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| {{Infobox Person | {{Infobox Person | ||
| | name = David Miscavige |
| name = David Miscavige | ||
| | image = | | image = | ||
| | image_size = | | image_size = | ||
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
| | death_date = | | death_date = | ||
| | death_place = | | death_place = | ||
| | title = Chairman of the Board |
| title = Chairman of the Board | ||
| | employer = ] | | employer = ] | ||
| | salary = ]50-60,000 |
| salary = ]50-60,000 (1990s)<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.sptimes.com/TampaBay/102598/scientologypart4.html|title = The man behind Scientology |accessdate = August 27, 2007|last = Tobin|first = Thomas C.|date = October 25, 1998|work=part 4|publisher = ]}}</ref> | ||
| | spouse = |
| spouse = Michelle Miscavige | ||
| | nationality = American | | nationality = American | ||
| | residence = ], ] | | residence = ], ] | ||
| | religion = ] | | religion = ] | ||
| | website = http://davidmiscavige.rtc.org |
| website = http://davidmiscavige.rtc.org | ||
| | footnotes = | | footnotes = | ||
| }} | }} | ||
| '''David Miscavige''' (April 30, 1960) is the |
'''David Miscavige''' (April 30, 1960) is the leader of the ] and its many affiliated organizations, having assumed that role shortly after the death of Scientology founder ] in 1986. His formal title is ] of the ] of ] (RTC), a corporation that controls the trademarked names and symbols of ] and ] and which "holds the ultimate ] authority regarding the standard and pure application of L. Ron Hubbard's religious technologies."<ref>Religious Technology Center (accessed May 8, 2007)</ref> His position is paramount within Scientology but, according to the church, it is not the same position once held by L. Ron Hubbard as the founder and originator of doctrines and policies; Miscavige's mandate is to protect the works of L. Ron Hubbard from distortion or misuse <ref name="christensen">{{cite book | last = Christensen | first = Dorthe Reflsund |chapter= Inventing L. Ron Hubbard | editor= James R. Lewis | title = Controversial New Religions | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2004 | isbn = 0195156838 |page= 247 | url= http://books.google.com/books?id=YCNd2YPFKTMC}}</ref> and to serve as "worldwide ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion."<ref>Religious Technology Center (accessed May 8, 2007)</ref><ref name="Behar">Behar, Richard ] May 6, 1991 page 50</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Schaefer | first = Richard T. |chapter= David Miscavige | editor= William W. Zellner | title = Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles | publisher = Worth Publishers, 8th Edition | year = 2007 | isbn = 0716770342 | page= 285 | url= http://books.google.com/books?id=u0K9bHZOj9cC}}</ref>. | ||
| Miscavige was |
Miscavige was an assistant to Hubbard (a "Commodore's messenger") while a teenager.<ref name="christensen" /> He rose to a leadership position within the organization by the early 1980s and was named Chairman of the Board of RTC in 1987.<ref>Young, Robert Vaughn , Quill magazine, Volume 81, Number 9, Nov/Dec 1993.</ref> Since assuming that role, Miscavige has been faced with press accounts alleging illegal and unethical practices. A 1991 ''Time'' magazine cover story described Miscavige as "ringleader" of a "hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner." <ref name="Behar">Behar, Richard ] May 6, 1991</ref> A 2009 series by the ''St. Petersburg Times'' details allegations by former Scientology executives and parishioners that Miscavige publicly humiliates and physically abuses his staff members.<ref name="TruthRunDown">{{cite web | first = Thomas C. Tobin| last = Joe Childs | title =The Truth Run Down | url = http://www.tampabay.com/news/article1012148.ece | work = | publisher = ] | date = June 23, 2009 | accessdate = 2009-06-23 }}</ref> Miscavige and other church spokespeople have consistently insisted that all such charges are false. He labels the sources quoted in the ''St. Petersburg Times'' as "lying" after the persons in question had been removed from the organization for "fundamental crimes against the Scientology religion."<ref name="DMLetter">{{cite web | first = Thomas C. Tobin| last = Joe Childs | title =A letter from David Miscavige | url =http://www.tampabay.com/news/article1012140.ece | work = | publisher = ] | date = June 23, 2009 | accessdate = June 23, 2009 }}</ref><ref>Hoffman, Claire , ], December 18, 2005</ref> | ||
| Among Scientologists, Miscavige is often referred to by his initials, "DM," or "C.O.B.," |
Among Scientologists, Miscavige is often referred to by his initials, "DM," or "C.O.B.," for Chairman of the Board.<ref name="Man in Control">{{cite news | first=Joel | last=Sappell | coauthors= Welkos, Robert W. | url=http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-scientologysideb062490,1,7772622.story?coll=la-news-comment&ctrack=1&cset=true | title=The Man In Control | work=] | page=A41:4 | date=June 24, 1990 | accessdate=2006-06-06 }} </ref> He reportedly lives at Scientology's ], which is also the main RTC headquarters, near ].<ref>Reitman, Janet ], Issue 995. March 9, 2006. Page 57.</ref> | ||
| ==Early life== | ==Early life== | ||
| Line 70: | Line 70: | ||
| In 2009, Miscavige was named as a defendant in a lawsuit for slavery and child labor by a former Scientologist.<ref>{{cite news | last =Hull | first =Tim | title = | In 2009, Miscavige was named as a defendant in a lawsuit for slavery and child labor by a former Scientologist.<ref>{{cite news | last =Hull | first =Tim | title = | ||
| Man Says Scientologists Enslaved Him as Boy | work =] | date =December 1, 2009 | url =http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/12/01/Man_Says_Scientologists_Enslaved_Him_as_Boy.htm | accessdate = 2009-12-02 }}</ref> | Man Says Scientologists Enslaved Him as Boy | work =] | date =December 1, 2009 | url =http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/12/01/Man_Says_Scientologists_Enslaved_Him_as_Boy.htm | accessdate = 2009-12-02 }}</ref> | ||
| === How far Scientology has gone since 1950? === | |||
| Many of us came into Scientology or joined staff or the Sea Org with the purpose of clearing the planet. Remember that game? It was a numbers game – make enough Scientologists, enough Clears and the majority of enturbulated humans that inhabit this spinning orb we call Earth would disenturbulate. We didn’t need to physically clear them all, perhaps just a small percentage, but with six billion inhabitants, 3% would mean clearing 180 million, a finite if daunting task. But we knew LRH had made a fantastic start back in 1950 when he kicked the whole thing off with the publication of Book One (Dianetics). It was a runaway success, which led to countless members, groups and the early Scientology Churches. So we knew that if we just put our shoulder to the wheel and others followed suit we would get there in the end. | |||
