[Garfie]

Through personal experience, having a sister who got drawn into Scientology after receiving a leaflet in which they seemed to promise to change the lives of people who were basically depressed and full of negativity about themselves, Scientology is about exploitation of the vulnerable.

My sister was mentally and emotionally in a very bad place so I went with her to their base where she was told to fill in a very long tick box questionnaire which left them able to very quickly identify her insecurities and weaknesses. They then used these in a discussion with her to completely destroy any last ounce of confidence and self esteem she had left. It was manipulative, dangerous and horrendous, and left her feeling totally defeated by the world.

At that point they promised to solve all her problems if she joined their 'cult' - which I refuse to call a religion. When she agreed, they took her to a separate room, and coerced her to write a hefty cheque. She emerged in tears, in a desperate state and felt totally worthless. I was truly concerned about her mental health, and it was clear to me they had exploited her weakness. They had broken her.

I demanded they return her cheque and they took me into a room where they were extremely intimidating and used implied threats in an attempt to make me back down. They kept me in that room for a long time and tried to identify my weaknesses and use them to break me. It was like they were trying to destroy my beliefs and control my mind.

I actually felt in danger so left the room and returned to the area where many other vulnerable people were filling in their questionnaires. They pursued me and tried to force me back into the room so I loudly highlighted that they were manipulating the weak in order to exploit them and take their money. It was only then that they returned the cheque in order to keep me quiet.

I was so glad to get out of that place unharmed and we got away from the area as a matter of urgency, as I was honestly concerned that they might follow us. We felt concerned for quite a while afterwards as my sister's address was on the questionnaire, but thankfully no more came of it. However, it has left me with a very negative opinion of Scientology.