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David Miscavige (born 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 regarding reported 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 statements 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. In his personal time, he has been known to watch movies, trail bike, jet ski, play the piano, take underwater photographs, read, exercise and follow his hometown sports teams of Philadelphia.

Early life

David Miscavige was born in Philadelphia to Ron Miscavige Sr. and his wife Loretta, 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.

Reported abuse

Former senior-level Church of Scientology staff, including marketing executive Jeff Hawkins and Stacy Young, have stated 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 stated that 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. I am at a loss to comprehend how the St. Petersburg Times can publish a story about me and the religion I lead without accepting the offer to speak with me, on the pretense that you cannot wait until after I have fulfilled my religious commitments." 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." This reporting series by the St. Petersburg Times titled: "Inside Scientology: The Truth Rundown" was recognized with honors including the 2010 Gold Medal for Public Service award from the Florida Society of News Editors, and was a finalist for the 2010 National Headliner Awards in the category of investigative reporting.

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. The St. Petersburg Times reported, "Miscavige says he plans to step forward now and take a central role in trying to end differences with those who still oppose Scientology, the self-improvement 'technology' devised by the late L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1950s." Later that year, he appeared in an A&E Investigative Reports installment called "Inside Scientology" which aired in December.

Tom Cruise confessional files

According to statements in May 2010 from former high-ranking member of the Church of Scientology Mark Rathbun who served as Inspector General of the Religious Technology Center from 1978 to 2004, Miscavige ordered that Tom Cruise's Auditing sessions be secretly videotaped. Rathbun had himself been the individual responsible for performing auditing counseling with Cruise. Rathbun wrote on his blog that he had been tasked with auditing Cruise during the period in 2001 directly after he had separated from Nicole Kidman. Rathbun wrote, "I audited a number of intensives of confessionals on Tom Cruise from July through November 2001. ... By order of Miscavige many of those sessions were secretly recorded by a well-concealed video camera and voice recorder system built into the VIP auditing room at Celebrity Center International." Rathbun subsequently learned that transcripts of the videotapes of Cruise were brought to meetings where they would be discussed by top management of Scientology. Rathbun wrote that Miscavige would read out information from the reports about Cruise's auditing sessions. Another former high ranking Scientologist, Amy Scobee, when asked about Tom Cruise's confessional files stated it was Miscavige's habit to discuss celebrity confessionals with anyone who happened to be around including herself.

The nature of what was discussed in the confessional sessions by Cruise was not revealed. Rathbun ceased the filming of Cruise in 2002, because he felt it was unethical. Rathbun left the organization in 2004, and since then has given counselling to former members of Scientology. In a post on his blog, Rathbun wrote a statement addressed to Cruise, "Wake up, Tom. It is not too late. Though, time is getting very, very short." As of May 9, 2010, representatives for Cruise had not yet responded to the statements made by Rathbun.

The Editor-in-Chief of The Village Voice described the statements by Rathbun about the use of Cruise's confessional files as "some of the most damning statements against his former employer." Lynn Hayes of Beliefnet discussed the revelations by Rathbun, writing, "Religion in any form provides a solid structure that can offer comfort and security, and departure from that security can be frightening and painful. As humans we always have a choice, and it will be interesting to see how Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology manage this revelation." El Tiempo commented, "Although Tom Cruise is a staunch supporter and defender of Scientology, apparently other members of this doctrine do not profess the same devotion to the actor."

See also

• List of Scientologists
• Religious Technology Center

References

1. ^ Tobin, Thomas C. (October 25, 1998). "The man behind Scientology". part 4. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved August 27, 2007.
2. Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography (accessed May 8, 2007)
3. ^ Christensen, Dorthe Reflsund (2004). "Inventing L. Ron Hubbard". In James R. Lewis (ed.). Controversial New Religions. Oxford University Press. p. 247. ISBN 0195156838.
4. Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography, page 2 (accessed May 8, 2007)
5. ^ 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).
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7. Young, Robert Vaughn Scientology from inside out, Quill magazine, Volume 81, Number 9, Nov/Dec 1993.
8. ^ Joe Childs, Thomas C. Tobin (June 23, 2009). "The Truth Run Down". St Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
9. ^ Joe Childs, Thomas C. Tobin (June 23, 2009). "A letter from David Miscavige". St Petersburg Times. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
10. Hoffman, Claire Tom Cruise and Scientology, Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2005
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12. Reitman, Janet Inside Scientology Rolling Stone, Issue 995. March 9, 2006. Page 57.
13. ^ Tobin, Thomas C. (October 25, 1998). "The man behind Scientology". part 2. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved August 27, 2007.
14. 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)
15. 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)
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22. RTC web site
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External links

Template:Wikinewshas

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

• Informational page from Xenu Directory featuring links to video and news stories

• American Scientologists
• Converts from Roman Catholicism
• American people of Polish descent
• American people of Italian descent
• People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• People from Hemet, California
• Scientology officials
• 1960 births
• Living people