A Common Story
by T. Paine
The fall of Scientology orgs has exact causes and the current plight of Birmingham in the UK is all too typical.
My wife and I used to run Birmingham Org. We took it from one of the smallest, most failing of Class V orgs in the world, with huge debts, to one of the best, certainly the best in the UK. But our successful run came to an end when, in what I can only imagine was a fit of spite or jealousy, David Miscavige had us removed and kicked out in the spring of 2005.
Contrary to the heavy black propaganda since spread on us by OSA UK, at the time we “left” we had a winning scene of around 60 staff operating within a real Scientology community. Tech wins were good and numerous. Very few if any staff moonlighted (had second jobs) because the org made enough to pay them a living wage, so they were able to stay on post and serve the public to their fullest extent.
Our image in the local community was good enough that we were granted rates (property tax) exemption by Birmingham City Council, back in the late 90s, on both educational and religious grounds. I know this first hand, I met the representatives of the city at the time and showed them around the org and explained what we did. In fact, it was the city representatives themselves, at that meeting that helped us out by volunteering that we should also claim on educational grounds, which we did.
The tax exemption would save Birmingham Org well over half a million dollars in the next twelve years. Since we had moved the org from the outskirts of the city to a building in the center with its own commercial kitchens, the extra money came in handy as we were able to feed our staff lunch and dinner during the week. It proved to be a key element in our success.
Though we did resist the IAS and got into fire fights with them from time to time, I’m sorry to say financial damage to some public in our field did occur. But we managed to resist “Ideal” Org fundraising with more success. We saw the Ideal Org Strategy as lunacy, off LRH policy and, despite rising pressure, wouldn’t implement it.
We knew that Scientology expanded because LRH books were read; tech was good and people disseminated. Scientology was a hands-on, grass roots movement. We felt that no amount of electronic equipment, bricks, mortar or erected stone would cause Scientology org expansion. Though we saw others being seduced by the sexy sounding Miscavige lie: “If you build it Scientology will miraculously expand”, to us it rang blatantly false. We knew that the financial burden and work load Miscavige’s “strategy” would put on org staff and the public would be a massive distraction to the real (LRH) purpose for orgs and so destroy both org and field. As per LRH, activities are damaged by wrong whys. This one was so deep and so wide it would be an org and field crasher all by itself. All orgs would suffer horribly and most would not survive it.
Prediction Come True
Of late, the direct reports I’ve received on what’s been happening with Birmingham Org plus its financial summaries for 2008 and 2009 (see below) provide a grim insight into how Miscavige’s Radical Corporate Scientology ideal org “strategy” crashed it.
BIRMINGHAM ORG COMPARISON
(In British Pounds)
| 2004 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| Income paid in for services | 650,000 | 171,296 | 176,287 |
| Donations for buildings | zero | 891,688 | 55,783 |
| Money spent on telephone and postage (outflow) |
60,000 | 54,702 | 24,814 |
| Operating Loss | none | masked by building funds |
149,582 |
As with its plummeting income, you can be certain that by 2009, Birmingham org delivery and outreach actions dropped to a fraction of what they used to be in 2004, which matches reports we’ve received.
In 2004 Birmingham Org was a viable delivering org, able to feed and pay its staff and carry out standard LRH promotional actions. By 2009 it is completely broke and operating at a huge loss. On only 3000 pounds a week income it is completely unable to pay its staff or promote. Consequently, and per reports, most remaining staff moonlight while others had to leave to make ends meet.
More and more, from 2005 onwards, Birmingham org staff bought into the huge lie that if they just got a massive building “all their problems would be solved”. So they ceased outreach and delivery actions to work on the so called ideal org strategy. Now the org is in a tailspin, free falling rapidly back to the state it was in when we found it -- a couple of staff, no delivery, no outreach, no public, unable to pay its bills and possessing huge debts. Hell, in many respects it is worse off now than ever before because it has a massive stone monolith tied around it neck, dragging it down further and guaranteeing it won’t recover.
The rock around its neck
Through the financial rape of Birmingham and other UK Scientologists, plus a bail out I believe, they have managed to buy a large building. But per reports the public are now staying away from the org in droves; they are broke and so tired of being financially hammered. And who can blame them? Birmingham has yet to raise the $5 million needed to renovate the monolith so fund raising is going to crank up again.Renovation may never happen and even if it does the building is in the Village of Moseley, outside the city center, a location in which the org previously failed. I tried to tell Miscavige’s people when I was in LA in 2006. I even put it in writing, Birmingham org has never made it outside the city center and I cited all the reasons.
English cities are like wheels where all the spokes are roads. All forms of transport lead along those spokes into and out of the city center, the hub of the wheel. The center is where most things happen. If you locate an org outside the center (on one of those spokes) many people won’t be able to reach the org because they would have to take two buses or trains just to get there, one into the center from wherever they start out, and a second out to the org.
So being outside the city center will cause yet a further drop in income while the operating costs to run the Village of Moseley Miscavige monolith will be ten times what they were in the city center.
And it gets worse. The City of Birmingham recently revoked the org’s property tax exemption. I shudder to think what the taxes will be on the Village of Moseley Miscavige monolith.
Remember, Miscavige will never let them sell the building. They may think they own it but they don’t, Radical Corporate Scientology does, but the org WILL have to cover its operating costs.
I can tell you from reports I’ve received; this has been and continues to be a huge morale crusher for the staff and public in Birmingham. As a result staff continue to drift away from their posts and the public stay away from the org. And it’s only going to get worse. I don’t think they can pull off the renovation of the Moseley building because I know the public and they just don’t have the money. It’s unreal. Even if Miscavige bails them out of this mess and funds the renovations (which I don’t see happening) the staff attrition will continue. So by the time it’s done (if it happens at all) they will be back to square zero – no staff, huge overheads, no phones, no heating, with even bigger debts and mis-located outside the city center. Exactly how we found them in 1991.
Empty buildings and empty promises, a world-wide story
After we were forced to leave Birmingham Org in 2005 we returned to Scientology Management in Los Angeles where we found this sad tale to be the norm around the world. What was left of Scientology management had been driven fund raising crazy. They too had bought the Miscavige lie that if they just got the public to finance multi million dollar buildings and multi million dollar renovation jobs, all our troubles would be over and purposes miraculously achieved. They had bought into the falsehood that a lack of such quarters was the cause of any trouble in the first place. The fact the falsehood violated a host of LRH policies and was a total org crasher seemed to be lost on most people.
Perhaps more knew it was lunacy than would let on but weren’t going to say anything out of fear. This was possibly true because, as we witnessed, Miscavige’s personal representative on the scene ruthlessly ruled the roost and forced this madness down all management lines on the hour, every hour, and would brook no resistance.
We left the Sea Org in 2006.
Since leaving the Sea Org it has been disclosed to us, by those who were there at the time that this worldwide building madness was instigated by Miscavige solely because he was embarrassed by a single report from a celebrity (Tom Cruise) about how he didn’t like the look of Celebrity Center Paris. The whole of Scientology brought to its knees by Miscavige’s Mission Impossible so he could please a celebrity or two.
Let’s be clear, in this Mission Impossible script there is no happy ending.
Written by T. Paine
