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Mike Rinder's parents began taking him to their local Scientology center when he was five years old. After high school, he signed a billion-year contract and was admitted into Scientology's elite inner circle, the Sea Organization. Brought to founder L. Ron Hubbard's yacht and promised training in Hubbard's most advanced techniques, Rinder was instead put to work swabbing the decks.
Still, Rinder bought into the doctrine that his personal comfort was secondary to the higher purpose of Hubbard's world-saving mission, swiftly rising through the ranks. In the 1980s, Rinder became Scientology's international spokesperson and the head of its powerful Office of Special Affairs. He helped negotiate Scientology's pivotal tax exemption from the IRS and engaged with the organization's prominent celebrity members, including Tom Cruise, Lisa Marie Presley, and John Travolta.
Yet Rinder couldn't shake a nagging feeling that something was amiss—Hubbard's promises remained unfulfilled at his death, and his successor, David Miscavige, was a ruthless and vindictive man who did not hesitate to confine many top Scientologists, Mike among them, to a makeshift prison known as the Hole.
In 2007, at the age of fifty-two, Rinder finally escaped Scientology. Overnight, he became one of the organization's biggest public enemies. He was followed, hacked, spied on, and tracked. But he refused to be intimidated and today helps people break free of Scientology.
"An intensely personal, cathartic memoir of blind allegiance, betrayal, and liberation" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), A Billion Years reveals the dark, dystopian truth about Scientology as never before.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 27, 2022 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781982185787
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781982185787
- File size: 3671 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from October 15, 2022
A former high-ranking executive chronicles his defection from Scientology. In this riveting, meticulously detailed memoir, Rinder describes his life as a Scientologist, from when his family "preordained" him as a child in Australia through his departure in 2007, at age 52. His parents first heard of L. Ron Hubbard from a neighbor in 1959. While not inherently religious, both were "attracted by the promise of eradicating unwanted emotions and insecurities, having better relationships, raising successful children, and maybe even saving the world." They were soon immersed in the odd healing rituals and the concept of a superior "thetan" spirit responsible for everything. At 18, instead of attending college, Rinder signed a billion-year "Sea Org" contract and boarded a ship, where he worked as a deckhand in filthy conditions without pay. Later, during his "slow voyage of self-delusion," he fared somewhat better, receiving surveyor assignments in Portugal and eventually becoming Scientology's international spokesman and head of its Office of Special Affairs. At the same time, the organization was drawing intense scrutiny from the IRS. Rinder's children were raised from infancy not by he and his wife but by the Sea Org. The author's revelations are both fascinating and shocking: sadistic punishments, zany life-improvement courses, and countless outrageous stories about Scientology's "darker forces." After he helped strong-arm the organization's tax-exempt status with the IRS, Rinder ran interference, neutralized investigations, and obfuscated Scientology's vast, corrupt hierarchy, which left him overwhelmed and feeling like a "virtual prisoner." The narrative takes on the flavor of a suspense thriller after Rinder's escape, which resulted in his ex-communication, harassment, and numerous dangerous threats by volatile Scientology executives like David Miscavige. While Rinder admits his recollection may be blurry due to the "dull fog of exhaustion," the voice is crisp, urgent, and vividly impassioned, whether assessing his years as a compliant member, his breathless escape, or his promise to continue exposing Scientology as a "unique and vengeful monster." An intensely personal, cathartic memoir of blind allegiance, betrayal, and liberation.COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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