Mark Rathbun

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Mark "Marty" Rathbun

Mark "Marty" Rathbun (born January 9, 1957 ) is a former top official of the Church of Scientology , who acted for two decades as the right hand of the current Scientology chairman David Miscavige .

Rathbun left the Scientology organization in 2004 and became one of its main critics thereafter. In August 2013, he and his wife in charge of the lawsuit sued Miscavige and the Religious Technology Center, among others, for harassment , surveillance and harassment.

At first Rathbun was still a follower of the Scientology doctrine, he was considered one of the leading figures of the so-called Free Zone . In the meantime, however, he has turned away from Scientology teaching and describes himself as devoid of religion.

Scientology contact and advancement

The Rathbun family lived in Marin County, California . It is believed that Mark Rathbun's mother committed suicide in 1967 after several nervous breakdowns and subsequent electroshock therapies .

After Rathbun dropped out of his creative writing studies in 1976 , he first studied Buddhism and Jiddu Krishnamurti . Rathbun came into contact with Scientology after his brother was hospitalized with the diagnosis of catatonia and Rathbun doubted whether the pharmacological therapy used by his brother was promising. After completing a communications course with Scientology, he signed a contract as a member of the Sea Org in January 1978 .

According to his own statement, Rathbun was appointed to the All Clear Unit of the Commodore's Messenger Organization in 1981 , where he worked directly under David Miscavige . In 1987 he became General Director or Inspector General of the Religious Technology Center (RTC). In the years since 1981 he became Miscavige's top lieutenant . He held the second highest position within the Church of Scientology for the next two decades.

Scientology vs. IRS

IRS Headquarters, Washington, DC

In 1967 the US Federal Internal Revenue Service canceled the Church of Scientology's tax exemption because of its perceived orientation as a for-profit company.

Scientology tried to reverse this decision. With the establishment of the IRS Whistleblower (1984) countless lawsuits began to be brought against the IRS. Rathbun, who coordinated the lawsuits with Miscavige, proceeded according to Hubbard's maxim that the purpose of a lawsuit was not to win it, but to “harass and deter” the other side .

In October 1991, government officials and IRS officials agreed with Scientology that the Church of Scientology should be subjected to a two-year audit and then be granted a tax exemption again. In return, Scientology ended its activities against the tax authorities. The corresponding agreement entered into force on October 1, 1993. After a back tax payment of 12.5 million US dollars, the Church of Scientology has since returned to being a non-profit religious community.

Rathbun was subsequently awarded the title of Kha-Khan by Miscavige , and he was also granted a two-year stay on the Scientology ship Freewinds , where Rathbun trained as an auditor and wanted to achieve level OT III.

The death of Lisa McPherson

Lisa McPherson

After Lisa McPherson's death in 1995 due to dehydration after 17 days of an introspection rundown , Rathbun was hired by Miscavige to "... fix this mess ." A criminal conviction could have cost Scientology tax exemption.

In 2000 the State of Florida dropped all charges against Scientology. The McPherson family's civil case was also settled following a 2004 settlement .

In 2009 Rathbun admitted that he had ordered documents related to McPherson for destruction. In 2012, he also announced that Scientology had spent a total of $ 30 million to put down the McPherson case.

Tom Cruise's Auditor

Tom Cruise, 2013

At the beginning of 1998, Rathbun was commissioned by Miscavige to win Tom Cruise back for Scientology. Cruise had joined Scientology in 1986, but had withdrawn more and more since his marriage to Nicole Kidman in 1990.

From 2001 Rathbun was Cruise's auditor and increasingly also acted as a consultant. Cruise had meanwhile divorced Kidman, reached level OT IV in 2002 and began to campaign increasingly for Scientology by meeting with the US Secretary of State and US ambassadors in France, Greece and Germany, among others.

After Rathbun's exit from Scientology in 2004, he reported that Cruise's confidential auditing sessions had been secretly filmed at Miscavige's behest and that he had to report the most important content to Miscavige in writing.

Scientology exit

Rathbun resigned from the Church of Scientology in 2004 and initially went into hiding. In mid-2009 he spoke up in the Tampa Bay Times Special Report , launched his own blog and soon became a key contact point critical of Scientology. It also offers a platform for Scientologists who are willing to drop out.

Rathbun initially saw himself as a follower of the Scientology doctrine, but turned against the leadership of the organization. He was considered one of the leading figures of the Independent Scientologists movement (also: Free Zone ). In the meantime, however, he has turned away from Scientology teaching and describes himself as devoid of religion.

