Scientology Has a Child Sexual Abuse Problem, Here We Go

By Mike Redmond | Celebrity | September 23, 2019 |

When you have a religion that goes to great lengths to protect its wealth and power, there’s going to be sexual assault being quietly swept under the rug, as we’ve seen with the Catholic Church. Protestants/Evangelicals probably shouldn’t go around pointing fingers at their papal competitors because, in a refreshing bit of good news for these absolutely god-awful times, the younger members of those congregations are showing an increasing penchant for reporting sexual abuse. “We don’t talk about those kind of things,” isn’t going to fly anymore. The norms of “polite society” — or some might say when America was “great” — are thankfully crumbling, and all kinds of horrible is falling out.

Which brings us to the latest lawsuit filed against David Miscavige and the Church of Scientology, which alleges the church punished the victim of child sexual abuse for having the nerve to speak out against higher-ranking members as instructed by very explicit rules laid forth by founder L. Ron Hubbard, who clearly had a keen sense of what was going to go down in his new religion. Imagine if one of the Ten Commandments was “No cops,” and you’re in the ballpark of how f*cked up this is going to get.

Via Tampa Bay Times (CW: link contains description of child sexual assault):

Hubbard’s policies, rolled out following the formation of the Church of Scientology in 1953, teach it is a “high crime” to report a Scientologist to law enforcement. Phones within certain church facilities are incapable of dialing 911, according to the lawsuit. At age 11, Doe was sent by Scientology to live in Caracas, Venezuela without her parents. The next year she was assaulted by the son of a high-ranking Scientologist at the Caracas Org, a church facility, according to the complaint. Doe immediately disclosed the assault to her auditor, a person who conducts spiritual counseling sessions. Instead of reporting the assault to law enforcement, the lawsuit alleges church officials “sentenced” Doe to three months of physical labor and issued her a “non-enturbulation” order, which warned she was at risk of losing standing in the church for “bringing in” the sexual assault. “One who suffers sexual abuse, whether an adult or a child, is assumed to have done something to incite or invite such abuse,” as the lawsuit describes Scientology practices.

So a couple of things: First off, Jesus Christ. Second, remember when Josh Duggar molested his sisters while they were sleeping? According to the religious teachings that his family strictly adheres to, that was also the girls’ faults for making him think impure thoughts. So if you’re having doubts about your current religion of choice, maybe ask around to see where they stand on who’s to blame for rape, and if it’s not the actual rapist, goddamn run.

On top of that whole mess, the victim has reportedly been the target of the church’s infamous intimidation tactics.

According to the complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Wednesday, Scientology operatives cut the brake lines on the woman’s car, vandalized her property, followed and surveilled her, and harassed her with hundreds of spam calls.

If all of that sounds familiar, why yes, it is the same exact thing that the church is doing to the women accusing Danny Masterson of rape. Except now we know that the church is doing it because L. Ron had a very strict “no snitching” policy, which is smart when your entire religion is built on charging people exorbitant amounts of money to learn that alien ghosts cause depression. You really don’t want that to get out, well, ever, so it’s totally boss that Leah Remini does things like telling Joe Rogan that Xenu is bullshit.

From a previous Tampa Bay Times report:

As soon as four women filed reports with Los Angeles Police in 2016 and 2017 alleging they were raped by actor Danny Masterson, the Church of Scientology unleashed a campaign of terror to intimidate the accusers and protect its celebrity parishioner, according to a joint lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court. The women repeatedly found strangers around their homes, sometimes peering inside with flashlights at night. Their email accounts were hacked and credit cards stolen. One woman’s dog mysteriously died and the autopsy showed trauma to its trachea. They were chased in cars; one was run off the road. They were followed into grocery stores and nail salons. All have woken up to find their car doors and trunks wide open.

While it’s awful that these women are essentially being GamerGate’d by the Church of Tom Cruise, their bravery has to be commended. With each new lawsuit, we’re learning more and more how Scientology operates, and unsurprisingly, it’s a goddamn hotbed of covering up sexual assault. It’s almost like it was built for it, which is generally what happens whenever there’s a power structure created by and for men. They’re going to use sacred texts or alien soup can meters to get their dicks touched.

It’s a tale as old as time.

Mike is a Staff Contributor living in Pennsyltucky. You can follow him on Twitter.

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