A Common Story

by T. Paine

The fall of Scientology orgs has exact causes and the current plight of Birmingham in the UK is all too typical.

My wife and I used to run Birmingham Org. We took it from one of the smallest, most failing of Class V orgs in the world, with huge debts, to one of the best, certainly the best in the UK. But our successful run came to an end when, in what I can only imagine was a fit of spite or jealousy, David Miscavige had us removed and kicked out in the spring of 2005.

Contrary to the heavy black propaganda since spread on us by OSA UK, at the time we “left” we had a winning scene of around 60 staff operating within a real Scientology community. Tech wins were good and numerous. Very few if any staff moonlighted (had second jobs) because the org made enough to pay them a living wage, so they were able to stay on  post and serve the public to their fullest extent.

Our image in the local community was good enough that we were granted rates (property tax) exemption by Birmingham City Council, back in the late 90s, on both educational and religious grounds. I know this first hand, I met the representatives of the city at the time and showed them around the org and explained what we did. In fact, it was the city representatives themselves, at that meeting that helped us out by volunteering that we should also claim on educational grounds, which we did.

The tax exemption would save Birmingham Org well over half a million dollars in the next twelve years. Since we had moved the org from the outskirts of the city to a building in the center with its own commercial kitchens, the extra money came in handy as we were able to feed our staff lunch and dinner during the week. It proved to be a key element in our success.

Though we did resist the IAS and got into fire fights with them from time to time, I’m sorry to say financial damage to some public in our field did occur. But we managed to resist “Ideal” Org fundraising with more success. We saw the Ideal Org Strategy as lunacy, off LRH policy and, despite rising pressure, wouldn’t implement it.
We knew that Scientology expanded because LRH books were read; tech was good and people disseminated. Scientology was a hands-on, grass roots movement. We felt that no amount of electronic equipment, bricks, mortar or erected stone would cause Scientology org expansion. Though we saw others being seduced by the sexy sounding Miscavige lie: “If you build it Scientology will miraculously expand”, to us it rang blatantly false. We knew that the financial burden and work load Miscavige’s “strategy” would put on org staff and the public would be a massive distraction to the real (LRH) purpose for orgs and so destroy both org and field. As per LRH, activities are damaged by wrong whys. This one was so deep and so wide it would be an org and field crasher all by itself. All orgs would suffer horribly and most would not survive it.

Prediction Come True

Of late, the direct reports I’ve received on what’s been happening with Birmingham Org plus its financial summaries for 2008 and 2009 (see below) provide a grim insight into how Miscavige’s Radical Corporate Scientology ideal org “strategy” crashed it.

BIRMINGHAM ORG COMPARISON
(In British Pounds)

As with its plummeting income, you can be certain that by 2009, Birmingham org delivery and outreach actions dropped to a fraction of what they used to be in 2004, which matches reports we’ve received.

In 2004 Birmingham Org was a viable delivering org, able to feed and pay its staff and carry out standard LRH promotional actions. By 2009 it is completely broke and operating at a huge loss. On only 3000 pounds a week income it is completely unable to pay its staff or promote. Consequently, and per reports, most remaining staff moonlight while others had to leave to make ends meet.

More and more, from 2005 onwards, Birmingham org staff bought into the huge lie that if they just got a massive building “all their problems would be solved”. So they ceased outreach and delivery actions to work on the so called ideal org strategy. Now the org is in a tailspin, free falling rapidly back to the state it was in when we found it -- a couple of staff, no delivery, no outreach,  no public, unable to pay its bills and possessing huge debts. Hell, in many respects it is worse off now than ever before because it has a massive stone monolith tied around it neck, dragging it down further and guaranteeing it won’t recover.

The rock around its neck

Empty buildings and empty promises, a world-wide story

After we were forced to leave Birmingham Org in 2005 we returned to Scientology Management in Los Angeles where we found this sad tale to be the norm around the world. What was left of Scientology management had been driven fund raising crazy. They too had bought the Miscavige lie that if they just got the public to finance multi million dollar buildings and multi million dollar renovation jobs, all our troubles would be over and purposes miraculously achieved. They had bought into the falsehood that a lack of such quarters was the cause of any trouble in the first place. The fact the falsehood violated a host of LRH policies and was a total org crasher seemed to be lost on most people.

Perhaps more knew it was lunacy than would let on but weren’t going to say anything out of fear. This was possibly true because, as we witnessed, Miscavige’s personal representative on the scene ruthlessly ruled the roost and forced this madness down all management lines on the hour, every hour, and would brook no resistance.

We left the Sea Org in 2006.

Since leaving the Sea Org it has been disclosed to us, by those who were there at the time that this worldwide building madness was instigated by Miscavige solely because he was embarrassed by a single report from a celebrity (Tom Cruise) about how he didn’t like the look of Celebrity Center Paris. The whole of Scientology brought to its knees by Miscavige’s Mission Impossible so he could please a celebrity or two.

Let’s be clear, in this Mission Impossible script there is no happy ending.

Written by T. Paine