week. Today there was a story about the Canadian case involving a lawsuit about low wages. It was settled out of court- likely in a bid to quash publicity- but the reporter asked for anyone with information about scientology to contact him. I sent him an email, and hopefully he will look into the cult. Otherwise we all need to keep educating as many people as possible- eventually someone will listen.

May 6, 2019 at 8:55 pm

Be careful that “reporter” could be an undercover Scientologist.

May 7, 2019 at 6:02 pm

I vetted him first. he’s legit.

May 6, 2019 at 6:13 pm

I have been lurking the past year after watching Leah Remini on A&E. I have been jacking off my temporal lobes with Scientology L’s and the Bridge to Total Freedom for many years. I have attained levels of delusion never experienced before. I am tired of chasing the carrot on a stick. You are all right. There are no Clears or OT’s. I am a Clear and an OT and I have nothing but shattered relationships, ruined career, bankruptcy, foreclosure, financial ruin, multiple marriages and divorces plus horrible memories from my life in Scientology. I am so excited to have made the decision that I am done and I am out. I will be going all the way down the rabbit hole now to read and watch everything I can find regarding the truth about L Ron Hubbard and Scientology. Thank you for your Blog and the show Mike. I would probably have stayed in forever and gone down with the sinking ship. Scientology is nothing now. Membership is at an all time low. Thank you everyone.

May 6, 2019 at 10:05 pm

Wow. Awesome. Congratulations on finally getting out. There is so much to read and rabbit holes to go down to find out the whole truth about scientology and its leader. These will help you unravel. But the greatest thing I found in my life out was a new freedom and appreciation for so much good on the outside and I wish you the best of it. I hope you discover beauty, love, peace, kindnesses, empathy and compassion and many new and wonderful friendships.

May 7, 2019 at 9:33 am

Thank you Mary. “Unravel” is right. You give me hope that I can restore my compassion, kindness and empathy back. My friends and family told me throughout the years that I lost my humanity and became more and more arrogant, controlling and that I have no empathy. One friend who disconnected from me told me I became phony. They told me that with every divorce, I acted like it was no big deal. They knew I filed bankruptcy and said I acted like that was no big deal. Ruining your life is a big deal. Scientology trains you to not feel or show emotions and to pretend all is well when it is not. Being fake, phony, arrogant, having no empathy are all side effects of Scientology training, auditing and “group think” from being a Scientologist in the cult of Scientology. I was brainwashed into believing I had super powers and it was nothing but a lie. My ego got inflated. What hooked me was manipulating me to put money on account for my Bridge. That was my trap. I did not want to be wrong that “Scientology worked”. I was deceived into signing the contracts and then the implanted idea about “being SP” if auditing did not work coupled with I knew that REFUND was a filthy dirty word in Scientology and that they would not refund the money ever and that I would be declared SP if I asked for a refund. Cringe

May 7, 2019 at 10:56 am

OFG, it sounds like you have a lot of self-awareness, which is a critical starting point.

Fortunately, these days there is a lot of good material on cultivating empathy, and I hope that you can find things that work for you. One general exercise I’d recommend, which Hubbard specifically forbade as part of his attempt to make others narcissists and psychopaths in his own mold, is to volunteer to help others – totally “out exchange” by Scientology standards.

It’s a typical of high control groups or cults, that while promoting ideals like world peace and saving the planet, they actually bring out some of the worst in people. I wish you the best.

May 9, 2019 at 12:14 pm

Congratulations on this decision, OfG.

You may have lost a lot and suffered a lot but you are head and shoulders above the Still Ins who will not, cannot confront and deal with the truth, as you have.

I don’t say that lightly. I am not flattering you just to make you feel good. I do mean it. HEAD AND SHOULDERS above those stubborn cowards still in.

You can rebuild, you are still alive, you are aware. You said, “I am so excited to have made the decision that I am done and I am out.”

That strength, that awareness, the persistence that got you out will be that get you through the hurdles and impediments to come. As Yogi Bera famously said, “Nothing is over, until its over!”

Never mind your chronological age, your life is beginning again.

Stay the course; you’re on the right tack, OfG. Keep sharing with us. We learn from you; you learn from us. Keep going down that rabbit hole and getting all the data you want and need, sort thru it.

In brief, really well done., OfG. OUTSTANDING, I’d say!

May 7, 2019 at 9:58 am

Aquamarine – thank you. I appreciate the encouragement. I do agree with you. It takes a lot of courage to confront the truth. The truth hurts. The betrayal cuts like a knife. Scientology wraps its tentacles around every aspect of life so there is no escaping this pain from the betrayal. For your information, most Scientologists are in doubt most of the time. As you know, there are many traps to keep them in Scientology and many tricks so they won’t look, however, most sense something is wrong and they hide under the radar. “Pretending” is a way of being in Scientology and Scientologists lose touch with reality. I think they go insane.

May 7, 2019 at 5:18 pm

You’re welcome, OfG.

“I think they go insane.”

I KNOW they go insane.

Pretending to see what you DON’T see: pretending NOT don’t to see what you DO see…continually… day in, day out…year after year…to others…to oneself…while, at the same time, convincing oneself and being convinced one is on the road to TRUTH… if THIS isn’t the road to insanity, what is?

May 6, 2019 at 10:13 pm

OFG…. Thank you for your courage. It takes a lot of chutzpah for someone like you — with all that invested to see the truth and get out. I wish all the best for you. My ex-spouse has been in for 40 years and does not have the strength it takes to see that.. Despite losing two marriages and a daughter (who died in a terrible way). Scn could not/would not help her.. It’s too terrible for my ex-spouse to even realize.

BTW: the “wins” you’ll have getting your own self back will far exceed those you thought you got in the cult!

May 7, 2019 at 10:14 am

titlewaves – thank you. I have OT friends who also won’t confront the truth. It is traumatizing to deal with this shit. I can understand many who can’t deal at all. I made a postulate in Scientology that I want the truth about everything. I guess my postulate came true. Scientologists get trapped in Scientology trying to solve their own human problems. The traps are many. People get stuck in the trap of Scientology who train members to lie and lie and lie about help. People harm others in Scientology and they harm themselves. By the time they realize it, it is too late, their lives are ruined.

May 7, 2019 at 1:55 am

OfG, Congratulations! If you need one more nail for that coffin; just one more example of how Hubbard not only stole credit for being “source” and then manipulated the results after others had done the heavy lifting .. well, check this out. Suffice to say, the following account by first “Clear” John McMaster about how scientologists were for ever more made both PTS and in constant need of ethics “handling” in one fell swoop: https://backincomm.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/come-home-john/

May 7, 2019 at 10:00 am

Thanks scn-911. I will check that out. Going Clear is the SCAM of the Century.

May 7, 2019 at 9:29 am

Thanks for sharing your story – and sorry to hear about what you went through. If you are willing and able, I hope you will share more, including what it is like being a members in recent times, and what’s going on at the orgs.

How, for instance, do you realize that membership is at an all time low? Many of the still-ins seem to buy into the propaganda about “expansion,” with some even believing that there are 20 million members somewhere.

May 9, 2019 at 5:11 pm

Peacemaker – thank you for your support. How do I “realize” that membership is at an all time low? Great question. Here is the answer – short, sweet and works standardly when applied. I actually LOOKED! I actually went around to the Ideal Orgs and observed with my own eyes the facts that they are all empty. The Ideal Orgs are nothing but vacant and dead. Our tiny Org has been shrinking every year for a long time and you get used to seeing people leave all the time. The tech keeps members silent as to where they are. Staff will lie about where they are. It did not take me going OT to finally get it. The propaganda says one thing. When one looks as LRH says to – one sees a totally different thing. Every Scientologist knows Scientology lies. Hell – we lie to ourselves the entire time we are in. It just takes a bit of confront to do something about the lies – like LOOK, KNOW and then leave. The lies never end. Pretty soon one does not know the difference between make believe, pretending and the truth. It is very destabilizing and makes one dependent on Scientology. Once you get out, you start to feel more and more stable because the truth is stable.

May 7, 2019 at 10:15 am

So happy for you. I truly hope you get all the help, support and resources to hopefully get your life and relationships restored. Take care you brave human. Love from Melbourne Australia

May 10, 2019 at 9:31 am

Thank you Kim. We are all warriors together. We were in a Concentration Camp of the Mind. We freed ourselves and we need to help free others. Keep telling people the truth about Scientology. I make it my goal each day to tell 10 people about the Scientology scam. I meet and talk to a ton of people each day and I get paid to do it. I love that I can suppress Scientology and get paid to do it.

May 7, 2019 at 1:41 pm

Welcome out!

