Who would change his life and his name was lt. Cmdr snake thompson. Many people used to say he did not exist but he did. He was a real figure and part of his assignment in the navy he was a spy in japan and also at cat fancier responsible for introducing burmese cats. He actually trained cat is and had a trained cat named psycho. [laughter] young ron hubbard was on this ship and state thompson was just to vienna to talk to freud and is writing an account for the navy and had to do with the Mental Health of veterans and serving military personnel and he had gone to be yet to learn what he could from freudian heaved put this information into the impressionable young man. When they arrive in washington, hubbard is a boys got in claim to be the and this evil scout ever but regardless of his merits he met Calvin Coolidge at the white house and went to the library of congress and read up on free trade and state thompson helped him survive. That was a turning point in his career and it happened here in washington. It is appropriate we meet in the bookstore talking about scientology. Every movement has a book behind it somebody has written a book but for all ron hubbard that first book was diabetics that came down 1950 and dominated the New York Times best seller list in the way i hope to emulate [laughter] but so much so it set the category and became so popular in this theory of diabetics his is you can he yourself you a to spend a lot of money but it to the router problems better in a section of your mind called thee reactive mind there alba fear and rosies that have grown and of bad experiences in your lifetime if you can recall them and to lead them of energy you can clear your reactive mind and we rely on your rational mind then when you achieve that state you go clear. That book sold millions of copies in hubbard made millions of dollars and lost them as well even lost control of the name dianetics for a time and he decided there is another way. I jumped ahead and then missed a valuable part that you went to j. W. You. His father wanted him to be an engineer and he had another life in mind for himself. President of the gliding club and quite a adventuress character but he didnt finish. He was the miserable student and dropped out after two years although he claims he completed education and Civil Engineering but he did go on to right to dianetics then he invented the religion scientology. What is it exactly . There is a lot to know about of very eccentric world view and there are many elements in scientology that soundalike Science Fiction because there were written by someone gave britain something similar. That you are an immortal soul. In you have lived before and you will live again scientology helps you to remember the past lifetime it is good news to a lot of people. It is called auditing. The auditor between you and your auditor there is a divide called the of emeter would hold toucans they used to be campbells soup there is a wire and a small, not of electricity passing through it is onethird of all lie detector the measure is your skin responses not pulsar restoration but it does do something. When youre talking to your auditor the needle is constantly registering. In scientology they think it measures the mass of your thoughts and you can see the movement with the old the painful memory to show up and if you go through this thought and traded of painful qualities then the nato will slow down and pretty soon no longer a fax your behavior. Then the next thing is is there an event like that . An argument with your wife another moment that resembles the moment you said my mother once said the same thing when i was 10. I will never forget it. That is a vivid memory. Talk about it than it calms down and you go back further and further. One of the things that happens hubbard moved again to washington d. C. 1957 around Dupont Circle i am sure you have noticed one of the Historic Churches of scientology one of the most beautiful buildings in this neighborhood was the Original Church of scientology. He and his family lived around the corner. Much was invented here. And during that period people had memories in the womb. It was a controversial experiment could you really remember that far back . Remember arguments here parents had while having intercourse . People were producing memories and they began to have hurt memories back up previous lifetimes and hubbard himself began to resist that would eventually he endorsed it wholeheartedly. Imagined you have the argument with your spouse spouse, you remember the argument with your mother mother, now suddenly you have an income image and the auditor says what is that . I had an image of a farmhouse. Look around, what do you see . I see horses, a straw, open the door and walked outside. It looks like what i imagine france will look like 17th century. Bear in mind that emeter may say this is real and if you believe that it adds validity to the image that is amplified to of feels like its a real memory and that becomes a past life this is as real and valid as others in their current existence but think of the knowledge that yes i did live again and i am immortal. Also people have the experience of leaving their body is called going exterior. They sense they have floated a way they can go to other planets. Clear not trying to denigrate the experiences people have insight antilogy one negative scientology but the criticism they may launch will not reach them they had a transforming experience and what you say will not reach them. There are a couple of questions that people ask and i will treat them quickly but i think they are in importuned. Was covered crazy . He is often seen that way and did have concerns of his own Mental Health and wrote to the Veterans Administration for some assistance for psychological assistance but we dont have record he ever got that. Many people have given me diagnoses and professionals have said malignant narcissism, a paranoid schizophrenia and certain they look at his behavior and thinking he does show signs of a lot of these things but nobody has ever mapped his own merit mortality as l. Ron hubbard examining every