Father Of Scientology's Leader: Church Is Abusive

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Ron Miscavige, the father of the leader of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige, and author of the new book, Ruthless, talked with Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about his time inside the church and what's happened to him since leaving.

Miscavige said the entire organization is run on a culture of fear and mental abuse.

"There's no two ways about it. You are given strict timetables to get things done and the idea on doing it is to threaten you with punishment if you don't get it done. I had one of these guys, one of the executives, talk to me and the rest of the musicians, I ran the music department for many years in the church, and Steve said you us, now if you don't get this done, he named all of the things that were going to happen to us. Finally, after hearing this litany of penalties, I said, if we get it done, what's the reward? Listen, he said, the reward is you don't get punished."

He said that since leaving the church, his children have been forced to stop all communication with him.

"My daughters don't speak to me. When I first got out, they spoke to me just about every day on the telephone...But, as the time went on, they were warned, hey listen, if you speak to dad, you're going to be declared a suppressive person which means your friends will disconnect from you and if you have a son or a daughter in the Sea Organization, they'll stop talking to you."

He hopes his efforts to shed light on what happens to people like him will lead to changes from inside Scientology.

"I didn't write the book just for something to do on a Sunday afternoon. I felt it was my duty to do whatever I can to expose this really toxic policy of disconnection that the church of Scientology has and bring it to an end. They are literally, maybe hundreds of people, who have forced to disconnect from loved ones."