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Hello friends! I've decided I'm going to blog every day for the next 30 days. It's a tall order, and I don't know if it'll actually happen, but it's a challenge I know I will enjoy taking on. And it's going to start...now!

In this first post of my 30 day challenge, I want to recommend a book I just finished reading*, called Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. I've always had a fascination** with new American religions, their history, their beliefs, and their adherents***, and this book did not disappoint me in the slightest. I found it dispassionate, well-researched (as best I can tell), and admirably balanced in terms of looking at Scientology from many lenses (not all of which are critical)--although representatives of the Church of Scientology seem to disagree on all of the above counts. Indeed, they charge author Lawrence Wright with having "no interest in the facts, only the lies and exaggerations being fed to him by angry, bitter sources with agendas based on hatred and revenge," and they call the book "a biased work, more fiction than fact" (source). It is worth reading the three rather long letters that the Church/its lawyers sent to CNN when asked to comment on a story about the book, one of which ends:

Mr. Wright's book is full of many mistakes, unfounded statements, and utterly false facts. It is infused with religious bigotry--we caution CNN against broadcasting his hateful, and in many cases, actionable statements. [Meaning: "shit we will sue you over"]

The Church of Scientology has a well-known reputation of suing anybody who does anything they don't like (there's a whole Wikipedia article about it!), so I commend Lawrence Wright for being a total and utter badass in publishing this book.

In brief, the book covers the following:

1. Story of the life and times of L. Ron Hubbard, who was maybe crazy, or maybe brilliant, or maybe both, and who certainly lead a fascinating life
2. Story of Paul Haggis, a famous screenwriter (apparently; he's new to me), who left the church rather publicly in 2009
3. Story of David Miscavige, current leader of the church, and how he rose to power/maintains power
4. Stories of many members of the "Sea Org" who have chosen to leave the church, and how that has played out for them
5. And throughout, explanations of what exactly Scientologists believe

Why am I recommending this book here? On the surface, Going Clear is not really related to the subject of this blog, since it's not like Scientology is going to take over and destroy the world (or at least, I'm not worried that it will).**** But there are a lot of examples in this book of how people can and do wield power (and money, oodles of money) to get what they want, no matter what, and no matter what is actually morally right, manipulating masses of people and government agencies along the way. Such issues do fall under my set of concerns about the society we live in, because I fervently believe we should live in a society in which informed reasonableness, and not money/religion, rules policy and practice. Sadly, we do not, and this book was yet another reminder that such a society is a utopian dream we will likely never achieve.

If you're not into reading an incredibly long book about Scientology (even though you should be, it's really good), let me recommend these shorter pieces, which will give you a good flavor of the tome:

• Probably the genesis for the book: New Yorker article about Paul Haggis that got me interested in learning more about Scientology.
• Fascinating NPR story of how the Church of Scientology responded to fact-checking requests from the New Yorker
• Steven Colbert on Scientology, and interviewing Lawrence Wright
• NPR interview with Lawrence Wright about Going Clear
• And of course, this South Park episode (or just this clip, if you're impatient) 

Thus ends my first blog entry of the 30 day challenge.

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*In the interest of full disclosure, I actually listened to the book during my epic 18+ hours of driving over this past week/weekend*****, but I think that's as good as reading.
**It's rubbernecking, really.
***In this vein, I highly recommend Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer.
****And although I personally believe Scientology is more than a little crazy, and that for some members it is probably more of a cult than a religion, I also believe that all organized religions are more than a little bit crazy, and I don't want to single out Scientology just because it's more socially acceptable to do so.
*****One of the places I visited was Ithaca, where I got to hang out with my 2-year-old nephew and 3-month-old niece, who are seriously adorable.