Mormons Explain Ruby Franke's Journal

Something wicked this way comes.... from the Mormon community.  As if the Ruby Franke/Jodi Hildebrandt situation weren't depressing enough, John Dehlin's "Mormon Stories" podcast explains it in the context of modern Mormon trends.

After learning about Jodi's visions and Ruby's delusions, I thought these women were just crazy people who found a religious context for their symptomology. But no... they are the symptomology and a toxic thread within Mormonism is the disease. John Dehlin and his guests explain that visions, possession obsession, and end-times theology are promoted in a book that's popular with Mormons: Visions of Glory: One Man's Astonishing Account of the Last Days by John Pontius. The author has written Mormon fiction, so how should we take the back cover description? In this true account of near-death experiences, we learn about the miracles of the millennium, the return of the Ten Tribes, the building of the New Jerusalem and temple, and many other astonishing events long prophesied in scripture but never before described in such vivid detail. Visions of Glory is a mesmerizing and fascinating read that you will not be able to put down. The book came out in 2012, so this is a recent development, but as Dehlin explains, end-times theology is an essential element of Mormon belief.  That's the "Latter Day" idea. One of the unique features of Mormon theology is the belief in prophets as a continuous stream of pope-like figures who lead the church from one generation to the next.  Unlike the papacy, though, anyone can imagine themselves to be a prophet Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, who were convicted of murder, were also influenced by the book.  Vallow killed her own children, a fate that Ruby Franke's two youngest narrowly escaped.  Vallow was reading it at the time of her arrest!  The Daily Beast covered this movement, discussing these murderers and also disgraced phony child-rescuer, Tim Ballard.

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This is not the polygamist faction. It's similar to the fundamentalist wing of other Abrahamic religions but without that element (so far).  And like other religions the argument that "those are just the extremists - that's not the real version of my religion" just doesn't hold water.  If your holy book has language that can be used to hurt other people, then your religion is toxic.

Child Abuse and Religion: Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt

This week, Idaho authorities released some of the evidence in the case of the "Eight Passengers" mommy vlogger Ruby Franke and her business partner, bad therapist Jodi Hildebrandt.  Ruby and Jodi pled guilty to four felony child abuse charges each and will serve as little as four years in prison to a maximum of thirty years.  (Redditors have compiled the evidence here.)

If you haven't followed this case, the "eight" passengers were the two parents and their six children. Ruby's tactics were questioned at the time, and CPS were contacted, but no legal action was taken. Ruby refused to bring lunch to school for her five-year-old daughter who'd forgotten it, and forced a teen to sleep on a bean bag chair in the living room for eight months after pulling a prank on his younger brother.  

Over the years, Ruby fell under the spell of Jodi Hildebrandt, a Mormon therapist who was recommended to her, originally to help with the oldest boy.  As Hildebrandt had done to other couples, she drove a wedge between husband and wife, and the husband, Kevin Franke, moved out in 2022, ostensibly to save their marriage.  He joined a men's support group organized by Hildebrandt, and believed he was a sex addict.  He had no contact with Ruby or any of their children for a year.

In 2023, Ruby and the the younger boy, "R," and the youngest daughter, "E," moved to the 10,000 square foot home of Jodi Hildebrandt. Ruby joined Jodi's company, "Connexions," and they made videos together, sharing their religiously based, cultish advice on how to inculcate "truth" in children and banish "distortion."  Meanwhile, the two children endured horrible mistreatment under the guise of getting right with God, including going up and down stairs carrying heavy boxes, weeding a cemetery for hours in the desert heat (without permission of the cemetery owner!), doing manual labor outdoors at Hildebrandt's home, being forced to stand outdoors in the sun, being forced to sleep outdoors or being confined in a closet, being denied food and water, and Ruby played mental games that gave them little hope of meeting their mother's approval.  According to Ruby's journal, the two children knew that what she was doing was wrong, and they rebelled against her.  She kicked and beat R with a cactus and forced "E" to hug a cactus. "R" escaped one night and Ruby found him walking on a road, then bound him to her to prevent him from escaping again.

