New Religious Movements

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Ethicstrouble, San Francisco Scientology Defector, Taunts Church

The Mysterious Ethicstrouble: gloating from inside the org.​After a monthlong silence, the self-professed Scientology member who spoke with the SF Weekly about deciding the church was a cult has posted a new message online -- virtually taunting the church for its inability to figure out the identi ... More >>

Scientology Policy Keeps Lori Hodgson, San Jose Mom, from Visiting Son in Hospital

Lori Hodgson, ex-Scientologist, with her kids before they "disconnected" from her.​Our sister paper, the Village Voice, posted a disturbing piece today from the frontline of a Scientology scandal. Lori Hodgson, a South Bay mother who recently defected from the Church of Scientology, has been livin ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

Lori Hodgson, ex-Scientologist, with her kids before they "disconnected" from her.​Our sister paper, the Village Voice, posted a disturbing piece today from the frontline of a Scientology scandal. Lori Hodgson, a South Bay mother who recently defected from the Church of Scientology, has been livin ... More >>

Amy Scobee, Prominent Ex-Scientologist, Says San Francisco Apostate Is Legit

​This week on the Snitch, we published an extended interview with ethicstrouble, the purported Scientology apostate who is now just playing the game, waiting for the so-called church to collapse to get out.  Ethicstrouble would only talk to us over the phone, so we were unable to claim with a ... More >>

Scientology Apostate Part IV: Deciding the Church Was a Fraud

​For our final post -- for now -- from the self-proclaimed Scientologist apostate inside the San Francisco Church of Scientology, we talk to ethicstrouble about the path to deciding that Scientology was a hoax. "The reason I'm talking to you is I want this thing to fall apart," ethicstrouble told ... More >>

Scientology Apostate Part III: Anonymous' Effect on the Org

​Earlier this month, Anonymous claimed their first potential defector from within San Francisco's Church of Scientology. Meanwhile, the church's president, Jeff Quiros, told SF Weekly the masked protesters' presence has only buoyed the public's interest in the org. This week, we've posted the stat ... More >>

Scientology Apostate Part II: Life In the Org

Ethicstrouble sounds off on life in the San Francisco org​Yesterday, we posted documents purportedly smuggled out of a trash bin of San Francisco's Church of Scientology by ethicstrouble, a self-proclaimed church member who has decided Scientology is a money-sucking farce and wants out. Two promin ... More >>

Scientology Apostate Part I: San Francisco Church's Stats

ethicstrouble speaks. ​A couple weeks ago, the masked Anonymous protesters who've been organizing protests outside San Francisco's Church of Scientology for the last three years received a jolt of affirmation. A self-proclaimed Scientologist logged onto the group's local message board with the han ... More >>

Ex-Scientologists Say San Francisco Apostate's Graphs Are Legit

Experts say they look like the real deal.​In a blog posted by our sister paper, the Village Voice, two former high-ranking Scientologists say the statistics that a self-professed San Francisco Church of Scientology member claimed to have smuggled out of the church's trash bin appear to be real. Th ... More >>

Those Bernal Heights Animal Sacrifices Probably Aren't the Work of Real Satanists

Courtesy of the badass bernalwood.wordpress.comSounds like it might be time to form a new city commission to look into this ​A few weeks ago, we told readers about the painted pentagram smeared in animal blood on the top of Bernal Hill. The story and photos only sparked much debate about who left ... More >>

Scientology vs. Anonymous: Spin War Over a Potential Defector

Are Anonymous protests making Scientology's recruits skyrocket?​There's more intrigue surrounding the debate over who won the latest battle in the three-year war between San Francisco's Church of Scientology and Anonymous - the Internet-born movement of masked protesters outside the Columbus Stree ... More >>

Anonymous Claims First Supporter Within San Francisco Church of Scientology

Getting results?The San Francisco-based Anonymous demonstrators who have waged a protest against the city's Church of Scientology for three years may have won over their first potential defector -- a person who posted on the group's message board this week as a "cult member in hiding" to let them kn ... More >>

