Committed cult member Jenna Elfman sure knows how to parrot Scientology’s “poor us” talking points. She said she ignores criticism of her religion because people who haven’t bothered to pay and get harassed in order to study it aren’t capable of telling her it’s a scam and a fraud. She also compares criticism of Scientology to the Roman’s persecution of Christianity.

“If someone starts talking to me negatively about something they’ve never actually studied that actual text of, I don’t really admire them very much because it shows they don’t have much integrity, so I just kind of ignore them,” Elfman told AAP in Sydney.

“I’m not going to listen to gossip and hearsay about something that’s affected my life so tremendously in such a tremendously positive way.”

Founded by American science-fiction author L Ron Hubbard in the 1950s, Scientology has received much criticism and been the butt of many jokes for its stance against modern psychiatry and belief in alien cosmologies.

Elfman compared its treatment to the way other religions had been persecuted through the ages.

“It’s a new religion. Historically every new religion has been [dismissed],” she said.

“People were hanged, fed to the lions for their beliefs so this is just a modern day evolution of what happens when something new comes into our culture.

“It is not fully understood yet.”

[From ABC.Net.au via Fark]

And in a line that mimic’s Tom Cruise’s famous rant about how Scientologists are the authorities on everything and how they’re the only ones who can help in an emergency, she went on to basically call it a cure all:

“I’ve seen drug addicts completely rehabilitated, I’ve seen the illiterate become literate, I’ve seen people that were so depressed and hopeless completely rehabilitate their goals in life, become happier, find partners,” she said.

“It’s beautiful.”

[From ABC.Net.au]

Jenna’s partner Bodhi Elfman is the guy who introduced brave ex Scientologist Jason Beghe to Scientology. Actor Beghe recorded a series of interviews earlier this year in which he detailed the way he was deceived, brainwashed and robbed by the cult. He described how you’re told that you can achieve a state of clear, in which Scientologists claim you’ll never get sick and “no longer have a reactive mind.” Beghe said that all the courses, auditing, and programs he took through Scientology damaged him psychologically and cost him over a million dollars and years of his life.

I wonder if Jenna Elfman would accept criticism of her beloved religion from Beghe, who achieved a high status in the cult, has personal experience with it, and was even friends with her husband. It’s not gossip or hearsay coming from him. Beghe lived through it and is lucky to have survived without “committing suicide” with some exhaust pipes stuck in his bedroom window.

Our friends at Deceiver remind us that Elfman called AIDS “a state of mind, not a disease.”

Jenna Elfman is shown in Australia with her husband on 10/29/08. Credit: Bauergriffinonline

Jason Beghe is a former Scientologist and successful actor who is putting his reputation and most likely his life at risk by speaking out about his negative experiences with the cult. Earlier this week he had a segment of an interview on Scientology up on YouTube. He is very upset about the way his money and free will were stripped for over 12 years as he worked his way up the organization, calling it a destructive rip off and saying that Scientology’s methods are not effective at all. He says he’s speaking out for all the people who are still stuck in Scientology.

Beghe has an in depth interview with The Village Voice in which he reveals secrets of the cult and explained the way he was hoodwinked by Scientology. He was encouraged to criticize the cult publicly after getting in touch with the operator of the amazing Operation Clambake site, who met with him along with a guy known as “wise beard man,” a well known Scientology critic who regularly posts videos on YouTube. (Wise Beard Man’s account has been suspended by YouTube, most likely due to cease and desists by the Scientology.)

I’ve read a lot on Scientology and many of their induction methods that Beghe mentions are covered on Scientology and cult awareness websites like Operation Clambake, WhyAreTheyDead.net, and RickRoss.com. Here’s an overview of Beghe’s story in The Village Voice, and I recommend you read the entire article if you have time.

