Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction writer and fleeting Aleister Crowley subordinate L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) founded in 1952 as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics. Hubbard characterized Scientology as a religion, and in 1953 incorporated the Church of Scientology in New Jersey. Scientologists believe that anyone who disagrees with their teachings is infected, whether knowingly or not, by evil aliens known as Marcabians. This belief system or “tech” inspires a high degree of loyalty among its adherents, who resist all efforts at criticism as nothing less than the work of the devil.
As a teenager in the turbulent, ideologically-charged early seventies, Nancy Many was one of thousands who saw Scientology as a viable path to enlightenment and self-help. For more than two decades, she worked at various levels of the organization, at one point serving as Hubbard’s personal aide in charge of expansion, and the head of Celebrity Centre, the very existence of which gives the lie to Scientology’s repeated denials that they cater to celebrities with special treatment of any kind. Nancy escaped with the help of her future husband Chris Many and fought her way back from insanity to write this book as a testimony of personal resurrection. “I'm tired of hearing about people dying, or just having their nervous breakdowns. So, as the title of the third song on our website says, I AM STILL STANDING.”
Nancy spent seven years as a spy for the shadowy Guardian’s Office, and its kinder, gentler manifestation, the Office of Special Affairs. During pregnancy, she was sent to the Sea Org’s Rehabilitation Project, which specialized in “reeducation” of errant members, and narrowly escaped referral to the RPF's RPF, which she describes as "the lowest of the low." Her book, My Billion Year Contract: Memoir of a Former Scientologist, to be released October 26th, is the voice of a former insider who survived egregious abuse when her loyalty was called into question, including weeks of grueling interrogation verging on mental torture and deliberate drugging in an attempt to cause her death. Another reason Scientology has escaped mainstream criticism is a lot of people fear them. “I was even turned down by a Print on Demand Publisher, that's pretty low. They liked the writing, but were so fearful they would be sued....So, we are basically doing this on our own and taking the risk.” She says she feels encouraged by the Anonymous Community leading ongoing protests against Scientology. “And they are just protesting the lack of free speech from Scientology—which, ironically, Scientology confirms at every picket. That's why I feel a little safer putting mine out, I have all these anonymous people around the world for support (as well as others). With the publication of this book, I feel strong.”
Comments
Thank you VERY MUCH for telling me about this book. I'll be sure to pick it up as soon as I'm able.
It's beyond heartbreaking and infuriating what this group has been able to get away with for so long. Well, they won't be able to for much longer. In the months since the Anonymous protests started, countless people have left this so-called -church' in droves. They are reconnecting with family members they haven't seen in years-in some cases DECADES. They are talking to old friends and re-embracing life. Most of all, they are speaking up about their time inside and spreading the word, warning away anyone and everyone about this insidious group.
To read more stories like Nancy's, visit the Ex Scientology Kid's website or go to the Ex Scientologist Message Board. Also go to 'The Truth Rundown', a series of articles done by the St. Petersburg Times. To learn more about Scientology and to get involved in local protests, go to Why We Protest.
Scientology-something CAN be done about i
we will back you. They try any shennigans and we call shennigans on them at once!
I cant wait to read it. I was in the sea org in the late 80 as a minor. It was a horrible place that was hell to escape. I wish nancy all the best.
I will definitely be buying this book. I am so glad so many are finally speaking out. Thank you Nancy.
If you've ever wondered about the *real* insides of the organization known as the "Church of Scientology" and the dark sides of it, buy this book! Congratulation, Nancy, on getting it out :) This shall not only help many, many people re Scientology and why *not* to join, it shall also help numerous people understand mind control at it's barest bones. Thank you for your strength and love which have helped SO many people, myself included.
My love to you :) Tory Christman---X-Scientologist after 30 years
"in", escaped out (literally) in 2000: Free at last!
Thank you Nancy. Having lost my son to tis group in l976 I will
find it interesting to read what another innocent has gone through. He is still a believer -so sad.
