Remember that 2005 “Trapped in the Closet” Southpark episode that made a mockery out of Scientology and Tom Cruise? (You can watch it here.) Back then people weren’t making as much fun of Scientology as they are now and it caused a big stir at the time. Cruise threw a fit and pulled rank by refusing to promote Mission Impossible III if the show re-aired on Comedy Central. (Viacom was the parent company of both MI’s Paramount and Comedy Central.) Scientologist Isaac Hayes, who played Chef, also quit the show amid rumors that he was pressured to do so by his higher-ups in his “religion.”

Not only did “Trapped” hilariously mock Cruise as gay, it also revealed “secret” details of the science fiction-type beliefs only told to followers who achieve the upper levels in Scientology. The “knowledge” of Scientology as told on South Park was something that cult members pay dearly for both monetarily and in terms of years of servitude and brainwashing. The Xenu volcano lost-souls stuff isn’t known to the vast majority of Scientologists under their system of indoctrination, but it’s quite easily googled and made fun of.

Well Scientologists targeted South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker after that, even going so far as to dig through their trash to find out information about them. This story is consistent with everything we know about Scientology, including their doctrine of “fair game” in which they ruthlessly go after everyone who dares question them.

Scientology launched an intense investigation into the lives of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, The Village Voice is reporting.

According to Marty Rathbun, the famous 2005 South Park episode called Out of the Closet which spoofed Scientology, so enraged the hierarchy, a witch hunt was ordered.

Rathbun was himself once a high ranking Scientology official. He defected from the organization and in 2009 began blogging about Scientology secrets.

Even friends of Parker and Stone, including the formerly married John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn, were targeted, Rathbun told The Voice.

“These connections are being PRC’d,” reads a document Rathbun made public on Sunday, explaining that PRC stands for “public records check.”

In other words, a private eye was ordered to conduct a complete check of these people and their property through public records. If they owed taxes, or had been in messy divorces, or had been arrested, Scientology wanted to know about it, Rathbun said.

“There are some strings that will be pulled on the PRC on Stone,” the document reads, without further explanation.

“Otherwise the special collections will be debugged in order to get some viable strings that can be pulled,” the document then says “Special collections,” Rathbun explains, is Scientology code for “trash digging.”

What exactly were they looking for, The Voice asked Rathbun?

“Phone records. Bank records. Personal letters that expose some kind of vulnerability. They’ll read stuff into the kind of alcohol you’re drinking and how much. Prescriptions. They’ll figure out your diet. They can find out a lot about you through your trash,” said Rathbun.

Rathbun himself claims he has been a target of Scientology ever since he began his revealing blog. As RadarOnline.com recently reported, a Scientology video crew called Squirrel Busters followed his every move for months.

[From Radar Online]

At this point people aren’t as afraid of Scientology after a few high profile exposes, some defecting celebrities, and the hard work of Anonymous. Back in 2005, it was absolutely brave of Parker and Stone to mock them though. A lot of people have “committed suicide” after speaking out against this criminal organization or otherwise trying to leave. I hope that Scientology eventually loses its tax free status and is prosecuted in the US under the RICO act. In the mean time, the more stories like this that come out, the more people know what they’re up to and how to avoid them.

On another note, these guys are kind of nerdy hot, aren’t they?