Apparently, she ramped up the bondage, because when "R" escaped again, he had wounds from being bound at the wrists and ankles.  He sneaked out a window and went to a neighbor's house asking to be taken to a police station, possibly because his mother asked him if being in jail would be better than being with her. The neighbor called 911, and police found an emaciated boy with wounds on his body in addition to the rope wounds -- which had been "treated" with honey and cayenne pepper.  He told them about his younger sister, and police immediately went to find her.  She refused to stand up or speak for four hours!  She only reluctantly ate pizza they offered her... and then ate the whole thing. 

This week, authorities released evidence including Ring doorbell footage, body camera video, police interviews, photos of the boy's injuries, and heavily redacted scans of Ruby's diary. It's far worse than it seemed when the situation came to public attention last year!

The Hidden True Crime YouTube channel has uploaded individual audio and video files, which are chilling.  That channel's focus is on the psychology of crime, not religion, but it's worth following because many of the cases they study involve religion and/or cults.  They have a playlist devoted to this case so you can catch up if you were not aware of this criminal case.

Key takeaways:

Demonic possession and evil children: Jodi read Bible verses about children rising up against their parents ... and who could blame the Franke children for doing that!  Ruby wrote in her diary about the children being evil and accused them of being influenced by Satan.  This is probably the most vile thing about the Abrahamic tradition.  Children are presumed to be in a state of sin, and abuse is the remedy.

Shame and guilt:   The two children believed they deserved their punishment abuse because they were evil and could  not be around other people.  The little girl refused to leave her closet/prison cell for four hours!  

Sadism:  Ruby seemed to have a very sadistic streak, which would have made her a bad parent in any case, but she was able to justify what she did through religious teaching and her own revelations.

Religious Therapy:  If someone advises you to seek spiritual counseling or a clergy member offers to make a referral for you, RUN!  If someone is already religious and has serious problems, applying that same religion is throwing good money after bad.

The Aftermath Foundation: An Update

Shortly after my previous post about the Aftermath Foundation, they announced new board members, and people working on the short-lived billboard project have spoken out.

The new board members include British apostate Jon Atack, who left Scientology in 1983 and wrote one of the must-reads about Scientology, A Piece of Blue Sky and interviews people on his YouTube channel, "jon atack, family and friends," Phil Jones, whose self-funded "Call Me" billboard campaign, inspired this year's billboard, and Stefani Hutchinson a "never-in," (a term coined by YouTube commentators when the SPTV movement gained momentum), who has been actively fighting Scientology online since 2017, according to her profile.  You can read her blog posts here.

You can learn more about Phil in an interview with Mark Fisher and Janis Gillham-Grady on their Scientology - Peeling the Onion channel. He is 70 years old and hasn't given up hope that he'll reunite with his two children one day. After this week's billboard take-down, he was interviewed by journalist Tony Ortega on his Underground Bunker podcast.

Phil Jones on Peeling the Onion:

Phil Jones on Tony Ortega's podcast (on YouTube):

The Aftermath Foundation: Ex-Scientologists Setting an Example for other Ex-Cultists

A few ex-scientologists who were featured on Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath have set up a foundation to raise funds for the work they were already doing to help Sea Organization members (the equivalent of priests and monks) to escape the cult.  For those in the main facilities, life is extremely circumscribed:  they have no access to the internet or libraries, many have no high school diplomas (or have even gone to high school), they live and eat communally, and they are paid a very tiny stipend as "religious volunteers."  They have almost no ability to live on the outside.  Most don't even have driver's licenses, and their passports are held by their organization.  Many younger members are the children of Sea Org members and so have no contacts on the outside, and they have been forced to "disconnect" (shun or cease all contact) with anybody who has left or spoken against the organization.

