In the end, months and even years after Rinder and Remini propagated the false reports, police closed all cases. Andbut very quickly, therehe was like in her face and had grabbed her arms. Former Scientologist Mike Rinder says he once saw John Travolta kiss a male massuer The 67-year-old left the organization back in 2007, and is detailing his experiences in his mem [16] This incident was another moment of clarity according to Rinder because he realized he was now being subjected to Scientology's practice of Fair Game despite declining to speak out. kid friendly things to do in oxford, ms kid friendly things to do in oxford, ms. (No Ratings Yet) 88 votes, 25 comments. Leah Remini and Mike Rinder's podcast, Fair Game will take you behind the facade and expose the terrible truth about scientology's Fair Game doctrine. In the exchange, Rinder denied Sweeney's allegation that he had been abused by Miscavige and was instructed by him to deny it happened. And to try to make it look like he cared about my brother. Toggle Navigation. He escaped in 2007 at age 52 and began a new life with only the clothes on his back. [14], Rinder claimed his moment of clarity came in a confrontation with the filmmaker, which was recorded on video. Leah Remini and Mike Rinder's podcast, Fair Game will take you behind the facade and expose the terrible truth about scientology's Fair Game doctrine. Mike Rinder is a source of multiple false reports on the Church to law enforcement. Shop now. Doesnt he want to be rid of Scientology altogether? His unlawful conduct could have landed him in jail, had it been discovered in time. Mike Rinder's parents began taking him to their local Scientology center when he was five years old. Along with Leah Remini, Rinder co-hosts the A&E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. [18] Rinder also stated that the prophecy of Hubbard's messiah like return after death to prevent an apocalyptic alien invasion in OT VIII (released in 1988, two years after his death) garnered a similar response, prompting many high-ranking Scientologists including Pat Broeker to leave the organization as a result. In time, so did their children, Taryn and Benjamin. When media learned of this abhorrent fact, they questioned Rinders lack of attention to his son. Will they even have seen it? Rinder says he plotted his escape for only three days before leaving. Here are the things that I went through. The handlings, medically, that had to be done was intense radiation to the point where hes throwing up and having no appetite and losing weight and obviously feeling, like, sick as a dog all the time. Any Scientologist that doesn't disconnect from someone that leaves will be declared a suppressive person and expelled as well. Having no knowledge of these matters, and not trusting Mike Rinder, Mr.Miscavige ordered a top-down search of Rinders office facilities for the missing records Mr.Miscavige was being accused of having destroyed. An example of this "boomerang effect" was the 1993 case Church of Scientology International v. Fishman and Geertz. [28][29][30][31][32], In the early 1990s, when the internet was in its infancy, internet startups could be intimidated by the threat of litigation by the church but a decade later those same companies were now large corporations with the resources to defend themselves and lobbied for legislation that shielded them from user liabilities, "loser pays" laws that indemnify the church if they lose a lawsuit, and anti-SLAPP laws that prohibit them from using lawsuits to financially drain a critic into submission. Rinder has contributed to countless documentaries about Scientology, including Leah Reminis Scientology and the Aftermath. Because as soon as her arm was crippled, she couldnt do anything with it. During a 60-day hearing in 2002, allegations of missing evidential records became a core issue in the litigation. And I think, once again, it shows his character as a father because there wasnt a single peep about his children. While the extent of Mike Rinders dishonesty and deception were yet to surface, the known facts to date were undeniable: Mike Rinder and his lies had only made everything to do with this legal matter far worse for the Church, which had done nothing wrong, and caused the Churchs leader to be not only sued but wrongly targeted for criminal conduct. He hasnt even made sure he had a cup of tealike, nothing. Mike Rinder's parents began taking him to their local Scientology center when he was five years old. Rinders response was to violently assault Cathy. [23] This policy led to what Rinder stated are "captive" Scientologists church members who stay not because they are faithful to the tenets but because they fear disconnection and cites Leah Remini's mother as an example of this because she stated she wanted to leave Scientology prior to Leah's departure but delayed doing so because she didn't want to be disconnected from the rest of her family. I dont think that I will ever be able to shed this particular job. Off his own bat and unbeknownst to the Church, Rinder, working with two co-conspirators, suborned perjury and hid evidence in a police investigation opened that year in Florida. Not even remotely., In some ways, the book is Rinders attempt to parent Taryn and Benjamin, too; a chance to hold his side of that conversation at least. The real Mike Rinder is a former external affairs staffer whose malfeasance, as touched upon previously in this letter, caused the Church numerous problems that took years and millions of dollars to correct. True to a criminal moral code, Rinder has also repeatedly changed his personal narrative according to who pays. Mike Rinder's "A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology" is scheduled for Sept.. Mike Rinder Age and birth place Do you know how old is Michael John Rinder? Theyve got to look at me. I wasI was there. If you did, you had to hide them because if the police came and found them, they'd take them away. His They visited the National Portrait Gallery together, but thats not why Rinder gravitated there. [22], According to Rinder, for decades enrollment has been declining, but departures were more concerning. That would have been a waste of two books. They would never have reached their recipients, he says. hazard blank and medical records. Rinders narrative is not just twisted, it is a bald-faced lie. Im sure that they have been told: