During an outdoor portion of the 12-minute report, reporter Bryan Seymour, Australian Senator Nick Xenophon and Mike Rinder were followed by a Scientology-hired cameraperson.

Today Tonight’s host in a coda to the segment stated that it did not pay Mike Rinder for the interview, but covered his traveling expenses rather than send a crew to the United States.

]]> http://www.whoisdavidmiscavige.com/mike-rinder-on-today-tonight/feed/ http://www.whoisdavidmiscavige.com/mike-rinder-on-alleged-miscavige-abuse/ http://www.whoisdavidmiscavige.com/mike-rinder-on-alleged-miscavige-abuse/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:03:22 +0000 admin http://www.whoisdavidmiscavige.com/?p=277 On July 22nd’s edition of Today Tonight, Bryan Seymour interviews former Office of Special Affairs (OSA) head Mike Rinder in regards to physical abuse he alleges was perpetrated by David Miscavige.  Previews (via Marty Rathbun’s blog):

The depositions were taken in a federal lawsuit [Claire] Headley filed against the church. She claims her abortions were forced and the church’s restrictive working conditions constituted human trafficking. She has a January trial date. She has submitted to church lawyers a list of 36 current and former staffers she said had abortions while working for the Sea Org.

[Laura] Dieckman, 31, was deposed as a witness. She told the Times she’s not the weepy type. But she couldn’t hold her tears as she talked about how, at 17, she put the greater good of the group ahead of her maternal instinct.

“Now I look at it and I’m like, how or why could I possibly think that? It doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand how I relented, or why I gave in. But I did.”

Within the Sea Org, Scientology’s highest calling, members were allowed to have children until 1996, when the policy changed to what it remains today: No children allowed.

“The policy evolved out of respect for families and deference to children,” Davis said.

Babies were “viewed as interfering with the productivity of Sea Org members,” Davis said. Also, “the long and demanding working hours required of Sea Org members and the need for Sea Org parents to be able to go to any remote area of the world on a moment’s notice were obstacles to parents properly raising their children.”

Read more at TampaBay.com.

Marty reports on his blog the following:

Well, my suspicions about DM’s real purposes for recording Tom’s confessions have been confirmed as warranted. I have recently learned from a very reliable witness that DM regularly held court with others in his personal lounge in the roadside Villas at the Int base, and while sipping scotch whiskey at the end of the night, Miscavige would read Tom’s overts and withholds from my reports to others, joking and laughing about the content of Tom’s confessions. My witness is unimpeachable in my eyes as his account contains too many accurate details from someone who had zero reason (or ability) for being anywhere near Tom’s folders, videos and reports direct to DM.

Read Marty’s full post on his site.

Amy Scobee, a former Gold Base staffer who recently wrote Scientology: Abuse At The Top, when asked in an interview with PopEater about these allegations, offers allegations her own:

David Miscavige talked about people’s private confidential information. I witnessed this myself. I included some specifics of this in my book regarding another celebrity. He also did it to staff — snickering about things that came up in their confessionals and TELLING the specifics to whoever was at the meeting with him at the time. He did that to me. And he did that to many, many others. Including calling all-base staff briefings and reporting embarrassing details about supposed transgressions in order to intimidate people. One of my friends told me how Miscavige and he were standing outside when staff were walking between buildings — like for lunch break or something — and he pointed to random people giving “tid-bits” on each one as they passed, to “prove” how much “in the know” he is. It’s a complete violation of the priest-penitent privilege and a total invasion of privacy.

I have already received a number of emails from church members complaining about the series, and accusing me of attacking the church, its beliefs, its membership, and its activities.

Given that the emails are all very similar in content, I assume this is some sort of organized email campaign. None of those writing the emails have seen the series, but I appreciate hearing from all concerned viewers, and I certainly understand any church member, of any religion, being concerned about the portrayal of their beliefs.

For the record, I just want to point out that this series is not about the beliefs or activities of the Church of Scientology. It is not about the religion or the vast majority of Scientologists. This series simply has to do with what some former high ranking church officials say went on within the upper management of the church, and what happened to them when they left the church.

Read the complete article on CNN.com.

The week-long series, Scientology: A History of Violence, will examine allegations that Scientology leader David Miscavige has for years beaten, kicked and choked top members of the church. These are allegations the church aggressively denies, saying violence from inside came from those making the claim.

Anderson Cooper will speak with former, high ranking members from the Church’s inner circle, who says the David Miscavige not only carried out, but encouraged the culture of violence at the highest levels of the church management. Cooper will also speak with members who claim extreme hardships, and some say intimidation, the church imposes on anyone who decides to leave and speak out.

Scientology: A History of Violence will air at 10pm ET on CNN and will also air on CNNInternational. Anderson Cooper 360° airs weeknights on CNN at 10pm ET.

Friday, Feb 12, 2010 – 10am
Steve Allen Theater
4773 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, California, USA

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Also sued are defendants Church of Scientology International, Religious Technology Center and Does 1-20.

Alleged in the complaint is that David Miscavige controls the entire Scientology enterprise and is the chief perpetrator of the torts and violations of law including the crime of human trafficking.

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PART II

Excerpt:

“In France, the organisation was recently convicted of fraud and it is also facing charges in Belgium. Meanwhile, in the USA a number of former high-ranking Scientology executives have broken their silence about the organisation, talking to the St Petersburg Times in Florida where its international headquarters are located. The executives say they witnessed the head of the organisation, David Miscavige, assault staff members dozens of times and they say he also urged others to commit assault. The executives also claim the organisation has used blackmail and threats against former members and perceived critics of the organisation, and that the organisation has knowingly repeatedly obstructed justice. Claims have also been made that information provided to the organisation by members during what are known as auditing sessions, which are a crude hybrid of confession and counselling and for which the organisation claims so-called priest penitent privilege, was then used to blackmail and manipulate members.”

“What we are seeing is a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality. On the body of evidence this is not happening by accident; it is happening by design. Scientology is not a religious organisation. It is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs. What you believe does not mean you are not accountable for how you behave. The letters received by me which were written by former followers in Australia contain extensive allegations of crimes and abuses that are truly shocking—crimes against them and crimes they say they were coerced into committing. There are allegations of false imprisonment, coerced abortions, embezzlement of church funds, physical violence, intimidation, blackmail and the wide-spread and deliberate abuse of information obtained by the organisation. It is alleged that information about suspicious deaths and child abuse has been destroyed, and one follower has admitted he was coerced by the organisation into perjuring himself during investigations into the deaths of his two daughters.”

And now some senior insiders who have left the church are leveling disturbing accusations against the current leader, David Miscavige. Marty Rathbun, Amy Scobee, Bruce Hines and Mike Rinder each dedicated more than 20 years to the Church of Scientology, as members of the Sea Organization, or Sea Org, the equivalent of the church’s clergy. They tell co-anchor Martin Bashir they left in part because the 49-year-old leader, Miscavige, struck subordinates numerous times and encouraged others to do the same.