This list may be a way to start checking out the rabbit hole.

https://whyweprotest.wikia.org/wiki/Former_Church_of_Scientology_members_who_have_spoken_out

May 7, 2019 at 8:33 pm

Wow – thank you for the list. Thank you for your kind words. I know some of the people on the list but I think there are a TON of people whose names are not on this list but should be. Mine, for example. I can tell you the mORGue I went to has dried up over the last decade. It was always small but now it is really tiny. There are a few families that keep it open. The diehards. I have witnessed that every Org seems to have them. So many people are not going in anymore. They learn how to survive Scientology and avoid SP Declares by giving acceptable excuses like – I am not interested at this time, paying off debt, too busy with work and family etc. Those excuses work. I am stoked I will never ever EVER get regged again.

May 8, 2019 at 5:00 am

We only add people to the list who have spoken out using their real name.

Should you decide to use your real name to post here, AND is there proof on the net that you were once in (e.g. at https://www.truthaboutscientology.com/ ), then you can be added.

Same goes for every one else. We know by far most people who ever got in are out (I think I once estimated 95%) , but by far most people never speak about it. Which, of course, is perfectly fine.

May 8, 2019 at 6:13 pm

Thank you TrevAnon. Honestly, I am not as courageous as you guys are about coming out publicly. I don’t know if I will ever be able to come out in public. I am still freaking out. The mind fucking fear based Scientological implants are reeking havoc with my frontal lobes. I was so scared when I watched Leah Remini and Mike Rinder on A&E that I honestly thought they would “know” and knock on my door. How does Scientology do that to us? I was so freaked out, I blocked all windows, made sure I was alone and binged watched all fucking 3 seasons in a few days. I cried, I screamed, I went nuts. Believe me Mike Rinder and Leah Remini when I tell you that this show is so perfect for the Scientologist in Doubt. Know that you will be getting many more out. EVERY SINGLE Scientologist is CURIOUS ABOUT the show on A&E. BELIEVE ME. EVERYONE in Scientology wants to know what the fuck happened to Leah that Leah was able to pull off one of the most effective BLOWS to Scientology since Xenu threw the aliens in the volcanoes and blew them up with H-Bombs. They will never admit it out loud but they are curious. All it will take is something to happen to them “personally” by Scientology or Scientologists and as we all know, everyone gets fucked many times by Scientology and Scientologists. It is only a matter of time. Thank you so much for your care and support.

May 9, 2019 at 9:44 pm

Out for Good – Everyone appreciates your honesty and sincerity and what you’ve been through is no laughing matter.

However…………….,”……..one of the most effective BLOWS to Scientology since Xenu threw the aliens in the volcanoes and blew them up with H-Bombs.” laughter! That quip hit my funny bone. Thanks for the laugh, OfG. 🙂

May 10, 2019 at 9:33 am

Richard – Thank you. I am happy I made you laugh. WINNING! LOL I stopped joking around when I got into Scientology. It was a high crime. Now – I will poke fun at Scientology and Hubbard every chance I get. The little dwarf Miscavige too.

May 7, 2019 at 3:47 pm

Congratulations, Out for Good!!!! Welcome to the truth and to wonderful friends you now have on this blog.! I’m very glad you found your way out. Do you have kids or relatives still in the church? Is disconnection a consideration? I hope not. And I hope you can give us more of your story and your name once it is safe to do so. I’d love to know the Ah Ha moment when you decided you’d had it. Read and view and talk and find the truth and be brave enough to go down the rabbit hole. And things will go up from here for you.

May 10, 2019 at 9:37 am

Cindy – thank you. The Ah-ha moment. Hmmmmm. There were a ton of them over the years but the Scientological traps were many and the traps coupled with the carrot on a stick kept me in waaaaaay too long. The traps were hard to free myself from. I did all of the auditing and training services and I got worse and my life got worse. Then applied the PTS / SP tech and disconnected from friends and family that did not agree with Scientology or Hubbard and had the balls to say so. Once I started to look and go down the rabbit hole to the truth – I realized that THEY WERE ALL RIGHT and I immediately reconnected with them all and told them they were right and that I was sorry. They also watched Mike and Leah so they forgave me very quickly. Also – what I noticed is Scientologists don’t care about anyone. There is no love or care. No one helps you. Ethics is crazy. I noticed that Most scientologists get worse over time and are crippled and failing in life. My Ah-ha moment: I watched Mike and Leah on A&E. I watched Scientology – the Aftermath. The truth set me free.

May 10, 2019 at 1:36 pm

OUt for Good. I got goosebumps reading your post. This makes my day to know that someone who was so entrenched in Sc that they did all training and all auditing that was there, actually watched The Aftermath show and started allowing themselves to look after that. That is so great that you did that. Do you have family still in the church? I hope they have the courage to watch Leah and Mike’s show too.

You said you noticed that, “Most scientologists get worse over time and are crippled and failing in life. ” This is true for me too. I noticed it around me and in myself too. I told a friend of mine that I was doing way better in life when I was just new in Scn, and was below the level of Clear and had no auditor training at all. That was the height of my success and good life and it all went downhill from there until I was on OT VII and broke, not doing well in a job, on and on. I had that cog and immediately couldn’t have that. Not after all the training and auditing I’d done. It would make me wrong to have that cog. So the cognitive dissonance kicked in hard and I decided not to look at how I was doing before and after and just compartmentalized it. Wow. Imagine a cognition of that magnitude and just squelching it. I did just that and I bet many in the church are doing it. That is why Mike and Leah’s Aftermath show is so important. It gets people to really look and think and research more and some eventually leave as a result.

May 7, 2019 at 5:21 pm

Welcome to a whole new world OFG! Here’s wishing you all good things to come. There are many people who care and will support you. Way to go!!! ☺

May 10, 2019 at 9:41 am

Thank you Ann. You are a sweetheart.

May 7, 2019 at 6:00 pm

Welcome to sanity! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Im a ‘never-in’ but always willing to listen.

May 7, 2019 at 7:40 pm

Out for Good, welcome to freedom!

“The Road To Freedom” is a farce; when one is in Scientology one is owned.

Others who replied to you have said good things already. About the emotions, you are spot on. I’m an ex too, and my emotions were frozen when I had left and when they loosened up again, it has been often a roller coaster ride. When working through the indoctrination backward, getting all the info and connecting the dots, I have been so often in turmoil. It can take some time to get the equilibrium again; be patient with yourself, you are doing good.

How you tell and describe your experiences and thoughts is very, very good. It is often difficult to describe these situations, but you have an ease with it so that it is communicating really well. This is very valuable and it is great that you speak out.

Wish you all the best!

May 10, 2019 at 9:45 am

Pluvo – thank you for your kind words and understanding. Frozen – YES! It is a roller coaster ride. I get triggered by so many things. I just listened to a you tube video about the malignant narcissist and gas lighting today. Wow – That is how Scientology fooled us all. Gas lighting is SOP in Scientology. Scientology is a malignant narcissist that uses gas lighting to trick and deceive. The lies are huge!

May 8, 2019 at 7:13 am

Welcome back to reality, Out For Good! I used to be extremely religious, and even within mainstream religions there are movements that over-emphasize how hellish the real world is and how badly you need to stick to their ways, lest ye be devoured. Scientology takes it to the extreme. In your new freedom, you will hopefully restore a healthy love for the world, and at the same time, a healthy ability to think more critically of it, too….but on your own instincts, not those of El RH or anyone else.

May 10, 2019 at 9:46 am

Yes – “Eat or be eaten” Francis. Thank you. I do get that now. Scientology will chew you up and spit you out and leave you for dead after taking and consuming all of your resources. Scientology will leave you broke and broken and then blame you. I have seen most people in Scientology treated this way – used and abused.

May 6, 2019 at 5:16 pm

I hope there is a season4 of Aftermath with Leah and Mike. The more exposure to crimes the better. Legally they are almost impenetrable. PR wise not so much Spreading the truth is our best exposure of truth ??

May 6, 2019 at 7:39 pm

I COMPLETELY agree. It is obvious that the US government is unprepared to handle the situation of a “religion” that routinely commits crimes in the name of that “religion”.

May 6, 2019 at 4:51 pm

Len, by sister cult you mean Sea Org? NOI? Thx.

Crap – that is misplaced. Len said: It is not an overstatement to observe that Scientology, like it’s sister cult, has blood on it’s hands. The rest of the comment was about the code which I’d read umteen times but looks very differently now.

May 6, 2019 at 4:43 pm

I think the outbreak of diseases on the ship is a lead-in to a potentially bigger story. I’m talking about all the senior citizens in isolated environments like a ship or the hole or one of the compounds that is surrounded by razor wire.

