Independence Day 2025: Tell us about your fight for freedom from Scientology

[Karen#1]

TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:

​

It’s Independence Day once again here in the United States, and a happy Fourth to one and all!

Sure, you may be seeing a lot of doom and gloom in the media about the state of this 249-year-old republic, but we’ve decided that this year we’re going to shake off those doubts and celebrate this country of ours with optimism and good cheer!

And as usual we mark Independence Day here at the Bunker by asking readers to tell us about their own declarations of freedom from Scientology indoctrination. What first led you to question your involvement in the organization? How did you negotiate the tricky path of leaving if you still had family members in?

If you’ve told us before about how you left Scientology, what’s changed for you in the last year or two? Has your conception of your Scientology experience changed over time? Would you have done things differently to leave the group if you could?

And for the never-ins, tell us which of the escape stories you find most illustrative, most exciting, most devastating.

And maybe most importantly, what advice can you offer to those under-the-radar types who today are sneaking a peek at this website as they consider whether it’s time, finally, for them to declare their own independence and dissolve the bands which have connected them to David Miscavige and the Church of Scientology?

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Independence Day 2025: Tell us about your fight for freedom from Scientology

It’s Independence Day once again here in the United States, and a happy Fourth to one and all!

tonyortega.substack.com

 

[I M Dex]

For me, it wasn't so much a fight as "screw you, I'm done with you people", first when leaving staff- "If you want to invest time and effort in putting me through the leaving staff routing form and confessional, fine, but then I am most definitely leaving" and the next day it was over. Then, on leaving the C of S altogether, I got phone call- "You are summoned to ethics, and the penalties will increase if you don't comply", to which I responded, "Oh yeah? Let me know how that works out for you." Easy peasy.

 

[Helena Handbasket]

My freedom from the Church Of Scientology wasn't too interesting. Basically, they demanded a return date, I gave them one (with appropriate VGI's) and left, never to return.

Although as the shuttle to the airport was leaving, I had a pang of what if I'm blowing my one chance at eternity? But I got over it.

However, I have another freedom story. 7 years ago I renounced my US citizenship and became a citizen of a European country. One of the best things I ever did, especially now with Trump dismantling everything the USA once stood for. Until his successor is sworn in, I can't even go back for a visit -- too dangerous!

Helena

 

[Hatshepsut]

I think my greatest independence was recognizing the 'thought stoppers' that were plugging me up. Chrissakes, you can't even do those repair lists in ethics when those things are in place. Any real awareness coming up must be gaslighted away by your own self in order not to invalidate the other things carved in stone. Pointless endeavors, like don't point a finger at an upstat. The greedy dominators, usually were. The ability to enjoy my financial earnings without guilt was a huge step towards FREEDOM.

I had an awkward realization that Scientology had a few nearby members who were still adhering to earlier occult leanings . In the pursuit of self determinism I was always trying to avoid being blanketed by another's intentions. This was something I did 'flee to freedom' from.

I do believe in past lives, and experienced that spiritual aspirants en route to ascensions trigger others on that attempt to reclaim godhood. Alan Walter wrote about how the deadly SHTF. Beware a clash with the titans/ egos, on your climb up the beanstalk. You won't know what hit you or why the collaboration.

 

[TheSneakster]

Here follows the full text of my formal Disconnection letter, which l emailed to the ASHO Foundation MAA and posted to Mic Wenlock's XSO Yahoo group (an email list) to make sure OSA got a copy (originally posted here July 5, 2020):

[ To whomever first views this e-mail, it's I&R traffic
ONLY. You would probably regard it as entheta and I don't
want too many people upset. I sent this to the only
ASHO email address I could find on Scientology.Org ]

16 December 2005
7:35AM

To: Dir I&R ASHO Foundation - Dagne
From: Michael A. Hobson - Former Staff

Subject: Disconnection From The Sea Organization
of the Church of Scientology

Dagne,

This is to formerly notify you that I will no longer
knowingly receive or originate any further communication
with Sea Organization Staff or representatives.