detail just as a writer and here we are he holds the a guinness book of World Records and continue lee wrote and mostly in scientology was his own interior journey and that is what scientology really is. When you enter the church of scientology is like the end trail into his mind the further you go when, the deeper into l. Ron hubbards mind you go. On the crazy question if we were in another culture, aboriginal culture anthropologist talk of schizophrenia as the shaman disease. Those who have experiences in our culture reid would say theyre crazy and need medication but in other cultures and times people who had extraordinary mental breakdowns come back and feel like they he healed the cells that is the people they go to i think itll run harvard somehow saw himself that way he had of a theory of his life as the truth that he was so heroic veteran of world war ii and he was so badly injured he was crippled msn could not help him so he developed his own techniques appealing that is what you called in to lew dianetics and the route of scientology. The record shows he was never injured. He did have conjunctivitis. [laughter] but there is nothing seriously wrong. The idea of the shaman journey is buried in the legend he created about himself. Was see a con man . This is probably the most common perception of the old ron hubbard. I think if he really were he would have taken the money and run. He never did that. He spent his entire existence alone with the cans in his hand staring at the meter trying to fend out what was going on inside the universe of his mind. With a bureaucracy to accept this theology. Elevon hubbard died 27 years ago today. He was seceded by a young man named david who was 25 years old when hubbard died and he was not the designated successor he shoved aside competitors and resist lee took control of the church. When l. Ron hubbard died he made a decision not to pay his taxes for the church of scientology. By 1993 the church owed 1 billion to the irs. It did not have 1 billion that was the existential moment. The church had to get the Tax Exemption and in order to do that it had to get the irs to recognize it as a religion. There is only one agency in the country that can determine if you are a religion and that is the irs. [laughter] an organization illequipped to make such distinctions. [laughter] how did the church of scientology acquire that exemption . They began by launching a series of lawsuits against the irs, to do for hundred and individual agents, they hired private detectives to follow them to conventions to see if you was drinking too much for fooling around and they would write about those episodes in their magazine, intimidation, forc eful responses to the irs and the iris was brought to its knees it was overwhelmed this cascade of lawsuits but there was a problem the church had that it owed to 1 billion of both entities were at loggerheads. One day david, a current head of the church now was having lunch with gerald one of the attorneys in washington with his wife who represent the church of scientology. They were having lunch at the bombay club. And suddenly it was said look, ive had enough of this, marty and i will go over to the irs and talk to the commissioner right now. The lawyers were stunned but indeed they jumped in the cab and went teeeleven 11 constitution avenue and said were from the church of scientology and one to see the commissioner. He was not really available at that moment but quickly was. They added interest to get this resolved. There may be good marriage for the reason the irs made the distinction that the church of scientology is a bonafide religion. I dont know what standards they use to determine a religion, but in any case case, the tradeoff was the suits stopped and the exemption was granted and once that happened, the vast privileges and protections of First Amendment guarantees surrounded the church of scientology and protected it until this day. Those events all took place in washington d. C. I just thought i would give you historical background before i invite you to respond with questions. Thank you. [applause] can you speculate to the future of david . He seems to be such a debilitating person with the people of hierarchy and some ordinary people who have helped him for so many years yes. I am not the first to talk about this but i have had 12 people tell me that david physically assaulted them for i have more than 20 witnesses. He was not the only one insider church beating people up but he is the head of the church at church for it is quite remarkable to think that behavior can go on and some of the people who were beaten and others were confined there are reeducation camps and in different locations especially in the desert compound with the clergy of scientology had the quarters on the compound there are two double wide trailers and married together. At one point david decided he would start sending toplevel executives there for reeducation all the furniture is taken out, they slept on the floor with sleeping bags only allowed out once a day for a shower and during that time what is the crimes and what is going the wrong there was a lot more than 100 people at one point the top tier of management was come to find confined to this had gone on for years my friend could tell you stories of interviewing him years ago but he has been locked up seven years. I speak as an image amateur but my understanding of the 501c3 that the church was given, there are layers of accountability and responsibility. One entity is accountable to the next but if one can put the others into a double wide trailer for years on end i know there is any other that has any power in the church of scientology. I think the churches of a crisis point headed for a reckoning and if david is not willing to come forward to confront his accusers and they have a responsibility to address those abuses. And to charge those celebrities to promote scientology with that duty because nobody else has done more to bring people into scientology. They have a definite responsibility to understand what is going on. 1989 hernandez vs. Irs ruled the basic form of fundraising