The same ghostwriter that worked with Elissa Wall on her book Stolen Innocence also worked with Jenna Miscavige Hill (the niece of David Miscavige, the leader of the Church of Scientology) on her new book, Beyond Belief. Lisa Pulitzer is the go-to gal for cult confessions. I really liked Stolen Innocence, but I was never super interested in Scientology - until I read what Jenna Miscavige Hill wrote about her life growing up in Scientology:

I didn’t sleep in a warm house with food cooked at home by my mom. I didn’t have sleepovers with friends or a toy box, much less toys to fill it. My parents were high up in the Church of Scientology, and from the age of six, I lived in a boarding school for children of church executives. I shared a dorm room with seven other girls; it was attached to a bathroom we shared with the neighboring dorm which also held seven girls. Where a TV would have been (if it were allowed) instead stood a picture of the founder of Scientology, seemingly watching and judging our every move.

Our days often began with military close-order drilling, followed by four hours of labor, which could be anything from hauling rocks to build walls, to digging irrigation trenches, to painting the exteriors of the compound’s buildings. This was all part of the Church’s philosophy. We were taught that only criminals got things for free, and our work was our way of giving back, in exchange for the food and beds we were lucky to have.

We were taught that we were spiritual beings called “thetans” who lived many lifetimes, and had been around with different bodies for billions of years. For that reason, despite our child bodies, we were treated as adults, both physically and mentally. Imagine a group of seven-year-olds being spoken to as though they’re adults, and expected to work to that level! But this was my reality, the only one I knew.

My parents lived about 20 miles away, but I rarely saw them. In our belief system, no thetan or spirit could give birth to another thetan, and so the family dynamic was merely temporary and a distraction to our parents’ mission to save the world.

Really weird. Now I wanna read that book

My only experience with Scientology (besides antagonizing the people administering “free personality tests” at malls and street fairs) was maybe ten years ago my best dude friend moved into an apartment that was formerly occupied by Scientologists, and for some reason none of their mail from the Church ever got forwarded to their new address and they never came to pick it up, so after a few months we started reading it. The letters were all about how the Church was getting ready to release “super power” into the atmosphere. It never explained what this was or how it worked, it was written like the reader should know what it meant. The letters made it really clear that you would NOT benefit from the “super power” unless you gave enough money, which was thousands of dollars. It was like a Nigerian Prince scam but even less believable. Wackadoos

Buy Beyond Belief on amazon

Buy Stolen Innocence on amazon

NY Times interview with Lisa Pulitzer