To complicate things, those at the secretive compound near Hemet, California, are kept behind locked gates and fences topped with razor wire, and they risk being chased down and retrieved if they leave without permission ("blow").   One of the stories featured in the Aftermath series described the  harrowing escapes of Mark Headley and his wife Claire.  (Headley expands on this in his book, Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology).

Many ex-members worked under the radar for years helping people with the practicalities of starting a new life from scratch:  escaping, taking a bus or plane to a safe space with family or an ex-member, getting a social security card, driver's license, passport, GED, job, and eventually an apartment.  Their network was informal, much like the networks that helped Jews escape Nazis or enslaved American Blacks escape to freedom.  It's difficult, scary, and expensive work, all paid out of pocket.

The Aftermath Foundation formalized the work in 2017, naming the new organization after the TV series. The main focus is raising money for the many expenses incurred when people leave.  Their website has a link for people to apply for aid, expanding the reach of the group beyond the friends-network that's been operating since the 1960s.  They also maintain a database of people willing to help.  Can you pick people up from the airport?  Give someone a job?  Leave Aftermath Foundation cards at a Scientology facility? Offer someone a place to stay?  Let them know!

Their latest effort was quashed by Scientology within three days!  They collaborated with a distraught father who has been trying for years to contact his children to post contact information on a billboard within sight of the Hollywood building where members and potential members could see it.  Clear Channel Communications, owner of the billboard, removed the billboard after being pressured by Scientology.  Their official statement on Facebook reads in part: 

In December 2023, we approached former Scientologist Phil Jones because of his successful 2016 Call Me billboard campaign that exposed Scientology’s destructive practice of “disconnection”, which tears families apart. Disconnection is the forced separation of a current Scientologist from anyone (including immediate family) who has been declared an enemy of Scientology.

Phil and his wife, Willie, suffered through disconnection when their adult children, Mike and Emily Jones, refused to communicate with them in any way after being ordered to cut off all contact by Scientology. Phil Jones joined the board of The Aftermath Foundation in March 2024.

We located the perfect billboard site close to and visible from Scientology’s buildings in Los Angeles and signed a one-year contract with Clear Channel Outdoor, including the First Right of Refusal at the end of the contract term. We developed a simple billboard design with our message and established a toll-free 24/7 helpline: 888-FREE-002.

The billboard was installed on March 11, 2024 at 9:00 AM.

Initially, Clear Channel Outdoor was very supportive of our campaign. The manager told us that their office staff thought we were doing a great thing.

By 10:00 AM, Scientology had erected a cherry picker in front of the billboard, intending to block our toll-free helpline from the view of their members. By that afternoon, they had also erected a scissor lift.

The next day, March 12, we were contacted by our Clear Channel Outdoor account representative, who told us they were under extreme pressure to remove the billboard and relocate it because Scientology claimed the message was “controversial”.

Today, Clear Channel Outdoor removed the billboard. We learned of this news when a supporter sent us a photo; we did not receive a notification from Clear Channel Outdoor in advance.

The Foundation's "Survivor Stories" page shows the lengths they are willing to go to help others.  One touching story was turned into a film and shared on several YouTube channels.  Serge Obelenskey was ejected from Scientology after an accident destroyed his hands.  With nowhere to go, he become a beggar on Hollywood streets known as "No-Hands Man" until a social worker and the Aftermath Foundation helped him move forward with his life.

Warren Jeffs's imprisoned Mormons and the Amish who want a life on the outside need help just as much as Scientology's slave laborers. I hope they're able to find that help.

Happy Birthday, L. Ron Hubbard

L. Ron Hubbard, (all informational links in the post go to Wikipedia pages unless otherwise specified) founder of the "church" of Scientology, would be 113 today.  Scientology has a few annual celebrations, and the anniversary of the birth of "LRH" is one of them.  (This is a bit odd, because Scientology believes in past lives and the eternal nature of the spirit, or "thetan," so every day is probably at least one birthday for him.)  Hubbard died, or "dropped his body" in 1986, and may or may not be spreading the good news of Scientology on another planet, a.k.a. "Target Two." But anyway, Happy Birthday L. Ron!  May the next year bring an end to the abusive cult you created.