| SO HOW FAR HAVE WE REALLY COME IN THE 60 YEARS SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF DIANETICS? | |||
| Now, Miscavige and his spin doctors would have you believe “We are millions” that we are “bigger and greater than ever” and that we are “racing away to a cleared planet, straight up and vertical”. But rather than listen to rhetoric, spin and bald faced lies, to determine the progress we’ve actually made we have to look at the numbers, because real numbers, based on experience, factual “uncooked” figures, don’t lie. | |||
| So let’s look at how many Church of Scientology members exist now compared to times past because real expansion could only mean one thing: more members — more Scientologists moving up the Bridge. | |||
| My wife and I worked at all echelons of Scientology and the Sea Org for more than 60 years combined. Our years in the trenches, working hands on with Scientology public as well our years in management with access to Scientology international reports and statistics up to the year 2006, plus the very latest intelligence reports from orgs, makes us uniquely qualified to calculate and comment on the actual number of Scientology church members. | |||
| Let’s define a member of the Church of Scientology as a person who is actively taking service or who is likely to take service from a Church organization at ANY time in the future, a broad definition. | |||
| CLASS V ORGS: As try as they might Class V orgs only get about an 1/8th of their actual public taking service at any given time. We were one of the bigger orgs in the world (Birmingham) and we had only 50 Scientologists on lines at any one time and had around 400 in total. This rule of thumb (total public = 8 times the on-lines public) holds true for the other Class V Orgs. | |||
| There are 150 Class V orgs. As of 2006, the incredibly stellar Milano org apart, the top 15 orgs had 50 to 120 Scientologists taking service per week. Shockingly, most of the rest fell into the small and failing category with only 10 to 20 per week. | |||
| That means a minority of orgs had 400 to 800 members while most had between 80 and 160. So let’s be very generous and put the average total members per org at 200. | |||
| 150 orgs multiplied by 200 = 30,000 total members in the Class V org sector – at the most. | |||
| ADVANCED ORGS have predominantly the same people listed under Class V orgs but you have a gravitational effect too where Scientologists go and live in the area around advanced orgs. | |||
| There are 7 advanced orgs (AOLA, ASHO Day & Foundation, AOSH UK, St. Hill Foundation, AOSH ANZO and AOSH Europe) with around 150 service attendees each, on average (AOLA had more but others had less). Sticking with the same Class V org formula, 150 x 8 = 1200 total parishioners each, on average. So that’s a maximum of 8400 additional advanced org parishioners and that is generous indeed considering a higher percentage attend services than in Class V orgs and at least some members have now been counted twice by being counted under both Class V org and Advanced org categories. | |||
| FSO has the same parishioners listed in both the Class V and Advanced org sections but also has some who consider themselves FSO-only public. At 500 of them taking service at any give time (discount the outer org trainees as they are counted in the Class V orgs and Advanced orgs) that’s 500 x 8 (extremely generous) = 4000 total additional parishioners and some of those have now been counted three times. | |||
| MISSIONS: There are hundreds of missions but they are far worse off than orgs. Many have just one or two part time staff and a handful of parishioners. I have attended events at missions in two different states of late and there were no more than 10 attendees in each. 300 missions with an average of 25 parishioners (very generous) = 7500 members. | |||
| As for field auditors, WISE etc. — all counted a number of times in various categories above so I am not going to repeat the error. | |||
| TOTAL: 30,000 plus 8400 plus 4000 plus 7500 = a very generous 49,900 members at the very most. | |||
| As a cross check, let’s figure it a different way and let’s go back a few years. As of the year 2000 Scientology as a whole got a total of 20,000 attendees worldwide for an “important” international all-Scientologists-must-attend event. That’s all attendees on the night plus all worldwide attendees for all the delayed events – total showings. Now, it’s no surprise but as hard as they try, A Class V org can only drag about a quarter of its public to any given event no matter how “important”. FSO and Advanced Orgs manage around 50 percent of their resident public. That puts the entire Scientology population in the year 2000 at sixty thousand if we are consistently generous and say that the total number of attendees for an important worldwide event represents only a third of all members. | |||
| In summary, that’s 60 thousand members in the year 2000, down to around 50,000 by 2006 and much less by 2010, which all jives with experience, stats, reports and more recent intelligence my wife and I have witnessed. | |||
| There is also an empirical observation that can be made that supports these figures. Have you noticed how the remaining staff and public seem to be made up of mostly older people on the one hand and fairly young people on the other? Even the young people are most often the sons and daughters of the older staff/Scientology public (and they are heavily recruited to staff because they are one of the few remaining recruit pools). I know I’m far from alone in making this observation — an age polarization has taken place in Scientology creating a wide gap. Now, that’s not so hard to spot but what about the omitted? What about the countless missing members from all the years in between? Where are they? As shocking as it may seem, it looks like we failed to make any meaningful number of Scientologists for the last twenty odd years (which is also the period of Miscavige’s utterly dominant reign by the way). | |||
