My name is Ruth Lorenzen. I got into Scientology 13 years ago. I thought it was the right thing to do. The people were friendly and they seemed to want to help.

I spent a lot of my time in Scientology. I left behind my old friends who weren't interested in "spiritual development", I stopped writing my annual Christmas letter to my family members, I sold my home and spent all the money on Scientology counseling (called 'auditing'), quit my hobbies, and generally alienated everyone I knew.

Thirteen years and over $100,000 later, I awakened about the organization called the Church of Scientology. I discovered that it was really a cult interested in only what they could exact from me -- money, credit, volunteerism, my time, my efforts, my goodwill.

Horrified, I quit Scientology.

Organized Scientology (the Church of Scientology and all its related organizations) started to harass me and bad-mouth me in my own town. That's when I decided to "go public" with the information I knew.

You can read about my entire story at www.whyileftscientology.com.