Did that actually stop Scientology? Last I checked, they still have that crazy pinky-swear-it's-not-a-gulag compound, the Sea Org is still around, recruiting via "free stress tests" is still a thing...
At this point, recruitment is pretty much dead. Scientology was only able to exist in the pre-internet era. Their tactics, by definition, cannot change with the times as any deviation from "source" is considered blasphemy.
At this point any "new" members are going to be mainly made up of people born into it, or without internet access.
You're referring to Clearwater? Yes, I agree, but the influence of Scientology to the large world is... just who gives a fuck about them any more?
Most of Europe sees them either as a business or as a cult (France) or as a threat to democracy (Germany, applicants to public service have to declare they're unaffiliated with the bunch). Worldwide, it's membership numbers are falling (https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2018/01/once-thriving-church-o...).
Many popular front people have either died off or deserted Scientology.
Well... I agree that at least Scientology has died down a little (even though Shelly Miscavige is still missing), but televangelists are as strong as ever, and not just that Kenneth Copeland guy.
> The questions are really can you get out of Scientology and stay in the industry.
Yes, you can, at least in the last decade. Lots of celebrities who were once vocal Scientologists have now left the church, though they might not make a big fuss about it. Blogs like Tony Ortega's have written on how Scientology's membership is imploding, though it still has some committed donors that it squeezes for money to keep up appearances.
In short, the Russians had a project to transmit psychic messages on submarines. This was of vital military importance if it would have worked. So the US tried that also, and then they also tried to use LSD (for interrogation, and other drugs) and subconscious hallucinogenic orders (for agents). This worked better, but of course was also shut down (MKULTRA).
They still rely on the equally unscientific lie detector tests, which works even worse than Scientology methods. But very similar.
Oh comeon, the Church of Scientology had enough power to take on the IRS and become tax exempt. Surely it is impossible to kill an organization powerful enough to take on the IRS. But Chanology accomplished its goal of spreading the word and harming Scientology's public image enough to put a huge dent in the supply of would-be-converts.
Scientology isn't a religion it's a cult/grift. For decades they were denied the tax status of a religious organization because they didn't meet the legal test until they mounted a decade long infiltration and harassment campaign to which the IRS eventually relented.
For 5 years I lived in a house in Los Angeles, where one of the previous residents had been a member of Sea Org - almost 10 years before we moved in. We would receive a piece of mail addressed to him from Scientology almost every single day we lived there. Posters, letters, DVDs you name it. We'd collect the mail and pile it on the floor as entertainment for friends. They probably sent close to $200 worth of mailers to that house every year. People from Scientology would come to the house asking for this guy, and we'd tell them he hadn't lived there in years. They'd return, leave handwritten notes on the door. In the storage area under the house were boxes of his family's clothes and belongings, I wouldn't be surprised if they had just abandoned their things and fled. Scientology is no joke.
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