ThinkingForMyself
New Member
Hi,
This is my first post - it's very encouraging to find people opening up about their experiences.
My two sisters and I were born into it all - both parents were at various times members of staff at Sydney Foundation in the 80's and 90's and the three of us were constantly running around the org, which was almost a second home.
When we were old enough, my sisters and I began on the childrens courses...'How to Read a Dictionary', 'Learning How to Learn" etc, eventually progressing to slightly more advanced (but still low grade) courses. Although I resented giving up my weekends to do these, I knew my parents wanted me to work at them, so I did my best to please them. We went to the Athena School (then based in Tempe) and all of our friends were in some way related to the CofS. I don't think I ever knew anyone outside of the 'Church'.
When my older sister turned 15 she began to be constantly targeted as a prime candidate for the S.O., a path to which my parents objected, my father particularly so. My mother was at that time still on staff at SydF, and so was continually pressured to allow her eldest daughter to sign up. My sister continued to be 'worked on' until she wanted nothing more than to join, notions of saving the world going through her head.
During this time, they also began to work on me. I remember quite distinctly attending an 'event' at the relatively new AO headquarters in Broadway and being greeted by two old school friends of mine, who had become fulltime members (at 13-14 years old!) of the S.O. They led me and another, younger, friend into a room with some adults whose names I never knew, and began espousing the wonders of the S.O. They then gave me, a 13 year old child, a lifetime contract to sign, telling me it was a postulate for the future and that our parents would be proud of us. My friend signed readily enough, however even at 13 I was clued in enough to know that I shouldn't really be signing contracts, and managed to get away with the 'I'll need to talk to my parents' line.
My older sister however did not fare so well; her desire to join grew, as did the pressure on my mother to allow her. Eventually my mother signed the dotted line. I have since been told by a childhood friend that my mother was tricked into signing, having been informed that my father had acquiesced - I can't say if this is true or not. Without really knowing what was going on at the time, I found that my older sister was gone, S.O. members having come to our house and collected her whilst my parents were out. I saw her about twice that year.
My father found out and fought the whole thing; I can only assume that he was declared an SP (probably worse) and cut off. Following severe arguments, my parents separated, causing me and my younger sister to begin suffering anxiety and panic attacks. Though separated they continued to fight to get their daughter back. Again, the specifics have never been recounted to me. We received calls to the house, abusive people turned up at the door arguing with my father. At one stage I was taken into the S.O. and told I needed to write down 'all the bad things I had done' - I didn't. On another occasion, one of the girls that had been in the same year as me at Athena arrived at my home with an adult male who I had never seen before. I told her they weren't allowed in (my Dad wasn't home and he had told us to never let anyone from the Org in, even if we knew them, and to not be afraind to hang up if they called), however they both barged in and began trying to forcibly take me into the S.O. At one point my old school friend was even trying to forcibly dress me and put socks on my feet with her own hands. Eventually my younger sister called my Dad - they spoke to him briefly on the phone and then left. From that point on I was cut off from my sister, I only saw my mother sporadically throughout the week, and I was completely cut off from any of the kids and people I had known my whole life.
Eventually my older sister returned home after about a year of continuing drama. My parents reconciled, however I still to this day do not really know what happened, as my family do not speak of it, and I and my younger sister were too young then to understand what was going on. We all moved on with our lives and are now a disgustingly well-adjusted and happy family, albeit with a healthy dose of loathing for any and all forms of organised religion.
This is my first post - it's very encouraging to find people opening up about their experiences.
My two sisters and I were born into it all - both parents were at various times members of staff at Sydney Foundation in the 80's and 90's and the three of us were constantly running around the org, which was almost a second home.
When we were old enough, my sisters and I began on the childrens courses...'How to Read a Dictionary', 'Learning How to Learn" etc, eventually progressing to slightly more advanced (but still low grade) courses. Although I resented giving up my weekends to do these, I knew my parents wanted me to work at them, so I did my best to please them. We went to the Athena School (then based in Tempe) and all of our friends were in some way related to the CofS. I don't think I ever knew anyone outside of the 'Church'.
When my older sister turned 15 she began to be constantly targeted as a prime candidate for the S.O., a path to which my parents objected, my father particularly so. My mother was at that time still on staff at SydF, and so was continually pressured to allow her eldest daughter to sign up. My sister continued to be 'worked on' until she wanted nothing more than to join, notions of saving the world going through her head.
During this time, they also began to work on me. I remember quite distinctly attending an 'event' at the relatively new AO headquarters in Broadway and being greeted by two old school friends of mine, who had become fulltime members (at 13-14 years old!) of the S.O. They led me and another, younger, friend into a room with some adults whose names I never knew, and began espousing the wonders of the S.O. They then gave me, a 13 year old child, a lifetime contract to sign, telling me it was a postulate for the future and that our parents would be proud of us. My friend signed readily enough, however even at 13 I was clued in enough to know that I shouldn't really be signing contracts, and managed to get away with the 'I'll need to talk to my parents' line.
My older sister however did not fare so well; her desire to join grew, as did the pressure on my mother to allow her. Eventually my mother signed the dotted line. I have since been told by a childhood friend that my mother was tricked into signing, having been informed that my father had acquiesced - I can't say if this is true or not. Without really knowing what was going on at the time, I found that my older sister was gone, S.O. members having come to our house and collected her whilst my parents were out. I saw her about twice that year.
My father found out and fought the whole thing; I can only assume that he was declared an SP (probably worse) and cut off. Following severe arguments, my parents separated, causing me and my younger sister to begin suffering anxiety and panic attacks. Though separated they continued to fight to get their daughter back. Again, the specifics have never been recounted to me. We received calls to the house, abusive people turned up at the door arguing with my father. At one stage I was taken into the S.O. and told I needed to write down 'all the bad things I had done' - I didn't. On another occasion, one of the girls that had been in the same year as me at Athena arrived at my home with an adult male who I had never seen before. I told her they weren't allowed in (my Dad wasn't home and he had told us to never let anyone from the Org in, even if we knew them, and to not be afraind to hang up if they called), however they both barged in and began trying to forcibly take me into the S.O. At one point my old school friend was even trying to forcibly dress me and put socks on my feet with her own hands. Eventually my younger sister called my Dad - they spoke to him briefly on the phone and then left. From that point on I was cut off from my sister, I only saw my mother sporadically throughout the week, and I was completely cut off from any of the kids and people I had known my whole life.
Eventually my older sister returned home after about a year of continuing drama. My parents reconciled, however I still to this day do not really know what happened, as my family do not speak of it, and I and my younger sister were too young then to understand what was going on. We all moved on with our lives and are now a disgustingly well-adjusted and happy family, albeit with a healthy dose of loathing for any and all forms of organised religion.
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