In my breakdown of the academic book “Scientology,” I take on academics in the religious studies world who have defended or written “apologetics” for Scientology. J. Gordon Melton out of Santa Barbara is one of the very worst of these lazy academics who just act as mouthpieces for Scientology. Melton in particular has carried Scientology’s water for years, so I give him a well-deserved ribbing here. Enjoy!
This clip was excerpted from “Deconstructing Scientology: Chapter 1,” first published on August 4, 2016.
When I left the Sea Org, I first settled in Santa Barbara. I was aware of Melton’s pro-Scientology stance, so I contacted him and arranged to have dinner at a restaurant downtown. I spent several hours telling him about the conditions at the Int Base, Miscavige’s violence, and other things. At the end of the dinner, he told me he could not write anything negative about Scientology. I asked why, and he said, if he did, he would “lose access” to his sources within Scientology. He would be “disconnected” in other words, and he said that as an academic, he needed to have sources within Scientology and could not afford to lose them. True story – and that is how “objective” he is.
Wow! I didn’t know that, Jeff, but it certainly verifies everything I said. Just wow!