53 Facts About Tory Christman

Tory Christman was born on June 27,1947 and is an American critic of Scientology and former member of the organization.

Originally brought up a Catholic, Christman turned to Scientology after being introduced to the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health authored by Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard while staying with her parents in Chicago.

Tory Christman identified with concepts described in the book including the idea of attaining the Scientology state of clear, and became a member of the organization in 1969.

Tory Christman hitchhiked from Chicago to Los Angeles, in order to begin the process of studying Scientology, and initially felt that it helped improve her life.

Tory Christman subsequently rose to a higher Operating Thetan level of OT VII, the second-highest within the organization.

Tory Christman became an ordained minister within Scientology, and instructed celebrity member actor John Travolta in initial coursework.

Tory Christman participated in multiple missions for OSA, including a 1979 operation designed to advance the organization's interests in Clearwater, Florida, and a 1985 operation assisting OSA agents during a lawsuit filed against Scientology.

Tory Christman reported directly to OSA vice-president, Janet Weiland, about her efforts to remove criticism of Scientology from the media and online.

Tory Christman supervised the Scientology Parishioners League, a group dedicated to removing criticism about the organization from the press, media, and Internet.

Tory Christman took the screen name of "Magoo", and posted multiple times to the newsgroup in attempts to stifle criticism.

Tory Christman has since become one of the more prominent critics of Scientology; she lectures and gives interviews about the organization internationally.

Tory Christman was born in 1947; she is the daughter of Paul Tory Christman, an American football player and member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Tory Christman's father played college football for the University of Missouri and professionally for the Chicago Cardinals and Green Bay Packers.

Tory Christman's father had made over $4.5 million playing for NFL.

In 1969 at age 22, Tory Christman went through a difficult period abusing heroin in San Francisco, California.

Tory Christman had left home for California with the intent of becoming a hippie.

Tory Christman required medical treatment after using a dirty hypodermic needle, and returned to her parents' residence in Chicago.

Tory Christman read the foundational text Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health by Scientology founder, science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, and came to believe "it was a solution for helping other people".

In 1972, Tory Christman joined the division of Scientology called the Sea Org, a core group of the organization's staff.

Tory Christman worked for a time in one of the organization's Celebrity Centres, and became acquainted with celebrity members including John Travolta and Kelly Preston.

Tory Christman became an ordained minister within Scientology, and in this role trained new recruits to the organization, including Travolta.

Tory Christman trained Travolta on the "Hubbard Qualified Scientologist" course, the second Scientology class after the initial communication course.

Tory Christman spent time working at Narconon International, a group affiliated with Scientology and promoted as a drug rehabilitation program using methods created by Hubbard.

Tory Christman had difficulty progressing higher than OT VII within the organization, in part due to her epilepsy.

Tory Christman worked with the Office of Special Affairs, a department in Scientology, in her efforts to curtail or remove material critical of Scientology from the press, media, and the Internet.

Tory Christman spent a total of 20 years working for OSA while a member of the Scientology organization.

Tory Christman assisted OSA agents in 1979, when a politician in Clearwater, Florida was attempting to hinder the Scientology organization's efforts to establish a presence in the city.

Tory Christman was ordered to participate in public meetings, and divert the focus of these events to questioning of the politician, Richard Tenning.

Tory Christman was defeated in a subsequent election, and the Scientology organization proceeded to increase its activities in Clearwater.

In 1985, Tory Christman helped OSA agents during a lawsuit filed by a former Scientology member.

Tory Christman attended the court proceedings and wrote reports about members of the jury, and assisted Scientology lawyers in compiling profiles of the jurors.

At the time, Tory Christman was an ardent believer in the Scientology organization and did not question the activities of the OSA agents.

Tory Christman came across the Scientology critic website Operation Clambake, managed by Andreas Heldal-Lund.

Tory Christman reported directly to Weiland about her efforts to remove criticism of Scientology from the media and online and assisted in dealing with public relations for Scientology.

In 2000, Tory Christman was in charge of the Scientology Parishioners League, a division formed by volunteers on orders from Weiland in order to respond rapidly to incidents of critical coverage of Scientology in the press.

Tory Christman would receive instruction from OSA agents, and proceed to complain to journalists and television producers in an attempt to convince them to pull a critical segment on Scientology.

Tory Christman was tasked with refuting facts posted on the Internet about the organization.

Tory Christman was assigned to try to stop the MTV Movie Awards from featuring a South Park satire, which poked fun at Scientology and the film, based on a book by its founder L Ron Hubbard, titled Battlefield Earth.

Tory Christman repeatedly called the New York City office of MTV in an attempt to get them to stop the satire from airing.

Tory Christman believed she had succeeded in her mission, for she thought that her efforts prevented the book Dianetics from being used by Cartman, instead of the personality test.

From her Burbank, California residence in 2000, Tory Christman posted numerous attacks on Scientology critics that were active on ARS.

Tory Christman worked to become the most frequent poster on the newsgroup by July 2000.

Tory Christman identified with Heldal-Lund's ideals of free speech, and on July 20,2000, she announced her intention to leave Scientology in a public post to ARS.

Tory Christman realized she would face repercussions from the organization for her actions, and asked Heldal-Lund for help; he recommended she contact a group of protesters against Scientology called the Lisa McPherson Trust who were based in Clearwater.

Tory Christman recounted how after leaving the organization, the Church of Scientology attempted to damage her reputation through a policy referred to as "dead agenting".

Tory Christman contacted the Scientology critics based in Clearwater, and arranged flight transportation to Florida.

Tory Christman arrived at the airport in California to find that her flight was cancelled.

Tory Christman eventually got on a flight to Tampa, Florida, but at the gate when she arrived was met by agents of Scientology.

Shortly after leaving the organization, Tory Christman began protesting in Florida against Scientology with members of the LMT.

Tory Christman picketed with signs outside of the organization's Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater.

Tory Christman maintained that the actions by representatives of Scientology against her were examples of the policy, "fair game"; a form of retribution for criticizing the organization.

In 2008, Tory Christman was engaged in traveling around the world lecturing about Scientology and gave media interviews about the subject.

In February 2008, Tory Christman appeared on the National Public Radio program Morning Edition in a piece about the protest movement against Scientology called Project Chanology started by the Internet-based group Anonymous; she said she objected to any illegal methods used, but appreciated new activists taking part in criticizing Scientology.