Please cease any and all attempts to contact me by any
means, telephone, mail, e-mail or in-person. This applies
to yourself personally and to any other member of the Sea
Organization of the Church of Scientology.

The telephone you tried to call me on last night after
9PM does not belong to me and I never gave it to you as
a means of contact. You woke the non-Scientologist owner
of this house from whom I rent, who goes gets up around
5AM and goes to bed around 7:30PM or 8:00PM. That line
is her primary business line during the day and I may
not receive calls on it.

As for the reasons for disconnecting from *you person-
ally*, the foremost are these:

(1) you falsely accused me of having "publically dis-
avowed Scientology" for posting in a PRIVATE forum of
other former Sea Org staff members *only* and then did
your best to get me to persuade me this lie was a true
fact by twisting reasoning, abuse of the English language
and the standard meanings of words ("public" and "private"
are two different things entirely), etc.

Up until now, I have never "disavowed" Scientology, The
Church of Scientology nor even the Sea Organization -
publically or in private.

(2) you then attempted to persuade me to act as a spy for
the Church in the previously mentioned *private* forum
as a means of demonstrating I truly was applying the
Ethics Conditions and asserted authority to approve
and censor my communications therein.

I refer you to Scientology 0-8 and the Creed of the
Church of Scientology:

"We of the Church believe:"
"... That all men have inalienable rights to think freely,
"to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and
"to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others."

L. Ron Hubbard gave you no such authority over me and my
communications and disclaimed such authority for himself
or anyone else with the above. If Ron Hubbard himself had
ever tried this crap, I would have told him to go to Hell,
and that is what I am tell you.

(3) you told me yourself that you had not seen the traffic
in the Yahoo XSO forum, yet sight-unseen, you classified
everybody in there as "persons attacking Scientology" and
then saught to persuade me that they are all "criminals"
by citation of policy. The notion that there could be
persons who uphold the Scientology(tm) applied religious
philosophy and it's technology but who do not agree
with the actions of the Church under the domination of
the Sea Organization seems to be completely and utterly
outside your reckoning.
you.

(4) on the basis of the above and God-only-knows what
else, you conspired with the AOLA Public MAA (and I'm
guessing, with whomever is serving as controller for
the plant(s) in Yahoo XSO group) to force my two best
friends of over five years abruptly DISCONNECT from me
with no warning.

(5) by all of the above, you absolutely demonstrated
to me that - contrary to the PR line that has been
forwarded that the "all the assholes are gone now" and
"we don't do things that way any more" - in actual fact,
the situation with regard to Justice is as bad or worse
as it ever was.

I don't expect you (or any of the rest of the persons
who happen to read this document) to believe or understand
any of this, Dagne. I expect that you (or they) will
convene yet another sham Committee of Evidence and use
this document as conclusive proof that I am a Suppressive
Person, declare me as such and expel me from the Church,
and then tell all my friends what an Evil, criminal,
son-of-a-bitch I turned out to be all along, most likely
using information from my "Confidential Confessional
Formulary" and whatever other discreditable things you
all can come up with.

My true friends know me well, and if you do that, it should
adequately serve to put them on notice that your Justice
system deals in falsehoods.

Whatever it is you do, don't bother informing me, as this
is the last communication I intend to have with anyone
connect to the Sea Organization until such a time as you
all get your act together and represent the Scientology
religion and philosophy in truth and not in name only.

As for the consequences of "being denied the OT levels
forever", that is far too similar to my old Christian
Fundamentalist ministers telling us all how we were
going to "burn in hell forever", if we didn't obey God.

You people are not God, you don't speak for God and God
has not left you commmand of the gates to Eternity, no
matter what you believe.

Some day in the far future, you may come to realize this.

Good Luck!

Michael A. Hobson

P.S. - the people in this household are all non-Sciento-
logists, although they are all very good Christian people
and my friends if anyone shows up here and creates a
scene, it is going to result in bad PR for the Church, so
please don't.

============================================================
(1) Disavow:
To disclaim knowledge of, responsibility for, or association
with. -- American Heritage Dictionary