Declaration of Independence
Brad and Natalie Hagemo

Having been dedicated Scientologists in good standing for the past 20 years and patrons of the IAS, it is with a heavy heart and a firm resolve that I Brad Hagemo and my wife Natalie do hereby withdraw our support of and membership in the Church of Scientology International. We wish to make it clear that we still support LRH, his goals and his legacy of the Tech. We also want to acknowledge a clear distinction between the staff and public of our Churches and Missions still struggling to maintain a semblance of LRH‘s church, versus those who blindly follow the dysfunctional executive strata of C of S International headed by David Miscavage.

LRH made it clear that we inherit the condition we fail to assign. We all have an obligation as free thinking, responsible thetans to look honestly at the conditions which exist in our dynamics and apply the correct formula. For too long we have ignored the true condition of the C of S because we wanted to believe the smoke and mirrors PR line that we were winning. When we did look at the isness what we saw was a small, desperate group of individuals playing a new and off purpose game of acquiring real estate, which we cannot afford and cannot justify based on statistics. Our Church had morphed into something that was both unfamiliar and unwelcoming.

At elaborate International events we would hear about the “demand” for C of S services as a justification for the off-policy fundraising for “Ideal Orgs”. Fundraising done with full disregard of the very clear LRH policy against it. We looked at our own local org and saw no such demand. We did see endless demands for time and money, overwhelmed staff, and a growing ARC broken field.

We did see tables put in front of doors to stop parishioners from leaving after a Maiden Voyage event turned into a fundraiser. We did see upstat Scientologist physically stopped from leaving a recruitment cycle, and threatened with ethics actions if they did not stay, by a Sea Org member. Further being told they wouldn’t be allowed to leave unless they signed the contract.

We did see attempts to break up families. A recruitment cycle where the husband was encouraged to divorce his physically ill wife because she was “out-exchange” and “not contributing” so that he could then be on staff. This same “out-exchange” wife made it onto Solo Nots before her health failed, and spent over 30 years of her life contributing to Scientology. Many times at the detriment of her health.

We have recently seen attempts to break up our own family. Local staff sent a package of “data” regarding our family to Flag in an attempt to third party us to our daughter, who was training there. This was done with the intention to stop her from coming home for Christmas. When that failed an attempt was made by a local HCO terminal to encourage our teenage daughter to abandon her family and move in with her. All of this because we as Scientologist chose to stop violating our personal integrity and instead be there and communicate.

We asked ourselves how could intelligent and well intentioned Scientologist be forwarding lines which are clearly not based on LRH policy. The Church is out exchange and doing harm to the very people LRH intended to help. Scientology Churches are no longer operating on the basis that their products are thoroughly audited Pcs and well trained students. We continued to look and found example after example of the power of the Church being used to intimidate those who would dissent and stifle free communication amongst Scientologists.

While there are many more examples of the off-purpose direction our Church has taken, our intention here is not to lay out a detailed indictment of the C of S. Suffice it to say that we arrived at our decision honestly and not in a moment of caprice. What is true for us is as follows:

1. David Miscavage and his following of sycophants are the most dangerous squirrel group on the planet.

2. KSW is being ignored while standard LRH Ethics, Tech and Admin are being altered to the detriment of the Church and its parishioners.

3. As Scientologists trying to live by the Code of Honor we can no longer in good conscience be associated with a group, which is using the immense power that is the Church of Scientology to hide their crimes while betraying the trust of its members.

4. We as Scientologist assign the condition of Treason to David Miscavage, RTC and all who continue to follow his illegal orders.

5. We hereby declare our Independence as Scientologists who cherish personal integrity, and have the courage to observe what we have observed in the face of attacks from a rogue Church.

6. Let it be known here and now that we are proud to stand in the presence of those who went before us and paid a far higher price in order to stand up for LRH.

Respectfully,

Dr. Brad and Natalie Hagemo
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