Word: jeffs
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...receptionist introduces Allen and me to Jeff, a representative of the Church who offers to show us around. At first, I feel only a fight-or-flight response. I look out the door. But Allen tips me to “fight...
...Jeff shakes my hand and asks about my experiences with Scientology in a lilting voice. He has large, lidded eyes that stare for uncomfortably long. Allen expresses a degree of incredulousness about the religion right off the bat; he asks about a story gleefully popular on anti-Scientology sites on internet, that Hubbard believed that an intergalactic ruler named Xenu banished human spirits to earth 75 million years ago. Jeff dismisses the story outright and addresses the question by introducing a central tenet of the religion: it’s not true unless it’s true...
...walk up a staircase, past major construction to renovate the building. As we wind upstairs, Jeff tells us about himself. He had weathered a troubled adolescence. Then, 10 years ago, he became a Scientologist. The religion worked magic for him; he is now happy, employed, married, and substance-free. To demonstrate, he gesticulates and frequently smiles. Somehow, I find this endearing. Fleeing is getting less and less appealing...
...Jeff plays tour guide, walking us to a larger classroom, where students sit at long wooden tables laden with dozens of wooden boxes. “It’s a goal-oriented religion,” he says. If you have a goal, he tells us, Scientology will help you accomplish...
Downstairs, in a luxurious video screening room, Jeff leaves us to ourselves to watch an introductory film on Scientology. The film has a B-movie sheen. Women in suits with shoulder pads talk to men whose hair looks shellacked while a cheesy soundtrack plays in the background. Kirstie Alley, John Travolta, and a number of doctors, police officers, and businesspeople deliver testimonials on how Scientology has improved their lives. The religion has given them a template for self-control and success...