VOLUME 13 |ISSUE 3 |2022 35
co-edited a book with former student Susan Raine, now
a professor at MacEwan University, called Scientology in
Popular Culture. Kent has also become a top go-to expert
for media commentary. Just last month he was quoted in
the Irish Times when the newspaper discovered the church
had sent thousands of pamphlets to Irish schools under
the guise of a human rights organization-just one recent
attempt in a concerted campaign to infiltrate Irish society
and promote the doctrine of Scientology founder L. Ron
Hubbard. But in Kent’s view, the strategy may be just a
desperate ploy to stay alive. There has been significant
opposition to Scientology in Ireland, he said. The last
census revealed its membership at just 87, reflecting
a more global public relations crisis that has been
plaguing the church for years.” (University of Alberta Folio,
01/11/2018)
California supreme court denies Scientology’s petition
to review arbitration and restores lawsuit filed by
Danny Masterson’s accusers
“The California Supreme Court has denied the Church
of Scientology’s petition to review ‘religious arbitration,’
thereby restoring a lawsuit filed by Danny Masterson’s
accusers against the church. It was another loss for the
religious institution, which previously argued its case
to the California Court of Appeal, claiming the court
misstepped when allowing members the ‘sweeping and
unbounded’ right to leave the church. On January 20,
however, it was shut down and determined that church
members cannot be bound to a perpetual agreement to
resolve disputes before a religious arbitration panel after
the members have left the faith.” (Radar Online, 04/21/22)
3 former Scientology workers sue, saying they were
trafficked as children
“A federal lawsuit in Tampa accuses Scientology leader
David Miscavige and the church of forcing child staffers
to work in Clearwater. Gawain Baxter was 6 years old when
he signed a contract agreeing to work for the Church
of Scientology for 1 billion years. He said he spent his
childhood doing manual labor at Scientology’s Flag Land
Base in Clearwater, and getting no education beyond
basic reading, writing and math. At 15, Baxter attempted to
leave by writing a letter to a superior about constant abuse
and intolerable living conditions. Instead, he said, church
officials sent him to Scientology’s Freewinds ship in the
Caribbean, where he worked for little or no wages for 14
years. Through its highly regimented Sea Org workforce,
Scientology officials systematically trafficked Baxter, 39,
and others by indoctrinating them as children and making
it financially, physically and psychologically impossible
for them to leave as adults, according to a lawsuit filed
Thursday in Tampa federal court against Scientology
leader David Miscavige and five church entities. The 90-
page complaint was filed on behalf of Baxter, his wife,
Laura Baxter, and Valeska Paris, who all were raised in
Scientology and worked on the Freewinds, where they said
the church confiscated their passports and identification
documents. They allege six counts of forced labor and
peonage in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act.” (Tampa Bay Times, 04/30/22)
What is Teal Swan’s real name? All about the cult
leader ahead of Freeform’s the Deep End documentary
“Teal Swan is a self-declared spiritual leader who is
the subject of Freeform’s upcoming documentary The
Deep End. Born in Utah, the internet personality was
named Mary Teal Bosworth before taking up her cult
personality, Teal Swan. Going by various tags like personal
transformation, revolutionary and spiritual catalyst, Swan
runs retreats in the United States and Central America
for her followers called the Teal Tribe. She has a global
cult-like presence with many followers who swear by her
guidance.” (SKPop, July 23 2022)
Cult members let girl die because they thought God
would save her -police
“Twelve members of a religious cult known as ‘The Saints’
have been arrested in connection with the death of an
8-year-old girl who died after being refused life-saving
medication in the belief that God would heal her instead.
Elizabeth Struhs, who suffered from Type 1 diabetes, died
on January 7 at her family’s home in Rangeville, in the
Australian state of Queensland. Her mother and father,
who have since been charged with murder, did not give
her any insulin in the six days leading up to her death,
police said. The couple and other church members held
back on calling paramedics until 5:30 p.m. the day after
the child had died, it’s alleged, because they believed
she would be resurrected, according to the Courier-Mail
newspaper. Earlier this year, the parents, Kerrie and Jason
Struhs, were charged with a string of offenses including
murder, torture and failing to provide the necessities
of life for their daughter, The Guardian reported. The
couple has not yet revealed how they intend to plead.”
