Report Says Scientology Staff Members Are Treated Abusively

This morning's New York Times carries a front-page article on allegations by two former staff members of the Church of Scientology regarding abuse of staff mebers. Reporting on charges by Chris and Christie Colbran, who were recruited as teenagers to work for the elite corps of staff members known as Sea Org, the Times says:

They signed a contract for a billion years — in keeping with the church's belief that Scientologists are immortal. They worked seven days a week, often on little sleep, for sporadic paychecks of $50 a week, at most.

But after 13 years and growing disillusionment, the Collbrans decided to leave the Sea Org, setting off on a Kafkaesque journey that they said required them to sign false confessions about their personal lives and their work, pay the church thousands of dollars it said they owed for courses and counseling, and accept the consequences as their parents, siblings and friends who are church members cut off all communication with them.