Betsy DeVos wants to expand school voucher programs throughout the U.S. Get ready for that list to include schools that promote Scientologist doctrine.
By Rebecca Klein 12/11/2017 06:02 am ET Updated Oct 18, 2018
CLEARWATER, Fla. ? It was a weekday afternoon here in early December, and a gaggle of kids outside of Clearwater Academy International were playing with a ball, their laughter and shouts filling the air. The school is just a few blocks away from the spiritual headquarters for the Church of Scientology, and church volunteers appeared to be preparing for an event.
Garrett Cantrell, who is not a Scientologist, recalled his time at the school as he sat near Clearwater’s harbor, surrounded by Scientologist retreat centers. The school was small and private, exactly what Cantrell was seeking in a high school after moving to Florida from New York in 2008.
He and his family, as they toured the school, had asked about its religious affiliations before he enrolled, specifically wanting to make sure it wasn’t associated with Scientology. An employee told them, no. But a few months into the school year, Cantrell decided the answer was not so clear cut.
Clearwater Academy International is one of dozens of schools and tutoring centers in the U.S. that use learning materials based on the ideas of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the church of Scientology. Five of these schools and tutoring centers, including Clearwater Academy, receive public funding through voucher or tax credit scholarship programs, HuffPost has found.
While Cantrell said he was never asked to participate in Scientologist events, he realized that most of his classmates were deeply involved in the church ? participating in events like an off-campus party for Hubbard’s birthday.
After a few months at the school, Cantrell decided he wanted out and he spent the rest of the year slacking off. School leaders eventually asked him to leave ? for which Cantrell was grateful.
“I don’t feel like I learned anything there other than that basically Scientology was obviously not something that I wanted to do,” said Cantrell, now 25 years old.
Clearwater Academy is a private institution, which means that in general, the school can teach what it likes with little oversight. But the learning materials it uses raise questions about its links to the Church of Scientology, in light of the school receiving more than $500,000 in taxpayer money for student scholarships between 2012-2016.
HuffPost has been investigating the schools that receive such money for students, which comes via state-level voucher or tax credit programs.
Over the course of our investigation, we created a database of over 7,000 schools in the country that participate in these programs and researched what each was teaching. Our first story, published earlier this month, broke down how many religious schools were receiving such funds and dove deep into the curriculums often used in evangelical Christian schools.
But we also came across Clearwater Academy and the four other schools and tutoring centers that use curriculum by Applied Scholastics .. http://www.appliedscholastics.org/ .. , a non-profit that says it is non-religious but is dedicated to spreading educational methods developed by Hubbard.
Garrett Cantrell, a former student of Clearwater Academy International in Florida, said he quickly came to doubt the school’s claim that it had no link to the Church of Scientology. Chris McGonigal/HuffPost
An overwhelming proportion of private schools that participate in state-run, so-called school choice programs that help students afford them -– like vouchers and tax credits ? are religious, and say so upfront. But the schools that use Applied Scholastics claim to be totally secular.
As Applied Scholastics schools continue to receive millions of dollars in taxpayer funds and are therefore more accountable to the public than typical private schools, their claims of secularity deserve heightened scrutiny.
Our investigation comes at a time when President Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos, his secretary of education, have made it a priority to expand voucher and tax credit programs like the ones in Florida. AdChoices
Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology, told HuffPost in an email that while the church “and its members have proudly supported Applied Scholastics in numerous ways through the years ... Applied Scholastics is not part of the Church of Scientology or any other religious organization.”
The executive director for Clearwater Academy told HuffPost that it successfully serves children from a diverse array of backgrounds.
“We are non-religious and non-political. Our students and faculty are very diverse — Christian, Muslim, Scientologists, and more — Asian, White, Black and from various countries. We respect the religious beliefs of everyone in our school and our policy is therefore to never promote religion in our school,” Jim Zwers wrote in an email.
Four of five Applied Scholastics institutions that receive public funds are in Florida and have received more than $3 million in taxpayer-funded scholarships between 2012-2016, according to data provided by the Florida Department of Education. Aside from Clearwater Academy, they are the Washburn Academy, the Community Learning Center Academy, and the Hollywood Education Literacy Project.
It is unclear how much money another school, Applied Scholastics Academy Las Vegas, has received through its participation in Nevada’s tax credit program ? a representative for the program did not respond to requests for comment.
