Tory Christman

Tory Christman (born June 27, 1947) is an American critic of Scientology and former member of the organization.

Originally brought up a Catholic, Christman turned to Scientology after being introduced to the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health authored by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard while staying with her parents in Chicago. She identified with concepts described in the book including the idea of attaining the Scientology state of clear, and became a member of the organization in 1969. She hitchhiked from Chicago to Los Angeles, in order to begin the process of studying Scientology, and initially felt that it helped improve her life. In 1972, she joined the core group of staff members within Scientology called the Sea Org. After being a member of the Scientology organization for ten years, Christman reached the spiritual Operating Thetan level of OT III, and learned the story of Xenu. She subsequently rose to a higher Operating Thetan level of OT VII, the second-highest within the organization. Her medical condition of epilepsy caused difficulty while in Scientology, as the organization did not approve of taking medication in order to manage her condition.

She became an ordained minister within Scientology, and instructed celebrity member actor John Travolta in initial coursework. Christman worked in various capacities during her time with Scientology, including for its drug rehabilitation organization Narconon, and at one of the organization's Celebrity Centres. After serving in these roles, Christman came to work for the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), which functions as an intelligence agency within Scientology. She participated in multiple missions for OSA, including a 1979 operation designed to advance the organization's interests in Clearwater, Florida, and a 1985 operation assisting OSA agents during a lawsuit filed against Scientology. In 1999, OSA agents removed the censorship software "Scieno Sitter" from Christman's home computer, in order to allow her to carry out a mission of monitoring critical material about Scientology on the Internet. It was in this capacity that she came across the Scientology critic website Operation Clambake, managed by Andreas Heldal-Lund.

Christman reported directly to OSA vice-president, Janet Weiland, about her efforts to remove criticism of Scientology from the media and online. She supervised the Scientology Parishioners League, a group dedicated to removing criticism about the organization from the press, media, and Internet. After an operation viewed as successful where Christman complained to MTV about a South Park parody involving Travolta and characters from the comedy series which satirized Scientology, she was assigned in 2000 to monitor postings to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology. Christman took the screen name of "Magoo", and posted multiple times to the newsgroup in attempts to stifle criticism. This conflicted with her ideals of freedom of speech, and after Andreas Heldal-Lund reached out to her by email, she subsequently decided to leave Scientology.

After leaving Scientology, Christman's family and friends in the movement ceased communication with her, under the organization's policy of "disconnection." She traveled to Florida to join members of the Lisa McPherson Trust, a group dedicated to protesting against Scientology. For leaving Scientology and joining with a critic group, she felt she was subjected to the Scientology policy of "fair game"; a form of retribution for criticizing the organization. Christman has since become one of the more prominent critics of Scientology; she lectures and gives interviews about the organization internationally. In 2008 she took part in protests against Scientology organized by Project Chanology, itself started by the Internet-based group Anonymous but criticized the group for some of their initial illegal acts. Christman maintains an account on YouTube with the identification "ToryMagoo44", where she posts topically about Scientology. The Sunday Times characterized Christman in a 2009 article as "a fierce critic of the church". Her father had made over $4.5 million playing for NFL. Christman was raised Catholic. In 1969 at age 22, Christman went through a difficult period abusing heroin in San Francisco, California. two Scientologist friends persuaded her to join the Scientology organization. In recalling her initial thoughts upon reading the book by Hubbard, Christman commented, "I was really looking for a higher state of consciousness and a way of helping people. And I read Dianetics and I felt "Wow this is it!" You know, "I can help people go clear." Her first course in Scientology cost $35.00. She stated in the book, "I find life just gets better and better."

Scientology

Rise within organization In 1972, Christman joined the division of Scientology called the Sea Org, 3 News characterised the Sea Org as "Scientology's senior management". In their book Cults and New Religions, Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley describe the Sea Org writing, "Described by the Church as 'a fraternal religious order,' members of the Sea Org 'occupy the most essential and trusted positions in the senior churches in the Scientology hierarchy'." Rolling Stone notes, "Sea Org members staff all of the senior ecclesiastic positions in the church hierarchy". Her Sea Org career was short lived; she was instructed to cease taking prescribed medication for her epilepsy, and as a result experienced multiple serious seizures. In one instance, two of her front teeth fell out after she had a fall caused by a seizure while in the bathroom. Christman recalled that her epilepsy was not recognized as a genuine medical condition by Scientology; whose practice was to instruct members to attempt self-treatment, specifically completing the Purification Rundown, a controversial detoxification program that utilizes saunas and vitamins.

After a few months, she was finally convinced by her mother to resume taking her medication, even though this meant expulsion from the Sea Org. She recounted her experience of reading the Xenu story upon reaching the level of OT III: "You've jumped through all these hoops just to get to it, and then you open that packet, and the first thing you think is, 'Come on.'" and became acquainted with celebrity members including John Travolta and Kelly Preston. She became an ordained minister within Scientology, and in this role trained new recruits to the organization, including Travolta. a group affiliated with Scientology and promoted as a drug rehabilitation program using methods created by Hubbard. She later came to realize that Narconon was a recruitment arm for Scientology, "Narconon's orders come from the Church of Scientology's senior management. Their programs, policies – it's all church policy. There's no question about this to anyone involved. ... At Narconon [they are] handling drugs in society. But in truth, it's to 'safe point the environment' – a goodwill gesture so they can recruit people." She spent a total of 20 years working for OSA while a member of the Scientology organization. Within the organization, negative publicity in the media was referred to as "Black PR". During her time working with OSA, she observed, "The guys I worked with posted every day all day. It was like a machine. I worked with someone who used five separate computers, five separate anonymous identities ... to refute any facts from the Internet about the Church of Scientology." She acknowledged that she set up multiple identities for this purpose online, "I was in charge of setting up phony accounts on the Internet that were designed to shut down free speech by blocking out opponents' sites or trick-routing people to pro-Scientology sites when they were looking for opposing information."

Public criticism

Shortly after leaving the organization, Christman began protesting in Florida against Scientology with members of the LMT. Scientology representatives in Clearwater complained to police in November 2000 about the picketing, and Christman and Minton were fined US$100. This experience was a defining period for Christman, as she was concerned that her former church would attempt to characterize her as a criminal.

In 2008, Christman was engaged in traveling around the world lecturing about Scientology and gave media interviews about the subject. In his 2008 book Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography, author Andrew Morton thanked Christman in the acknowledgements section for advising him with regard to the jargon and complicated history of Scientology. In February 2008, Christman appeared on the National Public Radio program Morning Edition in a piece about the protest movement against Scientology called Project Chanology started by the Internet-based group Anonymous; she said she objected to any illegal methods used, but appreciated new activists taking part in criticizing Scientology. Along with Scientology critic Mark Bunker, she took part in the international protests against the organization in 2008 as part of Project Chanology.

Christman maintains an account on YouTube with the identification "ToryMagoo44", where she posts topically about Scientology. In April 2008, Christman’s YouTube account was briefly suspended, coinciding with a suspension of Bunker’s channel. Shortly thereafter, an anonymous user on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology claimed responsibility for "silencing" her. Christman resided in Los Angeles in 2009. The Sunday Times characterized Christman in a 2009 article as "a fierce critic of the church".