| Now, another thing that shocks me about these numbers is that it seems very likely LRH had more members way back in 1953 than Scientology has now. Let me expand: In 1953, Birmingham in England had only a Dianetics group. But on page 339 of Tech Volume 1, LRH wrote that he travelled from London to Birmingham on 21st May 1953, to give a lecture to 100 attendees. He was very disappointed in the attendance but very happy with their obvious knowledge of Dianetics. But if you fast forward 50 years to 2003, Birmingham boasted one of the biggest Scientology orgs on the planet yet with all the modern forms of communication it struggled and I mean struggled to get 100 public attendees to ANY event, of ANY kind, at ANY time. What the …? | |||
| And how come after working for 14 hard years in Birmingham (before we returned to management in 2005) my wife and I managed to build the org up from nowhere to a level where it only just matched the size of London Foundation circa 1977 (nearly thirty years earlier) and it’s worse than that because in 2005 Birmingham was the only Class V Org in the UK of ANY real size. | |||
| And can anyone explain why my wife went to a tech briefing in Sacramento in 1977 at which there were more than a 1000 attendees (just a tech briefing) whereas you wouldn’t hear of a 1000 Scientologists gathering in the Sac area these days. I visited Sac Org in 2006 – it was dead. | |||
| And can anyone also explain how come I attended a Flag World Tour event in London in 1976 at which there were thousands present whereas I attended an important London event in 2003 for the benefit of both London Day and Foundation for which less than 90 showed up. | |||
| So in our zeal to correct obvious abuses lets not miss outpoints about the size of the Empire State Building — Scientology is puny and it is smaller now than at any time in its entire history, which is an outrage, but the facts and numbers don’t lie. | |||
| “But … but … what about the grand opening events for the big shiny new buildings where hundreds of people show up?” a few might ask. What? You mean like Dallas where my wife worked on the final stages of the building prep cycle for weeks and was at the opening event and reported that the number of Scientology members in Dallas was actually less than the average number I used in the above calculation and the big Dallas shiny new building was empty. And Madrid opening event where Miscavige forced Scientology church executives from all over Europe to attend to pad the numbers. I know because my wife and other execs from Birmingham were forced to fly there and consequently mingled with all the other attendees similarly press ganged. | |||
| These “grand openings” are staged to look great but after the event is over and rent-a-crowd departs all you are left with is an empty building, a handful of staff and less public than ever before. | |||
| And there is another colossal outpoint that goes hand in hand with all the above: an LRH rule and observation on book sales states that for every 25 books sold to the world at large a Scientologist is made. Through orgs and trade lines we have sold something like 50 million books out in the world over the years. That’s two million Scientologists. Where are they? And are they the missing members between the ages of twenty-something and fifty on up? | |||
| You could ask what the hell we have been doing for the last 60 years. But that would be an unfair question because it’s no secret that Scientology’s international stats crashed in the summer of 1990 and have not reverted twenty years on. | |||
| So the real questions are: | |||
| - What have we been doing for the last 20 plus years? | |||
| - Why are there fewer members now than at any time in our history? | |||
| - Where are the missing two million members? | |||
| - And above all, what factors underlie this terrible state of affairs? | |||
| Next, I’ll proffer some answers from my perspectivie. | |||
| by Haydn James | |||
| === Tax advocacy === | === Tax advocacy === | ||
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| === Public contact === | === Public contact === | ||
| There has been some discussion of late concerning the 3P that exists between “Scientology” and “Independents”. | |||
| LRH states: | |||
| The law would seem to be: | |||
| A THIRD PARTY MUST BE PRESENT AND UNKNOWN IN EVERY QUARREL | |||
| FOR A CONFLICT TO EXIST. | |||
| Or | |||
| FOR A QUARREL TO OCCUR, AN UNKNOWN THIRD PARTY MUST BE | |||
| ACTIVE IN PRODUCING IT BETWEEN TWO POTENTIAL OPPONENTS. | |||
| Or | |||
| WHILE IT IS COMMONLY BELIEVED TO TAKE TWO TO MAKE A FIGHT, A | |||
| THIRD PARTY MUST EXIST AND MUST DEVELOP IT FOR ACTUAL CONFLICT TO | |||
| OCCUR. | |||
| It is very easy to see that two in conflict are fighting. They are very visible. What is harder to see or suspect is that a third party existed and actively promoted the quarrel. The usually unsuspected and “reasonable” third party, the bystander who denies any part of it is the one that brought the conflict into existence in the first place. | |||
| … | |||
| One sees two fellows shouting bad names at each other, sees them come to blows. No one else is around. So they, of course, “caused the fight”. But there was a third party. Tracing these down, one comes upon incredible data. That is the trouble. The incredible is too easily rejected. One way to hide things is to make them incredible. | |||
| … | |||
| This theory might be thought to assert also that there are no bad conditions that cause conflict. There are. But these are usually REMEDIAL BY CONFERENCE UNLESS A THIRD PARTY IS PROMOTING CONFLICT. | |||
| If you look at the conflicts that Scientology is involved in, they range from “the Church” versus “Independents” to “the Church” versus “the media”, versus “the government”, “the French”, “the pharmaceutical companies”, “the psychs”, “the SPs”, “the squirrels”, “the out ethics public”, and on and on. Even the staff versus the public. | |||
| There is an old principle of investigation: trace back who benefits. What purpose is there for all this conflict to be fomented. There is an easy answer for that – one that every Scientologist is aware of, and it is increasingly apparent to one and all that it has become more important than the orgs and delivering LRH tech. The IAS. Every conflict, every disaster affords a new reason that money needs to be donated to the IAS. | |||
| But, LRH also says, you have to locate the hidden BEING behind the conflict. | |||
| That’s also easy. Look to see who benefits. | |||
| Who benefits from the IAS money? The Machiavellian Midget himself. It is this money that he uses to prop up his own PR and keep himself in power. It is this money that is used to buy empty buildings (as everyone just saw at the last IAS event) and generate PR about the “massive inroads” Scientology is making into the world with programs that are shown in PR videos at Miscavige’s events. | |||
