Tory Christman

Tory Christman (born June 27, 1947) is a prominent 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.

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

Her father played college football for the University of Missouri and professionally for the Chicago Cardinals and Green Bay Packers.

Her father had made over $4.5 million playing for NFL.

Christman was raised Catholic.

She 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.

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

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

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

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

While recuperating in Illinois after a stay at Lake Forest Hospital, two Scientologist friends persuaded her to join the Scientology organization.

She 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 recalling her initial thoughts upon reading the book by Hubbard, Christman commented, "I was really looking for a higher state of consciousness and a way of helping people. And I read Dianetics and I felt "Wow this is it!" You know, "I can help people go clear." She hitchhiked from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1969 to study Scientology. Her first course in Scientology cost $35.00. Christman was quoted with a positive comment about Scientology in the 1992 edition of the Church of Scientology International-produced book What is Scientology?. She stated in the book, "I find life just gets better and better." Christman has a son.

In 1972, she joined the core group of staff members within Scientology called the Sea Org.

After being a member of the Scientology organization for ten years, Christman reached the spiritual Operating Thetan level of OT III, and learned the story of Xenu.

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

Her medical condition of epilepsy caused difficulty while in Scientology, as the organization did not approve of taking medication in order to manage her condition.

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

Christman worked in various capacities during her time with Scientology, including for its drug rehabilitation organization Narconon, and at one of the organization's Celebrity Centres.

After serving in these roles, Christman came to work for the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), which functions as an intelligence agency within Scientology.

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

3 News characterised the Sea Org as "Scientology's senior management".

In their book Cults and New Religions, Douglas E. Cowan and David G. Bromley describe the Sea Org writing, "Described by the Church as 'a fraternal religious order,' members of the Sea Org 'occupy the most essential and trusted positions in the senior churches in the Scientology hierarchy'."

Rolling Stone notes, "Sea Org members staff all of the senior ecclesiastic positions in the church hierarchy".

She 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.

In 1999, OSA agents removed the censorship software "Scieno Sitter" from Christman's home computer, in order to allow her to carry out a mission of monitoring critical material about Scientology on the Internet.

It was in this capacity that she came across the Scientology critic website Operation Clambake, managed by Andreas Heldal-Lund.

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

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

After an operation viewed as successful where Christman complained to MTV about a South Park parody involving Travolta and characters from the comedy series which satirized Scientology, she was assigned in 2000 to monitor postings to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology.

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

This conflicted with her ideals of freedom of speech, and after Andreas Heldal-Lund reached out to her by email, she subsequently decided to leave Scientology.

After leaving Scientology, Christman's family and friends in the movement ceased communication with her, under the organization's policy of "disconnection."

She traveled to Florida to join members of the Lisa McPherson Trust, a group dedicated to protesting against Scientology.

For leaving Scientology and joining with a critic group, she felt she was subjected to the Scientology policy of "fair game"; a form of retribution for criticizing the organization.

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

In 2008 she took part in protests against Scientology organized by Project Chanology, itself started by the Internet-based group Anonymous but criticized the group for some of their initial illegal acts.

Christman maintains an account on YouTube with the identification "ToryMagoo44", where she posts topically about Scientology.

The Sunday Times characterized Christman in a 2009 article as "a fierce critic of the church".