Beyond Belief My Secret Life Inside Scientology And My Harrowing Escape

Author : Jenna Miscavige Hill
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062248499
Total Pages : 460 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Beyond Belief written by Jenna Miscavige Hill and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-02-05 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, details her experiences as a member Sea Org—the church's highest ministry, speaks of her "disconnection" from family outside of the organization, and tells the story of her ultimate escape. Piercing the veil of secrecy that has long shrouded the world of Scientology, this insider reveals unprecedented firsthand knowledge of the religion, its obscure rituals, and its mysterious leader—David Miscavige. From her prolonged separation from her parents as a small child to being indoctrinated to serve the greater good of the Church, from her lack of personal freedoms to the organization's emphasis on celebrity recruitment, Jenna goes behind the scenes of Scientology's oppressive and alienating culture, detailing an environment rooted in control in which the most devoted followers often face the harshest punishments when they fall out of line. Addressing some of the Church's most notorious practices in startling detail, she also describes a childhood of isolation and neglect—a childhood that, painful as it was, prepared her for a tough life in the Church's most devoted order, the Sea Org. Despite this hardship, it is only when her family approaches dissolution and her world begins to unravel that she is finally able to see the patterns of stifling conformity and psychological control that have ruled her life. Faced with a heartbreaking choice, she mounts a courageous escape, but not before being put through the ultimate test of family, faith, and love. At once captivating and disturbing, Beyond Belief is an eye-opening exploration of the limits of religion and the lengths to which one woman went to break free.

Author : Sands Hall
Publisher : Catapult
ISBN 13 : 1619021803
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology written by Sands Hall and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2018-03-01 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With its keen attention to the language and tactics of the church, Hall’s memoir is unique among the assortment of Scientology reports and exposés, offering insight into the certainties that its subjects gain." —The Nation In the secluded canyons of 1980s Hollywood, Sands Hall, a young woman from a literary family, strives to forge her own way as an artist. But instead, Hall finds herself increasingly drawn toward the certainty that Scientology appears to offer. Her time in the Church includes the secretive illness and death of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and the ascension of David Miscavige. In this compelling memoir, Hall reveals what drew her into the religion—with its intrigues and unique contemporary vision—and how she came to confront its darker sides and finally escape. "Some of the most penetrating, illuminating prose about how an educated and skeptical person could get so deeply into, and then struggle to escape, what everyone around her warned was a dangerous cult . . . brilliant." —The Underground Bunker "If it is Scientology's offer of a life with meaning that hauls her in . . . it is its approach to meaning that keeps her . . . Hall's fascination with this is palpable." —Camille Ralphs, The Times Literary Supplement

Author : Janja Lalich
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1315295075
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Escaping Utopia written by Janja Lalich and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We think of cults as bizarre, inexplicable, or otherworldly places that only strange people inhabit, but cults and other abusive and high-demand groups (and relationships) are actually quite commonplace. In fact, the behaviors, social pressures, and authoritarian structures that create cults exist to a greater or lesser extent in every human relationship and every human group. In the first in-depth research of its kind, the author interviewed sixty-five people who were born in or grew up in thirty-nine different cultic groups spanning more than a dozen countries. What’s especially interesting about these individuals is that they each left the cult on their own, without outside help or internal support. In Escaping Utopia: Growing Up in a Cult, Getting Out, and Starting Over, the authors craft Lalich’s original and groundbreaking research into an accessible and engaging book, the first of its kind focusing on this particular population.

Author : Alexandra Stein
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317194497
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Terror, Love and Brainwashing written by Alexandra Stein and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-11-03 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by a cult survivor and renowned expert on cults and totalitarianism, Terror, Love and Brainwashing draws on the author’s 25 years of study and research to explain how almost anyone, given the right set of circumstances, can be radically manipulated to engage in otherwise incomprehensible and often dangerous acts. Illustrated with compelling stories from a range of cults and totalitarian systems, from religious to political to commercial, the book defines and analyses the common and identifiable traits that underlie almost all these groups. It focuses on how charismatic, authoritarian leaders control their followers’ attachment relationships via manipulative social structures and ideologies so that, emotionally and cognitively isolated, they become unable to act in their own survival interests. Using the evolutionary theory of attachment to demonstrate the psychological impact of these environments, and incorporating the latest neuroscientific findings, Stein illustrates how the combined dynamic of terror and ‘love’ works to break down people’s ability to think and behave rationally. From small local cults to global players like ISIS and North Korea, the impact of these movements is widespread and growing. This important book offers clarity and a unique perspective on the dynamics of these systems of control, and concludes with guidance to foster greater awareness and prevention. It will be essential reading for mental health professionals in the field, as well as policy makers, legal professionals, cult survivors, and their families, as well as anyone with an interest in these disturbing groups. Students of social and developmental psychology will also find it fascinating.