| Remember, The incredible is too easily rejected. One way to hide things is to make them incredible. That is the reason Scientologists cannot spot the real 3P. It is too incredible. How could the “Dear Leader” who has been responsible for the incredible expansion of Scientology, be a bad hat 3P? Well, he has conducted a campaign of PR by redefinition of words. | |||
| The big lie he is perpetrating is that Scientology is expanding like never before. The evidence to “prove” this is the purchase/renovation and opening of “new” Ideal Orgs. In truth, MEST has been substituted for real expansion in a sleight of hand that has been so deft that most Scientologists don’t see it. Of course, every person who calls himself or herself a Scientologist naturally wants to see Scientology expanding. Who, other than a real SP, would not want others to achieve the gains they have achieved? Who, other than a real SP, would not want to destimulate the planet by getting as many people as possible to be able to erase their reactive minds? Who, other than an SP, would not want everyone to be able to read and understand what they are reading with Study Technology. And after all, we all want a Cleared Planet as our ultimate goal. | |||
| The expansion of Scientology and the destimulation of the peoples of earth IS the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics. And even a new Scientologist knows that this is the formula that when applied enhances survival. So, how do you persuade otherwise intelligent, well-meaning people (that is, the Scientologists of the world) to ignore obvious outnesses? You make the outnesses seem small when compared to the greater good. The LRH example comes to mind – if a vaccine saved thousands of lives, but killed a few, is it a pro-survival solution? Of course. So if under Miscavige’s leadership the Church has expanded at “explosive” rates does it really matter if he has been beating people up, spending money like a Saudi prince, knocking hats off those junior to him, destroying the management infrastructure etc. etc. etc.? Of course not. | |||
| But, what if that explosive expansion actually DIDN’T exist? What if those things that are said about Miscavige were not only true, they had in fact destroyed the very structure of organizations and management that LRH put in place, turning the executive echelon of Scientology into a mob of broken, mindless individuals, thus guaranteeing that no expansion would occur. What then? | |||
| Then Miscavige would have to come up with a way of demonstrating “expansion” without really having any, using whatever resources were available. Miscavige doesn’t have competent management at his disposal. But, he does have MONEY. Hundreds of millions of dollars. And though money won’t buy you love, nor happiness, it will buy MEST. So, here is Miscavige the Magician’s trick. Scrap the LRH plan of building orgs to St Hill Size (too hard to do anyway – and then there are those damned staff that have to be gotten to OT in the orgs and there’s no management to organize that) and replace it with “Ideal Orgs”. Oh how clever. There IS an LRH policy called Ideal Orgs, so it sounds legitimate. And you just keep talking about Ideal Orgs and make it the “thing to do” and pretty soon everyone will forget about the St Hill size orgs. And slowly, but surely, you redefine even the concept of an Ideal Org to being “ideal BUILDING”. And then you tell everyone that this is THEIR problem and make them “part of the game”. So, the OT Ambassadors and the local OT Committees and all local Scientologists now buy into the laudable objective of having a nice building for their org. But building the org itself – the people and the theta – they drift quietly into the background (until it comes to “Grand Opening” when a lot of people are going to see the “Ideal Org” on video and the broken down, discarded staff from Int and staff from other orgs are shipped in to make it appear temporarily the place is something more than merely a building). | |||
| So, Miscavige tells one and all that he is spearheading this massive expansion, proven by the “new” Ideal Orgs that are being opened. You hear it at the International events and you read about it in Freedom – pages and pages about Miscavige opening orgs (and not a mention of L. Ron Hubbard). And obviously anyone who says Miscavige is anything other than perfect is just an SP trying to destroy Scientology, because look at what he is doing and that IS the greatest good for the greatest number of dynamics. | |||
| Or is he really just the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain? | |||
| Or is he really the hidden Third Party that is too incredible for most Scientologists to spot? | |||
| It’s easy enough to know. Walk into any one of these “Ideal Orgs” and see whether there is massive expansion occurring? Do they have more or less staff than was shown on the video for their “Grand Opening”? How many students are in the course room? How many Clears have they made since they “opened”? Funny that you aren’t hearing about the massive expansion in these individual orgs. All you see about them is Miscavige cutting the ribbon and spouting flowery doublespeak written by the LRH Biographer and some shots of empty buildings. | |||
| Why you may ask don’t the people in the orgs say anything about this? It’s the old Roman strategy of “divide and conquer.” The few remaining staff huddled in the cold in the Buffalo “Ideal Org” think they are the only ones who have an empty org and that they are really out of step with the rest of the Scientology world. They don’t even want to ask the few remaining staff in Madrid what things are like over there. They’d probably be shot if they tried. And no public person wants to look like a fool after donating time and money to creating the “Ideal Org” and being good followers of the great COB and his “Command Intention” by questioning whether the org is doing well. They see it, but they quietly hope someone else is going to deal with it. | |||
| But there is another beauty to this plan too. It keeps everyone quiet. Because anyone who points out the obvious is labeled an SP. “Obviously” if someone is saying the orgs aren’t full and expanding they are CI – or worse yet, they are gloating about it and want it that way. And who would gloat at the poor staff who are there working their asses off day in and day out? Only a pure SP. Again, propaganda by redefinition of terms. Pointing out the obvious is redefined as gloating. The staff of those orgs are in the unenviable position of having no management to guide them. No programs. No marketing. Those things have all been forsaken for the “Ideal Org Strategy” because of course, once the “Ideal Org” has been shown on a video, it has no importance to Miscavige any longer. You can’t show a building opening twice. People might get suspicious. | |||