As a result, there was harassment and extensive monitoring of Rathbun's activities by the Church of Scientology. Because of this, Rathbun and his litigating wife have been suing Miscavige and Scientology since 2013.

In 2015 Rathbun appeared in Alex Gibney's documentary Scientology: A Prison of Faith , where he shared his experiences with the movement. In the same year he was involved in the film My Scientology Movie by the British documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Scientology Whistleblower Tells All, Admits to Secretly Recording Tom Cruise . David Pakman Show.
  2. ↑ a b Lawrence Wright [2013] In the Prison of Faith, pp. 275–77, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, ISBN 978-3-421-04535-5
  3. ↑ a b St. Petersburg Times (now: Tampa Bay Times), Thomas C. Tobin, The Man behind Scientology , October 25, 1998 [1]
  4. ↑ Elizabeth MacDonald: Scientology and IRS settled for $ 12.5 million. In: The Wall Street Journal. December 30, 1997 [2]
  5. ↑ Lawrence Wright: In the Prison of Faith. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 2013, ISBN 978-3-421-04535-5 , pp. 330–331.
  6. ↑ a b Lawrence Wright: In the Prison of Faith. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 2013, ISBN 978-3-421-04535-5 , pp. 330–341.
  7. ↑ Lawrence Wright: In the Prison of Faith. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 2013, ISBN 978-3-421-04535-5 , p. 342.
  8. ↑ Inside Edition, January 21, 1997, from: Lawrence Wright [2013] In Prison of Faith , page 346, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, ISBN 978-3-421-04535-5
  9. ↑ Tampa Bay Times, Thomas C. Tobin and Joe Childs, Death in slow motion , June 21, 2009, [3] , accessed August 13, 2014
  10. ↑ Interview with Mike Rinder, then head of OSA Int., From: Lawrence Wright [2013] In Prison of Faith, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, ISBN 978-3-421-04535-5
  11. ↑ St. Petersburg Times, Thomas C. Tobin, February 23, [4] , accessed August 20, 2014
  12. ↑ Janet Reitman [2011] Inside Scientology - The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion , Chapter 12, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, ISBN 978-0-618-88302-8
  13. ^ Hugh Urban [2011] The Church of Scientology - A History of a New Religion, p. 207, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, ISBN 978-0-691-14608-9
  14. ↑ Lawrence Wright [2013] In the Prison of Faith, page 350, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, ISBN 978-3-421-04535-5
  15. ↑ Lawrence Wright [2013] In the Prison of Faith , page 346, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, ISBN 978-3-421-04535-5
  16. ^ New York Daily News, Nancy Dillon, Nov. 19, 2012, [5] , accessed Aug. 3, 2014
  17. ↑ WTSP 10 News, Mike Deeson, Archived Copy ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on August 3, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / archive.wtsp.com
  18. ^ A b c Janet Reitman [2011] Inside Scientology - The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion , p. 286, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, ISBN 978-0-618-88302-8
  19. ↑ Tampa Bay Times, June 21, 2009, archived copy ( memento of the original from January 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 22, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tampabay.com
  20. ↑ Tampa Bay Times, Joe Childs and Thomas Tobin, Scientology: The Truth Rundown, Part 1 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology , June 21, 2009, Archived copy ( Memento of the original February 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 22, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tampabay.com
  21. ^ Die Zeit, Christoph von Marschall, Celebrities reckon with Scientology , October 28, 2009, [6] , accessed on August 22, 2014
  22. ↑ The Independent, Guy Adams, Scientology's 'heretic': How Marty Rathbun became the arch-enemy of L. Ron Hubbard devotees, April 7, 2012, [7] , accessed August 22, 2014
  23. ↑ Daily Mail, Ex-Scientology leader sues church for harassmant claiming its 'squirrel people' have installed high-tech cameras near his Texas home, December 17, 2013, [8] , accessed August 22, 2014
  24. ↑ Tampa Bay Times, Joe Childs, Wife of Scientology critic details alleged church harassment , September 12, 2013, [9] , accessed August 22, 2014
  25. ↑ My Scientology Movie review: Louis Theroux's giddy, Pythonesque jab in the ribs , Review in the Daily Telegraph, accessed November 29, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Rathbun, Mark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rathbun, Mark C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Senior official in the Scientology organization
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1957