The bizarre, freakish con job religion first conjured up by the late Lafayette R. Hubbard (aka L. Ron Hubbard, or LRH) certainly hasn’t made a secret of itself, since it launched in the early 1950s. For decades, it’s been its own publishing empire (Scientologists themselves are required to buy all of their many different books). It recruits new members (often by giving people a free personality test, the Oxford Capacity Analysis) in cities all over the world (Archive.Is cached article), then promises them all sorts of magical powers (cached). It hosts numerous Web sites vilifying its (growing list of) critics (cached) — often, multiple sites going after the same person.
Well, they’ve just found another way of reaching out to the general public. The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets, reports the Church of Scientology just launched its own TV network (cached):
Scientology TV, a network dedicated to the religion, officially launched Monday evening at 5 p.m. PT with a message from Church leader David Miscavige, making a rare on-camera appearance.
“We’re not here to preach to you, to convince you or to convert you,” he said. “No, we simply want to show you, because after all, the first principle of Scientology is that it’s only true if it is true to you. So, take a look and then decide for yourself.”
This development didn’t go unnoticed elsewhere in Hollywood:
In response to the launch of the network, Investigation Discovery aired an episode of Vanity Fair Confidential focusing on the disappearance of Miscavige’s wife, Shelly.
Notably, CoS critic and erstwhile Scientologist Leah Remini has famously said her concern for Mrs Miscavige was the impetus for her leaving the Church (cached). Oh, and for the record, I’ve “taken a look” at Scientology — having read Dianetics a few decades ago — and decided it is the money-making scheme Hubbard himself had alluded to before founding it.
This was inevitable, I suppose, given the critical coverage of Scientology and the CoS which has been carried on television lately, e.g. the documentary Going Clear on HBO and Remini’s series Scientology and the Aftermath on A&E as well as Hubbard’s prevailing orders to always fight back hard against any and all foes. A year ago it had seemed Scientology’s coming channel would have been hosted by the Spectrum (aka Charter) cable company (cached), but obviously that plan never came to fruition, if DirecTV is hosting it instead. (It might still end up being shown on Spectrum/Charter or other cable companies, if DirecTV agrees on carriage deals, but I’m not aware this has happened or is even on the horizon.)
No, I have no plans to watch CoS’s version of Trinity or EWTN. I don’t think I could stand the lunacy of it.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.