Helloooo?! ... wasn't that the aim of people such as Stalin, Karl Marx, most religions, and, oh dear, most politicians... well...basically... all -isms and whatnot? And look where they all ended up. Millions of people dead in horrific wars and revolutions and most of these game-changing rebels murdered or dead themselves. In L. Ron Hubbard's case, he did not die. He just left his body one day and aimed to return some day to continue his noble work. Apparently 21 years. But wait a minute: how many religions do indeed believe in reincarnation? Or an after-life? Mmm. If you go into this book with zero prior knowledge about Scientology, I believe it would be difficult to truly understand the magnitude of the information and follow along with all the jargon. Rinder does provide a glossary of terms which is helpful, but I would highly recommend either watching the aftermath series that he and Leah Remini did on A&E first, or spend some time on Aaron Smith Levin's YouTube channel. The very first information I got on Scientology was reading Leah remini's Troublemaker book a few years ago and I also would recommend that as a good place to start. More importantly though, Mike deserves his story to be heard as his story--not only as an example of David Miscavige's criminal abuses or of Hubbard's sociopathic con game. In the past, Mike has served as an interpreter of sorts, the events of his life discussed mainly when they will further the audience's understanding of the Scientology organization. Here he is finally able to speak as a protagonist. Remini Redux ( https://markrathbun.blog/2019/08/22/r...) and Bullshit Alert: Ortega, Rinder, Remini ( https://markrathbun.blog/2020/09/15/b...- But is it all true? You wonder why people would want to remain in scientology with everything that's told. For some people it clearly worked. Kirstie Alley (RIP) did stay until she 'left her body to move on' and always said Scientology safed her life. But the price seems extremely high.

I didn't actually consider the dirty work itself to be degrading...It was the humiliation of being sent to do the lowest grunt duties in front of all the Freewinds crew." I was not thrilled that I was missing out on the excitement of being front and center in the crowd..." David] Miscavige was the best man at Tom and Nicole's wedding on December 24, 1990, in Telluride, Colorado, where Cruise had a home. Though I was not there, my old friend Sinar Parman, Hubbard's personal chef, was flown in to cook for the newlyweds. It was the first time I became aware that Sea Org members were used as personal staff for Cruise. It was indicative of how far Miscavige was willing to go to ally Cruise. Other Sea Org members were sent to help set up the house. This became a standard pattern with Cruise. Miscavige would dispatch Sea Org members to do various tasks to 'help Tom'." (p. 139) His [LRH] demise also raised one of the most puzzling inconsistencies: though he'd had the time and foresight to clearly specify he did not want an autopsy done and wished to be cremated immediately, and though his elaborate estate planning had detailed precisely where his money was to go, he had not provided instructions or even a briefing for scientologists on what was to happen to the organization and who was to be his successor. This was the man who wrote millions of words and delivered thousands of lectures explaining everything from how to wash windows to how to cure yourself of cancer...Despite his supposed 'causative departure' from this earth as he 'discarded his body,' he neither spoke nor wrote anything that laid out his plans for the future or who would be in charge after he left or how long he was planning on being gone. To not have anything from Ron was an enormous omission that should have been a signal flare to every scientologist." (p. 117) What a talent, what a career, what a life, and what a treat to relive it all with this most down-to-earth of demigods.

Rinder goes on to elaborate on “the wall” around Scientologists, his personal story of 45 years in the cult, and his eventual escape from crazy-town. I won’t spoil the book by telling all his stories, but things get more weird, and more overtly abusive, than you can probably imagine. Very, very Lord of the Flies. There was a sign against a fence in the Russian labor camps, which, paraphrased, declared something like 'We will force you into happiness'. Scientology had/still have their own labor camps, managed by the Rehabilitation Project Force(RPF).

