Frank Flinn is an adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He has served as a forensic expert on the legal definition of religion, religious organizations, religious finances and various religious controversies, and he has testified concerning Scientology and many other New Religious Movements. Flinn wrote “Scientology: The Marks of Religion,” which examines the […]

Mai-Anh Le Tran, who emigrated at age 10 from Vietnam to the United States, is assistant professor of religious education and Asian-American cultures at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, Calif.

Oliver Wang is an assistant professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach, and writes about Asian-American cinema and about music, youth culture, popular culture and politics.

Min Zhou is a professor of sociology and Asian-American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and she studies Asian immigration to the United States. Her books include, as co-editor, Contemporary Asian America: A Multidisciplinary Reader and, as co-author, Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States and Straddling Two Social Worlds: The Experience of […]

John Duignan is co-author of The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology (2008). He says he is a former high-ranking member of the church. Amazon’s United Kingdom branch stopped selling Duignan’s book after receiving a claim that it libeled a church member; the publisher, Merlin Publishing, has denied that.

Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi is a psychology professor emeritus at the University of Haifa in Israel. His areas of expertise include the psychology of religion. He wrote an article titled “Scientology: Religion or racket?” that was published in September 2003 by the Marburg Journal of Religion.

Karin Pouw is international spokesperson for the Church of Scientology International. Contact through the website.

The nonprofit Religious Technology Center was established in 1982 to “preserve, maintain and protect the Scientology religion.” The center guards against improper use of Scientology’s religious symbols and technologies and has final ecclesiastical authority regarding their application, but it is not involved in routine church matters. Its international headquarters are in Los Angeles. David Miscavige has been […]

The Rev. Jana Drakka is a senior Zen Buddhist priest, calligrapher and community activist. She provides meditation, memorials and harm reduction groups for marginally housed people and those who work with them in San Francisco. She also advocates for the rights of those living in poverty.