Now that Jason Lee has confirmed what we’ve suspected for a long time — that he’s out of Scientology — we’re naturally getting questions from readers. Never miss another hot celeb story! The juiciest celebrity news from all around the web on a single page. Treating the Mentally Ill: Scientology vs Psychiatry. I always had a hard time wrapping my mind around Scientology’s policy on dealing with the mentally ill.

With Leah Remini, Mike Rinder, Alex Weresow, Vicki Marshall. A series featuring stories from former members of the Church of Scientology whose lives have been. Last March, I met Haggis in New York. He was in the editing phase of his latest movie, “The Next Three Days,” a thriller starring Russell Crowe, in an office in SoHo. Inside Scientology. It is the most controversial religion in America, and the most mysterious. Its followers believe they're on a mission to save the universe — but. Get the latest news from Hollywood from the editors of Esquire. Marty Rathbun defends Scientology leader David Miscavige as he trashes tell-all memoir ‘Ruthless’.

A guide to Beck and Scientology for journalists and fans. A Guide to Beck and Scientology for Journalists and Fans. June 1. 2, 2. 00.

UPDATE. The article that appears below this update was webbed soon after Beck's 2. Guero, was released.

Since then, Beck has managed to avoid the limelight as a celebrity Scientologist- with one notable exception. In July 2. 00. 7, in New York City, a filmmaker, video game creator, and blogger named Theresa Duncan died of an apparent drug and alcohol overdose. Her death was ruled a suicide. A week after Duncan's death, her companion of twelve years, the artist Jeremy Blake, was reported to have been seen walking into the ocean at Rockaway Beach, New York. His body was found off the coast of New Jersey five days later. Just two months before her death, Duncan had stated in a post on her blog that she and Blake had been harassed by the Church of Scientology, and in the comments section of that post (since deleted), and also in a blog post she'd made in March, Duncan indicated that the harassment began after Blake worked with Beck (he designed the album cover for Beck's 2. Sea Change, as well as related visual materials ).

Following the couple's deaths, an article by Chris Lee in the LA Times revealed that Blake had extensively documented what he and Duncan perceived as harassment and obstruction by a number of people. In a 2. 7- page 'chronology' written by Blake in October [2.

Scientologists. The document lists Tom Cruise, filmmaker- artist- author Miranda July, writer- director Paul Thomas Anderson, former Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston, alternative rocker Beck and Art Forum Editor Tim Griffin, among others, as players in the dispute. In addition, a number of Hollywood talent agents and major league art collectors were accused of being in on the conspiracy."In December 2. January issue of Vanity Fair that arrived on newsstands featured a story, "The Golden Suicides," about the deaths of Duncan and Blake and the events leading up to them. The author, Nancy Jo Sales, reported that in early 2. Duncan told people that Beck was going to be in a film she was planning to make, Alice Underground, the story of a rock star kidnapped by two New York schoolgirls; Sales said that Duncan later wrote in an email (to a recipient Sales did not identify) that she and Beck had met "repeatedly" to discuss the film. However, before Vanity Fair ran the article, Beck was asked for a comment, and he denied the story via email, claiming that he had never met with Duncan to discuss being in her movie; though he admitted having read her script, he said he had declined to be in the film. He implied that his relationship with the couple was no more than an amicable professional acquaintance.

Even though Duncan told people that Beck had committed to being in her film, she later said that Beck had suddenly called her and bowed out of the project, offering no explanation. Duncan also maintained that Beck had wanted to leave Scientology, and that she and Blake had offered to help him. However, Beck denied this as well, telling Vanity Fair, "That's ridiculous. Totally false." He also wrote, "Had we been closer and discussed anything as personal as religion, I would have only had positive things to say about Scientology."In the wake of the Vanity Fair story, there was a brief flurry of gossipy tabloid and blog speculation suggesting that Beck was somehow responsible for Blake's and Duncan's deaths. For the most part, though, in "The Golden Suicides" and earlier reports about the couple that appeared following their deaths (including articles in the LA Times and the LA Weekly), an image had begun to emerge of Duncan and Blake as conspiracy- obsessed, delusional, enmeshed in a web of paranoia. To some, Beck's denials supported, or were supported by, that perception. However, soon after the article with Beck's denials appeared, blogger Emmanuelle Richard brought to light an interview Beck had given to an Italian newspaper in August 2.

In a post on her blog, she asked, "Is Beck's memory a tad scrambled?" She recalled reporting a few years earlier that Beck had told Corrière della Sera (in August 2. The paper quoted him as saying, "It will be full of energy and full of characters: some kind of Alice in Wonderland set in the 7.

It still doesn't have a title. The director is a friend of mine and it will be her directorial debut. But I trust her."As of this writing (in June 2. Beck's next album, titled Modern Guilt, reportedly will be released, though no official date has been announced.

The Secret Life of Beck Hansen - A Guide for the Professional Journalist Revised and updated March 2. Rumors have been around a few years suggesting that alt rocker Beck Hansen had become a. Church of Scientology. The real question should be, when was Beck NOT a. Scientologist? Has Beck been lying to the media and his fans?

