Church of Scientology International Response to Politiken

October 24, 2016

January 27, 2020

Birgitte Kjær
Politiken
Rådhuspladsen, 37
DK-1785 Copenhagen V, Denmark

Re: Inquiry to Church of Scientology

Dear Ms. Kjær:

We’ve received your inquiry. You state that you have interviewed Mariette Lindstein regarding her latest fiction book, but do not give the title. Since it is a work of fiction, it obviously has nothing to do with us.

Her only reason for talking about a Church that she has not been part of since 2004 – 16 years ago – is obvious: She is attempting to exploit her former religion for publicity. Nobody knows who Mariette Lindstein is. On the other hand, Scientology is very well known, as is Mr. David Miscavige – a global religious leader.

Since the reason for your inquiry is the interest in Scientology, it is inappropriate to do so by way of invented tabloid-like allegations. There is no substance to Lindstein’s claims which, like her book, are pure fiction.

As a journalist, you will be interested in facts – fascinating, yet factual, information that is readily available. Please see the following links:

  • The 2020 Scientology New Year’s celebration, hosted by Mr. David Miscavige at the famed Shrine Auditorium, in Los Angeles, to a capacity crowd of over 6,000. This site contains an overview of the myriad accomplishments of the Scientology religion over the past decade and includes a multitude of photographic images, videos and interactive timelines: www.Scientology.org/NY2020.

  • Scientology’s presence in Denmark dates back more than 50 years and includes numerous Churches of Scientology, ecclesiastical management headquarters for the European continent, and the Church’s publication house. The new Church of Scientology of Denmark held its grand opening on May 27, 2017, hosted by Mr. Miscavige before thousands of parishioners, guests and dignitaries right on the Walking Street: www.Scientology.org/Denmark.

  • Scientology launched its own TV channel on DirecTV as well as live streaming on multiple platforms in 17 languages. A special episode on Copenhagen that aired on Scientology TV is available on-demand at: www.DestinationScientology.TV/Copenhagen.

  • Finally, for the factual and actual story of Mr. David Miscavige, see his official website, including multiple videos of interviews of those who know him (scroll to the bottom of the homepage): www.DavidMiscavige.org.

QUESTIONS

Mariette Lindstein’s allegations are defamatory. Likewise, her claims are absurd for the fact that they make no sense. Of course they don’t. The real story is this:

The Dan Koon Lindstein refers to happens to be her partner. And the actual reason for Lindstein and Koon’s departure is the fact they were carrying on, secretly, for the better part of a year, an extramarital affair. Both Koon and Lindstein were members of the Scientology religious order which prohibits extramarital activity, not to mention extramarital affairs. Both knew they would be subject to expulsion from the religion should their clandestine affair be discovered.

To be clear, both Koon and Lindstein were married to different spouses at the time of their affair: Dan Koon to his wife Sue of 26 years; Mariette Lindstein to her husband (and father of her child) Billy of 24 years.

So as to evade expulsion from the Church, they concocted a plan to keep their affair a secret, leave Church staff separately, so that their secret affair would not be obvious to all, but instead remain concealed, hoping to remain members of the religion as Scientology parishioners in good standing. To effectuate this plan, the following occurred:

1) On December 21, 2003, Dan Koon told his wife Sue he was going out to buy her Christmas gifts. Whereupon, he walked out of their apartment, without another word, never to be seen again.

2) Mariette Lindstein separately, but some time after Koon’s departure, requested a transfer to a different Church facility to participate in a rehabilitation program. From that location, working with members of the religious order who had not worked with and knew nothing of Dan Koon, Mariette bided her time until Dan Koon had all but been forgotten about. At which point, in April 2004, she too departed and, once again, without another word to her then husband. As the Church later learned, Lindstein immediately rendezvoused with Koon.

Those are the facts. And, since your questions contain no mention of their immoral extramarital affair, let alone conduct a member of any religion would consider disgraceful and despicable (leaving your long-term spouse without so much as a goodbye) I am confident that Lindstein did not relate any part of this story to you – a story of non-fiction.

As is obvious, your request for answers to Lindstein’s other sensationalistic claims are on the order of asking us to prove a negative. Nevertheless, those claims are easily dispensed with:

  • Golden Era Productions (Gold) is the audiovisual filmmaking facility of the Church of Scientology International. It is a massive former resort (500 acres) and is breathtakingly beautiful. The facilities for staff are glorious and include a swimming pool, basketball courts, volleyball courts, running track and even a nine-hole golf course. The facility is open to and used by the local community for everything from bass fishing tournaments (on the lake located at the center of the property) to fundraisers for local charities and law enforcement (at the clubhouse and banquet hall). To prove the absurdity of Lindstein’s mischaracterization of Gold, look for yourself. See video at: www.Scientology.org/GoldenEra.

  • Anyone who knows anything about film production knows that every major film and TV studio in the world has security and fencing, including Universal Studios, Paramount Studios, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures and Walt Disney. Like these other studios, Golden Era Productions has expensive, state-of-the-art equipment to protect. However:

    • Unlike the aforementioned studios, there are no armed guards at Golden Era.

    • To further illustrate the extent of Lindstein’s dishonesty (“you are not allowed to get out”), neither Lindstein nor Koon lived on the property and, in fact, commuted daily from and to apartments in a nearby town miles away. They got in and out every day.

  • Other claims about Mr. David Miscavige are blatantly false and categorically denied. The beauty of the Gold property and, indeed, all other facilities for Scientology’s religious order across the world (US, England, Australia, South Africa, Denmark) are evidence of Mr. Miscavige’s care, kindness and compassion for all Church staff – something he is renowned for. In fact, evidence the massive ongoing restoration of the Church’s building on Cort Adelers Gade to provide even more facilities for the religious order.

  • The absurd claim Lindstein makes about her “friend” is a disgusting falsehood and comes under the heading of “anybody can make up anything.” Obviously it never happened and, to reiterate, the claim is totally false.

  • And finally, Lindstein’s claims about her website and manuscripts represent her fantastical paranoia. The Church has done nothing to harass Lindstein and the proof that she has no concern about being “persecuted” is the fact she herself sneaked into, uninvited, a barbecue at our Malmö Church. As for her claims of “hacking,” consider that she lives in Sweden, home to some of the biggest hackers in the world. If she were the victim of a hack, which is questionable since she has provided no evidence, then she is delusional in blaming the Church. Or, rather, she has made up yet another fiction story to sell books.

Thank you for your courtesy in providing us the opportunity to respond to your questions and give you the truth.

Regards,
Karin Pouw