Scientologists in Orange County continue to move forward with the transformation of the former Santa Ana Performing Arts and Event Center
at the corner of Sycamore and Fifth streets into an Ideal Org.
According to the website OCideal.org, L. Ron Hubbard envisioned Ideal Orgs as “islands of sanity, expanding, spreading help and calming the environment until we can truly call this a Golden Age again.”
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You can help usher in the Golden Age with donations ranging from $10 to $1,000, according to the website. And why not? The website says Scientology “is the only game in which everybody wins. It's the kind of game we like to play. You can play too!”
But former Scientologists say the church is anything but sane. Remember Paulien Lombard, the ex-Scientologist who told us her tales of spying against those hostile to the church?
She spoke at this week's Santa Ana City Council meeting, issuing warnings about Scientology, saying the Ideal Org is scheduled to open on April 28. (I contacted Karin Pouw, church spokeswoman, about the grand opening, and she said when the church opens the Ideal Org, it will let everybody concerned know about it, including the media.)
Lombard told the council she left the church when she found out about physical abuse at the top of the organization.
“They do a lot to make the bad abuses in this organization stop from coming out,” she said.
Lombard gave a recap of her time in Scientology and asked the council if they had been invited to the grand opening. They said they hadn't yet received invitations.
Here's the clip:
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