Concerning the institutions that use Applied Scholastics, Pouw wrote that “the Church of Scientology has no relationship with these schools.”
Clearwater Academy bills itself as secular, despite using educational methods developed by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology. Chris McGonigal/HuffPost
Voucher programs provide scholarships for students to go to private schools based on criteria like income. Tax credit programs give tax credits to individuals and corporations who donate to scholarship granting nonprofits. These nonprofits then provide scholarships to students for private schools.
The Florida Department of Education’s directory of schools that participate in its voucher and tax credit programs list the four institutions that use curriculum associated with Hubbard as “non-religious.”
Before enrolling at Clearwater, Cantrell had spent time in public and Catholic schools, where the academics were tough, but traditional. At the Clearwater school, he was asked to behave in ways he found bizarre, he said.
Cantrell said if he yawned, it wasn’t just considered an involuntary reflex ? it meant he was having difficulty grasping the material, and teachers would prod him to see if this reaction might be the result of a “misunderstood word.”
If Cantrell didn’t understand a concept, he was expected to create clay models of the idea at hand to help him comprehend it. Much of the learning was self-directed, he said, where classroom teachers played a small role in guiding students.
The “about the author” page in the Learning How To Learn book from Applied Scholastics International. Damon Scheleur/HuffPost
On its website, Clearwater Academy says that as part of the Applied Scholastics network .. http://www.clearwateracademy.org/about_clearwater_academy/study-tech/ , it teaches students using Study Technology, which was “developed by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard.” The concepts in Study Technology “were developed by Mr. Hubbard when he discovered the primary barriers to a student’s comprehension.” Scientology.org, the church’s website .. https://www.scientology.org/how-we-help/applied-scholastics.html , promotes the work of Applied Scholastics.
HuffPost reached out to Applied Scholastics for comment and they did not respond by press time.
HuffPost received several Study Technology books to confirm Cantrell’s claims. Yawning is explained as a potential reaction to encountering a “misunderstood word.” According to the book, not understanding what a word means can act as a major impediment for learners. So if Cantrell yawned, teachers would have him look up words in the dictionary. Study Technology refers to the “misunderstood word” as one of the three major “barriers to study,” which make it difficult for students to learn.
Making clay demonstrations out of concepts and ideas is also one of Hubbard’s recommendations in Study Technology. These clay demonstrations are supposed to help students understand what they are learning through visual representation.
The Study Technology books HuffPost received are filled with simple cartoons explaining Hubbard’s unique take on education.
From the Applied Scholastics book, Learning How To Learn. Damon Scheleur/HuffPost
Some of the concepts in Study Technology are similar to those introduced in Scientology doctrine ? including the use of clay demonstrations. Indeed, when asked about the overlap in ideas, Pouw said that “Mr. Hubbard originally researched Study Technology to help him teach Scientology to his students and it continues to be used in that context today.”
The four schools in Florida that use Study Technology take advantage of the state’s voucher program specifically for students with disabilities.
Zwers told HuffPost that students receiving scholarships via the state are given academic assessments when they arrive, and an individualized academic program is then arranged.
“Clearwater Academy works hard to provide a lot of the one-on-one attention that these students need,” wrote Zwers, who provided an example of a student who came to the school with a learning disability and is now studying engineering in college.
On the other hand, HuffPost spoke to three ex-scientologists who attended schools that use Study Technology, as well as other ex-scientologists familiar with the curriculum. They all said these schools walk a murky line between secular and Scientologist.
One former student, who requested to go by the pseudonym Danielle M. because her parents are still in the church, is 25 years old and attended Clearwater Academy for several years. When Danielle was young, she was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. But due to the church’s view on learning difficulties, she said she never received treatment.
“My parents and the school basically said, ‘Nope. You don’t have that. That’s not real,’? she said.
Because of her experience, Danielle finds it especially disturbing that schools like Clearwater are receiving thousands of dollars in taxpayer money specifically to help students with disabilities.
“They’re not gonna accommodate for them,” she said.
Zwers denies that this would be the case.
“We provide one-on-one help whenever our students need it no matter if they have been labeled ADHD or have other educational difficulties,” Zwers wrote. “We do not interfere with any medical advice or treatment that a student may be on. If the doctor says take this or that medication that is between the student, parent and physician.”