| It’s the big lie. It is clever. But when you analyse the FACTS, it is what it is. And until the real Third Party is spotted, the conflicts will continue. | |||
| And one last thing. The proof of this pudding is this: as soon as someone DOES spot the real source of the conflict, THE SP, charge blows, the clouds part and a whole lot of shaking starts going on. | |||
| Abilities return, sometimes chronic somatics even disappear, and things start going right again in one’s life. Hell, if you listen real close you might even hear scores of gentle “clicks” in the air, the sound of spines straightening up across the world. | |||
| Although he is often a speaker at major Scientology openings, award ceremonies and related events,<ref>, | Although he is often a speaker at major Scientology openings, award ceremonies and related events,<ref>, | ||
| Line 247: | Line 104: | ||
| * . | * . | ||
| * Official biography of Miscavige. | * Official biography of Miscavige. | ||
| * A Church of Scientology-produced response to the ''St. Petersburg Times' '' critical series | * A Church of Scientology-produced response to the ''St. Petersburg Times' '' critical series about Miscavige. | ||
| * A THIRD PARTY MUST BE PRESENT AND UNKNOWN IN EVERY QUARREL | |||
| FOR A CONFLICT TO EXIST' '' critical series | |||
| about Miscavige. | |||
| ;News media | ;News media | ||
| * . A 1998 interview with David Miscavige in the '']''. | * . A 1998 interview with David Miscavige in the '']''. | ||
| Line 257: | Line 111: | ||
| * | * | ||
| {{ |
{{Scientology}} | ||
| One of the tragedies of the reign of Miscavige is the utter disregard for staff well-being. | |||
| There have been LRH orders extant since the late 70’s to resolve staff pay. He identified it as a major reason for orgs not expanding and later as a key block to accomplishing the objective of LRH ED 339R – Saint Hill Size Orgs. | |||
| If you cannot afford to live as a staff member, you either moonlight or leave staff. Many dedicated individuals have joined staff thinking that they would be able to contribute to expanding the org and as a result, make a viable living through staff. But the problem is the finance system that orgs are forced to operate on leaves so little for staff pay that even when the org grows, the percentage of income devoted to staff pay is so small, and so much comes “off the top” that the increase in the number of staff needed to deliver what is required to sustain increased income simply divides the staff pay sum by more people. There is a fault in the SYSTEM. It’s well known. | |||
| Why didn’t this ever change if LRH said it should? Back in the early 80’s there was a project called “The Staff Pay Project”. It was not completed before LRH went off the lines. And from that time forward, Miscavige has had literally hundreds of submissions on staff pay, none of which he would approve. There are probably hundreds of pages of transcripts of rambling meetings Miscavige had with International Management and Finance personnel (back in the “good old days” when they were nominally on post) where he pontificated at length about what should be done. Problem is (as others have described) the “direction” that he gave was invariably confusing and often times contradictory. And then any submission to him would be rejected because it didn’t “comply” with some line in a 50 page transcript of his ramblings. Tens of thousands of hours of executive time have been spent M9ing the endless transcripts from DM, then putting together submissions to him attempting to satisfy all his dictates (literally an impossible task as one day he would say one thing and then the next it would be the opposite). So, why isn’t there a workable staff pay system? Because to this day Miscavige refuses to put one out. (In case someone out there saw a Staff Pay system in 2004 that was “done personally by COB” that he PR’d as being a solution to staff pay, I ask you – did it work? | |||
| THE CANCER OF THE IAS | |||
| There is a second problem with staff pay: the takeover and dominance of Scientology by the IAS and the proliferation of building and library donations. Funds channeled into these endless sinkholes do not go on the regular org GI and Financial Planning lines. So, funds that could be being donated for services (which are part of the org GI and FP) are being siphoned off. Miscavige doesn’t want to interrupt these Condition 0 Exchange activities (after all, all you need to “deliver” for a hundred thousand donated to the IAS is a pin, a trophy and some imbecilic title). You can’t increase staff pay or build orgs while still having the IAS as the “senior organization” in Scientology. Hence, Miscavige’s decision was easy, if shortsighted: pour the coals on the IAS and org staff be damned. | |||
| Just as an aside on the IAS – it is a Third Dynamic engram by definition. It was an arbitrary implemented at one time to solve the problem of creating an untouchable pool of money out of the reach of the IRS that could be used to pay off the IRS if they did not grant the Church tax exempt status. After 1993, it had served its purpose and should have been disbanded and the public should have been informed that it was no longer needed. But, by that time it was a cash cow for Miscavige that was too good to discard, no matter the havoc it would wreak on organizations. | |||
| If you have read the LRH article “What Your Fees Buy” you will be familiar with the fact that LRH intended the fees for SERVICES to not only support the local organization, but to fund the defense of the religion, to finance projects to bring LRH tech into different sectors of society and to promote Dianetics and Scientology. Following are quotes from “What Your Fees Buy”: | |||
| It costs money to bring cases up to the US Supreme Court level as we have. The legal defense expenses we have in a dozen countries is not small. | |||
| So a portion of your fee goes to keeping the subject available to you and to the world. | |||
| Your fee supports a long and complex set of communication lines by which tech and admin can be cared for rapidly. | |||
| A portion of your fee just the other day began a survey of a backward country to introduce high speed educational processes to bring their people quickly from the Stone Age up to present time. The “Peace Corps” was also there on cushy government funds building houses for a big construction company at a nice profit. But we, unsupported, began the effective work actually needed there to help the people. | |||