Book Review: "Troublemaker" by Leah Remini

Book Review: Leah Remini Troublemaker

Leah Remini's autobiography interweaves the events of her life with her exposé of the problems with the "Church" of Scientology. That's because almost her entire life revolved around Scientology, as it does with many of its members. Like other cult religions, members spend an inordinate amount of time (and in the case of Scientology, money) devoted to being "good" members.

In her TV series on A&E she interviews past members about the abuses of the church: bleeding members' financial resources, forcing families to "disconnect" from members who left the church, punishment for "crimes" (including beatings). This is an important exposé because these things are common to so many extreme religions. I can imagine relatives of people involved with Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, or Independent Funadamentalist Baptists watching her show and thinking "wow, that's like my brother's church!"

In the book, she tells mainly her own story, which is a whopper. She joined the church as a child and experienced several different aspects of the church. She began her "studies" in Scientology in middle school, commuting from Bensonhurst in Brooklyn to the Times Square building where she would meet up with her mother. This was in the 1980s, when Times Square was not a nice place for little girls. Soon, her mother took her and her sister to Clearwater, Florida, where the kids were put to work cleaning a Scientology hotel. Children of members lived in motel rooms converted to dorms, and babies spent their days in a collective nursery. Kids were not properly cared for . At. All.

Takeaway #1: Scientology does not believe in the connection between family members -- all humans are supposedly "spiritual beings" who are equal to each other, including children and babies, whose needs are not special.

She & her sister joined "Sea Org" as a way out of their circumstance, and they flunked out. L. Ron Hubbard disapproved of sex before marriage, and the definition of "sex" was rather wide. They were rather innocent teens but told they were sluts. The family moved to Los Angeles after that, and Leah was determined to help her family by becoming an actress (her lifelong dream anyway). Meanwhile, she & her sister worked at whatever jobs they could find despite not being old enough to work. The Scientology network in the area helped them find jobs, but the cost of being a member was a constant strain for them. Fees were the same for everyone - no 10% tithing for them! And being equal to adults, they didn't have to go to school and their mother didn't punish them as most parents would. She used Scientology on them.

Remini describes some of the training she received, some of which seems to have some psychological validity -- for example, learning to keep your cool while being baited by your trainer. There is also a rating scale for emotionality, with "low" or negative numbers on one end and "high" positive emotions on the other. I can see how this could be a handy concept in life, too. People around us can influence our moods, and thinking about that in our interactions is potentially a good thing. It's easy to see how you can feel like you're getting something for your money, at least in the beginning.

Takeaway #2: Scientology offers members a sense of community and mutual support, while giving them a few psychological tools. The downside is that these things also give them a sense of superiority to outsiders, which cements their relationship to the church.

As Remini started having some success in Hollywood, she also continued in Scientology, but she tried to avoid discussing it during her work life. The culmination of her career was a 9-year run co-starring in the sitcom, "King of Queens." Now she had two sources of community and friendship: her church and her sitcom family. She also got entré into the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles. She continued her "training" after work and during breaks, and rubbed elbows with Tom Cruise and the other celebs. As a celeb she was pressured to donate more and participate more. And she also witnessed more. My personal opinion is that her coworkers on "King of Queens" gave her an alternate universe that helped her see the crazy of Scientology for what it was. She also seemed to have a fighting spirit that was impervious to Scientology's "tech."

