What does religious migration mean? If I had been asked this as a child, my answers would have been pretty straightforward. I would have looked to the large moments in history – the Jewish diaspora, perhaps, or the Puritans crossing the ocean on the Mayflower. But I am asking myself that question now, and it doesn’t seem so simple. The Oxford English Dictionary Online offers two definitions for ‘migrate.’ The first is, “Of a person or a people: to move about, to move frequently (obs.); to move, either temporarily or permanently, from one place, area, or country of residence to another; to move to another place of residence or study, field of employment, etc.” (“Migrate”). This is a well-known definition, that matches with what I would have answered, the broad concept of a physical removal to a new location. But there is a second definition, the one that catches my interest, which says “Of a material or immaterial object, a phenomenon, idea, etc.: to pass or move away from its original or appointed place; to move to a new location.” (“Migrate”). The movement of an idea or phenomenon. Does this mean that a change in the understanding of one’s religion, a reconceptualization of the relationship between the doctrine and the practitioner, which leads to the practitioner renouncing previously held beliefs, is a kind of migration? If so, then there is, perhaps, a new wave of religious migration happening in America today, the movement of a phenomenon centered on the Church of Scientology.

In the fall of 2016 a new TV show began airing on A&E, called Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. In it, host Leah Remini seeks to document the experiences of members of the Church of Scientology, offering a public venue for previous members of the organization to discuss the experiences they had with Scientology, what caused them to leave, and what the fallout of that has been in their lives. Remini herself is well-known as a former Scientologist – an actress who had a very publicized break with the Church in 2013 (“Disconnection”). She has since said that she considers it her duty and obligation to speak out against Scientology and the abuses and harassment she documents as being suffered by some of the members, saying “I hope that this project at least validates your pain is real. Fight for your family… Get them out of this thing. You [the Church] are not going to continue to lie to people, and abuse people, and take their money and their lives. If I can stop one, then I’m going to do it” (“Disconnection”). This essay does not and cannot have the scope required to fully tackle the question of Scientology. But I hope to at least sketch some of the outlines of the issues at question, guided by my experiences as a former Scientologist, and by patterns of migration that I am beginning to see emerge in Aftermath.

I was born a second-generation Scientologist. My dad worked at a Scientology mission for several years when I was a child, and my mother taught at a private K-12 school that, while officially an “independent, non-sectarian school open to all religious faiths,” was primarily staffed by Scientologist members, and a significant majority of the student population, at least while I was in attendance from 1988 – 2002, were children of Scientologists (“Is this a Religious School?”). Effectively, I knew almost no one who wasn’t a Scientologist until I was in my early 20’s. I cannot put an exact date on when my discomfort with and distancing from Scientology began. Certainly it came on gradually enough that I didn’t fully realize that I was not happy with the organization until I was already trying to leave. But by the time I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2005, one of my unspoken motivations was that at least the Church would have trouble finding me if I was in the military. Though it took many more years, and indeed is still an on-going process for me, I consider 2005-2006 the beginning of my migration from Scientology. I did not speak about it for over a decade, because most of my family and all of my friends were still active Church members, and I was afraid that if I raised the questions and doubts that I was having, they would disconnect from me.

‘Disconnection’ is a challenging concept. Aftermath frames disconnection as a lynchpin theme in the stories told on the show, and I would go so far as to call it the primary migration pattern that emerges. Remini argues: “The church’s biggest weapon is their policy called ‘disconnection.’ It says that a parishioner shun their family member or friends” (“Disconnection”). In a simplified definition, ‘disconnection’ is “to cut off all contact with someone critical of the Church of Scientology” (“Disconnection”). Almost every Aftermath episode has highlighted in some manner the impact that disconnection has on people’s lives, separating friends from friends, parents from children, husbands from wives, and siblings from each other. They even look at how the pressure and threat of disconnection has contributed to suicide (“The Ultimate Failure of Scientology”).

During the first season of the show, representatives of the Church sent letters to the A&E production office, based on who they understood to be the upcoming Aftermath guests, in which they present information intended to discredit the hosts and interviewees, or to counteract arguments made on the show. In one such letter, they write, “No Scientologist ‘disconnects’ from someone because they left the Church. Disconnection or ceasing to communicate with someone happens when an individual obsessively attacks the individual or those things that affect his spiritual progress, including his religion or Church” (“Statement on Disconnection”). Setting aside for the moment the extremely hazy line of what an ‘obsessive’ attack on something that affects someone’s spiritual progress might encompass (Questions? Doubts? Critical thinking? Attempts at information gathering?), the Church representative points out, rightfully, that, “many religions…practice a form of shunning” (Pouw).