In the past, I’ve tried to sound an alarm that one day, there will be a “tipping point” and many of the older people will no longer be able to care for themselves and may well be victim to fast-spreading diseases. The mentality of the monsters who run this scam is such that they really have no intention of providing required medical care and there could be large numbers of elderly people who will die from a lack of care. The big question is whether that story will ever make it out to the public and if it does, will law enforcement finally conclude, “Enough is enough!” and maybe there is a line being crossed. The line between religious freedom and willfull homicide or even manslaughter. I see a whole lot of cases of manslaughter happening among the aged population of cult members.

I just hope the monster winds up in prison for these crimes against the elderly.

May 6, 2019 at 5:11 pm

I agree. Once the elderly are broke and unable to generate funds anymore be it their own or others, they aren’t relevant. And if they begin to cost money, they are disposed of even quicker. My mom is one of those “elderly” people. When she disconnected from me, I begged her to save some of her money and keep it private and not to tell them. So that she could afford, board and care for her self. I tried to tell her they will take every cent and she will suffer more then the loss of her only daughter and grandkids. She was sobbing. That was a hard goodbye for us both.

May 6, 2019 at 10:29 pm

Oh geeez Lora – another one. So sad for her. Maybe she is one of the hundreds waiting to route out? Perhaps you can try and phone?

May 7, 2019 at 4:05 am

Lora, that just breaks my heart. Thank you for posting that for others to see.

May 6, 2019 at 8:11 pm

Those elderly are there of their own free will, Skyler. They cannot be forced to leave the cult. They have to WANT to leave. They have to DECIDE to leave. THEN they cannot be kept AGAINST THEIR WILL. Unfortunately, they are perfectly at liberty to stay in the cult’s Sea Org of their own free will. This applies to ALL Sea Org members. Provided they STATE that they’re where they want to be, of their own free will, that no onE is forcing them to stay (that’s called “kidnapping”) and provided that no ABUSE has been REPORTED to the police, no one is going to INVESTIGATE.

I’m a businesswoman with many friends, business associates and some family.

If one day I decide, without saying anything to anyone, to just leave, to join up with some isolated Wiccan commune or something and I pick up and go, and if this commune has no phone and no email and there’s no way to reach me, someone I know would assuredly report me. missing. I’d be traced and found. But if I say to the authorities,

“Thank you for your concern, but I’m not breaking any law, I am where I want to be, no one is abusing me or forcing me to stay, I’m living my life, and, no I don’t want to make a public statement, nor do I wish to ever again speak to anyone I once knew. Please respect my privacy and leave me alone,” – if I communicate THIS to the authorities, then I MUST be left alone, per LAW.

That’s how it rolls in the US of A.

This is the situation with the Sea Ogres, of all ages.

May 7, 2019 at 1:26 am

You can make a decision, informed or otherwise. But a criminal organisation, such as the Co$, can exercise undue influence and the decisions that the victims take are not their own.

Undue influence is a thing in court – also in the US of A. The victims are not entirely at fault.

Check out “opening minds: the secret world of manipulation, undue influence and brainwashing” by Jon Atack.

May 7, 2019 at 10:36 am

Sorry jens. Ain’t gonna happen UNLESS you can get the person declared incompetent. Which ain’t going to happen because when you get a Heber on the stand he will be very lucid. This is rooted in the human right of Freedom of Association. You DON’T want the gov’t messing with that unless one is an idiot. Because there will ALWAYS be a TEENY, TINY % of the population that lack the common sense to not get duped and you don’t want to scrub the rights of the other 99.9999% of the population who has common sense enough.

May 7, 2019 at 5:46 pm

Well said, Wynski.

Years ago there was a film wherein young people lay down in the middle of a busy road. I forget the name of this film but it caused a huge stir because a few young kids saw this film, went out and did the same thing , got run over and died, if I recall correctly. Possibly just injured, I forget. Anyway, arguments sprang up that films should not show such acts because they caused young people to copy them and lose their lives. It was the film’s fault because the young people had thought what the film characters did was “cool”. Well, sure, but WHAT “young people”. Out of, say, 10 thousand kids, how many would be mental or stupid or high enough to FOR REAL lay themselves down in the middle of a busy road or highway because some characters they identified with in a film did it? No kidding, if they’re that impressionable and mental or drugged out, they wouldn’t be long for this lifetime anyway. Completely absurd.

May 7, 2019 at 10:08 pm

Right Aqua. Evolution has got us to the point where we are now. A HUGE part of that is the NATURAL weeding out of those who are deficient. Penalizing everyone else because a tiny fraction are defective is completely insane.

May 9, 2019 at 1:54 am

What about Heber’s child (or children)? Who never had the freedom to form their own choice?

I’m saying that courts do take undue influence seriously, no matter how much some people like to blame victims.

And the criminal organisation known as the “church” of $cientology wants everyone to blame the victims exclusively.

May 7, 2019 at 5:01 am

Hello AM. You are quite correct, of course.

Isn’t brain-washing an incredibly insidious way to commit crimes against people? You convince them that they want to give you all their money and to go into debt in order to borrow as much money as they can and then give it to you. When your family asks where all your money has gone, you tell them that you wanted it to give it to the monsters and they should just go away and leave you alone.

It’s almost a perfect kind of crime. So perfect, there has to be a law against it. Sigh.

May 7, 2019 at 10:38 am

Skyler, you can’t make laws against stupidity. It isn’t eh gov’ts job to run around with people trying to instill common sense.

May 6, 2019 at 9:42 pm

I think there is more potential for the elderly folks to be taken financially. I’ve heard of a person who is over 75 that was talked into getting credit cards with $70,000 so the person could take classes. There’s no way for this person to pay that off in this lifetime.

May 7, 2019 at 5:17 am

Hello Lynne. I was only ever involved with this scam for a few days. The reason I feel so strongly they must be taken down is because of a story I heard where a team of “Reg’s” came to an elderly couple’s home and lambasted them 24 hours a day – refusing to leave them alone until they agreed to give the scam a large sum of money they recently inherited so that their daughter (or granddaughter) could take courses that she needed to take to save her life.

At least they had these people convinced she needed these courses to save her life.

If you are interested in my story, you can read about it here: http://www.forum.exscn.net/threads/hello-from-ali-shibaz.49451/

It is post #13.

That post should have all the details about how that team of reg’s bullied and browbeat that elderly couple until they agreed to hand over all the money they had recently inherited.

I hope you will be able to find that story using my link. Please let me know if you have any difficulty. The best way would be to send me email to:

[email protected]

May 7, 2019 at 6:04 pm

Was this person physically forced to charge 70K on his/her credit cards?

Did this person have dementia or Alzheimers?

If the answer is “yes” to either of the above, there might be a legal case.

OR did this person, legally sane, merely succumb to clever, well pitched, high pressure sales tactics?

Such sales against those who are vulnerable/lonely/inexperienced /gullible/ ignorant/elderly are certainly IMMORAL.

Unfortunately, they’re not illegal.

Of course, FRAUD is illegal.

It all depends upon what is PROMISED, and then, what is DELIVERED.

AARP says that some elderly people are extremely LONELY which is why they’re willing to give con artists the opportunity to get to know them. Someone is reaching out and TALKING to them. Its a big deal.

In this instance, I’d say the CRIME (not the legal crime, but the moral one) is someone SO alone, so lonely, that ANYONE calling on the phone, ANYONE professing some sort of interest in them, is welcome, even an unscrupulous, calculating salesperson.

May 7, 2019 at 10:13 pm

Yes Aqua, were the caring family members BEFORE the sales people arrived?

My in-laws are old. We don’t live near them so we Skype them once a week and talk via phone several times a week. They KNOW to pass by us any major financial matters and also through their atty. We make sure they get special safety equipment installed in their house as they get older to prevent accidents, etc. NO ONE is going to scam them because they will call my cell phone the moment someone tries to sell something expensive or needing a contract.

May 6, 2019 at 4:30 pm

Some time back you covered the big $ci.. shindig where Shelly’s husband proclaimed all of the “great accomplishments” of the past year. In reading that, I tried to put myself in the clam mindset of “whatever he says, has to be true” and concluded it would be inspiring to the most insulated clams. (Telling people the lie they want to hear, as truth, is almost always joyfully accepted.)

So with that thought in mind – Shelly’s husband can easily proclaim that this year “interest in $ci.. reached an all time high with coverage by all the networks, magazines and newpapers”. Of course he’ll attribute it to people wanting lrh’s blather (a lie), but the clams can be euphoric in their bubble until they question why no growth came from all of this “positive” coverage.

PS In Bonner’s post he says the “measles has past” – does this mean this set of measles had previously been with other women?