Has the media just been hiding. According to L. Ron Hubbard's dogma, Scientologists believe it is perfectly within the ethical. But if Scientology is so great, why have. Beck and Geffen Records worked so hard to keep Beck's lifelong involvement with the cult a. Why did we continue to read remarks by journalists insisting that Beck was not a. If you are preparing a piece on Beck, start by getting some background. Read some of the.

Cults in Our Midst" (1. Dr. Margaret Singer is a great. Also see "Combatting Cult Mind Control" (1. Steven Hassan and.

Recovery From Cults" (1. Dr. Michael Langone. Ex- Scientologist Jon Atack's " A Piece of Blue. Sky"(1. 99. 0), Russell Miller's Bare- Faced Messiah (1.

Bent Corydon's "L. Ron Hubbard. Messiah or Madman?" (1. Paulette Cooper's "The Scandal of Scientology"(1. Scientology and are available for reading free. Internet. Learn how cults control through brainwashing, hypnotism, coercion, humiliation. Most importantly, learn the difference between a cult and a religion.

There have been several biographical works written on Beck. None of them have revealed any.

They are largely based on press interviews of Beck. Because of this. chronological gaps and inconsistencies plague accounts of his life. One striking gap is the lack of. Scientology, despite the fact that Beck's parents and some of his friends were. Scientologists, he attended a Scientology- run school, and he took Scientology courses as a.

In contrast, compare the numerous early interviews in which Beck mentioned his. Presbyterian minister, and his tendency, in the mid- late nineties.

Jewish heritage- his mother is half Jewish- and how much he valued Jewish culture and. In 2. 00. 2, though, interviewer Tim Perlich of Now. Toronto. com raised the subject. Note, in the selection below, that his interview with Beck is monitored.

When asked if he's aware that his father is a Scientologist, Beck is obviously taken aback. Um.. no comment.". A split second later, Universal publicist Lani Fumerton, evidently monitoring the. Could we wrap up, please?".

But it was just getting interesting! For all anyone knows, Beck might be a second- generation Scientologist. There's only one sure way to find out. Have you ever taken any Scientology courses yourself? No comment," Beck quickly snaps back, bringing the interview to a halt.

From an. interview by Tim Perlich, Now Magazine Feb. Beck's family and childhood.

Beck's father, David Campbell, and mother, Bibbe Hansen, have been Scientologists for over. Watch The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale Tube Free more. Beck has told interviewers he was born at home on July 8, 1. However, David. Campbell was doing quite well as a session musician in the early 7.

Campbell was featured. Church of Scientology's Celebrity magazine as a successful session musician and.

When Beck was a boy, David was arranging and performing at concerts with Linda. Ronstadt, and the family was living in comfortable homes in Hollywood and Laurel Canyon. Bibbe Hansen taught Lamaze classes for Church of Scientology members and apparently. State of California. A weblog. maintained by Bibbe's friend, Vaginal Davis, mentioned that Bibbe had delivered Marissa Ribisi. Beck's wife) and her twin brother, Giovanni.

Marty Rathbun defends Scientology leader David Miscavige as he trashes tell- all memoir ‘Ruthless’ « The Underground Bunker Late last night, Marty Rathbun posted at his blog a lengthy broadside criticizing Ron Miscavige’s memoir, Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me. The book came out in May and describes how Ron Miscavige introduced his son, church leader David Miscavige, to Scientology in 1. The entire family eventually got into Scientology and moved to England to pursue courses and so David could become an auditor. After returning to the US, David got close to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and eventually, after Hubbard’s death in 1. In 1. 98. 5, Ron, a musician, joined the “Sea Org” and played trumpet and led Scientology’s orchestra, which played frequently at church events around the world. But eventually, as Ron describes in his book, he became disaffected with Scientology under the dictatorial rule of his son, and in March 2.

Becky Bigelow escaped from a compound near Hemet, California. After that escape, Ron learned that his son had assigned private investigators to follow him, and David also instructed his sisters, Denise and Lori, to cut off ties with their father. That’s what motivated him, Ron says, to write his book and reveal what a totalitarian ruler his son had become. His book was a bestseller, and it was featured on a highly watched episode of ABC’s 2.

But now, Rathbun, who had at one time been the second- highest ranking executive in the church and who has spent years exposing David Miscavige’s shortcomings, has surprisingly come to Dave’s aid, denouncing Ron’s book about his son as full of “hearsay.”   In a lengthy blog post, Rathbun produces a withering attack on the book.— Rathbun says he offered to fact- check the manuscript, but Ron and his publisher, St. Martin’s Press, turned him down.— Rathbun claims that he wanted to keep Ron from publishing “defamations” against his son that would end up having “deleterious emotional and spiritual effects” on Ron.— After Ron’s 2. Rathbun tried to correct stories Ron was hearing about his son, but Ron printed the rumors instead of Rathbun’s facts.— Rathbun claims he warned Ron against the “moral propriety” of writing a tell- all about his own son.— Rathbun says he counseled Ron that if he wanted to keep his family intact, he wouldn’t “cavort” with “people who are actively attacking Scientology.”— Because Ron turned down Rathbun’s offer of help, the book is “chock- full of hearsay, double hearsay, and anonymous hearsay.”— Rathbun says Ron avoids blaming himself for his own role in producing the person David Miscavige is today. Ron instead blames his deceased first wife and L. Ron Hubbard for making Dave aggressive and a complainer.— Rathbun criticizes Ron’s citation of the book The Sociopath Next Door to diagnose his son, when it was probably Ron’s neglect that made Dave the way he is.— In 1.

