Who Ya Gonna Call?

Time for an audit .. - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor
FREAK SHOW WEATHER

It is May 24th – and I’m freezing. I’m wearing cargo shorts and a flimsy tee shirt. Normally in late May, these would be season appropriate. Whenever someone opens the coffee shop door, a frigid wind blows in. On top of this, North Texas has been experiencing rain, 60 mph winds and tornado alerts every other day. (Actually, rain every day). Did we do something to offend the weather Gods? My back yard looks like Bachman Lake. Even worse, the long term weather forecast says it will be like this all summer. I long for hot and dry days – guess I’ll just have to wait.

SQUIRREL BUSTERS ARE US

Yesterday I watched a documentary, Scientology at War. It chronicled the troubles of one man, 50-something Marty Rathbun, in quitting Scientology and starting his own church. Rathbun wasn’t just any old church member. He was a high ranking executive, running the Religion Technology Center. Among his many duties, was encouraging a code of silence among ex-members and patrolling the media for slanderous treatment of Scientology. He had several other duties but these were two where he became acquainted with a standard bag of dirty tricks.

I won’t go into details – whole books have been written. Rathbun alleges that the church used isolation, separation, detention, stalking, harassment, physical violence and various mind games against perceived saboteurs and loose cannons. Rathbun sheepishly admits that he engaged in some of these mind games himself and may have even added to the bag of dirty tricks. But during an intense audit session of a well-known celebrity, Rathbun had his fill – he concluded that the church was crossing a line into abuse and he no longer chose to participate.

THE WRATH OF XENU

Other senior church elders closed rank on Rathbun.. he was immediately demoted and placed into a recertification program. He was held in a closed compound where one needed executive approval to leave. He stayed in the program for a couple of weeks but saw its function as punishment and nothing else. He finally escaped by trailing closely behind a delivery truck on a motor scooter – the electronic gate stayed open long enough to allow him passage. Church officials were livid that such a previous high-ranking person had broken loose.

WEIRDER AND WEIRDER YET

One might think that Rathbun would disavow this nefarious religion and all it stood for. But he did not! He tried to set up an “Independent” Scientology sect. He had brought along some E-meters and was ready to do his own audits, primarily for other “escapees” who still held to some of the beliefs. XENU saw red – leaving the church was bad enough. Copying the business model was unthinkable. The church elders called such people “squirrels” and they had to be eradicated. So who did they call for this purpose? Squirrel Busters of course. The squirrel busters was a group of 5-10 people who would gather near his house and shout insults from megaphones. They would harass him as he walked to his car. The blog author is wondering if a court injunction couldn’t have stopped it but who knows what. The spin-off business didn’t happen as planned, and the squirrel busters probably also wore down Rathbun’s resolve. He quit the auditing business and now claims to be agnostic. He works on blogs and other personal projects in his semi-retired state.

IN SUM

Rathbun probably got a couple of scoops of what he dished out in prior years. It’s still a redemption of sorts to quit doing those things and admit the realities of the matter. Go forth and sin no more -- as the saying goes.

© 2015 Snillor Productions