"For the first time in my life, I was reading things which had not been approved by the Prophet's censors, and the impact on my mind was devastating. Sometimes I would glance over my shoulder to see who was watching me, frightened in spite of myself. I began to sense faintly that secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy... censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to it's subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything—you can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him." —Robert A. Heinlein, If This Goes On Click to view my simple success story. Life since Scientology by Ruth Lorenzen Why I made this website... and brazenly put my name on it by Ruth Lorenzen

It's been one year now since I left the Church of Scientology (COS). Prior to that was a living hell and the COS is hard at work trying to make the rest of my life a living hell (both personally and professionally). I was a member of the Church of Scientology for 13 years. My "wake up call" began when I was being pressured to turn my husband into a Scientologist — "or else". I learned some more things about the COS and decided to leave. I kept quiet for a while, but since I'm not one to keep my mouth shut, it just wasn't "me" to remain in hiding, pretending to still be a Scientologist while not really being one. I announced privately and in writing to the appropriate department of the Church of Scientology that I had decided to leave and was no longer a Scientologist, in or out of the COS. It took me six months and a lot of hell to get back some of my money (a mere drop in the bucket to what I've spent on Scientology). After they gave me my money, they announced to all the members of Scientology that I was a "suppressive person", printed up a yellow-colored sheet of trumped up lies, and published it on their organization's bulletin board for all to see. Even after several letters from me and my lawyers telling them it was libel and they needed to retract their statements, they still acted like I needed to appeal to them using their own internal system of justice for recourse. Justice? Recourse? It was their own punitive and maliciously applied internal justice policies and procedures that drove me out of the Church of Scientology. I will never return. I desired to remain peacefully working on my profession and be done with this so-called religion, but they don't seem to want to leave me in peace. Therefore, I am writing my story to put the record straight for anyone who wants to read it. If you're considering getting in to Scientology, I would recommend that you do not. There are many resources on the Internet that will corroborate my story as just one in thousands, and not unique at all. If you've been considering getting out of Scientology because of the personal hell you've been going through, I urge you to speak with others about it — to people outside of the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology wants you cowering in a dark corner, blubbering with tears, and fearful of doing anything about your condition. I assure you, you are not alone in your inhumane treatment from the powerful and wealthy Church of Scientology. This website holds my story.