Beyond Belief

My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape

By: Jenna Miscavige Hill

Narrated by: Sandy Rustin

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Non-Fiction, 2014

Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, details her experiences as a member Sea Org - the church's highest ministry - speaks of her "disconnection" from family outside of the organization, and tells the story of her ultimate escape.

In this tell-all memoir, Jenna Miscavige Hill, a prominent critic of Scientology who now helps others leave the organization, offers an insider's profile of the beliefs, rituals, and secrets of the religion that has captured the fascination of millions, including some of Hollywood's brightest stars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

©2013 Jenna Miscavige Hill (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

Eye opening

This was wonderfully written and so very harrowing. It’s a look into this “religion’s” values and ethics. It is so sad to know that things like tia go on, and I cried for every person mentioned who lost contact with their family and friends. Good for this author to come out and speak her truth.

Truth is stranger than fiction...

What did you like best about this story?

This book is a shocking eye opener. Perhaps some of the most attractive things about Scientology for so many people is the elusive achievements they believe they can get at the higher levels of attainment. All the great things and enlightenment promised by Scientology is exposed as a fraud in this book. Bravo to Jenna and her family for having the courage to think for themselves, break free and tell the truth about what is going on behind closed doors with the abuse of children and mind control they practice as a matter of course.

What does Sandy Rustin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great emotional delivery.

Good read. Eye opening.

Interesting, insider view of Scientology. Repetitive at times, but still a good listen. Enjoyed it.

It’s a complicated cult but such a good story

I was grateful that instead of reading this one, I went with an audible. There’s a lot to this story and I think eventually I might have been overwhelmed with the extent of it but the reader did an amazing job capturing me. Not only was I learning a ton about this “religion” her story was so interesting I couldn’t stop listening to it.

Touching

It was difficult listening to Jenna’s experiences as a child and I felt myself getting teary a few times when she described her experiences at the ranch and longing for her mom. Very well put together account if her life and testament to her humanity. The reader was okay. Didn’t hate her style but could have found someone more sincere to read the book.

A really shocking story, very well told.

the author does such a good job of walking you through her development over the course of the story - just a really thought provoking book.

Scientology is like a police state

In the U.S., religion and the freedom to practice it is a kind of shibboleth — because we have enshrined the First Amendment, we are very reluctant to impose any sort of restrictions on religious practice, and even most people who don't care for a religion will be loathe to categorically state any particular religion is wrong, bad, or evil. The exceptions are generally either bigots or folks whose own religious beliefs are so exclusionary that by necessity they must regard all other faiths as antagonistic.

L. Ron Hubbard and his church have taken great advantage of this fact, running what can only be called a pyramid scheme organized like a police state but wearing the trappings of religion. Any objective study of Scientology, its history, and its methods will not allow a reasonable person to come away in doubt as to its nature. And yet we have to put up with Scientologists donning the First Amendment to shield themselves from criticism while engaging in the most despicable dirty tricks against their enemies (who are legion, especially in LRH's paranoid cosmology).

When I read another book about Scientology, "Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion," by Janet Reitman, one of the things I wondered was how do they actually get people to believe this nonsense? And what makes people stay in such an abusive, irrational cult when they could walk away at any time?

That book gave two answers: first, the Internet has not been good for Scientology, which is why their members are generally forbidden to access it. Second: the remaining hardcore "faithful" are basically the children and grandchildren of Scientologists who grew up in the "church" and have never known anything else.

That is the perspective of Jenna Miscavige Hill, who is the niece of the David Miscavige, current leader of Scientology and heir to L. Ron Hubbard's Empire. She was born and raised into Scientology, and even as the surrounding world seeped into her awareness, she was essentially kept in a Scientology bubble until her late teens. Given this, it becomes a little surprising that she rebelled as much as she did.

For anyone who's read other books about Scientology, there won't be much new information here, but Jenna Miscavige Hill gives an unrelentingly grim picture of the "church," without even meaning to, because while in her conclusions, following her escape, she makes it clear that she considers the church and its leaders to be abusive, lying, and unethical, everything she experienced along the way was "normal" for her, so perhaps the full horror of growing up in what amounted to a system of work camps supervised by snitches and political officers ready to take away even the smallest privileges and shut you in a room to be yelled at for hours at the slightest breach of rules, never completely registered with her. She learns, only after leaving the church, how "weird" other people find her upbringing.

