Michael John Rinder (/ˈrɪndər/; April 10, 1955 – January 5, 2025) was an Australian and American former senior executive of the Church of Scientology International (CSI) and the Sea Organization based in the United States.

[12] As executive director of the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), Rinder served as the chief spokesperson and representative of Scientology to the media for 25 years[13] until replaced by Tommy Davis in 2005 under orders from David Miscavige.

[14] This office is responsible for overseeing public relations and legal issues for the church, as well as handling "internal investigations into members' behavior.

[5] After leaving Scientology, Rinder relocated to Denver, Colorado, and initially did not intend to speak out against the organization; in 2009, when the St. Petersburg Times first asked him for an interview, he declined.

[18][19] However, a month later, two Washington-based Scientology lawyers went to his home unannounced, informed Rinder that they knew about the newspaper's visit and asked what he had revealed.

[18] According to Rinder, this incident was another moment of clarity, because he realized he was now being subjected to Scientology's practice of fair game intimidation and harassment despite declining to speak out.

He spoke about Scientology's management and the repeated abuse that he gave as well as received, and the interviews became part of the paper's "The Truth Rundown" special issue.

[20] In 2015 he appeared in the HBO documentary entitled Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief by Alex Gibney which is based on the book by Lawrence Wright.

Initially, auditing was meant to be a form of counseling (for which members pay over $500 per hour) to obtain the spiritual benefits of Scientology but by the time of his departure, he stated the practice had degenerated into a tool for interrogation and mind control.

According to Rinder, virtually all of the executives, himself included, had rejected both of the above-mentioned Scientological tenets, however they nevertheless continued to train parishioners to accept them as true.

[25] This policy led to what Rinder stated are "captive" Scientologists – church members who stay not because they are faithful to the tenets but because they fear disconnection – and cites Leah Remini's mother as an example of this because she stated she wanted to leave Scientology prior to Leah's departure but delayed doing so because she did not want to be disconnected from the rest of her family.

[1] Rinder stated his biggest regrets in life is having two children that were born into Scientology and having enforced the disconnection policy (to which he was being subjected) when he was director of OSA.

[17] He stated the rise of social media in the late 2000s allowed ex-Scientologists to connect with each other and form support groups for members who have left or want to leave.

The reports of Scientology extracting large fees and their space opera beliefs were controversial, but their portrayal didn't become consistently negative until ex-Scientologists started sharing their stories through social media about families intentionally being broken up by disconnection because a family member decided to leave (or was not a member of) the church of Scientology.

[26] Both have said the policy was backfiring because victims, such as John Sweeney, reported their experiences with Fair Game and this led to more negative publicity and thus produced more critics than they were silencing.

[18] Rinder was victimized by Fair Game numerous times and recalled an incident where he was sitting in his car at a doctor's office parking lot during a phone interview with BBC journalist John Sweeney when "five senior members of [Scientology's] California-based international management team – surrounded and screamed at him".

[1][21] The policy was becoming increasingly ineffective starting the 1980s as it was unable to stop publication of A Piece of Blue Sky by ex-Scientologist Jon Atack or the documentary Scientology and Me which ultimately led to Rinder's departure.

Time Warner was able to successfully prove that Scientology's lawsuit was vexatious in nature, and that it was meant to financially drain critics into submission rather than to resolve any actual dispute.

In the aftermath of the Time Warner lawsuit, courts were less receptive to litigation brought by the Church, because its abuse of the legal system was well documented.

[30] The Church spent approximately seven million dollars in an attempt to discredit Time's article, which ultimately had the effect of drawing more attention to Scientology and public criticism of its practices.

Although Scientology continued to sue individual critics, defendants began using discovery to introduce secret church documents into evidence, making them part of the public record, and thus viewable by anyone.

[37] In 2018, Rinder co-founded The Aftermath Foundation, a nonprofit which helps people escape from Scientology, and connects former Sea Org members with housing, work and other support upon leaving the church.

"[41] Rinder sat on the CHILD USA board of directors where he helped to "[change] the laws in numerous states across the US with legislation enacted to make it possible for victims to pursue their day in court.

[47][48][49] Tracey McManus, who covered Scientology for the Tampa Bay Times (2015–2024), said that Rinder was "an invaluable resource for journalists" and that "with Mike's death, the world lost institutional knowledge about a secretive organization that continues to impact people's lives.