So why is there so much attention on disconnection, as opposed to other forms of religious shunning? Well, one issue with looking at Aftermath as a possible means by which to map religious migration is that it presupposes that Scientology is, in fact, a religion and not a cult. This is both one of the most basic questions that surrounds the organization, as well as one of the most difficult to answer. What is Scientology – is it a religion? The Church of Scientology says, “Developed by L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature and one’s relationship to self, family, groups, Mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the Supreme Being” (“What is Scientology?”). In1993 the IRS granted the Church of Scientology full tax-exempt status as a religious organization (Wright 231). If this were all it took, then it would seem inarguable that Scientology is a religion. Yet it is known that religion is not so easily defined. So is it a cult? The International Cultic Studies Association notes:

Although there is no agreed-upon definition of cult, one proposed by Rutgers sociologist Benjamin Zablocki seems to highlight key elements of high-influence group situations: “An ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment.” […] Hence, a cult is characterized by an ideology, strong demands issuing from that ideology, and powerful processes of social-psychological influence to induce group members to meet those demands. (Mutch 2)

An ideology, with strong demands, and powerful processes of social-psychological influence. Certainly, Scientology seems to meet these criteria, with the social-psychological threat of disconnection as a powerful tool to engender compliance. Perhaps this slightly defined but strongly felt difference between religious shunning and a cultic control mechanism might help point at why the practice of disconnection continues to attract so much questioning and attention. When recounting how Aftermath came to be created, Remini says that she asked the first person she ever interviewed if she could bring a camera crew along. “Bonny said, ‘If it helps people not to disconnect from their family, absolutely’” (“Disconnection”). Disconnection continues to appear to be, first and foremost, the whip that ensures one is eating the carrot.

For myself, I have known multiple people in my life who have been disconnected from, and have seen families either fracture, or disappear whole from social circles. It is real, and really felt. I don’t think it is an entire answer to the question of religion versus cult, but it is at least a point of entry, and I would argue, a not-insignificant one. Perhaps religious migration is in the moment that you say to yourself, I was not a member of a religion, I was a member of a cult.

Writing this is, in and of itself, an act of migration. By publicly discussing a show that is anathema to Scientologists, by asking myself these questions, and looking for possible answers in the stories told on Remini’s show, and in journalistic and academic works, I am, in the eyes of Scientology, committing a severe transgression – moving me ever further from the doctrines I grew up with. It is not permitted to read, to watch, to in any way seek out information that could be considered critical of or negative about the Church (“Ask me Anything”; Wright 245). Even though I left the organization in 2005, it took me a decade to be able to get beyond this stricture. In 2015, HBO aired Going Clear, a documentary on Scientology, and at the age of 31, it was the first time I ever deliberately sought out a non-Scientology view of the Church. To this day, it remains one of the most challenging expressions of willpower in my life. But I did it. I sat on a couch in New York’s Upper East Side, turned on the television, and I migrated. And I haven’t stopped.

Works cited:

“Ask Me Anything.” Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. Host: Leah Remini. AETV. 19 December 2016. Television.

“Disconnection.” Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. Host: Leah Remini. AETV. 29 November 2016. Television.

“Is this a religious school?” www.DelphiLA.org. Delphi Academy of Los Angeles. 2015. Web. 7 October 2017.

“Justice.” Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. www.youtube.com/user/aetv. AETV. 16 August 2017. Web.

“Migrate, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2017. Web. 8 October 2017.

Mutch, Stephen. “Cults, Religon, and China: Policy Frameworks for the Regulation of Religious and Quasireligious Groups.” International Journal of Cultic Studies. Vol. 3, 2012, 1-15. Print.

Pouw, Karin. “Re: The Practice of Disconnection.” Episode 3 Letters. 23 November 2016. www.aetv.com/shows/leah-remini-scientology-and-the-aftermath/exclusives/aftermath-letters. Web. 8 October 2017.

“Statement on Disconnection.” Church of Scientology International. Episode 3 Letters. No date. www.aetv.com/shows/leah-remini-scientology-and-the-aftermath/ exclusives/aftermath-letters. Web. 8 October 2017.

“The Ultimate Failure of Scientology.” Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. Host: Leah Remini. AETV. 22 August 2017. Television.

“What is Scientology?” www.Scientology.org. Church of Scientology. 2017. Web. 5 October 2017.

Wright, Lawrence. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief (Enhanced Edition). New York: Knopf, 2013. Kindle Edition.