Tough times for Scientology

By William Wan

There has been a spike in stories about Church of Scientology lately, basically a litany of bad news for the organization.

To recap, just in the past few weeks, the church has:
* been convicted of fraud by a French court
* seen the acrimonious departure of director Paul Haggis, who was one of the church's high-profile celebrity members but now calls it in a letter "morally reprehensible"
* been the subject of yet another in-depth investigative series by the St. Petersburg Times, based on the horror stories of former members

What's driving all the bad news? Much of the troubles have been connected to the departure of top-level people in the organization, who in turn are now speaking openly about things the church has tried hard to keep secret.

The St. Pete investigation is especially eye-opening: "Ex-staffers describe being pursued by their church and detained, cut off from family and friends and subjected to months of interrogation, humiliation and manual labor....They say the church, led by David Miscavige, wanted to contain the threat that those who left might reveal secrets of life inside Scientology."

Some interesting analysis by AP on the defections and what it says about where the organization is now and where it may be headed in the next few years.

By William Wan  |  November 3, 2009; 8:54 AM ET  | Category:  God in Government
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