List: How the City Plans to Improve Dolores Park

Getting results?The San Francisco-based Anonymous demonstrators who have waged a protest against the city's Church of Scientology for three years may have won over their first potential defector -- a person who posted on the group's message board this week as a "cult member in hiding" to let them kn ... More >>

Truth 1, Evil Empire 0

Getting results?The San Francisco-based Anonymous demonstrators who have waged a protest against the city's Church of Scientology for three years may have won over their first potential defector -- a person who posted on the group's message board this week as a "cult member in hiding" to let them kn ... More >>

AnonyOps Speaks to SF Weekly, Calls Hacking Leak "Grossly Irresponsible"

Who's that guy?​​One of the most interesting aspects of Anonymous' BART protest Monday is the guy -- or girl -- who claims to have listened to BART's radio communications and tweeted information to the protesters doesn't even live in the Bay Area. Such is the claim of @AnonyOps, a major Ano ... More >>

Screw Jerry Only

Who's that guy?​​One of the most interesting aspects of Anonymous' BART protest Monday is the guy -- or girl -- who claims to have listened to BART's radio communications and tweeted information to the protesters doesn't even live in the Bay Area. Such is the claim of @AnonyOps, a major Ano ... More >>

Hallucinations Made Clear

Who's that guy?​​One of the most interesting aspects of Anonymous' BART protest Monday is the guy -- or girl -- who claims to have listened to BART's radio communications and tweeted information to the protesters doesn't even live in the Bay Area. Such is the claim of @AnonyOps, a major Ano ... More >>

Ho Ho Ho Bang, Black X-Mass, Radioactive's Holiday Extravaganza, Free Jewish Museum and More

Hanna QuevedoThis Saturday marks the 13th annual Black X-Mass with Karla LaVey at the Elbo Room.​Can't stand another minute of the eye-drooping boredom of this whole holiday family time thing? Or are you stuck in town due to circumstances beyond your control? Either way, to fix the problem, here's ... More >>

Shout Out to the Satanists

Hanna QuevedoThis Saturday marks the 13th annual Black X-Mass with Karla LaVey at the Elbo Room.​Can't stand another minute of the eye-drooping boredom of this whole holiday family time thing? Or are you stuck in town due to circumstances beyond your control? Either way, to fix the problem, here's ... More >>

Election Results Show Tea Party Fails to Gain Traction in Western States

Is that Harry Reid in the middle?​Some of you might have found it particularly hard to greet the Red Dawn of Nov. 3. We admit that it's difficult to face the idea of Tea Party-propelled candidates marching off to Washington with plans to combat imagined New World Order conspiracies within the vaul ... More >>

Which Is Witch

Is that Harry Reid in the middle?​Some of you might have found it particularly hard to greet the Red Dawn of Nov. 3. We admit that it's difficult to face the idea of Tea Party-propelled candidates marching off to Washington with plans to combat imagined New World Order conspiracies within the vaul ... More >>

Sunday Streets Hits The Tenderloin on Sunday. Should Be Interesting.

Flickr user dgollub​Among the better ideas which Mayor Gavin Newsom shamelessly ripped off from other cities is Sunday Streets, wherein stretches of pavement are declared verboten to automobile traffic and taken over instead by cyclists, unicyclists, tricyclists, and mere perambulators.This Sunday ... More >>

How the Tea Party Is Screwing Over Republicans

Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell: "I'm not a witch"A new Harris Poll indicates that Democrats are gaining ground ahead of the November mid-term elections, and that the assortment of right-wing extremists who call themselves the "Tea Party" have something to do with this last-minute success.

'Go Topless Day' Coverage Easy Publicity for Bizarre Raelian Cult

There -- that got your attention, no? ​Admit it, you looked. Who wouldn't? A bevy of topless women, and men in bikini tops illustrating the oddities of forcing women to cover up -- that gets people's attention, even in San Francisco. That's just what cult leader Claude Vorilhan -- aka Rael -- is c ... More >>

Show preview: Danzig

There -- that got your attention, no? ​Admit it, you looked. Who wouldn't? A bevy of topless women, and men in bikini tops illustrating the oddities of forcing women to cover up -- that gets people's attention, even in San Francisco. That's just what cult leader Claude Vorilhan -- aka Rael -- is c ... More >>