Its full of lies, blah blah. He didnt send them a copy. It's been used for 5 decades to destroy anyone they label an enemy -- former scientologists, media, government officials -- anyone they think is impeding their objectives. After two years of struggling to make it selling cars, Rinder reconnected with his former co-conspirator, Mark Rathbun, who had also left the Church and was leading a ring of anti-Scientologists. Mike Rinder started attending a local Church of Scientology International (CSI) center with his parents at age of five. Overnight, he became one of the organization's biggest public enemies. [24] Both have said the policy was backfiring because victims, such as John Sweeney, reported their experiences with fair game and this led to more negative publicity and thus produced more critics than they were silencing. What am I going to do? As a church executive he had pursued people who tried to leave, so he knew what to expect. He never changed. His first wife is barely mentioned in the book; it seems amazing they produced children, so rarely do their paths appear to cross. Now that he and Christie, whom he married in 2013, have a 10-year-old son, Jack, Rinder has experienced a new kind of fatherhood. By the age of fifteen I had traveled from Australia with the rest of my family to scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's home in England twice. Hubbard Association of Scientologists International, International Association of Scientologists, New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project clinics, A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, Association for Better Living and Education, Concerned Businessmen's Association of America, New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mike_Rinder&oldid=1141693317, Australian emigrants to the United States, Use Australian English from February 2013, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2022, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 09:07. Rinder has further used false reports to foment harassing litigation against the Church and its leader as an expert at the hire of ambulance-chasing, unscrupulous lawyers. 1157 (S.D.N.Y. Rinder quickly became an early member of the Commodore's Messenger Organization, after which he continued to rank up until he had his position with the Office of Special Affairs. Heres my life. And thatsthat was the shock of the day. And that by dismantling the organisation around them they may wake up or see something that they havent been able to see when they are in such a controlled environment., Whether youre in a cult or a bad relationship, or a job you hate, you can always change your life, he says. Yes you can never take away the fact that your biological children are something special to you. With Jack, however, it is not even remotely similar. And it really made me mad. And I go, Holy crap, what just happened? You know, likewe were both in shock. Along with Mike Rinders brother and several long-term family friends and former associates of Rinder, they set out to Clearwater to have words with him. No words can take that away. Mike Rinder A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Hardcover - September 27, 2022 by Mike Rinder (Author) 1,429 ratings Editors' pick Best Books of 2022 See all formats and editions Kindle $14.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover And then I see my mom and shes standing there in pain. Mike Rinder was never heard from once the entire time, even after he had moved to Safety Harbor, Floridaa 15-minute drive from Clearwater, where Benjamin lived. Mike Rinders malfeasance concerned not only his severe dishonesty and hidden criminality, but also physical abuse of subordinates, especially women. Not one single witness or piece of evidence corroborated any of the fabricated stories. ike Rinder was so entrenched in the aristocracy of Scientology that. [18], Rinder's moment of clarity after the confrontation with Sweeney came when he realized that it was the auditing sessions that led him to deny Sweeney's allegations that he knew were true. Whats the deal Mike? And Mike Rinders response was to grab his hands so badly that he almost broke his fingerand still refused to talk to him at the same time. Andit was subtle but it was insidious and it was calculated to make you feel like you were nothing. He says worst by a long way was the year or more that Rinder spent in a building known as the Hole at the churchs international base near Hemet, California. He did not speak to his wife, but was sent a FedEx package with a check for $5,000. Both Taryn and Cathy are still in the Church of Scientology. His misconduct exposedeven if the criminal depths were still veiledRinder knew he would never again hold an executive position within the Church. He signed the organisations standard billion-year contract, designed to encompass all of his futures (since Scientologists believe in life after life; Hubbard told him he had probably run planets before). When he was certain that he wasnt being followed, he caught the tube to the National Portrait Gallery, where he sat on the grass outside and let his heart rate slow to its regular beat. Police thoroughly investigated the claims of a half-dozen individuals who filed such reports during Aftermath, including interviewing scores of witnessesScientologist and non-Scientologist alike. He suffered violence and he inflicted it on others. [1][19], The policy was becoming increasingly ineffective starting the 1980s as it was unable to stop publication of A Piece of Blue Sky by ex-Scientologist Jon Atack or the documentary Scientology and Me which ultimately led to Rinder's departure. And it backfired badly. They fly Rinder around the country in five-star luxury to shill for their religious hatred, never mentioning that Rinder was expelled from his . And I wanted to make sure you knew. And we actually didnt hear from him for at least three weeks after that, not a word. The attempt failed as Benjamin refused to see his father, who had scarcely paid him attention his entire life. All Rights Reserved. His only therapy has been conversations with other former Scientologists. Rinder publicly declared his adherence to Scientology, refuting any notion that he had ever renounced his religion. Leah and Mike are covering new ground, digging deeper than ever into the . 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