May 6, 2019 at 4:54 pm

Phillip, buddy, I hate to give you bad news, but, these measles have not only been tramping around, but, the women who contracted this set of measles, I’ve been told, is the Worst ever seen. I’m sorry to break the news to you.

May 6, 2019 at 4:29 pm

OT (Off Topic) One of my morning rituals consists of having a look at Wikipedia’s landing page. Reading the ‘Did You Know…’ and ‘On This Day’ sections is kind of like a trivial pursuit exercise for me.

Today I noticed in the ‘On This Day’ section there was this: 1991 – Time magazine published “The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power”, an article highly critical of Scientology, leading to years of legal conflict.

I clicked on the link to the main article and had a nice walk down memory lane. Our tireless proprietor was even mentioned in the article. Congrats Mike you’re world famous!

A word of warning to newbies, never-ins, cult doubters – sideliners and UTR lurkers who read this blog. Reading these type of articles and clicking on the handy links that Wikipedia provides can lead to some real time consuming rabbit holes. Click at your own risk. However, the great benefit of clicking these links is that your ignorance will be cleared up faster than a cult reg can empty your pockets and you will never be blindsided by that flavor of stupidity again.

May 6, 2019 at 6:02 pm

Reading these types of articles and clicking on the handy links that Wikipedia provides can lead to some real time consuming rabbit holes

Oh my lord, I can attest to that!! Trust me, it’s not just Wikipedia! I started reading Mike’s blog just a few months ago, which lead to another one. And then another one. And then another one. Rince/repeat X I don’t even know how many anymore. LOL.

I’ve been trying to catch up on 10+ years of various blogs and posts. Feel free to check back on my progress in about 2 years. Haha 😉

May 6, 2019 at 4:27 pm

What a mess of low life, lying crap Scientology is. It’s about time the ship of the damned received some well deserved international attention for the despicable human rights abuses it camouflages itself behind by fronting itself as an elite lifestyle with the purpose of saving humanity. But OMG!!!! imagine being ordered by the sovereign authorities of the waters that ship is in to remain onboard for 3 more weeks! And to make it even more crappy than it already is, I seem to recall (it really stretches my memory though) but even Hubbard wrote in a LRH ED that the AOs of the world were to deliver OT8. So what is the purpose of the ship? The above information lays it out in gruesome detail.

May 6, 2019 at 5:05 pm

You are correct. AOLA sold OT8, many many of them back in the day…

May 6, 2019 at 4:17 pm

“MANY ARE CALLED

FEW WE CAN AFFORD TO TURN AWAY.

HELLO? IS ANYBODY THERE…?????”

May 6, 2019 at 4:57 pm

Yes, Peter, I’m still here. Now quit waking me up!

May 7, 2019 at 4:08 am

Hello Peter. What a great name you chose. Have you ever seen the old movie about a doctor turned pirate named Peter Blood? It’s a really good movie and it was a great name for that pirate too.

May 7, 2019 at 12:57 pm

That’s good to know. I was worried it was a medical condition.

May 6, 2019 at 3:26 pm

I know that Suzette [Hubbard] was vaccinated against small pox. That’s about all I know about it. I don’t know Hubbard’s general attitude about medical disease prevention other than what he wrote about it via-a-vis Dianetics and PTS condition.

I asked Rowan’s nanny about the subject when she was in my office playing one day but she didn’t know about her vaccination status and had not seen her get any at an age when she should have. But, that would have been up to Diana…

May 6, 2019 at 2:59 pm

Thank you Mike! I went to the FW’s once in the 90’s to talk with my husband who they were trying to go to get to go to Europe to “handle” Adnon Kashogi’s son. (He being the TOP ARMS DEALER at that time, and his wife at Flag…becoming a $cientologist). I arrived and was ordered to: “STAND ASIDE!” (Not allowed on, due to medicine I took for Epilepsy). They finally Ok’d me on. I got my husband to promise not to go. He was a total wreck after OT 8.

May 6, 2019 at 6:06 pm

I remember that time. It was top secret who was to come aboard for the lowly staff members. Just that some of the richest person was about to come. I figured out anyway that it must have to do with the Kashoggis (Adnan Kashoggi).

“Arms dealer”, that is what I thought also with disgust. It felt so wrong regarding the proclaimed “Aims of Scientology: A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war,… . “Without war”?… and then pay court to the Kashoggis?? Unbelievable! It’s all about the money. Disgusting! No integrity!

The executives and CMO were crazed with excitement, and there was a hectic as if the King of some important country would come. I felt so wrong. But then it came to nothing. Later I heard it was all about the arms dealer’s wife.

May 6, 2019 at 2:18 pm

When I did my OT VIII on the ship, I said to myself I would never ever EVER step foot on the Freewinds ship again. While doing the level, I realized that all of the OT levels were based on BELIEF. There was nothing scientific about it. Yes, the story about XENU is all true. Cringe. Confession: I thought the entire story was bullshit when I read OTIII – the story about XENU. I went through with it because I had spent so much money. It’s bullshit. You don’t have BT’s & Custers all over you and you need to audit them off. It is a money making scam for the cult. Lurkers – Get OUT of Scientology. You are going to regret it if you don’t. You WILL get hurt too. Leave now and never look back.

May 6, 2019 at 4:59 pm

And you don’t have to do dianetics only to find out you don’t have a reactive bank (that Ron/DMSMH told you, you did) and that you were mocking it all up – well yah, duh!

May 6, 2019 at 1:49 pm

They take away all the rights of their members, they take away choice (forced abortions), and have the audacity to use freedom as an argument for anything they don’t agree with. Hypocrites devoted to smoke and mirrors at its best.

May 6, 2019 at 1:44 pm

Isn’t it ironic that ” the world’s coolest religion ” and ” the tech that is senior to life itself “, relies so heavily on elitism, punitive measures, and aggressive and arbitrary labelling ? Is it not ironic that ” the most ethical group on the planet ” has, for over 6 decades, ruthlessly imprisoned, human trafficked, defrauded, physically and sexually abused, and otherwise shat on and destroyed not only its adherents, but its critics and those who seek to expose and stop this heinous “ecclesiastical” behavior? SCIENTOLOGY: ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS WORSE THAN YOU THINK.

May 6, 2019 at 1:37 pm

Some call the MeasleWinds a ship of fools. That only applies to the paying customers. For the crew, it is like the Trireme that Ben Hur had to row when he was a Roman slave.

Thanks to all the exs who spent time on the $cineo ships, we know what really goes on there. it is not ‘spiritual perfection’, it is a floating Dachau.

May 6, 2019 at 12:56 pm

Older people often find that the frequency of getting colds is reduced. At 65 I get one every few years now instead of every few months.

If Scientology cannot even prevent colds, something that can occur naturally with age, then it cannot do much health wise. Try yoga or nutrition or getting enough sleep something that works.

Hubbard himself is proof that Scientology does not improve one’s health. He was an overweight broken down old man who died of a stroke at 74. In his final years he was senile to boot. Claimed people were breaking into his quarters to steal his shoes, wear them and then return them.

Hubbard made various pronouncements claiming that measles were mostly or entirely psycho-somatic, such as this in Dianetics:

“Measles, for instance, can be just measles or it can be measles in company with engramic restimulation, in which case it can be nearly or entirely fatal. A check of many subjects on this matter of childhood illness being predisposed by, precipitated by and perpetuated by engrams causes one to wonder just how violent the diseases themselves really are. They have never been observed in a Cleared child and there is reason to investigate the possibility that childhood illnesses are in themselves extremely mild and are complicated only by psychic disturbance, which is to say, the restimulation of engrams.”

A 1968 confidential lecture seems to imply that measles and other diseases are just part of an “implant” intended to reduce a supposed ridiculously large population that once lived on this planet, in Hubbard’s “space opera” cosmology:

“For instance, there is cyclical illness which is dictated in the various R6 implants. A fellow was forced to get sick at the age of five, followed multiples of five, and he’s supposed to get sick from this and from that, and from the other thing. Measles and, you know he’s supposed to have and that’s certain. They predict his health, in other words. When he’s fifty he’s supposed to something or other. What they’re trying to do is make a body cave in. See?

Problem R6 was trying to solve was overpopulation. With some 250 billion inhabitants on this planet, the average through this federation was 178 billion, hundred and seventy-eight billion beings per planet.”

Those and others are collected at: http://scientology-research.org/the-infectious-disease-angle/

May 6, 2019 at 12:45 pm

Information on Measles Vaccinations

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/diseases/child/measles.html

May 6, 2019 at 12:39 pm

Wow – you put it right out there – this is complete madness and control – i find it difficult to understand how it can continue in this day and age. is nobody in authority looking

May 6, 2019 at 9:06 pm

Mostly not.

