Mike Rinder, who has died aged 69, was a high-ranking official within the Church of Scientology who later broke away to become one of the religion’s most outspoken critics; a member of the church since boyhood, Rinder served as director of the Office of Special Affairs, tasked with handling public relations and legal matters. Once on the outside, he wrote a book detailing his experiences.
In A Billion Years: My Escape from a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology, Rinder made accusations, all hotly denied by the church, that members were subjected to physical assault, emotional abuse and intolerable working conditions.
The church operated under a strict hierarchy and the words of its founder, L Ron Hubbard, were taken as gospel. High-ranking members were taught to believe that a space alien called Lord Xenu brought humans to Earth before murdering them with hydrogen bombs.
Followers with perceived “unhandled evil intentions” were subject to bizarre punishments, such as being made to clean a sewage retention pit. The church denounced the book as “a compendium of gross exaggerations and provable lies”.
Rinder’s allegations, coupled with his willingness to be interviewed by the mainstream media, gave him an unusually high profile. He ran a popular blog, Something Can Be Done About It, and won an Emmy for his work as co-producer on a documentary series, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath (2016).
He and Remini also collaborated on a podcast. In a final blog post,...
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