| A tiny bit of your fee neated up an area ruined for the Americans by the American Navy. | |||
| Small parts of your fee heal up a lot of things over the world. | |||
| But the biggest part of your fee stays right in your area. It is used to make training and processing and data available to the next fellow first by keeping the org there and second by letting him know about it and third by making as sure as possible that the training and processing he gets is standard and effective. | |||
| Your fee keeps the nearest org alive and functioning and the environment safe. | |||
| Anyone who has ever been approached by an IAS reg will find a lot of this eerily familiar. This is exactly what those IAS regges say the money is being spent on. So, one may ask, if this is what the money is being spent on WHY HAVENT THE COST OF SERVICES BEEN REDUCED? And as a side note – IAS funds are ONLY spent when Miscavige wants them spent. Those massive “campaigns” that are announced at the IAS events have a few bucks thrown at them to show at the event, and then they die, and just to dispel another lie that has been repeated forever, the IAS had NOTHING to do with “The Battle of Portland,” NO IAS funds were ever used for legal, PR or Crusade activities. | |||
| Instead of pouring the coals on LRH’s purpose and LRH ED 339R by having the correct single finance channel (through orgs) and making it possible for our staffs to live by implementing the appropriate staff pay system, Miscavige diverted and channeled those funds to the IAS, his off-source ideal org strategy or his latest and “greatest” scheme leaving staff destitute and orgs bereft of the energy they so vitally needed. | |||
| THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF STAFF | |||
| But there was something beyond even that. LRH ED 339R was written FOR STAFF. It gave them the Birthday Game and the target of building their org to the Size of Old St Hill. And something else in 339R was even MORE IMPORTANT. | |||
| LRH knew that an average staff member could not attain OT. Even if they received enough staff pay to be able to live, they still would not have enough disposable income to pay for OT levels. And many could not afford to go off to LA or Copenhagen or St Hill for months to do their OT levels – their posts would suffer. He had a brilliant solution – the UNIVERSE CORPS. It made it possible for staff to be real Scientologists and achieve the gains of the OT Levels. LRH ED 339R says that EVERY org that reaches the size of Old St Hill would be rewarded with a Universe Corps sent from Management that would move all staff in the org up to Clear and through the OT Levels. It wasn’t something available to public, it was a reward for the dedication of being a staff member. Right in their own org they would be able to do the OT Levels. This was a massive change. Never before had OT levels been available outside AOs. | |||
| But, there was a problem. This required training staff and sending them out to the orgs. | |||
| And of those orgs back in the day that were awarded St Hill Size – Tokyo, Orange County, LA Org, Tampa, Hamburg, Munich, Joburg etc. – how many of them do you think have a Universe Corps today? When they were sent (some orgs back then actually had a Universe Corps) they were soon ripped off. Tampa were told that their “Universe Corps” was the FSO! | |||
| And today? LRH ED 339R is forgotten. Replaced by Miscavige’s Idle Org strategy. Perfect. Idle Orgs don’t require stats. And certainly don’t require a Universe Corps. They don’t require a Management to recruit and train a Universe Corps. Idle Orgs – Miscavige’s brilliant solution that buries 339R (and the staff along with it) under a pile of PR bullshit. LRH ED 339R is a distant memory, along with the concept that an org is a friendly place where people can find help and like-minded individuals, not just a gathering place for vulture regges waiting to pounce on anyone who walks in the door. | |||
| Where has the compassion for people that is the very hallmark of LRH and his technology gone? It’s sure hard to find in the Church of Mestology. | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Miscavige, David}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Miscavige, David}} | ||
Revision as of 11:36, 6 March 2010
| David Miscavige | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1960-04-30) April 30, 1960 (age 64) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Nationality | American |
| Employer | Religious Technology Center |
| Title | Chairman of the Board |
| Spouse | Michelle Miscavige |
| Website | http://davidmiscavige.rtc.org |
David Miscavige (April 30, 1960) is the leader of the Church of Scientology and its many affiliated organizations, having assumed that role shortly after the death of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1986. His formal title is Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center (RTC), a corporation that controls the trademarked names and symbols of Dianetics and Scientology and which "holds the ultimate ecclesiastical authority regarding the standard and pure application of L. Ron Hubbard's religious technologies." His position is paramount within Scientology but, according to the church, it is not the same position once held by L. Ron Hubbard as the founder and originator of doctrines and policies; Miscavige's mandate is to protect the works of L. Ron Hubbard from distortion or misuse and to serve as "worldwide ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion.".
Miscavige was an assistant to Hubbard (a "Commodore's messenger") while a teenager. He rose to a leadership position within the organization by the early 1980s and was named Chairman of the Board of RTC in 1987. Since assuming that role, Miscavige has been faced with press accounts alleging illegal and unethical practices. A 1991 Time magazine cover story described Miscavige as "ringleader" of a "hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner." A 2009 series by the St. Petersburg Times details allegations by former Scientology executives and parishioners that Miscavige publicly humiliates and physically abuses his staff members. Miscavige and other church spokespeople have consistently insisted that all such charges are false. He labels the sources quoted in the St. Petersburg Times as "lying" after the persons in question had been removed from the organization for "fundamental crimes against the Scientology religion."