May 6, 2019 at 12:30 pm

Scientology’s Creed begins with the words ”We of the Church believe…” and concludes with “…the spirit alone may save or heal the body.” This nonsense reinforces a group-think conspiracy-driven mentality that all but rejects the lifesaving science of Immunology, and has consequently contributed to innumerable deaths that would otherwise have been preventable. It is not an overstatement to observe that Scientology, like it’s sister cult, has blood on it’s hands.

May 6, 2019 at 12:12 pm

Go GET EM Mike and Leah!!!

May 6, 2019 at 5:25 pm

Does anyone have any info on the next season of Aftermath?

Does anyone know if there will likely be another season? If there is another season, would anyone have any ideas as to what topics may be discussed in this next season?

I surely do hope there will be more seasons. I hope there will continue to be season after season until the monster winds up in in the penitentiary for life. That would be a most wonderful outcome of this show.

May 6, 2019 at 5:33 pm

Stay tuned, as soon as we know exactly what is happening and when we will let everyone know.

May 6, 2019 at 7:40 pm

And wouldn’t some true stories from actual Freewinders make some great shows!

May 6, 2019 at 10:30 pm

May 7, 2019 at 4:11 am

Wonderful! Thanks so much Mike.

Personally, I’m hoping for some episodes about elder abuse – especially if there is any evidence about a potential upcoming collapse of the care for all the elders who can no longer care for themselves.

May 7, 2019 at 10:16 am

Skyler, most of the worst cases just get off loaded to relatives and die. I don’t think that the SO has ever had a policy of paying for professional palliative care.

What I’m saying is that there is no history of care to collapse…

[…] Here is some background information from an earlier post: The Real Story of the Freewinds […]

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Hundreds of Scientologists remain trapped on a mysterious luxury cruise ship after a measles outbreak. Here’s what it looks like inside.

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Hundreds of Scientologists remain stranded aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean after a measles outbreak forced authorities to board the vessel and jab unvaccinated crew and passengers.

More than 300 people have been trapped aboard the MV Freewinds, the only ship in operation from the church’s original flotilla, since a Danish crew member tested positive for the disease on April 29 .

Authorities had been hoping to disembark all passengers by Wednesday this week but Curacao’s chief health officer, Dr Marlene Fredericks-James, said the vessel would remain quarantined for the duration of the measles incubation period, which is up to 12 days.

The 216 crew and 102 passengers belong to Scientology’s most mysterious and dedicated branch — the Sea Organisation, which requires members to sign billion-year contracts and

work 365 days a year for little or no wages.

Scientologists aiming for the church’s spiritual climax, Operating Thetan Level 8 (or OT8 for short), are sent aboard the Freewinds.

The ship is the only place in the whole organisation that offers the OT8 course, which can set devotees back between $US500,000 ($A714,000) to $US2 million ($A2.86 million) and take years to complete.

At first glance, it might not seem a bad place to be stuck.

The 134 metre “religious retreat” is fitted out with five-star restaurants, luxury cabins, a cinema, panoramic sun deck and shiny, state-of-the-art control rooms.

Then there’s the glittering Starlight Lounge, where church mascot Tom Cruise famously belted out a rendition of Bob Seger‘s Old Time Rock and Roll with X Factor contestant Stacy Francis on his birthday.

The lounge features a stylised portrait of church founder, former sci fi writer L Ron Hubbard, wearing a captain’s hat behind the stage.

The Mission Impossible actor is not the only celebrity to have spent time on the Freewinds. Cruise’s former wife Katie Holmes, John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston have all celebrated birthdays on board.

Others known to have taken a sail include jazz great Chick Corea, Elvis’ daughter Lisa Marie Presley, actors Catherine Bell and Juliette Lewis, as well as longtime Australian devotee Kate Ceberano.

There are also whispers Scientology’s leader David Miscavige, whose wife mysteriously vanished from the public eye years ago amid an alleged mental health crisis, is on-board.

“Miscavige turned 59 on Tuesday,” former Scientologist Tony Ortega wrote on his cult-busting website The Underground Bunker last week .

“Was he aboard the Freewinds for a birthday party when it was quarantined in St Lucia on Monday morning? We think the chances are low that Miscavige is aboard, but we’d love to know one way or the other.”

Former Church executive Tom DeVocht said if the elusive leader was on the ship “he will be micromanaging the crisis, and Scientology will do its best to appear to be co-operating fully with (government officials).”

It’s not the first crisis to hit the Freewinds.

In 2006, a Sea Org member reportedly contracted chickenpox, passing it onto at least one other crew member before the infected pair were offloaded at a hotel ashore, according to bombshell claims by Sea Org whistleblower Valeska Paris.

“What I can say is that the Sea Org member who got measles will be in serious trouble,” Ms Paris told The Underground Bunker .

“When I was on the Freewinds in 2006, a Sea Org member named Angela got chickenpox. “She passed it to another Sea Org member named Isabel. All crew members were asked if they were vaccinated for chickenpox and if they had had it before.

“There were a handful of us who had never been vaccinated and had never had chickenpox, including myself. It was right before maiden voyage, and we should have been quarantined.

“We all had to have blood tests to confirm whether we were immune or not. I wasn’t immune, and there were about four other Sea Org members who were not. The ship’s doctor got vaccinations for us, and we were all vaccinated on the ship.

“Then Isabel, Angela and everyone who hadn’t had chickenpox were sent ashore to stay in a hotel. Isabel still had chickenpox when she was sent ashore. They were there the entire maiden voyage week and came back after (Scientology leader David) Miscavige left the ship.”

Authorities say the source of the latest outbreak, a Dutch woman, boarded the Freewinds in Curacao as a crew member on April 17. She went to the ship’s doctor complaining of cold symptoms on April 22 and was immediately isolated from others on board.

A blood sample was taken and sent to nearby Aruba, where officials confirmed it was measles on April 29. By that time the ship had already departed for St Lucia.

Curacao officials alerted their counterparts in St Lucia who quarantined the vessel upon arrival before turning it back to its home port

On May 4, a medical team led by Curacao’s chief epidemiologist Dr Izzy Gerstenbluth boarded the Freewinds and examined 216 crew members and 102 passengers — a process that took up most of the weekend.

At least 31 crew members and 10 passengers were able to provide proof of vaccination or immunity, but the remaining 277 were awaiting the results of blood tests being conducted in the Netherlands.

“There’s nobody on the boat that did anything wrong,” Dr Gerstenbluth told AFP.

“Somebody came from Europe, and after a couple of days had the sniffles and was isolated and turned out to have measles. We’re trying to contain.”

Dr Gerstenbluth said passengers would be allowed off the vessel once the samples had all come back negative. The outbreak has forced Freewinds officials to cancel scheduled trips to Dominica on Friday and Aruba on Sunday.

Measles has sickened more than 700 people in 22 US states this year, with federal officials saying the resurgence is driven by misinformation about vaccines. Symptoms include runny nose, fever and a red-spotted rash.

Most people recover, but measles can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and even death in

some cases.

Chinese park officials fessed up to making a “small enhancement” to the country’s tallest waterfall after a hiker’s video went viral.

Dramatic vision has emerged of the moment a fully grown giraffe lunged down while a car travelled past, horrifying bystanders.

Two more Boeing whistleblowers have gone public over what they allege are dangerous practices at the once-great but now-scandal-scarred manufacturer.

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What Do You Do on a Scientology Cruise Ship?

Play shuffleboard, hang out in the starlight room, achieve operating thetan level viii, jump in the hot tub ….

Photograph by Steve Mason/Thinkstock Images.

An Australian woman claims that the leader of the Church of Scientology forced her to spend 12 years as a working prisoner  on a church cruise ship, after her stepfather committed suicide and her mother publicly blamed the church. What do guests do on a Scientology cruise?

They hang out in the Starlight Room, play shuffleboard, and achieve Operating Thetan Level VIII . To an outsider, the Freewinds looks just like any other cruise ship. In fact, it was an ordinary cruise ship called the MS Bohème before the Church of Scientology bought it from Commodore Cruise Line in 1985. It has a shuffleboard court on the top deck, a couple of restaurants, swimming pools, hot tubs, and a night club that features either the regular band or a local group from the ship’s current port. (Tom Cruise once took the microphone in the Starlight Room for a pitchy birthday rendition of “ Old Time Rock and Roll .”) But a trip on the Freewinds is nothing like a Carnival cruise. Scientologists board the ship to progress in their spiritual studies , and their activities are tightly scheduled. Most days, they are in lecture halls or counseling sessions from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m., with one-hour breaks for lunch and dinner. Playing hooky to bum around the pool is not an option. Supervisors take roll call at the beginning of each session, and tardy students are sent to ethics officers. The Freewinds ’ biggest draw is that it is the only place where an adherent can complete the coursework to achieve Operating Thetan Level VIII, the highest degree of spiritual achievement currently available in Scientology.