Rathbun says, he was charged with gathering up people for the St. Petersburg Times to interview to paint a glowing portrait of Dave and his upbringing. In the course of that effort, Ron admitted to him that he had “beat the hell” out of his son and felt guilty for it.— In 1. Rathbun witnessed David Miscavige prevent his father from getting into a brawl in New Orleans following the Super Bowl. Ruthless doesn’t give Dave credit for the repeated ways he kept his dad out of trouble, Rathbun says.— Rathbun says Ron invited the kind of smears that Scientology is throwing at him, including the unrelated criminal investigation that Ron’s son, Ron Jr., went through that Scientology featured on one of its smear websites and that we wrote about recently.— Rathbun saves for last his agreement with the Church of Scientology’s official position that it’s “provable bullshit” that private investigators Dwayne and Daniel Powell spoke directly to David Miscavige when he told them to do nothing as they watched Ron Miscavige apparently suffering from a heart attack. He wasn’t, but the Powells didn’t know that.) Rathbun casts doubt on the story, saying that over his more than 2.

Scientology, “David Miscavige never once spoke to a private investigator.” What Rathbun doesn’t say, however, is that it was the Powells, not Ron Miscavige, who said that David Miscavige spoke to them directly on a telephone, and they said so while being questioned by West Allis, Wisconsin police in taped interviews as part of a criminal investigation. Early this morning, we swapped messages with Ron’s co- writer, Dan Koon, who said he’d make sure Ron saw Rathbun’s review, and then would let us know if they wanted to make a statement. Rathbun isn’t the first of Scientology’s critics to raise issues with Ron’s book; we found reviews by John Duignan and our commenter Once Born to be thoughtful pieces. In general, many people anticipated that Ron’s book would be a blockbuster of insider revelations about Scientology, David Miscavige, and perhaps Tom Cruise and Dave’s missing wife, Shelly Miscavige.

But it turned out that Ron was often not around his son, and had little access to insider information. He and co- writer Dan Koon also repeatedly praised Scientology founder L. Watch Memphis Belle Streaming on this page. Ron Hubbard, and numerous passages in the book try to convince the reader that there’s really something to Scientology’s processes. For that reason, the book was something of a let- down for church critics who were looking for a “killing blow” after Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear and Leah Remini’s tell- all, Troublemaker, which both came out in 2. So Rathbun isn’t the first to be disappointed with Ruthless.

But the context of Rathbun’s review is fascinating for any longtime Scientology watcher, and in particular for the way he repeatedly rails against the “anti- Scientology camp.”Mark “Marty” Rathbun is a former top Church of Scientology executive who left the organization in 2. For the next couple of years, Rathbun’s daily revelations about what it was like to work at the highest levels of the church made his website, as we said at the time, the single biggest challenge to the survival of the church itself. In particular, Rathbun denounced Scientology leader David Miscavige daily, and as a result Rathbun soon became the focus of a campaign of retaliation by the church with a group of private investigators and other operatives that lasted for at least five years. Rathbun’s decision to go public with his insider information about Miscavige made him a media star. He was the centerpiece of the Tampa Bay Times’ massive 2.

The Truth Rundown,” he was the subject of countless print and video interviews, and he is one of the central figures of three feature- length documentaries (Channel Four’s Scientologists at War, HBO’s Going Clear, and Louis Theroux’s upcoming My Scientology Movie). It’s been fascinating watching Marty’s website change over time.

Initially, he appeared to be the leader of a new movement of “independent Scientologists” who blamed Miscavige for ruining what they believed had been a thriving and more benevolent organization under founder L. Ron Hubbard. But later, Rathbun increasingly found fault with Hubbard himself, and we watched with interest as his comments section became something of a war zone between more and less doctrinaire “indies.” Eventually, on February 3, 2. Rathbun produced a remarkable post he titled “Scientology Beliefs.” In it, he reduced Scientology to a mix of “pop psychology and hypnotism” that was so ineffective, it couldn’t even measure up to a placebo effect. Scientologists were purposely kept blinded to that ineffectiveness, Rathbun wrote, by a method that was “carefully designed and administered…so as to lead Scientologists to wholeheartedly accept and live according to these beliefs.”Six years after Rathbun had emerged as a leader of indies, he was now saying that Scientology — the subject itself, and not just David Miscavige’s mismanagement of it — was a con.