Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 122.106.25.45 (talk) at 07:31, 13 December 2008 (→Scientology career). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

David Miscavige (born April 30, 1960) is chairman of the board of Religious Technology Center (RTC), a corporation that controls the trademarked names and symbols of Dianetics and Scientology, and "holds the ultimate ecclesiastical authority regarding the standard and pure application of L. Ron Hubbard’s religious technologies." Although Religious Technology Center is a separate corporation from the Church of Scientology, Miscavige is officially described as "worldwide ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion." In January 2008, when questioned about the allegation that Tom Cruise was second in command of the Church, Elliot Abelson, general counsel for the Church of Scientology stated: "The only person who runs the Church and makes policy decisions is David Miscavige." He also oversees the application of Scientology tech by affiliate programs Narconon, Criminon and Applied Scholastics, which are legally separate from the church but operate under license from RTC.

Miscavige was an assistant to Hubbard while still a teenager, and rose to a leadership position within the organization by the early 1980s. He was named Chairman of the Board RTC in 1986, some months after Hubbard's death. He reportedly lives at Scientology's Gold Base, which is also the main RTC headquarters, near Hemet, California.

Biography

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, but not very observant. 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 and is now in the real estate business as Managing Broker of the Williamsburg office of Long & Foster.

Miscavige suffered from childhood ailments as well as allergies, which kept him from accomplishing athletic and academic goals. During this time his father, a trumpet player, became interested in Scientology. Ron Miscavige Sr.'s interest in Scientology led him to have the boy 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 career

Early years

this man is evil and wrong and his religon is made up and not true because the only true religon is Christian

Personal life

According to his official Scientology biography, David Miscavige's hobbies are riding motorcycles, fishing, snorkeling and underwater photography.

Miscavige has been married since 1981 to Shelly (Michelle) Miscavige, née Barnett, who also serves as his official assistant. They have no children.

Miscavige served as best man in his friend Tom Cruise's 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.

Criticism and controversies

Treatment of staff

According to former Scientology staffers who say they have worked directly with him, Miscavige physically beats his subordinates, including the highest-ranking executives in the organization. Jeff Hawkins, a former senior marketing executive in the church, claimed that in 2002 Miscavige physically attacked and battered him at an executive meeting. On other occasions, he says, Miscavige punched him in the gut and hit him repeatedly on the side of the head. Ex-staffers Marc Headley and Lawrence Brennan have made similar accusations, which church representatives have denied.

Other matters

• In 1982 in an attempted 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., over which Miscavige was Chairman of the Board at that time. Judge J. David Hennigan found against DeWolf, dismissing the case on June 27, 1983.

• In 1983, former Scientologist Jesse Prince testified that Miscavige had ordered that various materials authored by L. Ron Hubbard be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office though the materials in question might have fallen into the public domain.

• On January 25, 2008, Miscavige's niece, Jenna Miscavige Hill, who left the Church of Scientology, wrote a letter to Church spokesperson Karin Pouw which stated that disconnection was a current practice within the Church of Scientology. Hill intended this as a rebuttal to the Church's official statement about disconnection that was made in response to statements made in Andrew Morton's Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography.

References

1. Tobin, Thomas C. (1998-10-25). "The man behind Scientology". part 4. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-08-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography (accessed 2007-05-08)
3. Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography, page 2 (accessed 2007-05-08)
4. Behar, Richard The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power Time Magazine May 6, 1991 page 50
5. Tapper, James (2008-01-07). "Diana author names Tom Cruise as 'World Number Two in Scientology'". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
6. Reitman, Janet Inside Scientology Rolling Stone, Issue 995. March 9, 2006. Page 57.
7. Young, Robert Vaughn Scientology from inside out, Quill magazine, Volume 81, Number 9, Nov/Dec 1993.
8. Hoffman, Claire Tom Cruise and Scientology, Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2005
9. ^ Tobin, Thomas C. (1998-10-25). "The man behind Scientology". part 2. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-08-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. 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)
11. 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); External link in |chapterurl= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
12. http://ronmiscavige.lnfre.com/falcon/webui/lnfwelcomepage.aspx
13. ^ Jacobsen, Jonny (2008-01-28). "Niece of Scientology's leader backs Cruise biography". AFP. Google News. Retrieved 2008-03-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. "Cruise and Holmes go on honeymoon". BBC News. 2006-11-19. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
15. "Public radio interview with Jefferson Hawkins". The Edge. WXYB AM 1520 Tampa, FL. 2008-03-06.
16. Davis, Matt (2008-08-07). "Selling Scientology: A Former Scientologist Marketing Guru Turns Against the Church". The Portland Mercury. Index Newspapers, LLC. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
17. Miller, Russell (1987). [[Bare-faced Messiah]], The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 0-8050-0654-0. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help) Page 369.
18. Jesse Prince affidavit, United States District Court for the District of Colorado, Bridge Publications Inc v. Factnet Inc; Lawrence Wollersheim; Robert Penny, Civil Action No. 95-K-2143, 1998

Media

• Barnes, John (1984-10-28). "Sinking the Master Mariner". Sunday Times Magazine. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• Koff, Stephen (1988-12-22). "Scientology church faces new claims of harassment". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Sappell, Joel (1990-06-24). "The Mind Behind the Religon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-08-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Koppel, Ted (1992-02-14). "Scientology Leader Gave ABC First-Ever Interview". Nightline. ABC News. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
• "Scientologists sue church for $1-billion". St. Petersburg Times. 1987-01-01. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "Intimidating the IRS". Editorial. St. Petersburg Times. 1997-03-11. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Morgan, Lucy (1998-01-28). "Hardball". Special Report. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Tobin, Thomas C. (1998-10-25). "The man behind Scientology". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-08-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Kennedy, Dominic (2007-06-23). "‘Church’ that yearns for respectability". The Times. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• RTC, David Miscavige presentation
• Official Church resources for Miscavige

• 1960 births
• American Scientologists
• Italian-Americans
• Leaders of Scientology
• Living people
• People from Philadelphia
• Americans of Polish descent
• Underwater photographers