Leah Farrow, 38, an ex-scientologist who now lives in Alabama and works as a tattoo artist, said the link between the church and school was not always obvious. She moved to Clearwater with her family when she was 10 years old and spent time attending a school that later merged with other institutions to become Clearwater Academy International.
“They use methods that are ingrained in Scientology, but they don’t necessarily teach Scientology,” Farrow said. “I can see the loophole that they’re using. I do think it’s pretty disingenuous.”
- [INSERT - Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise divorce: Scientology 'not a factor in Suri custody battle' [...] "As volunteers and members of a religious order, Sea Organization members work long hours and live communally with housing, meals, uniforms, medical and dental care, transport, and all expenses associated with their duties provided by the church," states the Scientology website. "They also receive an allowance to purchase personal items, as all of their other expenses are fully covered by the church." Minor children are permitted to voluntarily join with the consent of a parent and schooling is provided, but the children also work. However, the website emphasizes: "The Church of Scientology adheres to all child labor laws and no underage Sea Organization members are permitted to perform tasks or to work hours longer than permitted by law." P - Although Scientologists deny there is any wrongdoing in relation to the group, there have been numerous reports stating that conditions for children within the organization — who, according to the Scientology website, are made to sign "a one-billion-year pledge to symbolize their eternal commitment to the religion" — are less than optimal. "Crash" screenwriter/director Haggis, who was a member of the church, has said that allegations of abuse of the children were partially behind the reason he left Scientology after 34 years. In a 26-page article in The New Yorker, .. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright#ixzz1zUPdQr7Y .. he said he heard about horror stories from men and women who joined Sea Org before turning 18. “They were 10 years old, 12 years old, signing billion-year contracts — and their parents go along with this?” Haggis said. “Scrubbing pots, manual labor — that so deeply touched me. My God, it horrified me!” In the same article, a former employee claimed to have worked 15-hour days as a teenager, seeing her parents only two times between the ages of 12 and 18. Another said he earned $17 a week for his work, and resided in living quarters that were so lacking that his room didn't even have a door knob. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=77179945 ] -
Zwers said that he does not know of any SeaOrg members coming on campus to recruit, noting that Farrow was a student at a different school many years ago.
But much of the terminology used at her school was uniquely scientologist, Farrow added.
“I really don’t know how someone who’s not a Scientologist could go there. It would be like going to a school that only speaks Spanish,” she said.
An Applied Scholastics book, Study Skills For Life. Damon Scheleur/HuffPost
David Touretzky, a professor in the computer science department of Carnegie Mellon University, is highly critical of Study Technology and scientology in general.
At Carnegie Mellon, Touretzky specializes in computational neuroscience. He takes issue with some of the broad claims Scientology and Study Technology make about the way the mind works, and said much of it is unsupported by evidence.
“It’s basically pseudo science,” he said.
But J. Gordon Melton, a professor of American religious history at Baylor University, says literacy centers associated with Hubbard can do good work.
“I can tell people who go through these programs have not been proselytized in the process and been genuinely helped,” Melton said.
In Florida, over $2 million in voucher and tax credit money has gone to one such center ? the Hollywood Education Literacy Project ? over the past several years.
As far as the other schools that use Hubbard’s learning methods, “as best as I can figure out, they run them pretty straight,” Melton said.
There is little objective research on the effectiveness of these methods. But on at least three occasions .. https://www.npr.org/2013/03/27/174441623/peter-o-dowd-tk , Applied Scholastics materials have been approved for use in public schools. According to news reports, the materials have been used in Arizona, Colorado and Florida public schools.
Charles Haynes, the director of the Religious Freedom Center, reviewed some of these materials for the California Board of Education about 10 years ago. He said public schools would not violate the U.S. Constitution by using them in the classroom.
“What I found as an educator and as a First Amendment expert, the fact that the materials were derived from the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard does not in and of itself make them religious,” Haynes said.
Garrett Cantrell, meanwhile, is disturbed by the idea that the school he went to receives public funding via private school choice programs.
He said he feels fortunate that he only stayed at Clearwater Academy for a short time. While he said that everyone was kind to him, and the other kids seemed smart, he feels like he wasted a year of his academic life.