Coursework on the Freewinds is a combination of independent book study, cooperative activities, and personal counseling sessions. In lecture halls, students complete lists of assignments that include reading book chapters and using modeling clay to demonstrate their understanding. They also participate in “ training routines ” to improve their communication skills. Classic examples include staring another student in the face for hours without blinking, or reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to each other. In the counseling sessions, Scientology officers probe students for any psychological resistance to doctrine or ethical lapses, many of which include communication with or sympathy for the church’s enemies. (The organization counts among its enemies governments and reporters, whom they refer to as “ merchants of chaos .”) Students in counseling sessions are required to hold onto the famous e-meter , which is a lie detector, of sorts.

Cruise guests have a few opportunities for recreation. The cruise director might schedule workout sessions for the morning before classes start or a cabaret in the Starlight Room after 10 p.m. Saturday mornings are sometimes open for approved excursions like snorkeling or shopping on the island. (According to one former guest, the cruise director encourages on-shore excursions, because it looks strange when a cruise ship docks but no one gets off.) Students might also have a few hours to kill while waiting for a counselor to become available.

Getting to Operating Thetan Level VIII is neither fast nor cheap. Most guests spend two or three months onboard. Preparatory and onboard counseling each cost between $15,000 and $30,000. Accommodations run about $1,000 per week, including food. In addition, representatives from the International Association of Scientologists ask for donations on top of what guests have already paid. Movement on and off the ship is limited, in large part because guests surrender their passports to church officials when they embark.

The Freewinds is a private ship, and guests come aboard by invitation only. Scientologists have brought their non-believing friends and family aboard with the church’s approval—Penelope Cruz was on the ship with Tom Cruise—but the church tries to sell them services and seeks donations from them once on the ship.

In addition to the ordinary spiritual education cruises, each year the Freewinds hosts Scientology’s glitterati for a cruise commemorating the ship’s maiden voyage.

Got a question about today’s news? Ask the Explainer .

Explainer thanks documentarian Mark Bunker and former Scientologist Michael Pattinson.

Inside Scientology’s Measles-Infested Million-Dollar Cruise for True Believers

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photo Shutterstock

The Scientology cruise ship Freewinds, whose passengers take advanced courses that can run an estimated $2 million, was quarantined in St. Lucia due to a measles outbreak.

Tarpley Hitt

O n Wednesday evening, news broke that a 300-person cruise ship had been quarantined at a port in St. Lucia. “The ministry of health is currently investigating a situation involving a cruise ship,” Merlene Fredericks-James, the island nation’s chief medical officer, said in a statement posted to YouTube. “We got information this morning from two sources that there was a confirmed case of measles on board a cruise ship that had visited our island.”

The 440-foot vessel bore the name Freewinds, identifying it as the floating headquarters of the Flag Ship Service Organization—a “religious retreat” that promises a “a safe, aesthetic, distraction-free environment”—owned and operated by the Church of Scientology .

“So yes, the story is true, the Freewinds is in St. Lucia and we’ve been quarantined because a passenger did get diagnosed with the measles,” Scientologist Bernard Bonner wrote in a statement on Facebook, first reported by watchdog website The Underground Bunker. The church did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Passengers aboard the ship had come to take high-level Scientology courses called OT VIII (“Operating Thetan Level 8”), the final step in a wildly expensive training program Scientologists call the “Bridge to Total Freedom” (The Underground Bunker estimated that completing the Bridge could cost members between $500,000 and $2 million). Instead of Total Freedom, passengers wound up with a ruling from the St. Lucia government that no one could disembark from the boat for 21 days.

The quarantine comes at a moment of intense panic surrounding measles outbreaks in the United States. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 704 confirmed cases of measles in 22 states since the start of 2019—78 in the last week alone. “This is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1994 and since measles was declared eliminated in 2000,” the government agency declared on its website. The global situation is only more dire: As of March, the World Health Organization had tracked more than 112,000 cases internationally, a 300 percent increase from last year. The majority of the cases involved people who had not been vaccinated, despite scientific consensus that shots can easily prevent the spread of the highly infectious disease.

Relative to other outbreaks, the Scientology quarantine of likely far less than 300 is somewhat small—recently confirmed cases in Los Angeles, for example, resulted in the isolation of more than 1,000 students and employees at UCLA and CalState—but it captures the grim absurdity of the situation. That an anti-vaxx outbreak occurred on a cruise sanctioned by Scientology—another movement known to traffic in fringe pseudoscience fronted by high-profile celebrities, sometimes the same ones—highlights the parallels between the two movements, and the uncanniness of seeing the former gain ground on the national stage.

According to Bonner, the situation began when a U.K. passenger who boarded the vessel last week started experiencing cold symptoms and later, a rash. He claims an on-board doctor administered a blood test, which came back positive for measles, and immediately isolated the woman from the rest of the passengers. “As Scientologists, we follow every law. The woman is now OK and the measles has past [sic],” Bonner said. “We have not been given her identity or whereabouts and none of us care. People ‘Can’ come on the boat but St. Lucia law is not allowing anyone off [sic].”

The Church of Scientology has not officially embraced the anti-vaxx movement, but it has hardly eschewed it either. The church has a history of opposition to the medical field , dating back to the early writings of its founder, L. Ron. Hubbard. “The doctor is a handyman desperately valuable in the specific fields of emergency surgery and repair (as needed after accidents), in obstetrics, in orthopedics and as epidemic police. Further he ceases to be valuable,” Hubbard wrote in a 1954 essay called The Road Up . “The medical profession has prepared its own retreat into the fields where it belongs.”

Among the most visible anti-vaxx advocates is actress Jenna Elfman, a well-known Scientologist who came out against SB-77, a 2015 California bill requiring vaccinations before students enroll in school.

At an anti-vaxx rally in May 2015, Elfman told the crowd that when “You open up the door of taking away parents’ rights, you open the door to a constitutional slippery slope.” In a Facebook post from that year promoting a petition against the bill, Elfman asserted, “There is no health crisis (unless they care to create one— wait for it....).” Danny Masterson, another Scientologist (and one facing multiple accusations of sexual assault ; he denies them), circulated the same petition, calling the bill in a tweet “California fascism.” And both Juliette Lewis and Kirstie Alley, also prominent Scientologists, came out against the bill. “NO on SB277...no no no...protect your rights to CHOOSE the vaccines your kids and YOU have...they are NOT all HARMLESS…” Alley wrote . “Ur kids,Ur choice [sic].”

The Church of Scientology community center in South Los Angeles on June 5, 2013, in Los Angeles, California.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty

In 2015, the church also co-sponsored an event with the Nation of Islam , inviting environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to speak in protest of SB-77. Kennedy, who has lobbied against vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal on the (widely disproven) grounds that they are linked to autism, took heat that year for likening vaccine programs to a “holocaust.” (He later apologized for the comparison.) At the talk , Kennedy reprised his rant against vaccines, this time aligning them with the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.

The quarantine isn’t the first time the Freewinds has been shut down by harmful contaminants. The ship, which was purchased by the church in 1985, was forced to stop operations in 2008, when Dutch government health inspectors detected blue asbestos in the ventilation system. At the time, the church denied the findings. But in an interview with watchdog website The Scientology Money Project, former Scientologist Lawrence Woodcraft recalled discovering the asbestos with another member during a renovation.

“He grabs a hammer and he pounds it. He smashes into this wall. I see this blue powdery substance, particles flying. I go, ‘Steve! Stop!’ You know, ‘I’m pretty damn sure that’s asbestos,’” Woodcraft said. “And I’m, like, uh-oh! ’Cause I’ve learned all about asbestos in architecture school. And I go, ‘Uh-oh, you’re releasing it! Let’s do something! Let’s suit it up. Let’s get the hell out of here!’ Like, I’m freaking! A panic mode because I’ve been in factories in England with asbestos. If they find asbestos, they freak out! The whole thing is closed down.”

The ship also came under scrutiny in 2011, when former Scientologist Valeska Paris told The Village Voice that she was held against her will aboard the boat for 12 years in an effort to prevent her from leaving the religion. In the interview, Paris described a situation much like a medical quarantine: “I was put in this small room by myself with a camera monitoring my movements,” she said. “A security guard escorted me anywhere I went, I had to eat in the engine room and was not allowed to eat in the control room because it was air conditioned. I was not allowed to work with anyone so I was alone at all times... I was in the engine room for almost 3 months full time. I hated it and just wanted to get off the Ship, I was of course not allowed to call my family at all or talk to anyone.”