'Anonymous' Anti-Scientologists Subject of Academic Paper

​At the Pacific Sociological Association conference in Oakland today, a gaggle of academics from the U.C. Irvine will be presenting their research on the Anonymous protesters of the Church of Scientology, the movement we covered in a 2008 cover story. The paper is titled "Project Chanology, Scient ... More >>

Church Of Scientology Hires Journalists To Investigate Critical Newspaper Coverage

http://captions.illmeyer.com​The Washington Post presented the latest evidence today that journalists are hard-up for jobs and cash: Three respected investigative reporters have sold their services to the Church of Scientology to pick apart the St. Petersburg Times' series of scathing investigativ ... More >>

Authentic amigos at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant

http://captions.illmeyer.com​The Washington Post presented the latest evidence today that journalists are hard-up for jobs and cash: Three respected investigative reporters have sold their services to the Church of Scientology to pick apart the St. Petersburg Times' series of scathing investigativ ... More >>

Chinese Spectacular

http://captions.illmeyer.com​The Washington Post presented the latest evidence today that journalists are hard-up for jobs and cash: Three respected investigative reporters have sold their services to the Church of Scientology to pick apart the St. Petersburg Times' series of scathing investigativ ... More >>

Ten Things to Do This Weekend For Under $10

By this point you're probably exhausted from all those hours of ripping shiny wrapping paper off lackluster presents and regaling relatives with stories of your wacky life in the big city. And like us, you're probably hurting for cash a bit in this last week of the month after spending all your hard ... More >>

Other Car Not Broom, Sorry

By this point you're probably exhausted from all those hours of ripping shiny wrapping paper off lackluster presents and regaling relatives with stories of your wacky life in the big city. And like us, you're probably hurting for cash a bit in this last week of the month after spending all your hard ... More >>

Thee Oh Sees Soundtrack Satanic B-Movie

If you thought Thee Oh Sees were just a little off, perhaps you'd like to hear them blasting out from behind scenes of "sex, drugs, and Satanism" in the low-budget splatter flick Fever Night (or Static Age aka Band of Satanic Outsiders) (guess the directors had a hard time editing down the title). ... More >>

The 666 Days of Christmas

If you thought Thee Oh Sees were just a little off, perhaps you'd like to hear them blasting out from behind scenes of "sex, drugs, and Satanism" in the low-budget splatter flick Fever Night (or Static Age aka Band of Satanic Outsiders) (guess the directors had a hard time editing down the title). ... More >>

They Don't Just Rhyme with Witch

If you thought Thee Oh Sees were just a little off, perhaps you'd like to hear them blasting out from behind scenes of "sex, drugs, and Satanism" in the low-budget splatter flick Fever Night (or Static Age aka Band of Satanic Outsiders) (guess the directors had a hard time editing down the title). ... More >>

Anonymous 101

If you thought Thee Oh Sees were just a little off, perhaps you'd like to hear them blasting out from behind scenes of "sex, drugs, and Satanism" in the low-budget splatter flick Fever Night (or Static Age aka Band of Satanic Outsiders) (guess the directors had a hard time editing down the title). ... More >>

You Know You Wannabe

If you thought Thee Oh Sees were just a little off, perhaps you'd like to hear them blasting out from behind scenes of "sex, drugs, and Satanism" in the low-budget splatter flick Fever Night (or Static Age aka Band of Satanic Outsiders) (guess the directors had a hard time editing down the title). ... More >>

Witch Twist

If you thought Thee Oh Sees were just a little off, perhaps you'd like to hear them blasting out from behind scenes of "sex, drugs, and Satanism" in the low-budget splatter flick Fever Night (or Static Age aka Band of Satanic Outsiders) (guess the directors had a hard time editing down the title). ... More >>

Lucifer, Arisen

A quintessential San Francisco story, starring charismatic musician/murderer Bobby BeauSoleil*

*with underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger, cult leader Charles Manson, Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, and the Straight Satans motorcycle gang in suppo

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Why a drop in tourism could mean unexpected trouble for local arts groups

Savage Love

Why a drop in tourism could mean unexpected trouble for local arts groups