Editing Scientology ethics and justice (section)

=== Running program ===

One Sea Org punishment, called the ''running program'', was turned into a fee-based service for public Scientologists called the Cause Resurgence Rundown. Allegedly devised as a therapy by Hubbard in the early 1980s and liberally doled out by [[David Miscavige]] as punishments, this program required a person to run around a fixed point such as a pole or tree for hours each day until they were exhausted, repeating this every day until they had some sort of realization. The minimum time to run each day was five hours, with many people being ordered to do ten to twelve hours of running. Participants were not allowed to talk to each other while running. Short breaks for food and short rests were permitted before being goaded to continue by a supervisor. For decades, rain or shine, summer or winter in the high desert of [[Gilman Hot Springs, California]], and sometimes in full navy-style uniform, Sea Org members have run around a palm tree on a makeshift running track. Injuries and medical issues have been common, and many have left the Sea Org after being ordered to do the program.{{r|reitman|page=138}}{{r|scobee|pages=159-162}}{{r|headley|page=189}}{{r|rinder|page=100}}<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0swGEQIGElU |title=The Running Program |first1=Mark |last1=Fisher |first2=Janis Gillham |last2=Grady |publisher=Scientology - Peeling the Onion |access-date=March 3, 2024}}</ref>

Though a common punishment for Sea Org members only at [[Gold Base]], in the early 1980s some of the {{glossary link|glossary=Glossary of Scientology|franchise}} owners were ordered onto the running program.{{r|reitman|page=138}} In 1982, [[David Mayo (Scientology)|David Mayo]], Hubbard's own auditor and the highest level auditor in the Sea Org at the time, was ordered onto the running program, after which he left the Sea Org having decided Miscavige was destroying Hubbard's work.{{r|rinder|page=100}} [[Amy Scobee]] reported that a diabetic woman was ordered to the running program; she went into [[hypoglycemic shock]] and they gave her some insulin and ordered her back to the running track, being pushed in a wheelchair.{{r|scobee|page=162}} In 2003, [[Marc Headley]] did the running program for three months as part of a pilot prior to the Church of Scientology marketing the program for its paying members.{{r|headley|page=189}}

{{Blockquote |text=This in fact became a popular form of punishment: the "Running Program" ... was a nasty, physically exhausting experience that was supposed to be another Hubbard cure for recalcitrant Sea Org members. Remarkably, this punishment has been remarketed into a program called the Cause Resurgence Rundown, based on Hubbard's claim that circling around a fixed object "aligns your energy flows" and "restores your power as a thetan." People pay $5,000 to run in circles around a pole in the center of a large room at the [[Flag Land Base]]—a testament to how scientologists will accept anything if they are told it comes from Hubbard. —[[Mike Rinder]] {{r|rinder|page=100}} }}