UPDATE @: THE CONTEST IS CONCLUDED! Thanks to everyone that entered and thanks for all the RT's and +1's, shares, and all that! We appreciate it! Remember, winners will be announced on the show tonight after we play our interview with Ms. Reitman. Winners will then have 48 hours to contact me with their address to claim their prize! If I don't hear from you I'll be forced to choose alternate winners from among the entries! Don't let that happen!

UPDATE: THE CONTEST IS NOW LIVE! Copy and paste the following tweet to enter the contest: "I'm a member of @ThinkAtheist and I want a copy of Janet Reitman's Inside #Scientology! http://bit.ly/qoGTrH #atheism #skepticism #science"

Copy and paste the entire tweet between the quotation marks (leave off the quotes). Tweets that are not exact won't be recognized by our tracking and will certainly be missed and therefore can't be considered as entries. Don't miss out because you didn't copy and paste!

Alright, we're at the point now where we can release the details of our newest contest! FIVE Think Atheist members will win a signed copy of Ms. Janet Reitman's new book Inside Scientology. (Amazon, Amazon UK, B&N)

Ms. Reitman is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, for which she covered the war in Iraq and a wide range of other topics. Her new book, Inside Scientology, is based on her National Magazine Award-nominated story of the same name published in Rolling Stone in March, 2006. She is the first American journalist to publish a major book on Scientology, and the only writer to have charted its full history. We recently interviewed Ms. Reitman to ask her about the history, beliefs, and practices of Scientology and about the controversies surrounding it. We're going to play that interview for you Sunday night, the 4th but we wanted to give you all an opportunity to win a copy of the book first!



The description of Inside Scientology reads as follows:

Scientology, created in 1954 by a prolific sci-fi writer named L. Ron Hubbard, claims to be the world’s fastest growing religion, with millions of members around the world and huge financial holdings. Its celebrity believers keep its profile high, and its teams of “volunteer ministers” offer aid at disaster sites such as Haiti and the World Trade Center. But Scientology is also a notably closed faith, harassing journalists and others through litigation and intimidation, even infiltrating the highest levels of the government to further its goals. Its attacks on psychiatry and its requirement that believers pay as much as tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for salvation have drawn scrutiny and skepticism. And ex-members use the Internet to share stories of harassment and abuse.



Now Janet Reitman offers the first full journalistic history of the Church of Scientology, in an evenhanded account that at last establishes the astonishing truth about the controversial religion. She traces Scientology’s development from the birth of Dianetics to today, following its metamorphosis from a pseudoscientific self-help group to a worldwide spiritual corporation with profound control over its followers and even ex-followers.



Based on five years of research, unprecedented access to Church officials, confidential documents, and extensive interviews with current and former Scientologists, this is the defining book about a little-known world.

Here are the contest details:

1) The contest is open to members of Think Atheist with a Twitter account. Create one now so that you're prepared ahead of time for the contest.



2) The contest will be held 9AM Friday September 2nd to 12PM Sunday September 4th. (All times are Eastern US. Here's a timezone converter for those in other timezones around the world.)



3) You will be considered to have entered the contest when, as a Think Atheist member, you take to Twitter between the hours of 9AM Friday September 2nd to 12PM Sunday September 4th to follow Think Atheist on Twitter and tweet a specific phrase. UPDATE: The contest entering tweet is: "I'm a member of @ThinkAtheist and I want a copy of Janet Reitman's Inside #Scientology! http://bit.ly/qoGTrH #atheism #skepticism #science" Copy and paste it to be sure you get it right and therefore to be sure your entry counts! Create your Twitter account, join Think Atheist if you're not already a member.



4) One entry per person. Multiple entries will not count and may result in your being excluded from the contest entirely!

5) At the conclusion of the contest we will randomly draw 5 numbers corresponding to 5 entries. Winners will be announced on the Think Atheist Radio Show on September 4th beginning at 5PM Pacific/8PM Eastern*. Make sure you tune in to the show to see if you've won! (Remember, if you can't listen live you can listen to the show from the archive at any time immediately following its having aired live!) *Should any of the chosen entrants not be verified as Think Atheist members and as followers of Think Atheist on Twitter we will then randomly select another entrant. This will continue until such time as we have 5 verified Think Atheist members/Think Atheist Twitter followers as winners.



6) Winners MUST contact Nelson by emailing Nelson@iThinkAtheist.com with their address within 48 hours of the announcement of the winners to be eligible to receive their prize.** Upon verification of their eligibility as Think Atheist members and Twitter followers of Think Atheist we will take the shipping addresses of the winners and forward them to the publisher. All costs of shipping the book will be handled at no cost to the winners, whether a winner is within or without the US.

**IF YOU DO NOT CONTACT NELSON AT NELSON@ITHINKATHEIST.COM WITHIN 48 HOURS TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE YOU WILL FORFEIT THE PRIZE AND ANOTHER WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN. THIS WILL GO ON UNTIL WE HAVE 3 CONFIRMED WINNERS THAT HAVE CLAIMED THEIR PRIZE

So there you go everyone! Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Ms. Reitman for being so gracious! Create your Twitter profile. Join Think Atheist! Get ready! Make sure you check out our past shows, and keep an eye out for upcoming guests as well! And, hey, if you enjoy the show and you can spare a few bucks, help us make sure we stay on the air! We'd love to continue doing book giveaways, getting great guests and putting them in front of you each week so that you can hear their thoughts but in order to do so we have to pay the bills! We appreciate all the help you guys can provide!