As a true believer, she was disturbed by what she saw. Members were supposed to tattle on each other whenver they saw someone committing a "crime," i.e. not being a perfect Scientologist, and she took her responsibility seriously. She and her husband went to Tom Cruise's famous wedding in Italy, her friends J-Lo and Marc Anthony along for the ride. Absent from the wedding party was Miscavige's wife, Shelly, whom Remini considers a friend. The wedding guests also included married people who were cheating with each other, and caregivers for Suri who were clueless about caring for a baby. (Remini doesn't mention the cognitive dissonance of a baby being born out of wedlock to people who weren't supposed to be having sex outside of marriage)

Leah reported on the misdeeds of the higher-ups, including Cruise and post-LRH leader David Miscavige. She honestly believed the church would care about and fix the situation (with more training at the miscreants' expense). Instead, she was punished and this became the biggest wedge between her and her religion. After the famouse Cruise divorce, she tried to clear her record (and get her money back), and she got no satisfaction. She asked why the regular members had to pay for retraining when there had been a report on them, but the people at the top didn't. She also got no satisfactory answers to her questions about Shelly MIscavige's whereabouts. That didn't stop her from trying, and it led to her separation from the church.

Takeaway #3: You can take the girl out of Bensonhurst but you can't take the Bensonhurst out of the girl... which is a very, very good thing.

As she was getting the runaround, she looked -- for the first time -- for former members' stories on the internet and in person. This got her into even more trouble. One was Mike Rinder, who accompanies her on the show. She was now "disaffected" -- unhappy with the church -- and her friends were being told to help straighten her out. As things got worse, her friends started disconnecting from her, too. Eventually she decided she'd had enough, and took a step that would get her labeled as a "suppressive person:" She filed a missing person report on Shelly Miscavige with the LAPD. I had heard about this, but hadn't connected Remini with it. I have even more respect for her now that I know this.

Takeaway #4: Scientology punishes dissenters, and even has a facility near Hemet, California, that is like a prison.

After coming out as being out, Remini decided to speak up for those who can't. Fortunately for her, she had friends outside the church (though she lost dozens of friendships by leaving the church), and her family left too.

Takeaway #5: Belonging to a religion doesn't make you a better person in any way if people who don't belong to a religion can be better friends, colleagues, and family.

　

　

　

Religious Parents Neglect a Child to Death... Again...

Washington Post: Minn. Parents Let Son (7) Suffer wounds, inflamed Pancreas, With No Medical Attention Before He Died, Police Say

The parents had “issues with going to doctors”, they told authorities, and instead relied on their own research, giving the boy vitamins, “medical honey” and Neosporin, adding later that they “prayed” for the boy’s health.

Incredibly, this is a misdemeanor!

In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said the office initially approached the case as a homicide, given the boy’s physical injuries and apparent emotional trauma. But after a year of reviewing the evidence and medical information, investigators could not link the parents’ alleged actions — or alleged lack of actions — to Seth’s pancreatitis and death. As a result, Freeman said, prosecutors imposed the most serious charge the law allows, the gross misdemeanor charge of neglect of a child resulting in substantial physical harm.

To add insult to (fatal) injury, they started a crowdfunding page and bragged about what great parents they were. It's offline now but the WaPo quotes:

After their son’s death, the Johnsons created a crowdfunding page on Youcaring.com, raising $7,000 to “ease the financial burdens” of funeral expenses and leave from work, so that “Tim and Sarah can focus on getting their family through this difficult time.” Their son, they wrote, died unexpectedly in their home.

On the fundraising page, which has since closed, the Johnsons wrote that Seth “was a very quiet and hurting little boy” when he joined their family.

“His family embraced him completely and loved him unconditionally, and slowly began to see growth and change,” they wrote.

His parents “taught him about God’s love,” they added. “What it meant to be loved. What it meant to give love.”

It took over a year for authorities to figure out what happened and what to do about it.  If there really were a god, he would have smote these pigs by now!   Fortunately no other children died in their care in the meantime.

A lot of prisoners are parents who truly love their kids and regret not being better parents to them.  Instead of beating themselves up, they will have better targets now.... assuming the authorities have the kahonas to imprison them.