[color=red]“Look, they have every right to be there, and have their setup like that, but [the school shouldn’t] mislead people like that. They looked at [his grandmother] straight in the face and lied to her and my grandfather. Had they said, ’Yes, [we’re scientologist],' we would have gone a different route. We wouldn’t have gone there.”[/color]
This is the second story in a HuffPost investigation on the policies and curriculum of schools that participate in private school choice programs. The first story, dealing with textbooks that push a deeply flawed curriculum, is here. The third story, looking at schools that discriminate against LGBTQ students, is here.
CORRECTION: The data set on which this story is based has been updated, as it originally overcounted the number of schools participating in private school choice in Florida, and therefore overcounted the total number of schools we analyzed. Those changes do not meaningfully affect the reporting in this story. Please see the note on the first article in this series for the more exact figures.
Updated: Death toll in Kenyan starvation cult rises to 73, police say
"Zardiw, CULTS- Watch out for tell-tale signs "OK. Well I think islam is a unique religion (actually a way of life),""
Kenyan President William Ruto said the religious cult mass deaths were ‘akin to terrorism’.
Update - Somewhat related: Don't stand on the sidelines Steve Schmidt [...]The cloistered bubbles that comprise the habitats of MAGA judges, ideologues, grifters, militia leaders, neo-Nazis, anti-government nihilists, Proud Boys, Leonard Leo, Matt Schlapp, Fox News, NewsMax and OAN propagandists have their own reality. Didn’t you know? They are trying to save America from the godless tyranny that says all men and women are created equally in the 21st century, and that American freedom means freedom for everyone. They exist in the world where Viktor Orban is an idol, and Putin is a hero. They celebrate gun extremism, political extremism, religious extremism, and increasingly, make clear their ominous and violent intentions. They want power. The MAGA movement is a beautiful mosaic of corruption, extremism and cynicism that delivers nothing to the American people, while fulfilling every fantasy list for every debauched special interest imaginable so long as they praise Trump. The MAGA movement is a hideous amalgam of retrograde discrimination, dogmatic ideologies, and a narcissistic cult of personality that has nostalgia for a different America that was whiter, more male and less free. This is the backlash and it is building. P - There is a remedy. It’s simple. The American people should stop this movement cold. They should crush it under a banner that demands better and starts with a coherent vision for the future of American society. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=171647611
Biden is striving to do just that.
Forensic experts and homicide detectives carry the bodies of suspected members of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death, in Shakahola forest of Kilifi county, Kenya, April 22, 2023 [Reuters]
Published On 24 Apr 202324 Apr 2023 | Updated: 25 Apr 2023 04:55 AM (GMT)
Kenyan police have now recovered 73 bodies, mostly from mass graves in a forest in eastern Kenya, thought to be followers of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves, authorities said.
The death toll, which has repeatedly risen as exhumations have been carried out, could rise further. The Kenyan Red Cross said 112 people have been reported missing to a tracing and counselling desk it has set up at a local hospital.
Followers of the self-proclaimed Good News International Church had been living in several secluded settlements in a 324-hectare (800-acre) area within the Shakahola Forest.
The death toll stands at 73, with 26 new bodies exhumed on Monday, Malindi sub-county police chief John Kemboi told the Associated Press news agency.
Kemboi said investigators had received reinforcements and were able to cover more ground.
The cult’s leader, Paul Mackenzie, was arrested on April 14 following a tip-off that suggested the existence of shallow graves containing the bodies of at least 31 of his followers. National Police chief Japhet Koome said 14 other cult members were in custody.
Mackenzie was arraigned on April 15 at Malindi Law Courts, where the judge gave police 14 days to conduct investigations while he was kept in detention. Kenyan media have reported that he is refusing food and water.
There has been no comment from any representative for Mackenzie so far.
Video Duration 01:42 - Kenya police investigate graves of suspected cult victims
“What we are seeing … is akin to terrorism,” Kenya’s President William Ruto said on Monday.
Ruto said he had instructed law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate the matter as a criminal case not linked to any religion.
Ruto, elected in 2022, was hyped as the country’s first evangelical Christian president and has not been shy about his faith, openly praying and weeping in churches before his election.
He has nominated several pastors into parliament and government agencies like the anticorruption commission.
Mackenzie had been arrested twice before — in 2019 and in March of this year — in relation to the deaths of children. Each time, he was released on bond, and both cases are still proceeding through the court.
Local politicians have urged the court not to release him this time, decrying the spread of cults in the Malindi area.
