Scientology

Brain Distrust: Shrinks and Scientologists Find Weird Common Ground Over the DSM-5

"We Are Legion": Lulz Grow Up

Scientology and "The Master": What the Film Shares with the Church

Paul Thomas Anderson: Master of "The Master"

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

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 >>

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 >>

Truth 1, Evil Empire 0

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 >>

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 >>

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.

'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 >>

Anonymous Hones Battle Plans For Scientology Protest of Psychiatric Convention This Weekend

I'm Spartacus!So the Church of Scientology will be out in droves this weekend to protest the American Psychiatric Association's convention at Moscone Center this upcoming Saturday through Thursday. The Citizens Commission for Human Rights, the anti-psychiatry activist arm of Scientology, will have f ... More >>

Anonymous Plans Counter-Protest of Scientology's Protest of Psychiatry Convention in San Francisco

  It looks like the Church of Scientology will be out in force to protest the upcoming American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco next month. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Scientology's anti-psychiatry activist arm, will apparently ... More >>

Steam Bath: Downtown S.F. Denizens Duck Boiling Water as Workers Pump Pipes

Boiling water, steam, and Scientology. Just another morning downtown. Downtown shoppers, commuters, and the ubiquitous statuesque blonde Scientology pamphleteers enjoyed the odors of a YMCA steam room and hopped over puddles of near-boiling water as steam workers pumped out flooded pipes today. A pa ... More >>

The Man Who Nearly Killed Hitler

An interview with Valkyrie's star and director, Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer.

Purged From SF Schools, Scientologists Woo Weeuns Out of State

By Matt SmithFour years after San Francisco Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov repelled a Scientology infiltration of California classrooms, the cult has moved to New Mexico, where believers hoodwinked the mayor of Las Cruces into allowing the indoctrination of third-graders.Asimov's 2004-2005 inves ... More >>

I Am Shocked: SFist Readers Vote to Kill the Gratitude

Our friends over at SFist have just announced the "winners" of their "Wish You Were Dead Pool," for which they asked readers about San Francisco institutions that they'd like to kill for the new year. While the clear front-runner is the Church of Scientology, we were surprised to see Café Gratitud ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

Video: Anonymous Yacht Party at Sausalito on 8/8/08

Anonymous 101

Scientology's Antagonists

An ex-Scientologist and an army of online pranksters attempt to bring down the controversial religion.

Metallica Dedicate Website to New Album

The Fall of Cardburg, Elton John and Anonymous vs. Scientolgy at Powell Station - Your Monday Morning Hangover

Happy Birthday, L. Ron Hubbard! Have Some Comeuppance With Your Cake

Scientology May Be Faker Than You Thought

Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to ... Scientology?

Hate Mail Mon Amour

We pay tribute to those who love enough to write

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, October 12, 2005

My Life Is a Musical

Infiltrator turns San Francisco into the backdrop of his very own Broadway production!

Sign of the Cult-Buster

Anti-cult crusader Ford Greene and the town of San Anselmo are staging a nasty public fight over Greene's strident anti-Bush political signs. But is that an old religious enemy we see behind the curtain?

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, August 17, 2005

World Recruiting Championships: Scientology Versus Crunch Gym

How hard can it be to tell a health club from a religion?

Wars of the Tom

Tom Cruise has been getting into all sorts of weird confrontations, all over the place. But he's still your Tom Cruise, right? Take quiz, find out.

Getting Lucky

Spill salt, break mirrors, and cross your fingers at the Superstition Obstacle Course

Letters to the Editor

Week of September 3, 2003

Reel World

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

Savage Love

The Tale of an Asp