Author : James R. Lewis
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004330542
Total Pages : 620 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Handbook of Scientology written by James R. Lewis and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2017-01-05 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook of Scientology brings together a collection of fresh studies of the most persistently controversial of all contemporary New Religions.

Author : Michael Shermer
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108800106
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Giving the Devil his Due written by Michael Shermer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-09 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who is the 'Devil'? And what is he due? The Devil is anyone who disagrees with you. And what he is due is the right to speak his mind. He must have this for your own safety's sake because his freedom is inextricably tied to your own. If he can be censored, why shouldn't you be censored? If we put barriers up to silence 'unpleasant' ideas, what's to stop the silencing of any discussion? This book is a full-throated defense of free speech and open inquiry in politics, science, and culture by the New York Times bestselling author and skeptic Michael Shermer. The new collection of essays and articles takes the Devil by the horns by tackling five key themes: free thought and free speech, politics and society, scientific humanism, religion, and the ideas of controversial intellectuals. For our own sake, we must give the Devil his due.

Author : Walter Martin
Publisher : Baker Books
ISBN 13 : 1493417347
Total Pages : 800 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Kingdom of the Cults written by Walter Martin and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 800 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an era of rapid growth of false religions worldwide, Christians need information they can trust. This comprehensive new edition of the leading book on cults will equip you--no matter your background--to understand and use biblical truth to counter false religions, including many that masquerade as mainstream Christianity. Reflecting the developments in cults and world religions in recent years, this edition, updated by expert Jill Martin Rische (daughter of Walter Martin), gives you the authoritative information you need to know. As our culture becomes less and less outwardly Christian, awareness of the belief systems of those around us has never been more vital. Readable and reliable for everyone, whether you're a teacher, a pastor, or a regular church attender, The Kingdom of the Cults remains the go-to reference book on this crucial topic.

Author : Mitch Weiss
Publisher : Harlequin
ISBN 13 : 1488055807
Total Pages : 411 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Broken Faith written by Mitch Weiss and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *An NPR Best Book of the Year* A PopSugar Best True Crime Book of 2020 “I can’t imagine a more important book.”—Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling author An explosive investigation into Word of Faith Fellowship, a secretive evangelical cult whose charismatic female leader is a master of manipulation In 1979, a fiery preacher named Jane Whaley attracted a small group of followers with a promise that she could turn their lives around. In the years since, Whaley’s following has expanded to include thousands of congregants across three continents. In their eyes she’s a prophet. And to disobey her means eternal damnation. The control Whaley exerts is absolute: she decides what her followers study, where they work, whom they can marry—even when they can have sex. Based on hundreds of interviews, secretly recorded conversations, and thousands of pages of documents, Pulitzer Prize winner Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr’s Broken Faith is a terrifying portrait of life inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, and the harrowing account of one family who escaped after two decades.

Author : Stephen A. Kent
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1440832501
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Scientology in Popular Culture written by Stephen A. Kent and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-07-14 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This multidisciplinary study of Scientology examines the organization and the controversies around it through the lens of popular culture, referencing movies, television, print, and the Internet—an unusual perspective that will engage a wide range of readers and researchers. For more than 60 years, Scientology has claimed alternative religious status with a significant number of followers, despite its portrayals in popular culture domains as being bizarre. What are the reasons for the vital connections between Scientology and popular culture that help to maintain or challenge it as an influential belief system? This book is the first academic treatment of Scientology that examines the movement in a popular-culture context from the perspective of several Western countries. It documents how the attention paid to Scientology by high-profile celebrities and its mention in movies, television, and print as well as on the Internet results in millions of people being aware of the organization—to the religious organization's benefit and detriment. The book leads with a background on Scientology and a discussion of science fiction concepts, pulps, and movies. The next section examines Scientology's ongoing relationship with the Hollywood elite, including the group's use of celebrities in its drug rehabilitation program, and explores movies and television shows that contain Scientology themes or comedic references. Readers will learn about how the Internet and the mainstream media of the United States as well as of Australia, Germany, and the UK have regarded Scientology. The final section investigates the music and art of Scientology.

Author : Younus Samadzada
Publisher : Fulton Books, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1637101422
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.21/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The History of the Rise and Fall of the World's Religions and their Evolution written by Younus Samadzada and published by Fulton Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-01-14 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book chronologically documents the rise and fall of the major religions of the world and explores the role that various cultural factors such as dance, trance, music, song, and language have played in this evolution. The role that leaders play in the evolution of religion is also discussed. Starting from the primitive religions of hunter-gatherer societies in which religion was not part of any institution, the next stages of human life from the agricultural revolution to the modern religions of today are discussed. Among the modern religions discussed are Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Scientology, and numerous others. The reader is further provided with a unique perspective on the potential good and evil aspects of religion and the very reality of the existence of a God or gods, and the possible downfalls of the religious belief system.