Beghe spent a million dollars on Scientology, got farther than Travolta
Beghe says he threw himself into the levels of Scientology trying to work his way up the organization and gain more access to the self awareness and command of the physical world that Scientology promises faithful devotees. He says it was addictive at first and that the way he was brainwashed and led to feel in control of his life made him strive harder to progress, with little payoff and at an extreme cost:

His move to clear was so rapid, Beghe was told that diminutive Scientology leader David Miscavige considered him a “poster boy” for the religion.

“I was Miscavige’s favorite boy, so they were doing all kinds of things to keep me happy,” he says. “I moved up the Bridge faster than anyone in history. I went at it 24/7 for about a year. I went clear. Got to OT V. I was a trained auditor.” (OT stands for “operating thetan,” and the highest level in the church is said to be OT VIII.)

“I’m farther up the Bridge than Travolta, and he’s been in there a thousand years. He’s not a trained auditor.” To Beghe, some of the celebrities “seemed like dilettantes,” enjoying the perks but not really working hard at being Scientologists.

“I was on a spiritual journey. I wasn’t trying to make money, or influence people. I just wanted to try it.”

His wife also trained as a Scientologist and, like Beghe, reached OT V. Over his twelve years in the church, Beghe estimates that he gave Scientology about a million dollars.

[From The Village Voice]

Tom Cruise was not involved with Scientology for 10 years, but head Miscaviage brought him back
Beghe was in the upper levels of Scientology at a time when Tom Cruise was not involved. He said that Cruise was “out” for ten years, which was just about the length of his marriage to Nicole Kidman. To me this sounds like Cruise curtailed his involvement in Scientology during the time he was married to Kidman from 1990 to 2001. Scientology was generally rumored to have led to the demise of their marriage, and maybe when he was getting brainwashed again he was convinced that she was a negative influence.

Beghe claims that the religion’s top star, Tom Cruise, was actually mostly separated from the church for several years. Other celebrities, he points out, go through similar periods of no longer auditing or moving up the Bridge, but are still considered members. Bringing Cruise back into a more active role, Beghe says, was a major Miscavige project.

“He was out for like ten years. There are people who just aren’t doing anything Some are out but don’t talk about it. Why? The church is scary. These are bad motherf’ers.”

[From Village Voice]

All auditing sessions are videotaped and cult members regularly gossip about celebrity members’ personal business
Beghe says that all “auditing” sessions, which are like crude psychotherapy sessions in which people are encouraged to reveal their deepest secrets and problems, are videotaped. He also said that cult members routinely gossip about the private details learned about celebrities in these sessions:

“Not one auditing session—which are supposed to be private—is not recorded on film,” he says, and claims that secret cameras are used at every session at the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles, recording sessions that for Scientologists are supposed to be something like confessionals in the Catholic church.

“Will Smith is supposedly dabbling in Scientology. Let Will Smith know that his shit was f*#$ing recorded. And tell him to look them in the eye and see if he believes it when they deny it.”

Even worse, he says, is that behind the backs of celebrities, Scientology officials gossip about what transpires in those supposedly private sessions. “Everything’s supposed to be confidential. But all they do is chat about it,” he says.

At a church center in Hemet, California where the church has movie studios, Beghe helped make videos. “I did movies for them. I remember asking, who do we cast in this thing? How about this dude?” referring to another scientologist actor. “No, he’s been cheating on his wife,” Beghe says he was told.

[From The Village Voice]

Where I now live in Germany, the government does not consider Scientology a religion and has had them under surveillance for over 10 years. Maybe the group Anonymous and brave souls like Beghe will help convince that US government that Scientology is a money making scam of massive proportions and does not deserve tax exempt status.

Any celebrity that gets involved with the cult at this point does so at his or her own risk. They do those auditing sessions just to get dirt on people in case they want to leave. It’s even more telling that everything is videotaped and that they talk about the celebrity members’ personal business. I hope that Beghe is in an undisclosed location and I would not be surprised if there are all sorts of defamatory stories spread about him now that he’s dared to expose Scientology for what it is.