For all that she had such an exceptional and scarring upbringing, Hill is personable and clearly a person of integrity (it was her unwillingness to throw friends and family under the bus on demand, which the Church of Scientology demands frequently, that consistently got her into trouble). The church very carefully tiptoes around the law, so most of their practices aren't quite illegal as long as their members voluntarily submit to it - which they do, because the deeper you become immersed in the church, the more it makes up your entire world, and support system, and life, and to be cast out and declared a "Suppressive Person" can leave many of the faithful with literally nowhere else to turn.

Against the background of Scientology, Hill's day to day life is actually pretty mundane, and many of her tribulations are just the normal ones of a slightly mouthy teenager feeling her oats. Even Scientology can't keep kids from being kids, nor can they keep star-crossed lovers apart. Well, actually they can, and do, but not always. They separated Hill from her first love, and almost turned her husband against her while they were still in the church and on the cusp of leaving, but eventually they did leave, still negotiating the church's insane and cumbersome rules so as not to be excluded from ever talking to their families again.

Scientology is strange, perverse, and frankly evil in its execution, an engine for extracting money from its followers and suppressing every independent thought. Like most religions, it comes with doctrines and an origin story and fine-sounding gospel about how to make the world a better place.

Needless to say, Hill and her husband find the discovery of Operation Clambake and the infamous South Park episode on Scientology to be eye-opening.

Hill is a bit too credulous in places, particularly when she praises anonymous for their act of hacking Scientology websites and taking them briefly offline. To her, this was a worldwide movement of activists standing up for her and other victims of the church, when of course anyone familiar with anonymous knows that while they might sometimes seize on a good cause for their shenanigans, they do everything for the lols. She's also frequently (in her retelling of her behavior) whiny and annoying, though given how young she was and what she was being put through, this is understandable.

Jenna Miscavige Hill is really a fairly unexceptional person who grew up in what to most of us is an extreme environment, and came out of it as normal as can be expected. Her memoir will fill you in on the details of Scientology's operations and what it's like to be a Scientologist, and should scare off anyone even remotely considering treating this cult as a legitimate religion or a place to find answers.

A Horrifying story about fanaticism

I'm fascinated about religions. I have tried to believe in lots of things in my time and have tried to stay really open minded towards beliefs. Scientology is one of those religions that's kind of hard to find any objective information about. It's always either propaganda for the church or activism against it. This book kind of answers me why that's the case. It seems like Scientology isn't a religion at all, it's an brain washing experiment and a money making scam. It filled me with horror listening to Jenna's story, especially as a father, but at the same time it was very interesting.

I guess the narrator is trying to act a little while reading. In the beginning for instance she is reading somewhat girly, as the author is a little girl (at the time), and that felt odd, but as the book went on, it grew on me and I started liking it. And she isn't a bad actor, actually this was probably just the way a book like this should be read.

Scientology, One Scary Joke

What made the experience of listening to Beyond Belief the most enjoyable?

I hate to admit this, but when Jenna talks about the celebrities in Scientology and what their existence is like. Even though it's a brief part of the book, it's still fascinating. Sort of like seeing a car wreck.

What other book might you compare Beyond Belief to and why?

Maybe Helter Skelter, since it's involves a cult that brain washes it's members.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Sandy Rustin's performance takes a little getting used to because she has a very girlish voice. It makes sense, since she is the voice of Jenna who grew up in the Church of Scientology, so of course she would have a young sounding voice. While she did a great job narrating as a young girl, it's still a little difficult to get used to.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I didn't feel the desire to listen to this in one sitting, it still was captivating. Especially the second half.

Any additional comments?

If you watched "Going Clear" or read it, here's another insight into the cult life of Scientology.

Good companion to Leah Remini's book and show

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book. The narrative dragged on at times, but overall I couldn't believe what these children -including the narrator - had to endure. I recommend it, especially if you are enjoying Leah Remini's show and have read her book (not to overshadow Mrs. Hill's book)