(Newsweek, 07/07/22)
David Lynch launches $500 million Transcendental
Meditation program
“The Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive director
announced the initiative on Thursday (April 14) to fund
Transcendental Meditation (TM) training for 30,000
international college students, hoping to inspire the next
generation to ‘become advanced peace-creating

36 ICSA TODAY
meditation experts and build a legacy of lasting global
peace,’ according to a press release. Launched in
partnership with the Global Union of Scientists for Peace,
the program plans to invest approximately $500 million in
its first year.” (NME, 04/15/22)
Disabled army vet persuades VA to abort $8 Million
David Lynch Foundation study on Transcendental
Meditation and PTSD
“A letter from the San Diego VA Healthcare System Director
informed Udovich [Disabled Army Vet] that the study
was canceled. He also received word from the Network
Director of the VA’s Institutional Review Board, which
oversees all VA studies, confirming the study had been
withdrawn and would not be resubmitted to the VA. ‘It
speaks volumes about how problematic the study was if
a disabled vet could derail it with a letter to the VA Office
of General Counsel,’ says Udovich. Udovich believes some
organizations will continue to push TM as a treatment for
Veterans with PTSD, and his mission to inform his fellow
veterans about it is just beginning. But he’s confident
that the David Lynch Foundation’s plan to teach TM to a
half-million veterans at VA facilities across the country has
been thwarted. Udovich says, ‘They saw my fellow Iraq and
Afghanistan Vets with PTSD as recruits. Now they have to
look elsewhere they won’t be pushing TM on unsuspecting
vets in the VA system.’ (EINPresswire, 08/01/22).
Abe’s ruling coalition secures big election win in Japan
after his killing
Japanese voters went to the polls on July 10, two days after
former prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated while
on the campaign trail. Sunday’s election took place as the
nation reeled from Abe’s assassination. In Nara, where Abe
was killed, a long line of supporters waited throughout
the day to pay their respects. Before LDP officials counted
their votes for the night, they spent a moment of silence in
memory of Abe. ...Kei Sato, the Liberal Democratic Party
politician from Nara for whom Abe was stumping on Friday
when he was shot and killed, won reelection. ...The man
accused of assassinating Abe on Friday, 41-year-old Tetsuya
Yamagami of Nara, told investigators he believed that Abe
was linked to a religious group he blamed for his mother’s
financial woes. Japanese media, citing police sources,
subsequently reported that Yamagami told investigators
that it was a religious group to which his mother donated
money. Yamagami told investigators that his mother
had become bankrupt after the donations, according to
the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, which cited
police sources. He said his family fell apart because of his
mother’s obsession with the group, and he targeted Abe
“out of resentment,” the newspaper reported. Japanese
news reports said Yamagami had wanted to kill the leader
of a religious group that investigators declined to name.
He decided to target Abe instead, police said. On Sunday,
a Tokyo-based representative of the Family Federation for
World Peace and Unification, which in Japan was formerly
named the Japan Unification Church, confirmed that the
man’s mother is a member. The suspect’s mother remains
a member but has not shown up to recent gatherings,
said the representative, who was reached at the Tokyo
office phone number but spoke on the condition of
anonymity, citing privacy reasons amid the ongoing
criminal investigation. Police have declined to name the
religious organization cited by the suspect. And it was not
known whether the mother belonged to other religious
organizations. ...The Family Federation for World Peace
and Unification is now controlled by the widow of the
Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The U.S. office of the Unification
Church said in a statement Saturday that the group
condemned the violence and that ‘guns have no place in
our religious beliefs or practices.’ ‘The Family Federation
for World Peace and Unification (commonly known as
the “Unification Church”) would like to express our shock
and grief over the assassination of the former Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Our thoughts and prayers are
with his family in the wake of this tragedy,’ the statement
read. Abe, like many other world leaders including former
president Donald Trump, appeared at Unification Church-
related events as a paid speaker. Most recently, he spoke
on a September 2021 program via video link. ...A police
investigation is underway into the suspect’s motives, the
homemade weapon he allegedly used, and the security
protocols in place at the Nara event. But the church
official’s confirmation Sunday that the suspect’s mother
is a member added another piece to the puzzle that is
coming together in the aftermath of Abe’s assassination.
(Washington Post, 07/10/22)
Japan’s politicians admit to ties with Unification Church
“Japan’s politicians are coming forward to reveal their ties
with the Unification Church in a wave of disclosures that
has exposed the church’s reach in politics. Many of them are
from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), including
Defence [sic] Minister Nobuo Kishi, though opposition
groups are also revealing such ties within their own ranks.
The issue has come under scrutiny after the assassination
of former prime minister Shinzo Abe on July 8. Tetsuya
Yamagami, 41, confessed to shooting Mr Abe over his
apparent links to the Unification Church, which he blamed
for using coercive tactics that bankrupted his mother and
destroyed his family. (The Strait Times, 07/26/22) n