Thanks for speaking out. There are many of us who are afraid to or want to forget our time in the cult.
I read the book in one sitting the other day. Riveting. An easy but great read, especially for anyone who "was there," before or after Nancy's time. --Holly
Kudos to the Examiner for publishing this. It is only the second book by a woman about Scientology's Sea Org, which forces every woman in its employ to abort if she gets pregnant. The other book is Bonnie Wood's Deceived, One Woman's Stand Against Scientology (available from Amazon).
Woods was the target of a vicious Scientology defamation campaign. She sued for libel and after six years of grueling litigigation won her case and received an apology from Scientology which she demanded.
Adding to the literature will be Marc Headley's Blown For Good being published on Guy Fawkes Day, Novemeber 5. Headley is suing Scientology in Los Angeles courts for slave labor wages as a Sea Org employee. His wife Claire is suing for two coerced abortions in the Sea Org.
It is most encouraging to find publishers willing to put these books on the market and that more ex-Sea Org members are coming out of hiding and telling their stories.
My amazon shipment came in today and I have had trouble putting it down. One more chapter to go and I'm done --- after I finish washing the dishes, that is. :)
This is a really good book that took alot of courage and perseverence to write. It's definately something scientology does not want people to read. Congratulations, Nancy!
I read the book a few days ago. Took me some time to digest. She was a senior executive, even missioned on witch hunts culling p.c. folders that sent hundreds of people to the RPF. Written in the book as just a curious event from her view. It didn't bother her a whole lot. What bothered her was when she got demoted and sent to the rpf. No surprise there. Since I had a friend traumatized by the list1 witch hunt she spent so much time on, it was not easy to have sympathy, but she got it out of me with her pregnancy on the rpf tale. Makes me wonder how many people are there right now just because they can't think of something else to do. Hers is a story of karma. Worth the read.
got the book this morning, fast shipping. only halfway thru but couldn't sleep after reading that. what a bombshell when she explains how and why the wise international group got started. she's a very good writer. i'm at a point where i wonder if there was a visible homeless shelter near the base, how full it would be with people leaving the sea org. it's disturbing to think there are people there because they have no place else to go. i never realized.
"we will back you. They try any shennigans and we call shennigans on them at once!"
The new IAAS? International Association of Anti Scientologists ? LMAO!
Great Book! Now the story from a woman who was a top officer in the Church of $cientology. Heart breaking stuff.
finished the book this morning. everything in it is very dark. cover to cover. she left out another side altogether, such as any mention of any decent moment she experienced. there must have been that for her to remain there. the book is a half truth. and i can understand why. someone sent her to the rpf when she was five months pregnant. or should i say, someone sent an unborn child to the rpf. she lived in a garage or on a roof eating left over food left on dinner plates and didn't realize that that is the same as being homeless. she was homeless. she says she stayed around as they were paying her medical expenses for her pregnancy, so obviously she didn't know she could go to a homeless shelter get on welfare and be provided with food medical and an apartment, support from the community. her story explains why the church is the way it is. teenagers propped at desks empowered over others lives who don't know their way around the building or the community. a spooky halloween tale.
and what is most astounding, is that she descibes in the book exactly how the church straightened out their problems with the irs. now these people are middle aged and still can't figure out that is exactly how to straighten out the church too. along with a false sense of power, it is obvious most of these people are walking about with a false sense of intelligence. she wrote: "With the IRS, Scientology changed tactics and began using private investigators to investigate individual IRS agents and gather dirt on them and sue them as individuals." If people stopped going after this vague symbol called "The Church of Scientology" and dealt directly with the aggressor that harmed them, but nobody hit, filed an assault charge, nobody falsly imprisoned filed complaints against the individuals that did it. anybody could have had david miscavige locked up years ago. they just didn't. until the individuals in the church perpetuating crimes are dealt with on a one on one basis...