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A Scientology Cruise Ship Has Been Quarantined for Measles. Here’s What to Know

T he Church of Scientology’s cruise ship Freewinds with 300 passengers aboard has been quarantined in port by the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia for measles after a female crew member was diagnosed with the highly contagious, preventable disease.

MarineTraffic.com lists the vessel in port at St. Lucia as the Freewinds. A ship with that name is owned by a Panamanian company linked to the Church of Scientology. NBC News also reported that a St. Lucia coast guard official confirmed that the quarantined vessel belonged to the church.

The Church of Scientology did not respond to TIME’s requests for comment.

St. Lucia is providing the ship with 100 doses of measles vaccine at the request of the ship’s doctor, St. Lucia’s Department of Health and Wellness said in a statement. The ship’s doctor is currently monitoring the condition of the ship’s crew and passengers.

“Given the highly infectious nature of Measles, along with the possibility that other persons onboard the vessel may have been in contact with and are now possibly infectious due to this disease, a decision was made not to allow persons to disembark. This decision to [quarantine] the ship is in keeping with the health laws of St. Lucia,” the St. Lucia health department said.

Neither the passengers nor the ship’s crew are permitted to disembark, officials say. St. Lucia learned about the crew member’s condition from a International Health Regulation focal point official in the Dutch Caribbean and then verified the diagnosis through other health agencies, the St. Lucia health department said.

The ship is permitted to leave the port if it chooses to, Merlene Fredericks-James, St. Lucia’s chief medical officer, said in a statement.

Scientology does not have an official position on vaccines, Rev. John Carmichael, the president of the Church of Scientology in New York, said in an interview with Beliefnet . However, the church emphasizes the “harmful effects of drugs, toxins and other chemicals that lodge in the body and create a biochemical barrier to spiritual well-being,” according to its website . Some prominent opponents of mandatory vaccinations, including Kirstie Alley and Jenna Elfman, are also Scientologists.

The Freewinds plays an important spiritual role for Scientologists, according to the church. Passengers receive training and the spiritual practice of “auditing.” The ship is staffed by members of the Sea Organization (Sea Org), an order of Scientologists who have agreed to “work long hours” and “live communally” for the church for life, in exchange for housing and other benefits, including an “allowance to purchase personal items.”

“To a Scientologist, boarding the Freewinds for New OT VIII is the pinnacle of a deeply spiritual journey. Years of training and auditing have brought him to this ultimate point. It is the most significant spiritual accomplishment of his lifetime and brings with it the full realization of his immortality,” the church’s website says .

St. Lucia, which became independent from the United Kingdom in the 1970s, can decide to either detain the ship or let the vessel go says John Paul Jones, a professor emeritus law at the University of Richmond School of Law who has taught maritime law. If the country asks the ship to leave, the vessel would then return to the nearest international port of the country where it is registered.

The vessel’s home port is Curaçao , a Dutch Caribbean island, but it sails under a Panamanian flag, according to MarineVessels.com .

“They’re subject to the sovereignty of St. Lucia,” Jones says of the ship. “To the extent that St. Lucia has the ordinary range of public health laws that everyone else in the Caribbean has, I’m sure that there is national legal authority for [quarantine] and no international objection to it.”

Although measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, there have been a number of outbreaks in recent years in part because growing numbers of children have not been vaccinated. This year has already broken infection records. As of April 26, 704 people have contracted measles in 22 states – the greatest number of measles cases reported in the U.S. since 1994.

Arthur Caplan, the head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University School of Medicine, told TIME that in a high-risk situation like a quarantine, officials can be be “more aggressive and compulsory” with vaccination.

“Measles is not only highly contagious, but people are asymptomatic for a few days and can still spread it,” Caplan says. “That’s what makes it so troubling in terms of trying to be aggressive once you have an outbreak. It’s partly due to this stealth factor. That weighs into the moral equation.”

Measles has an incubation period of about 10 to 12 days, according to the CDC.

Experts say that the anti-vaccination movement, which has often spread information that defies scientific consensus, has eroded public trust in vaccinating children. Anti-vaccination advocates have particularly campaigned against the MMR vaccine, which inoculates children against measles, mumps and rubella, arguing that the vaccine causes autism. Scientists have found no evidence that the vaccine causes autism.

–– With reporting by Jamie Ducharme

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Religion in the American West

The Freewinds cruise ship is a grand cathedral for Scientology , and houses the Flag Ship Service Organization (FSSO) ( Westbrook, 91 ).  The Freewinds  hosts one of the most powerful organizations in the western-born religion.  The 440-foot vessel is based in the Caribbean and is where veteran scientologists go to achieve the highest available level of “Operating Thetan,” OT VIII.  (One’s level of Operating Thetan is essentially one’s ranking in the religion, or how much progress one has made through auditing sessions.)  The ship also provides all services up to that level and is open to any Scientologist who is interested.  Preparatory and on board counseling costs between fifteen and thirty thousand dollars, and an additional one thousand dollars per week for accommodations ( Palmer, “What Happens” ).

The Freewinds is a vessel that provides a distraction-free environment for those looking to work on their spiritual self-development.  In 2008, the ship was completely refurbished for future voyages ( Church, “All Are Welcome” ).  The Freewinds  website, run by the Church of Scientology, states that “[The Freewinds’ ] position at sea is designed to provide an aesthetic, distraction-free environment off the crossroads of everyday life.”  The facilitators aboard the Freewinds try and give the Scientologists being audited and lectured to the best experience possible as they finally reach the top of the “Bridge,” which is a metaphor used by the Church of Scientology to describe their believers’ advancement in the religion. They boast in their video on the same website about all of the luxuries on board, like the five-star restaurant “Horizon” ( Church, “All Are Welcome” ).

In the end, OT VIIIs have learned enough to finally realize the goal of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard that they become like him.  At this point, they are poised to function like bodhisattvas, which is to say as embodiments of the “end phenomena” of pilgrimage up the Bridge ( Westbrook, 91 ).  Returning home around the world, they can  bear witness to the efficacy of Hubbard’s technologies, encouraging less prestigious Scientologists in their communities to likewise walk in Hubbard’s footsteps ( Westbrook, 91 ).

Controversies

There has been some controversy that has arisen due to events that allegedly took place on the Freewinds .  In 2008, the ship had a blue asbestos leak.  The Freewinds was under seal at Curacao after asbestos fibers were found.  There was suspicion that passengers may have come in contact with blue asbestos fibers, which was very bad news.  Even brief exposure to asbestos can lead to mesothelioma ( Gibb, “Bad Drug” ).

Although not confirmed, one ex-Scientologist woman claims to have been kept on the ship against her will for 12 years.  She says that the Church of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige, sent her to the ship when she was 18 to prevent her mother from taking her away from the religion.  Her mother publicly denounced Scientology after her ex husband committed suicide, who had blamed the church for fleecing him of his fortune ( Cannane, “Woman ‘Imprisoned'” ).

– Donald Holley, 2018

Suggestions for Further Reading:

Church of Scientology International, “All Are Welcome!” Freewinds – Flag Ship Service Organization. June 25 2018. https://www.freewinds.org/#slide2 .

Palmer, Brian. “ What Happens on a Scientology Cruise? ” Slate Magazine , December 1, 2011.

Westbrook, Donald A. “Walking in Ron’s Footsteps: ‘Pilgrimage’ Sites of the Church of Scientology,” in  NVMEN, the Academic Study of Religion, and the IAHR: Past, Present and Prospects , edited by Tim Jensen, 71-94. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

Featured Image:  Freewinds , by Mary-Austin & Scott(2004).  Creative Commons License.

Inside Freewinds, the luxurious Scientology cruise ship under quarantine

In case you missed it, a Church of Scientology cruise ship – Freewinds – has been quarantined following a measles outbreak, with authorities ordering 28 people to stay onboard.

The remaining 318 crew members have been given the all clear to leave the ship, which docked at the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao.

Curious to know what goes on inside a ship like this?

While not all ex-members have dished positive reviews of the MV Freewinds (according to one unhappy passenger, a two-week holiday turned into a  12-year sentence ), there's no denying the ship was built with luxury in mind.

The floating retreat features a slew of five-star restaurants, luxe cabins, state-of-the-art tech and resort-style spaces. Click through for a look inside.

• Cruise Tours
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Freewinds began service as a Church of Scientology religious retreat in 1988.

The 134-metre-long motor vessel accomodates up to 540 passengers and “provides a distraction-free environment for Scientology worshippers to study and experience the highest level of spiritual counselling available in the Scientology religion,” according to the Church of Scientology website .

The ship welcomes thousands of Scientologists and guests from more than 100 nations around the world every year.

