If Scientology Ruled the World: Nazi Occultists, Sex Magick, Space Aliens, and the Second Coming

with Jon Atack

Dec 01, 2025

On this episode of Cults, Culture & Coercion, I sat down with one of my most trusted colleagues and best friends, Jon Atack, author, artist, poet, musician, and the recognized world expert on Scientology. Jon was a customer of the cult for nine years, completed OT5, and wrote Let’s Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky, the bestselling and definitive book on Hubbard. Together, we’ve co-authored scholarly chapters on manipulation and thought control. Although we each started by analyzing the groups that once ensnared us – Jon in Scientology, and me in the Moonies – we’ve long since expanded our focus to include all forms of authoritarianism: online radicalization, conspiracy movements, human trafficking, and coercive relationships.

Jon’s latest book, If Scientology Ruled the World: Nazi Occultists, Sex Magick, Space Aliens, and the Second Coming, begins with a chilling thought experiment: what if Scientology actually took power? To be clear: Jon does not believe that Scientology – which is facing serious challenges in maintaining current members and recruiting new ones – could ever gain enough popularity to control any government, let alone all the world’s governments. Still, with its extreme beliefs and ruthless disregard for human rights, Scientology could serve as a stand-in for any authoritarian movement. And there are many active Scientology offshoots. As I argue in my book, The Cult of Trump, authoritarianism exists worldwide, and harmful groups influence politics through lobbyists, cash, and manufactured populism. Maybe aScientology group won’t take over, but the idea that a destructive movement could dominate a nation, or even the world, isn’t far-fetched.

From Fantasy to Dehumanization

The week we recorded the podcast offered clear proof of this hypothesis: a text-thread scandal involving young Republicans espousing admiration for Nazi ideals. Jon’s book traces a genealogy from a 19th-century retelling of the Atlantis myth, through Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophy, to the “Aryan Race” fantasy that still plagues White Nationalist groups. These are not just harmless stories. They allowed to eugenics and the dehumanization that made mass murder a ghastly reality. When fantasies are linked to power, people get hurt.

One of the most fascinating points in this book was the revelation that, even though Himmler spent a fortune employing a fleet of “experts” to travel around the world assessing people’s body metrics, they ultimately had to admit that there was no evidence that the “Aryan Race” was any different from anyone else on the planet. In fact, there is no separate race, and as modern genetics has shown, we are all one race. Jon cited a particularly startling document, quoting Hitler in his bunker at the end of World War II, admitting that the Jewish people are an ethnicity not a separate race. This fervent determination to divide humanity fostered hatred and enabled genocide.

Like Nazism, which relied on an absurd myth of superiority, Scientology builds a worldview with grandiose claims while running an organization credibly accused of labor trafficking, moving thousands of vulnerable teens across borders, and cutting them off from their families. It is funded by ultra-wealthy benefactors, including Bob and Trish Duggan ($340 million in gifts) and Grant Cardone, and endorsed by celebrities such as Tom Cruise and Elizabeth Moss. Jon sadly noted that talented performers like Nicky Hopkins and Isaac Hayes died prematurely while being followers of the group. Scientology promises its wealthy members godlike powers from the secret (and vastly expensive) “Operating Thetan” (OT) levels, claiming to grant control over matter, energy, space, and time both mental and physical. Of course, no one has ever demonstrated any of these powers; if anyone truly had them, critics like Jon and me wouldn’t still be speaking freely.

The cult claims that Scientology is compatible with Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and other religions; they even publish a “Letter to a Catholic Priest” to support this falsehood. Atack reveals the secret materials accessible only after paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, where Hubbard describes Jesus as a fabricated “implant,” says heaven is a staged movie set, and predicts that we will one day find God “hiding under a rock.” Hubbard secretly said, “There was no Christ.” In the highest-level issue (withdrawn shortly after release), and revealed by Jon, Hubbard states that the purpose of Scientology is to prevent the Second Coming of Christ. I am Jewish; my objection is ethical, not sectarian: it is profoundly dishonest to promote interfaith compatibility publicly while secretly instructing insiders that Christianity is an enemy to be defeated.

Hypnosis by Another Name: How the Methods Work

Scientology claims it “de-hypnotizes” people. In reality, its auditing and training routines serve as hypnotic inductions under a different name. Jon and I, along with therapist Christian Szurko and former Scientologist staffer Chris Shelton, presented a reconstruction of Scientology’s hypnotic Communications course on stage together at a 2015 conference; the video of that presentation is available on Jon’s YouTube channel.

