In the wake of multiple deaths at Narconon Arrowhead, a Scientology-linked rehab center, the former president of that facility and a former official at a similar facility here in Michigan are speaking out about the terrible practices at such centers.

With all the time on airplanes and in airports over the weekend, I had a chance to get about halfway through Jenna Miscavage Hill’s book Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape. She’s the niece of David Miscavage, who now runs Scientology. This book convinces me all the more that Scientology …

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Jenna Miscavige Hill, the niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige, has escaped from the “church” and written a book detailing the horrors of her life on the inside called Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape. I’ve just ordered the Kindle version but haven’t started reading it yet, but the Daily …

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I’m not one of those people who pays attention to the Super Bowl commercials, but someone told me about the Scientology commercial that aired during the game and I went on Youtube to see it. It was very slickly produced, well thought out and mind-numbingly stupid.

I wrote recently about an alleged real estate scam by the “Church” of Scientology. Now a couple who are former members have filed a federal lawsuit over it in Florida and are promising more lawsuits to come from others who contributed large amounts of money for the program.

As more and more people leave the “Church” of Scientology, more information is coming out about the inner workings of the church. Alex Klein at Buzzfeed interviews a bunch of them who left as a result of what they allege is a real estate scam run by the organization:

A new book by an investigative reporter and longtime critic of Scientology reveals that the organization has built a “space cathedral” in New Mexico, not far from Roswell, apparently to help future devotees find L. Ron Hubbard’s original works after a nuclear war.

Here’s an interesting development. Prosecutors in Belgium, where the “Church” of Scientology has its European headquarters, are preparing to file criminal charges against the organization for extortion, fraud, illegal practice of medicine and privacy violations.

LA Magazine has a remarkable article by Joel Sappell, one of the two reporters who produced what was probably the first real investigative story on Scientology in the 1980s. Like all critics or reporters looking for dirt, Sappell was subjected to serious harassment, from the poisoning of his dog to physical intimidation to bogus legal …

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Last week the “Church” of Scientology opened a new national office in Washington, DC and managed to get several members of Congress and executive agencies, from both parties, to show up and sing the praises of the “church.” And there’s a familiar name on the list:

Charter schools pushing religion with public funds have been a continual problem all over the country, and it isn’t just Christianity. A Muslim charter school in Minnesota lost a federal lawsuit brought by the ACLU last year over Establishment Clause violations, and now Scientology is getting into the act in Florida. The Tampa Bay Times …

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An Australian television program did an expose on Scientology that featured a woman who told her story of how the church essentially imprisoned her on a cruise ship for years. The church denies it, of course, just as they have denied every story told by ex-Scientologists about the terrible things the group does.

Or tried to. A former top executive with the “Church” of Scientology has revealed that the organization tried to dig up dirt on Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, after they made an episode making fun of the group’s weird beliefs.