From: Martin Poulter
Subject: My Girl's Cult Hell/Caught in the Cult's Web
Date: 1996/02/20

A truly stonking set of articles, these. OSA must have shat a brick when it came out.

The Sunday Mail (Scottish paper, not to be confused with the Mail on Sunday) 5th of June 1994 Front Page

MY GIRL'S CULT HELL

o She cries: Get me out o Sect: She's a traitor

ANGUISHED DAD TELLS OF DAUGHTER'S HELL

A heartbroken father begged the world's biggest cult yesterday: "Let my daughter go."

And Eddie Forsyth wept when he learned that daughter Christine had been subjected to a nightmare ordeal at the hands of the Scientologists.

A MAIL investigation has discovered that the cult's "thought police" branded her a traitor for talking to an outsider.

Blond Christine was hauled before a kangaroo court and convicted of "treason".

BEANS

Experts believe she would have been sentenced to hard labour, ordered to wear a prison-style boiler suit and fed on beans and rice.

Christine, of Kircaldy, Fife, would then have been "re-programmed" by the cult - founded by American L. Ron Hubbard - until she "redeemed" herself.

Last night Kirkaldy MP Dr Lewis Moonie demanded that Christine, who is married to a Scientologist, be released into the custody of Home Secretary Michael Howard.

The MP said: "Her safety is a matter of utmost concern to her family."

"If the Church of Scientology have nothing to hide, they will comply without hesitation so she can be interviewed away from their influence.

"It is a grave mistake to allow these people to operate in this country where they are a grave danger to the young and vulnerable.

"I'm appalled by the barbaric behaviour of this cult."

VICTIMS

Eddie added: "We're really frightened for her."

John Atack, a former member of the cult - who have a Scottish HQ in Edinburgh - said the Scientologists' "thought police" are known as the Rehabilitation Project Force. Their victims speak only when spoken to, are fed on scraps and can be "tamed" for up to two years until they accept authority.

He added: "I fear the Scientologists will 'disappear' Christine and her husband forever.

"They'll ship them abroad rather than let them go.

"If anyone WAS allowed to speak to them, the couple will be conditioned to say they are happy even though they are desperate to get out."

---

The Sunday Mail 5th of June 1994 Inside Feature

CAUGHT IN THE CULT'S WEB Punished.. because she wants OUT

[Picture - WEDDING DAY JOY...BUT NOW CHRISTINE FORSYTH'S LIFE IS FILLED WITH FEAR]

Christine Forsyth is a picture of happiness as she celebrates her wedding. But behind her joy lies a story of heartache and despair.

For the 23-year-old Scot is now a disciple of a cult that has been widely branded as "evil, corrupt and dangerous".

Christine's father Eddie, 44, weeps openly at his home in Kirkaldy, Fife, as he clasps the photograph that should mark the happiest day of a girl's life.

Christine married a fellow Scientologist, German Michael Kurz. But news of the event never penetrated the cult's wall of secrecy and her heartbroken dad said: "I didn't even know my little girl was a married woman." And his tears turn to anger as he tells how he at first believed that his teenage daughter's contact with the Church of Scientology was "just something she'd grow out of."

She didn't. But her dad says she wants out now.

However, her attempts to break away have been hampered by a string of "charges" which threaten to make her escape even more difficult.

It gives the lie to the glitzy Hollywood-style image created by the cult's multi-million dollar publicity machine.

Superstars Tom Cruise, Priscilla Presley and John Travolta join the smiling faces selling happiness and fulfillment.

But beneath the respectable facade lies a web of deceit and corruption.

George Orwell's 1984 vision of thought police and mind control is often dismissed as spine-chilling fantasy.

But for the people lured by the Scientology cult it proves all too real.

Secret documents showing the accusations thrown at Christine, and her sentence, have been passed to the MAIL.

Christine Kurz is hereby assigned to the RPF per FO 313RD THE REHABILITATION PROJECT FORCE for treasonable conduct to the Sea Org, and being a non-producer.

She is a non-producer.

Christine has demonstrated her treasonability to the Sea Org. It is hoped that she will take this opportunity to redeem herself on the rehabilitation project force.

She has been accused of stealing food from the canteen, spreading "disaffection" and socialising with a non-member.

Last night her frantic father told us: "She was just a wee lassie working in McDonald's when she met up with the Scientologists. We haven't seen her for three years, and we're really frightened for her."

Christine became a member of the cult's elite sea organisation - Sea Org - six years after she first picked up a leaflet about the Hubbard Academy of Personal Independance outside their Scottish HQ on Edinburgh's South Bridge.

It means Eddie's "wee lassie" is now part of a hard corps of paramilitary evangelists who obey orders without question.

They live a harsh military-style existence, trained in weapons and martial arts.

Sea Org wear uniforms styled on the US Navy, and reflect cult founder L. Ron Hubbard's fascination with the sea.

The hierarchy enjoy rankings similar to lieutenants, commanders and captains.

They work up to 90 hours a week for wages as low as UKP10.

[Picture - LIVING ROUGH...BUNK BEDS CRAMMED IN A CULT DORMITORY]

The public image of the cult is Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead.

But the reality of life in the sect is at other centres, where members are packed in shabby dormitories with bunk beds piled high on top of each other.

A white-gloved military-style "police force" carry out fanatical inspections of "crew" quarters.

Clothing is checked for body odour and even dust.

Anyone not measuring up is put on a charge.

Ex-cult members claim high-ranking disciples are discouraged from having children. Those who do, see them for only one hour per week.

Children are kept in a dormitory called the Cadet Org.

Some start working at the age of 12. They are programmed on hard-sell techniques and forced to keep up course and book sales.

Failures are listed as non-producers on internal "blacklists".

The church, which claims to have seven million members throughout the world, is a ruthless money-making machine where recruits are persuaded to part with thousands of pounds in the ever-increasing search for happiness and fulfillment.

Hubbard disappeared from the public gaze six years before his death in 1986.

With him UKP58 MILLION also disappeared.

Today the cult is headed by young disciple David Miscavige, who joined as a child and is now 34.

Some members have escaped and successfully sued for millions. And there have been suicides, including Hubbard's own son.

But by far the most frightening tactic used by Scientologists, is their expertise in separating recruits from family and friends, leaving them isolated and vulnerable.

Under attack, Scientologists use their "Fair Game" policy.

Fortunes are spent on legal actions against anyone who dares to speak out against the movement.

Private detectives are employed to spy on them.

These things are above the head of Christine's dad. His only concern is getting her back.

Sadly he told us: "She tried to break away from the cult once before and came home to us."

He said Scientologists followed her and hounded her with calls until they wore her down and whisked her off again.

"They discourage telephone calls to family members. But she has been sneaking calls to me saying that she wants out. But she's afraid of what they'll do.

"I feel foolish now because I didn't realise how dangerous this cult is.

"I MADE A TERRIBLE MISTAKE AND MY CHRISTINE IS IN THE CLUTCHES OF THIS EVIL FORCE."

Go Back