The structure of hypnotic induction is precise: repetition, fixed gaze, stillness, and tightly scripted prompts that quiet critical faculties and induce a trance state. Sessions usually end when a participant shows what are called “very good indicators,” a wave of euphoria that feels like a revelation and is then presented as proof that the process “worked.” Euphoria can be convincing; tension releases, relief feels like a breakthrough, sensory vividness increases, and clarity seems to follow, while the collective mirroring in the room provides social validation and a false sense of certainty. As a clinician trained in hypnosis, I can say clearly that hypnotic amnesia is real and exploitable. When a system induces trance, calls it awakening, and connects belonging and identity to that state, discernment becomes limited and goes beyond informed consent.

Jon proposes a compelling hypothesis: L. Ron Hubbard seems to exhibit most of the markers on the Bear-Fedio index for temporal lobe epilepsy: including hypergraphia, intense religiosity, mood swings, and unwavering certainty. Whether readers accept this medical perspective or not, the caution remains. Charisma and confidence are not proof. Throughout history, leaders’ subjective certainty has often been mistaken for truth, and this confusion has regularly caused a human cost. It is behind every religious war.

From Scientology to Large Group Awareness and Beyond

Scientology’s manipulative tactics have moved into the self-help industry. Werner Erhard’s est (later known as Landmark), Lifespring, and various Large Group Awareness Training programs adapted Hubbard’s pressure-promise-reframe formula for mass audiences. Programs vary in intensity, but the core idea remainsconsistent: control time, control the setting, push participants to emotional extremes, then label the ensuing dopamine rush as transformation. Secrecy about methods, engineered scarcity of time, food, or sleep, and a specialized language that pathologizes doubt foster compliance, while increasing upsells are presented as signs of commitment rather than financial dependence.

Today, recruitment rarely relies on simple persuasion; instead, it depends on data and outrage. Algorithmic systems acquire our triggers and serve us content that confirms our identity, sending us down the rabbit hole toward extreme worldviews. Expertise is undermined, emotion replaces evidence, and opponents are turned into caricatures of enemies. Jon and I agree that this is less about left versus right and more about authoritarian psychology. The same systems that once operatedwithin closed groups now drive climate denial, anti-regulatory propaganda, and monetized disinformation. The targets are our attention, our feelings, and our relationships. It’s not enough to think critically; we must also feel critically, learning to recognize when our emotional states are being manipulated and to slow down before we are led astray.

How People Actually Heal – and Why They Don’t

Recovery can be a lengthy process, and one must evaluate the group’s beliefs to heal from manipulation by that group. Jon’s simple, practical advice is to gather with a few trusted people, review the primary texts that have influenced your beliefs, and ask, “Is this true?” Keep what benefits you find and discard the harms. I’velong told clients that if a belief is true, it will withstand scrutiny. In clinical work, I’ve seen this sequence help repeatedly. Along with physical recovery, the path to healing requires psychoeducation: recognizing tactics like love-bombing, phobia-induction, thought-stopping, and information control so that a person’s experience can be understood.

The next step is emotional regulation, as the nervous system needs to be stabilized before the mind can evaluate properly. Sleep, nutrition, breathwork, and trauma-informed therapies are essential in this process. Then comes a review of beliefs, carefully testing doctrine against reality, and welcoming disconfirming evidence as a sign of health, not betrayal. As this process continues, identity can be rebuilt: values clarified, boundaries restored, and goals separated from the group. The journey often ends with a pro-social purpose, as former members turn their insights into advocacy, art, scholarship, parenting, or service.

Throughout the process, it helps to remember that it is the doctrine that is the enemy, not the group members. Those still inside and those who have recently left need compassion rather than contempt. A recent disturbing trend is for those born or raised in the cult to accuse other former members, activists who were recruited “chose to join”- ignoring the intense deception, hypnosis, and thought reform. We both agree that too many activist ex-members have not yet done their own healing work. Jon pointed out the sad and often-occurring tendency for ex-members to fight among themselves, reverting to “all or nothing thinking” when criticizing fellow ex-members or even those still within the group - only the destructive group benefits from such behavior.

The Stakes—and Our Choice

Authoritarian movements offer certainty. Healthy democracies require courage, curiosity, and conscience. Fantastical stories become dangerous when we delegate judgment and feelings to leaders or to algorithms. The solution is simple yet challenging: reality-testing, compassion for ourselves and others, and humility to revise our views when facts demand it. If you see yourself, or someone you love, trapped in undue influence, remember there’s life after coercion and dignity after deception. A growing community of survivors, scholars, clinicians, and advocates is ready to help you find mental freedom. We don’t need leaders who promise superpowers; we need citizens dedicated to the quiet superpowers that hold societies together: clear thinking, steady feelings, and the courage to change our minds.