if fixed donation was not incometax deductible item. October 1993 evidently it has been alleged independently of the organization irs that normally gave Tax Exemptions overruled the u. S. Supreme court and gave them the tax deduction. Power in the world could the irs overrule a judgment of u. S. Supreme court . Youre obviously Better Qualified to answer that than i am. [laughter] of the also awarded the church to power to determine which of its own entities are tax exempt i have been seeking the power of myself. [laughter] hubbard wrote novels and those are also taxexempt. Nothing to do with the churches scripture but capacious judgment given to the church all of that falls under the new jurisdiction of religious the literature. But before he disappeared indicated publicly they had spent 1 million investigating the iras before that was given. Who follows up on that in the structure . First of all, when you have a situation like that, it is the ideal place for the Investigative Reporter to go in and. I had many of the same questions about scientology. The windows need to reopen and progress have tried as much as i can i got a little cooperation from the churches self but awareness in the public and demand Public Officials we know more about it are called for have you personally been intimidated by scientology . I heard 20 years ago a time reporter that wrote a story in had to change his name because his life became intolerable and they prevented or if they prevented the publication of your book in england. Talk about people disappearing and held against there will wear is the Justice Department or another branch looking into that . Remind me if i dont hit every point. Know, i just had legal letters. I am not intimidated by them my last book was about al qaeda. [laughter] one thing i have learned of guided doesnt have lawyers, if they did they revere real dangerous organization. The u. K. , yes, it is tear my british publisher backed out. It shows that my american publisher has a lot of courage and willing to withstand all the shots across about we have been receiving. I am very grateful to have that kind of support. I have then asked by the International Writers organization to go to britain to talk to members of parliament about their libel laws which all are foreclosure and many cases the flow of information to people who might really need the information about the organization that could be dangerous. I and stand their stance but we will do what we can to change chipper im hoping to find another british publisher who was willing to do that. While i was doing my story for the day yorker i stumbled across the fbi investigation their line of attack was Human Trafficking having to do with prostitution but to the fbi agents were looking into the gold base in the circumstances people held against there will children being recruited into the organization the young ages and taken out of school and impoverished are all questions the fbi had but the court ruled that these are religious practices and this is religious discipline in terms of the church and the fbi ran up the white flag but according to one source they were thinking of doing a raid on the gold based motion detectors, high fences but favor going to breakin and go into the hole and liberate everyone. They got so far to think david would try to escape in tom cruise is airplane so they got the tail numbers of tom cruise airplane to make sure he did not go away. [laughter] but if you were to open the door to the whole to say you are free they would say we are here of our own well that is why this of title is scientology, hollywood, the prison of belief there will hold some there more than anything. Did you come across a dollar amount hubbard sent out . It seems theres always money coming in but it doesnt go anywhere. There is a lot of money in scientology. When hubbard left the church they did not have that much. He had a lot of money and it was transferred to his individual accounts but to when they had a huge liability to the iras they did not have that much money in their coffers they do know according to former members 1 billion of assets and offshore accounts the Catholic Church with parttime to come up with 1 billion cash. It is a testament to the devotion of the members and the fundraisers being able to amass that amount of money. Whether or not to they have money, of what they really need is members in the future of the church will depend on its ability to bring people into the church and i think theyre feeling. Are there other movie stars other than tom cruise that have become involved and why movies stars might be attracted . Many years ago growing up in another country i had a friend whose brother disappeared, do people still disappear into this organization . Is there no legislation at all . Will start with the ship. In the mid60s hubbard created a little scientology armada and they sailed the mediterranean and caribbean and the young people he hired to be the crew, young psychologist were called this the organization that became the clergy. If your friend went into that he probably became a member and may have gotten closeted in one of the compounds. Theyre not encouraged to deal with the outside world so that maybe what happened. For celebrities, the church of scientology was designed for celebrities. It was founded in los angeles, the Celebrity Center is in hollywood, one of the major landlords of all hollywood and early on the Church Published a list of prospective celebrities for the church of scientology. Hubbard wanted exemplary figures to be pitchmen and the names were bob hope, walt disney, though long west of the most notable people in the 50s. People did go and. Gloria swanson, former silent movie star then came back in such glory joined the church of scientology, rock hudson made a brief appearance in his early days, names like stephen boyd and karen black but the big fish, the transforming figure eluded capture. The first of the biggest was John Travolta. His is an exemplary story itself. You was troubled young actor during his first movie in mexico and became friends of an actress and she decided to give him a c