Among Scientologists, Miscavige is often referred to by his initials, "DM," or "C.O.B.," for Chairman of the Board. He reportedly lives at Scientology's Gold Base, which is also the main RTC headquarters, near Hemet, California.
Early life
David Miscavige was born in Philadelphia to Loretta and Ron Miscavige Sr. and he was the youngest of their four children. The Polish-Italian family was Roman Catholic. One sister is Denise Licciardi who in 2002 was hired by Bryan Zwan as a top executive for the Clearwater, Florida-based company Digital Lightwave. His older brother is Ronnie Miscavige, who for a time was also in the Sea Organization but who left the Church of Scientology in 2000.
As a child, Miscavige suffered from asthma and severe allergies which prevented him from participating in many sports. During this time his father, a trumpet player, became interested in Scientology, and he had his son sent to a Scientologist. According to him and his son, the 45-minute Dianetics session cured his ailments. The family was impressed enough by Scientology to move to the world headquarters in Saint Hill Manor, England.
Scientology
Early activities
Miscavige joined Scientology in 1971. In 1976 he left high school and joined the Sea Organization, an association of Scientologists established in 1968 by Hubbard. In 1977 he worked directly under Hubbard as a cameraman for Scientology training films. Hubbard appointed him to the Commodore's Messenger Organization, responsible for enforcing Hubbard's policies within the individual Scientology organizations. In 1981 he was placed in charge of the Watchdog Committee and the All Clear Unit, tasked with handling the various legal claims against Hubbard. He persuaded Mary Sue Hubbard to resign from the Guardian's Office (GO), deposed several GO officers through ethics proceedings, and removed the GO from the church's organization.
After closing the Guardian's Office, Miscavige set up a new organizational structure for Scientology to release Hubbard from personal liability. He set up the Religious Technology Center, tasked with licensing Scientology's intellectual property, and Author Services Inc. to manage the proceeds. The Church of Spiritual Technology was created at the same time with an option to repurchase all of RTC's intellectual property rights. In October 1982 Miscavige required Scientology Missions to enter new trademark usage contracts which established stricter policies on the use of Scientology materials.
Rise to leadership
In 1981 Mary Sue Hubbard, then second only to L. Ron Hubbard himself in Scientology's hierarchy, was appealing her prison sentence for her part in Operation Snow White, and she began to face criticism from within the Scientology organization. The St. Petersburg Times, in the 1998 article "The Man Behind Scientology," states: "During two heated encounters, Miscavige persuaded Mary Sue Hubbard to resign. Together they composed a letter to Scientologists confirming her decision -- all without ever talking to L. Ron Hubbard." According to Miscavige, he and Mary Sue Hubbard remained friends thereafter.
In a 1982 probate case, Ronald DeWolf, Hubbard's estranged son, accused Miscavige of embezzling from and manipulating his father. Hubbard denied this in a written statement, saying that his business affairs were being well managed by Author Services Inc., of which Miscavige was the Chairman of the Board. The case was dismissed on June 27, 1983.
Miscavige announced L. Ron Hubbard's death in 1986, speaking to Sea Org members assembled in the Hollywood Palladium. Shortly before Hubbard's death, an apparent order from him circulated in the Sea Org that promoted Scientologist Pat Broeker and his wife to the new rank of Loyal Officer, making them the highest-ranking members. Miscavige established himself as the ecclesiastical leader of the religion.
Allegations of abuse
Former senior-level Church of Scientology staff, including marketing executive Jeff Hawkins and Stacy Young, have alleged that Miscavige physically and emotionally abuses his subordinates, including high-ranking Church executives. Church representatives have consistently denied such accusations. Hawkins, a senior marketing executive in the Church, claimed that Miscavige had physically assaulted him at an executive meeting in 2002, and, on other occasions, had punched him in his stomach and hit him on the head. Young, the wife of Hubbard's former public relations spokesman Vaughn Young and Miscavige's former secretary, has claimed that Miscavige emotionally tormented staff members on a regular basis during her tenure. "His viciousness and his cruelty to staff was unlike anything that I had ever experienced in my life ... He just loved to degrade the staff," Young said in a 1995 ITV interview. "He got a kick out of it. He thought it was funny. Anybody who didn't think it was funny, like I didn't, was very suspect."
In June 2009, the St Petersburg Times reported that top former Scientologists Mike Rinder, Mark Rathbun and two other witnesses said Miscavige beats and demoralizes staff, and claimed violence is a standard occurrence. Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis denied these claims and provided witnesses to rebut them. Miscavige sent a letter, which was posted online, to the newspaper a day before the first story ran, saying:
"I have been advised that you have decided to move forward with your story without my interview. This, despite the fact confirmed more than three weeks ago that I would make myself available on a date certain (6 July), after you spoke to other relevant Church personnel and toured Church facilities, and that I would provide information annihilating the credibility of your sources including the fundamental crimes against the Scientology religion that were the reasons for their removal from post."
The editors replied: "The Times first requested an interview with Mr. Miscavige on May 13, and offered to meet with him in person, or interview him by telephone at any time since."
In 2009, Miscavige was named as a defendant in a lawsuit for slavery and child labor by a former Scientologist.
