Leaving the Cult.

I don't know which is funnier in this story about Paul Haggis' departure from Scientology - that it took him 37 years to figure out that he was a member of a cult or that what motivated him to leave Scientology wasn't because his wife was told by Scientology to "disconnect" from her family, but because Scientology breached Hollywood protocol by coming out in favor of Proposition 8.

The closest historical parallel to Scientology I can think of is Manichianism.  We know from The Confessions of St. Augustine that Manichianism provided its adherents to access to movers and shakers in the Roman Empire  which was useful for job placement and self-promotion, along with a system of gradual indoctrination into bizarre and unbelievable doctrines