Scientology insider's nightmare childhood

Scientology insider's nightmare childhood By Sarah Collerton 3/12/10 A former Scientologist who says she was a "child slave" and alleges she saw a six-year-old boy chained up in a ship's hold is disappointed the Senate has blocked a full inquiry into the religious organisation.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has been calling for a full inquiry into the church since revealing claims of forced abortions and other abuses in Parliament last year. Keryn, 54, grew up in the church and has asked the ABC to identify her only by her first name. She says she was a victim of "hard labour, mental brutality and separation" on Scientology ships, which were used for the Church's elite band of followers in the 1960s to 1970s. She is angry the motion for a Scientology probe has been blocked in Parliament....

Keryn's decision to speak openly about her experiences comes after ABC1's Four Corners program, The Ex-Files, in which former members told of forced abortions, pressure to work extreme hours and being forced to hand over large sums of money. Members of Scientology's elite unit of full-time staffers the Sea Organisation - or Sea Org - detailed allegations of a strict regime of discipline and punishment in place during the 1960s. Scientology has denied the claims, but Keryn says she can back up the allegations. She says she signed a billion-year contract as a 12-year-old, lived on the Scientology vessels The Royal Scotman and The Athena, and was in effect a "child slave". "When we were on the ship, we had people working 20 hours a day, seven days a week," she said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/12/2844150.htm

Scientology: The Ex-Files Reporter: Quentin McDermott Broadcast: 08/03/2010 Reporter Quentin McDermott talks to men and women who were members of an elite unit inside the Church in Australia and the United States. They explain why they joined, how they worked tirelessly for Scientology, and how, in some cases, they were pressured, and pressured others, to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Church. http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2010/s2837513.htm