Onboard, the church hosts religious services, conventions and special events.

The ship’s bookstore is kitted out with Scientology books, lectures and other scriptural materials.

The Starlight Cabaret holds weekly graduation ceremonies and other programs for passengers, including the annual convocation known as the Maiden Voyage Anniversary of the Freewinds – a week-long celebration for leading Scientologists from around the world.

It also hosts special seminars for officials, military, police and interfaith groups from throughout the islands and across Central and South America.

In La Paloma Blanca — The White Dove — passengers and guests gather after graduations, concerts, recitals, seminars and other events held in the adjoining Starlight Cabaret.

La Paloma Blanca also serves passengers daily during breaks in their studies and spiritual counselling sessions, known as auditing.

Freewinds claims to be the “ultimate distraction-free environment” and is “devoted to seeing that every Scientologist attains their goal of spiritual freedom,” according to its website.

The Sky Lounge acts as in formal place for passengers to gather and eat.

It seems as though the days on Freewinds aren't entirely spent worshiping -- on the pool deck, passengers can drink from the bar and enjoy the sun.

For more information, visit the website .

Scientology cruise ship Freewinds' passengers cleared of measles risk, the church says

All of the passengers and crew of a cruise ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology have been cleared from the risk of spreading or contracting measles after a female staffer on board was isolated with the highly contagious disease, Scientology officials said Tuesday.

The ship, named the Freewinds, was originally quarantined in St. Lucia late last month before it set sail for its home port of Curacao with about 300 people on board.

Those aboard the ship who had been vaccinated or had the measles before were free to leave the 440-foot vessel, health officials said May 4. Everyone else would be vaccinated while on board. A doctor aboard the ship had ordered about 100 doses of the measles vaccine before leaving St. Lucia.

The Church of Scientology statement said, "All passengers and crew (100 percent) of the Freewinds have been fully cleared of any possible risk of being infected by the measles or infecting others."

"Freewinds protocols of safety and medical care, that exceed usual nautical standards, proved highly effective in containing the illness to one single case." the statement said.

The church said in a statement dated May 5 that the woman, who had been "isolated, per ship protocol, in a single-patient medical room with a special controlled-air ventilation system," was "symptom-free."

Measles causes fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and rashes. While most people recover, complications can cause brain swelling and death.

More than 700 people in the United States have been sickened by the disease this year — the highest number of reported cases in a year since 1994. Officials say the sudden spike is due to misinformation about vaccines .

The Church of Scientology had not previously responded to NBC News' requests for comment about the ship. The Freewinds is "home of the Flag Ship Service Organization (FSSO), a religious retreat ministering the most advanced level of spiritual counseling in the Scientology religion," the church's website says.

Elisha Fieldstadt is a breaking news editor for NBC News.

Passenger (Cruise) Ship, IMO 6810811

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The current position of FREEWINDS is at Caribbean Sea reported 14 hours ago by AIS. The vessel is en route to BGI BB , and expected to arrive there on Jun 5, 10:00 . The vessel FREEWINDS (IMO 6810811, MMSI 354993000) is a Passenger (Cruise) Ship built in 1968 (56 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Panama .

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FREEWINDS current position and history of port calls are received by AIS. Technical specifications, tonnages and management details are derived from VesselFinder database. The data is for informational purposes only and VesselFinder is not responsible for the accuracy and reliability of FREEWINDS data.

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Freewinds is a Finnhansa Class cruise ship currently operated by Church of Scientology. The ship has been in active service for 56 years. View Freewinds' current position, recent track, speed, course, next port destination, estimated time of arrival (ETA) and more in the cruise ship tracker map below.

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We arrive in Aruba on April 23 and are planning to go into Oranjestad on Saturday, April 25. Just wondering if the town will be busy from the ship passengers.

Thanks for any information on Freewinds, as well as suggestions of activities to do while we are in Oranjestad. At this point we are planning to take the bus in from RIU Palace Antillas . We plan to visit the Aruba Aloe Factory, see the "I love Aruba" sign, and hopefully ride the trolley if it is up and running that day. Of course a little shopping, and probably a quick lunch.

We would certainly appreciate any thoughts you have for us on our very FIRST visit to Aruba!!

15 days....and we can't wait!

There is a I Love Aruba sign downtown but there is also one a few blocks from the RIU at The Village by Senor Frogs located across from the Radisson.

When downtown have lunch at The West Deck, located not far from the marina.

Aruba is the Freewinds home port. She occasionally departs for short cruises to Curacao and Bonaire and every once in a while longer cruises to other islands. When she's in port you don't have cruise passengers to deal with.

Liz...your information was excellent! I did think the Aloe Factory was in town, so I really appreciate the correct information. We are going on a private island tour, so may add that to our list of destinations. I did know there was also a sign in front of Senor Frogs...which I THOUGHT was near RIU , but having not been there I wasn't sure. We will check into The West Deck for lunch.

I have tried to locate a map of Oranjestad with tourist "stuff" on it-but have not been very successful. No doubt we will have a great day there just looking at buildings and doing some shopping.

FYI- The Freewinds is usually in port during our stay in July. It was featured on HBO's recent documentary Going Clear. One of our local friends said he knew someone who went on board to check it out, as it is an open invite to anyone who wants to board, and they held him there for 6 hours.

I just got finished watching a YouTube video about the horrible asbestos contamination of the entire ship. An English architect who as a former scientologist was asked to help renovate the ship in the 1986 1987 era and found blue asbestos everywhere that was never completely removed. You should watch the video and quickly cancel your reservation

It's full of blue asbestos that made it's way into the ventilation system (that's VERY bad). It's banned from entering any US port for that reason too.

Stay away if you value your respiratory health.

https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Asbestos_controversy_aboard_Scientology_ship_Freewinds

I was onboard the Freewinds ship a few days ago, and all I could have thought of was blue asbestos 😂... Btw I've heard horrible stories about that ship, so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Better late than ever in replying to this. The Freewinds is the Church of Scientology ship.

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High winds strand 2 cruise ships in Elliott Bay

A large cruise ship was stranded in Elliott Bay for hours due to high winds, according to the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

As Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas came in to make its approach, strong winds forced the vessel to wait until available tugboats could help, according to Puget Sound Pilots (PSP).

The vessel was waiting for an extra tug, said Petty Officer Steven Strohmeyer with the USCG District 13 Public Affairs Office.

Before helping to bring in the cruise ship, PSP President Ivan Carlson said tugboats first had to move a fish processor farther south.

RELATED |  Thousands without power across western Washington Monday morning

Carlson said tugboats had moved the other vessel, freeing up the small boats to move the Quantum of the Seas. KOMO News' tower camera showed what appeared to be tugboats near the cruise ship at 11:30 a.m.

The cruise ship finally appeared to dock successfully by 1:30 p.m.

"Due to high winds, Quantum of the Seas is delayed in returning to port," a spokesperson with Royal Caribbean told KOMO News. "We're closely monitoring the weather and are communicating updates directly to our guests."

Royal Caribbean also said the ship was waiting for better weather to berth out of an abundance of caution.

Peter McGraw with the Port of Seattle said access had not yet been granted to the terminal because the situation was still developing.

Abdul Ali, a driver waiting in the cell phone lot to pick up passengers from Quantum of the Sea, called the situation frustrating.

“Yes, we've been waiting almost four hours, five hours so far, and everything is kind of backed up right now. A lot of people are missing their flights,” Ali said. “They were saying there's a wind going on, and that's why they could not make it to the dock."

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a wind advisory that is in effect until 11 a.m. Tuesday for portions of western Washington, including Elliott Bay. The NWS said the region could see gusts up to 40 mph.

Strohmeyer told KOMO News two tugboats usually bring in cruise ships, with one at the bow of the ship and one at the stern. But large container ships, Strohmeyer said, sometimes require three tugboats to dock.

The Quantum of the Seas vessel holds more than 4,900 passengers  and is typically used to take passengers on week-long trips between Seattle and Alaska, according to the company's website .

The ship is more than 1,100 feet long and almost 150 feet wide, according to VesselFinder .

Another passenger ship, the MS Roald Amundsen, also appears to be stranded in Elliott Bay. The vessel, owned by Hurtigruten Expeditions, is nearly 460 feet long and holds more than 1,000 passengers .

VesselFinder reported the Quantum of the Seas arrived in Elliott Bay a little after 5 a.m. Monday.

"The mission of the Pilots is to ensure against the loss of lives, loss of or damage to property and vessels, and to protect the marine environment by maintaining efficient and competent pilotage service on our State’s inland waters within the Puget Sound Pilotage District," according to the PSP website .

The Quantum of the Seas won Best New Cruise Ship in the 2015 Travel Weekly Readers Choice Awards.