if david hit you and six body guards assisted by standing there, you go file assault charges against those people. if tom dick and harry kept you in a room against your will, press charges for false imprisonment against tom dick and harry. if mary kicks you off your job and for no good reason you go file wrongful dismissal charges against mary. i don't care if these people are sea org members or not, they are americans living in america. as long as people think in generalties such as "they" and the "church of scientology", nobody gets held personally responsible. this is what the executives of the church rely upon to get by. kicked out on the street after several years of labor, wrongful dismissal. basic civil rights. until the individual people violating rights and laws are addressed in proper arenas, this will not resolve. nancys book is a testament that as a church staff she had no awareness of her own civil rights. or chose not to defend them? uncommon. but that's a right too.
Thanks for the review. I was a scientologist for 27 years, and I was also in the sea org. Some of my experiences are parallel to Nancy's. I knew or have met some of the people she writes of.
Its a very powerful book. Some may feel it is overblown, but from my own experience, the things she writes about are exactly what happens in scientology, especially when the the organization sees you as an enemy and goes after you.
Scientology, per its internal policy, puts up a benign public relations front composed of 'acceptable truths' and 'shore stories', while hiding the abuse of its members and staff behind non-disclosure bonds and intimidating those who might talk.
Kate wonders why abused members don't go to the police? In Los Angeles, there are scientologists in the fraud division of the LAPD. They have perfected the infiltration of govt.
It is also the battered wife syndrome. You keep hoping it will get better, and stay.
Thanks so much Nancy for exposing this soul rape by s
Nancy, why don't you give anons a discount on it :P
This book is a page turner. It is a must read for everyone, especially young adults and their parents. Losing a child to a cult is every parent's worst nightmare. Losing your mind, heart ands soul to one is every human's nightmare. Nancy's story, while unique, is something we can all relate to. It's a moving autobiography. Definately worth more that the price.
The books stops at flow one, what happened to Nancy. No flow two? What Nancy did to others? No flow three, what others did to others and no flow four, what Nancy did to herself. Hopefully (for Nancy) this was volume one?
Kate, they don't file charges because law enforcement does not care about Scientology. Nor does the public. They all think its a joke. Hubbard even said the lack of legitimacy helps them stay under the radar. Books like this, however, show that people ARE being hurt by forced abortions, imprisonment, slave labor, etc. Its good that Scientology's abuses are finally getting noticed.
I'm exactly half way through the book and am hoping it gets to a point where Nancy stops liking Scientology. It seems like she ran away from it only to have her own apartment to raise her child but she still works under cover and tatel tells on all those who had run away. after living in the garage how could she be so loyal? There's no longer the excuse that she has no money to leave, she has her own place, both she and her husband have jobs yet she is their lap dog to tell on those who don't like Scientology after she herself knows how bad it is. It's like she's won over by the power of it and wants all the brownie points and a pat on the back she can get from them, betraying the trust of all those "friends" who escaped it.
It is called, Guilt. Brainwashed people, even away from it for 30 years can feel guilt, and fear, and control, that is why it is a cult. I was involved for 2 years. 74-76, when my business started to fail, I had to leave and concentrate on it. I had no problems from the church, nor the people. No one bothered me in the slightest. I had money on account, and took it out in books and tapes, no problem, no pushing. My business eventually failed, and I just never went back. After reading the stuff about Ron, who I used to write to, and how he ended up, and all the paranoid, delusional, stuff, I still find it hard to accept and believe. So, don't be too harsh on people. They had good intentions, and were taken in by their own desire to improve themselves. The biggest Theta Trap there is!
GO, NANCY!
One thing that sticks in my mind is the CODE. One code, 2 Never withdraw allegiance once granted.
3 Never desert a group to which you owe your support.
That agreement being broken, or abandoned, has powerful guilt in it. You are letting all Mankind down....
Do a websearch on: THE CREEDS AND CODES OF SCIENTOLOGY, These are things as a Scientologist, you agree with, and as you will see for the most part are very positive things.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!