Expert Interview

While brainstorming on who I should use for my expert interview, I decided the best resource would be someone currently or formerly affiliated with Scientology or an accredited researcher in the field of religion. Locating a current member of the religion to interview would be impossible due to the secrecy of the religion. An accredited researcher in religious study having focused on Scientology would also be a great person to interview, however finding one willing to speak to me proved nearly impossible. Therefore, I decided that I should focus my search on a former member of the religion who would be willing to speak on their experiences and divulge some of the secret details of Scientology. It also proved very difficult to locate such an expert, so at the advice of my professor, I am using a forum called the Ex Scientologist Message Board for expert information.
The forum includes a wide variety of topics on the religion, however the topics I deem most relevant to my research are stories from inside Scientology, “war stories” of former staff members, the process some members went through to leave the church, and life after Scientology. Reading through the stories and comments posted by former Scientologists on these specific topics was surprisingly a very effective way for me to learn information about the religion not available through the research methods I have been employing. One of the better pieces of information that I learned which will aid me in directing my further research is that although these former members belonged to the religion in general, their worship and conversion typically takes place in one branch of the church called an “org.” Individuals on the forum had very different experiences at each of the orgs mentioned. In addition to this, other important information that I learned was by reading through the lengthy, personal stories posted by users. Each person was convinced to join the religion through a different person and for a very different reason. The forum posters also sometimes reflected on why they were attracted to the promises of life-improvement offered by the religion to members. These members also left the church for very different reasons. Some suddenly came to a realization that they were living in a cult-like society, others were forced to quit by government bodies, and a very small minority felt they had accomplished what they set out to achieve when they joined and no longer needed guiding.
Through the process of reading personal accounts of the religion, I learned a significant amount of information that otherwise wouldn’t be available through my traditional search process. As a result, I will concentrate a portion of further research on issues brought to my attention by the former members including the structure of the religion in terms of orgs, the specific promises made to certain types of people used to entice them to join, and what Scientologists are required to do in penance for the religion on a daily basis. Overall, this process was much more helpful than I ever expected. The research collected from the forums has allowed me to shift my focus of study to include a range of information I never perceived would considerably strengthen the argument of my paper.