I have read a LOT of Scientology books and watched basically every documentary, include Aftermath - Mike’s show he hosted with Leah Remini. Despite all of that previous exposure to this cult, my jaw still dropped more than once at the absolute madness that is Scientology.As to the 1989 Supreme Court decision, Rinder betrays even more ignorance, feigned or otherwise. Had Rinder even read the decision - let alone participated in litigating any corner of IRS matters - he would have known and stated that the court did not definitively decide the merits of whether Scientology donations could ever be deemed tax exempt. Instead, it ruled that in the single case in front of the court there was an insufficiency of evidence to reverse the IRS's deduction denial. It explicitly remanded the case for further proceedings and invited the petitioner to attempt to fill the gaps in that evidence insufficiency. If Rinder had lifted a finger of support to the effort to attain tax exemption he would have known and stated that in fact, upon remand a number of federal courts ruled in Scientologists' favor and were upheld by United States Appellate Court decisions across the country. Some courts ruled for the IRS too; establishing a classic split in the Circuits leading to an inevitable second appointment with the Supreme Court (just as the original Supreme Court decision contemplated). Spears’ vulnerability shines through as she describes her painful journey from vulnerable girl to empowered woman. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading Mike Rinder's memoir. A primary source of information and experiences. Watching a few Youtube videos of dissenters, it is clear that there is a impressive cloud of smoke, hiding perhaps a massive fire. In the four years since most of that material has been publicly available, no one from ASC has attempted to refute a single word of it. Not Rinder, not Gibney, not Wright, not Ortega. None of them. Their response instead is clear in Rinder's book: if you cannot prove history, and you wish it were different, then just recreate it. Rinder, for the first time in 15 years since leaving Scientology, suddenly claims to have played an integral role in attaining Scientology's tax exemption. Next, fifteen years after leaving Scientology Rinder suddenly emerges now as the cause of Scientology's tax exemption. He was mum on the subject for fifteen years - rightly deferring to me on that subject - precisely because he had little to nothing to do with the dozens of court struggles

However, nowadays it is also true of families and friends who are 'cancelled', even 'doxxed' if they reject/escape the teachings of a particular political eco chamber. How accurate was '1984' , or 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell? History teaches us that escapees of ideologies often are brutally prosecuted and killed; religions 'shun' people'. Jim Carrey's movie 'The Truman Show' gives me the heebie-jeebies too. Yikes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ROzm...), IRS, Actual Malice on Wright's behalf, ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OOw9...))and 1992 - let alone involved in the IRS, Scientology struggle - it could not have escaped him that the IRS was having its head handed to it on a daily basis in that trial. As each day progressed it became more clear to even Scientology-suspicious observers (e.g., editors of Tax Notes) that a) Scientology parishioner donations would be recognized as exempt and b) the IRS would likely be nailed to the cross for discriminatory practices in a fashion no federal agency had been since the

Quote from the book: There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again. ~SOMETIMES ATTRIBUTED TO F. SCOTT FITSGERALD. A Billion Years is an extraordinarily powerful book. It is an essential account from the inside, and while it’s a devastating exposé of the abuses of the church, the tone is measured and deeply humanistic. Rinder lets us feel what it’s like to fall into a state of blind faith, and how hard it is to break free and see the truth for what it is. Nothing could be more relevant to our current moment.” I hate bullies. That's not alleged, that is fact. I'm giving this book five stars because, again, I hate bullies! As the saying goes: 'Silence is violence', right, when you choose to remain silent while there's suffering and ignorance? Mike chose to speak up and share his experiences. So did a multitude of others. One such a book is My Billion Year Contract by Nancy Many(2009). The rest is available on Youtube.Mike has a unique perspective on Scientology. He not only grew up in the “church” but rose to its highest ranks, working directly with self-appointed leader David Miscavige, Tom Cruise, and in his early years as a teen, founder L Ron Hubbard himself. If (like me) you've watched Scientology and the Aftermath and Going Clear, listened to the first season of the Fair Game podcast, and further researched the organization, you might be wondering if this book offers anything you haven't already learned about Mike Rinder's life. Well, it does. Many events were familiar to me, but new details emerge as well. Both horns of his impossible dilemma are invented. The CST federal court ruling he cites occurred almost a year after the IRS negotiations and audits had begun. Had Rinder actually participated in either the litigation or the negotiations he would have known that the IRS was certain that the lower court judge's opinion was so biased and baseless that the pending appeal would certainly be won by Scientology. In the year since the record review had begun the IRS already conceded that their basis for denying CST exemption was discredited. They were almost embarrassed by the CST federal court ruling when it came out; realizing they could not support the findings with facts. For that reason, the CST decision was more of a problem for the IRS than for the Church. Mike Rinder wrote his experiences down in a thoughtful, informative, eloquent way. The good and bad of decades of his life. He mostly did it for his two children, who stayed behind in the organization, hoping that they will one day understand and appreciate his message. In that case it was heartbreaking to me as a reader. He writes: I hope you come to see that scientology is a mind prison designed to be nearly impossible to escape'.