Ex-Scientologist describes child labor, church code of silence
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(NewsNation) — Jenna Miscavige, the niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige, says the childhood she spent toiling for the church makes sense, at least to adherents of the religion.
The former Scientologist described to “Banfield” how she was isolated at a boarding school from the age of 6 to 12 and worked for 30 hours a week doing hard labor that included digging trenches, hauling rocks and even making the church’s “E-meters.” The Church of Scientology sees people as immortal spiritual beings who transfer to another body when their present one dies, she said.
“So, really, a child is just a spirit in a small body. The concept of children isn’t really real,” she said. “They basically use this belief to justify all manner of ills in Scientology.”
Jenna Miscavige is the daughter of David Miscavige‘s older brother, Ron, and was a third-generation Scientologist who grew up in the church’s Sea Organization, or Sea Org, a group of the most devout members.
In 2004, she met another Scientology member, Dallas Hill, on a church mission to Australia. The two were able to access the internet and found material, including the website Operation Clambake, that criticized the church. They got married and left the church when Hill was 22 years old.
The Church of Scientology declined an invitation from “Banfield” to rebut Jenna Miscavige’s claims on television, but in a statement, the organization said her stories are filled with contradictions. Representatives say Jenna Miscavige was expelled from the church and is trying to get back at the organization.
Miscavige, long an outspoken critic of Scientology, recently renewed her attacks on the church through a TikTok page that features tell-all videos. She previously authored a book “Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape.”
Jenna Miscavige says she considers her treatment as a child in the church to be abusive. She described interrogation-like interviews in which she would be asked questions of a sexual nature while connected to an E-meter, a sort of lie detector.
“I kissed a boy when I was 15 years old, and to them, that was unethical. And they’d say, ‘OK, what did you do?’ And they’d say, ‘What parts of him were touching you?’” she told “Banfield” on Thursday.
Content retrieved from: https://www.newsnationnow.com/banfield/ex-scientologist-child-labor-church-code-of-silence/.
