Rick Ross

And so what happened in Scientology is they're stuck because they can't ever question what Hubbard wrote. And so at that point, he really had this kind of epiphany and he said, wait a minute, Scientology, that's supposed to be like a play on science and that it's more than just a religious belief, it's somehow scientific. And yet you're showing me that something that is believed by Scientologists

that they claim is scientifically true is not. And Scientology, because it's so rigid, cannot evolve beyond that. Because, as Isaac Hayes once said, who was a Scientologist, what L. Ron Hubbard said is immutable. It is always true, forever. And so in that sense, Scientology is most clearly a religion based on belief.

And when that belief in Hubbard conflicts with scientific research, they will go with Hubbard, not with the research. But at this point where this man was unplugged from his Scientology community with his family, had a chance to independently review the research, he concluded, wait a minute, so it's not scientific, and Scientology may be a play on the word science, but it's not science-based.

and this belief should have been changed and the purification rundown is flawed and once he saw that if you will crack it just opened up opened up and then he was able to realize wait a minute i i don't want to leave my wife i've been married for many years i don't want to leave my kids They love me. How often can I see them if I'm a full-time Sea Org member?

So he, at the pleadings of his family and with this kind of recognition of some of the flaws in Scientology, decided to leave. Wow.

It's awesome. Because in my opinion, the people that I'm working with are really prisoners. you know, psychologically, emotionally in these groups and to see them be able to break free and think for themselves and think independently and then literally think their way out, which is the antithesis of what the group wants for them. I think that's a really great thing.

And in some of the interventions that I've done, for example, I did an intervention in Europe in which a man who had diabetes was told by the group that he could meditate his his cure that he didn't have to use insulin and he almost died three times before his family brought me in we did an intervention and Quite honestly, he didn't abandon meditation.

He continued to believe many of the group's teachings, but he decided, I'm going to take my insulin because he had a little girl who was about two and he had a wife who loved him and he wanted to live. But the group had told him, no, you can meditate and your diabetes will be cured.

This is a group called Falun Gong, which originated in China and is known in the United States largely through a dance company it runs called Shen Yun, which is supposedly Chinese traditional dance. They also control a newspaper called The Epoch Times. And just recently, the CFO of the Epoch Times was charged with money laundering, millions of dollars. We'll see how that works out.

But for me, what I see with Falun Gong is people are being taught that they can meditate away medical problems. And that can be lethal. And I've dealt with that a number of times where someone is in a group, the group is teaching them that they don't have to take a life-saving medication that they need. And as a result, their life is in danger.

And the family brings me in and I'm sitting with them and it's life or death. And so I think... When I have a breakthrough with someone and they leave the group as a direct result of the intervention, I'm very happy for the family, very happy for them that they can move on with their life.

Well, according to stories that have filtered out from Hemet, California, where they have this rehabilitation community, according to stories that have filtered out about this rehabilitation community, they live in very extreme situations. They lack... proper living conditions. It can be very hot in Hemet, California.

There are accounts that they will live without proper air conditioning, that the facilities are not properly clean and well maintained, that they are subjected to humiliating punishments. And ridicule. Well, one woman claimed that they ridiculed her, that they called her names, that they made her basically grovel. in this facility.

And there have been people that claim that they can't reach family members once they are in this facility. So this is really of concern. Now Scientology will say they are here voluntarily. And I would say if there was a wellness check done by police

And local police in Hammett came to the Hammett facility, Golden Era Studios, where they make promotional videos and such for Scientology as well, that if they interviewed these people in a wellness check, they would say, I'm okay. I'm okay staying here.

But the issue for me is getting them out of the facility to be with their family for a period of time where they're not under the control or the influence of Scientology. And then maybe they wouldn't say that. They would say, no, I don't want to go back. It's very harsh there.

But for those people that are in that facility, they feel that this is warranted, that this is part of what Scientology is doing to help them. And probably if the police came by and did a wellness check, they would say, I'm fine. Wow. Wow.

I am not certain to what extent it's been investigated. There's been talk that the FBI at times has been involved in looking into Scientology. For example, David Miscavige, his wife Shelly Miscavige, She has not been seen in public for a long period of time. And there were allegations made by Leah Remini and others that, you know, where's Shelly Miscavige? What happened to her?

And later it was discovered that she is in a relatively comfortable but isolated Scientology facility in Northern California. And I think there was a wellness check done. And I think that she probably said, I'm fine. And she's, I would say, isolated and sequestered there. But from her point of view, I'm doing what Scientology expects me to do. I'm a loyal Scientologist.

She doesn't question the situation. But many people feel that she was put there by her husband, the supreme leader of Scientology, to isolate her because he just... for whatever reason didn't want to be with her anymore as they had been. And so he put her there.