Tax advocacy
In 1993 after lengthy negotiations an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service was reached on its treatment of the Church of Scientology. In 1991 Miscavige, with Mark Rathbun, had gone to IRS headquarters to meet with the Commissioner Fred Goldberg, which led to a two year review process (in which IRS tax analysts were ordered to ignore the substantive issues because the issues had been resolved prior to review), and ultimately, tax exemption for the Church of Scientology International and its organizations in the US. Later, in 1997, the church issued a statement denying its own "impromptu meeting" version of events, which the IRS and Goldberg declined to comment on.
In 1990, David Miscavige founded the organization Citizens for an Alternative Tax System. In 1997 the group was challenging the US tax system.
Public contact
Although he is often a speaker at major Scientology openings, award ceremonies and related events, Miscavige has rarely spoken to the press.
In his first media appearance, in 1992, Miscavige was interviewed at length by Ted Koppel of ABC News. During the nearly hour-long appearance, Miscavige identified what he considered to be misconceptions about Scientology and condemned recent criticism of the Church as unfounded and bigoted. Miscavige also addressed the issue of extraterrestrial beliefs in Scientology, dismissing them as no different from the beliefs of any other religion. When played an audio recording of L. Ron Hubbard describing a visit to the Van Allen belt, Miscavige rejected it as " part of current Scientology."
In 1998, Miscavige gave his sole newspaper interview to the St. Petersburg Times. Later that year, he appeared in an A&E Investigative Reports installment called "Inside Scientology" which aired in December.
Personal life
Miscavige served as best man in Tom Cruise's 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.
See also
References
- Tobin, Thomas C. (October 25, 1998). "The man behind Scientology". part 4. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved August 27, 2007.
- Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography (accessed May 8, 2007)
- ^ Christensen, Dorthe Reflsund (2004). "Inventing L. Ron Hubbard". In James R. Lewis (ed.). Controversial New Religions. Oxford University Press. p. 247. ISBN 0195156838.
- Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography, page 2 (accessed May 8, 2007)
- ^ Behar, Richard The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power Time Magazine May 6, 1991 page 50 Cite error: The named reference "Behar" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- Schaefer, Richard T. (2007). "David Miscavige". In William W. Zellner (ed.). Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles. Worth Publishers, 8th Edition. p. 285. ISBN 0716770342.
- Young, Robert Vaughn Scientology from inside out, Quill magazine, Volume 81, Number 9, Nov/Dec 1993.
- ^ Joe Childs, Thomas C. Tobin (June 23, 2009). "The Truth Run Down". St Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Joe Childs, Thomas C. Tobin (June 23, 2009). "A letter from David Miscavige". St Petersburg Times. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
- Hoffman, Claire Tom Cruise and Scientology, Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2005
- ^ Sappell, Joel (June 24, 1990). "The Man In Control". Los Angeles Times. p. A41:4. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Reitman, Janet Inside Scientology Rolling Stone, Issue 995. March 9, 2006. Page 57.
- ^ Tobin, Thomas C. (October 25, 1998). "The man behind Scientology". part 2. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved August 27, 2007.
- O'Neil, Deborah (June 2, 2002). "The CEO and his church: Months of interviews and thousands of pages of court papers show the effect that influential church members had on a Clearwater company that was a darling of the dot-com boom". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg Times.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Atack, Jon (1990). "Chapter Four—The Young Rulers". [[A Piece of Blue Sky]]. Lyle Stuart. p. 448. ISBN 0-8184-0499-X.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); URL–wikilink conflict (help) - Jacobsen, Jonny (January 28, 2008). "Niece of Scientology's leader backs Cruise biography". AFP. Google News. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
- ^ Lamont, Stewart (1986). Religion Inc.: The Church of Scientology. London: Harrap. p. 95. ISBN 0245543341.
- "Mystery of the Vanished Ruler". TIME. January 31, 1983. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
- Miller, Russell (1987). "22. Missing, Presumed Dead". Bare-faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard (First American ed.). New York: Henry Holt & Co. pp. 305–306. ISBN 0-8050-0654-0.
- Miller, Russell (1987). Bare-faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 0-8050-0654-0. Page 369.
- Atack, Jon (1990). A Piece of Blue Sky.
- RTC web site
- Davis, Matt (August 7, 2008). "Selling Scientology: A Former Scientologist Marketing Guru Turns Against the Church". Retrieved August 10, 2008.
- "Inside the Cult", ITV's The Big Story, 1995
- Hull, Tim (December 1, 2009). "Man Says Scientologists Enslaved Him as Boy". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
- Frantz, Douglas (March 9, 1997). "Scientology's Puzzling Journey From Tax Rebel to Tax Exempt". New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
- Frantz, Douglas (March 19, 1997). "Scientology Denies an Account Of an Impromptu I.R.S. Meeting". New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
- The Wall Street Journal, October 23, 1997
- Inauguración de la Iglesia Nacional de Scientology de España, Keynote Address at the Grand Opening of the Church of Scientology New York (accessed August 3, 2006)
- Koppel, Ted, Nightline, David Miscavige interview of February 14, 1992; Official ABC News Transcripts
- Tobin, Thomas C. (October 25, 1998). "The Man Behind Scientology". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
- A & E Investigative Reports: "Inside Scientology", December 14, 1998
- "Cruise and Holmes go on honeymoon". BBC News. November 19, 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
External links
- Church of Scientology official
- Church of Scientology resources about Miscavige.
- Religious Technology Center, Official biography of Miscavige.
- Freedom Magazine, August 2009 A Church of Scientology-produced response to the St. Petersburg Times' critical series about Miscavige.
- News media
- "The Man Behind Scientology". A 1998 interview with David Miscavige in the St. Petersburg Times.
- "The Truth Rundown." Investigative reports and interviews about Scientology, largely focused on Miscavige, St. Petersburg Times, June-August 2009.
- Criticism