Amy Scobee
| The Secrets of Scientology | |
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BBC journalist John Sweeney, with former high-ranking Scientology officials Mark Rathbun and Mike Rinder
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| Created by | Panorama · John Sweeney |
| Presented by | John Sweeney |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 28 September 2010 |
| External links | |
| news |
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The Secrets of Scientology is a documentary which was broadcast on 28 September 2010 as part of the BBC's Panorama documentary strand. Presented by John Sweeney it is a follow-up of his 2007 investigation into the Church of Scientology and features interviews with former high-ranking members of the organisation.
Reporter John Sweeney presented the hour-long programme, which was a follow-up to his 2007 documentary Scientology and Me in which he travelled to Los Angeles to investigate Scientology.
In The Secrets of Scientology, Sweeney interviews several individuals connected with the organisation and investigates allegations by former Scientology followers that the church sought to divide their families, something the church denies.
Among those interviewed include Mike Rinder a former long-term member of the organisation and one of its officials who was assigned to "handle" Sweeney during his 2007 programme. Rinder, who left the Church soon after the previous documentary, confirms Sweeney's suspicions that he was followed by the organisation during the making of that programme. He tells the reporter; "You were being followed [...] It would have come under my purview, no doubt whatsoever." Rinder, a member of the church since the age of six, talks about how he was subjected to "disconnection", a process by which his family cut him out of their lives.
Another Church of Scientology official interviewed during the programme is Amy Scobee, who joined the Church at the age of 14 and was a member of its Sea Org which runs the organisation's day-to-day operations. Scobee tells Sweeney of how details of her sex life before she was married were leaked to a newspaper after she left and criticised Scientology.
As with the 2007 documentary, Sweeney and his team were once again followed by people filming them during their visit to the United States, although, on this occasion the filming is much less covert. However, those filming refuse to answer Sweeney's questions when he approaches them and asks about their identity and purpose. On his return to the United Kingdom the BBC receives photographs of Sweeney in a farewell embrace with Amy Scobee from Carter-Ruck, the Church's UK lawyers, something which Sweeney welcomes as proof that those following him were working on behalf of the Church.
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