Cults are common in Kenya, which has a largely religious society.
Kenya case sparks memories of worst cult-related mass deaths
At least 90 bodies have been found at the ranch of a Kenyan pastor who is accused of telling his followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus
By GERALD IMRAY Associated Press April 26, 2023, 6:26 AM
At least 90 bodies have been found at the ranch of a pastor in Kenya who is accused of telling his followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus, and the death toll could rise with the Kenya Red Cross Society saying 213 people are missing.
It has sparked memories of some of the world's worst cases of cult-related mass deaths.
JONESTOWN
More than 900 men, women and children died when American preacher and Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones orchestrated a ritual of mass suicide and murder by ordering followers to drink a cyanide-laced grape drink at their jungle settlement in Guyana in 1978.
The settlement and the cult deaths gained worldwide infamy as Jonestown.
Although the deaths were initially referred to as mass suicide, survivors claimed some followers were shot, injected with poison, or forced to drink the beverage by guards.
The deaths followed a visit to the settlement by a San Francisco congressman. As Rep. Leo Ryan was about to return to the United States with journalists and temple members who wanted to leave, they were ambushed on an airstrip. Ryan, three journalists and a defector were killed.
Jones then urged 912 followers to drink the grape punch. The gruesome mass deaths ritual was captured on the “Death Tape,” an audio recording on a cassette tape believed to have been set up by Jones.
He was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head, leaving speculation as to whether it was suicide or murder.
WACO
A 51-day standoff between federal agents and members of the Branch Davidians religious group led by David Koresh ended in a huge fire at their ranch compound just outside Waco, Texas in 1993. More than 70 Branch Davidians, including Koresh, died inside the compound. Authorities said the Branch Davidians started the blaze.
The nearly two-month siege began when agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to execute search and arrest warrants at the Mount Carmel Center ranch on Feb. 28, 1993, suspecting Koresh of stockpiling weapons.
The botched raid resulted in a gun battle that left an initial six Branch Davidians and four agents dead. The FBI and Koresh entered into weeks of negotiations, during which Koresh allowed some women and children to leave. He told federal agents he was waiting for “further instruction from God."
The FBI finally led an assault on the ranch on April 19, during which the buildings were burned to the ground. Some of the Branch Davidians were found fatally shot by other members, some died of suffocation and smoke inhalation. Koresh was found dead with a gunshot wound to the forehead.
HEAVEN'S GATE
When Sheriff's deputies went to a million-dollar mansion in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe in March 1997, they discovered the bodies of 39 men and women lying on bunks wearing identical black clothing and black and white shoes, their faces and chests covered with a triangular shroud of purple cloth.
Investigators ultimately pieced together a mass suicide by the Heaven's Gate cult led by Marshall Applewhite, who was also one of the dead.
He had recorded videos of himself saying that mass suicide was the only way for him and his followers to evacuate Earth, and they were timing their deaths to coincide with the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet, which was a warning that “heaven's gate” was closing. The comet would be followed by a spacecraft that would take their souls to a higher level of existence, Applewhite said.
To prepare, Applewhite and his 38 followers took the anti-seizure drug phenobarbital mixed with apple sauce or pudding. Most of them also drank vodka to enhance the drug’s potency and they tied plastic bags over their heads so they would suffocate.
UGANDA DOOMSDAY SECT
Authorities first believed that more than 500 members of a reclusive sect in southwest Uganda known as the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died in a mass suicide in 2000 when their chapel was set alight and they burned alive.
But when the bodies of six men were discovered nearby with stab wounds and evidence of strangulation, it changed to a mass murder investigation. More bodies were also discovered in mass graves at other sites. Ultimately, more than 700 people died in the Kanungu cult massacres.
It's believed that cult leader Joseph Kibweteere had convinced followers to confess their sins and sell their possessions in preparation for the end of the world on Jan. 1, 2000. When that didn't happen, followers became disillusioned. Kibweteere chose a new date for the end of the world; March 17.
After a party, where followers ate meat and drank coca-cola, 530 died in the fire in the church. Authorities later found that the windows and doors had been boarded up to prevent anyone escaping.
Leaders of the sect are also suspected of killing hundreds of followers at other sites by poisoning them. No one has been held accountable and Kibweteere disappeared on the day of the church fire.
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