[Unofficial English translation by Anonymous of an article in Itialian entitled, "Le falsità del comunicato stampa di Scientology in merito alla richiesta di risarcimento danni a Maria Pia Gardini"] [Quoted] you can read the press release of Scientology, my answer [follows each quoted passage]. The National Church of Scientology of Italy has brought proceedings against Mrs. Maria Pia Di Gasparro Gardini for damages totaling two million euros. Scientology forgot to state that this is what they are asking for ...

[Picture / Caption: In four to six months, the former Science Museum of Minnesota will be transformed into the regional headquarters for the Church of Scientology, which has ambitious plans for growth in the Twin Cities—part of a global effort to expand, which an official says has resulted in the Church doubling its worldwide size in the last five years. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)] The Church of Scientology has ambitious plans for growing in the Twin Cities area, hoping to double ...

Books penned by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard are not a common sight in Egypt. Recently, however, Arabic-language translations of the books have begun to appear in Cairo, even bearing the stamp of approval–surprisingly–from Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni Muslim world. Hubbard's book The Way to Happiness, which claims to be a non-religious work, and, more surprisingly, his Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, which lays some of Scientology's 'scientific' foundations, were made available ...

La Cour de cassation a validé l'arrêt de non-lieu en faveur de membres de l'Eglise de Scientologie mis en examen pour "escroquerie" et "exercice illégal de la médecine", a-t-on appris, mardi de source judiciaire. La cour a suivi le 30 mars la chambre de l'instruction de la cour d'appel de Paris qui avait déclaré irrecevable en mars 2009 l'appel interjeté par une association de victimes, l'UNADFI, dans ce dossier ouvert en 1989. Une information judiciaire avait été ouverte en 1989 après ...

Au sommet de l’organisation de l’Eglise de scientologie, Sea Org est censée former les cadres de la secte. Aline*, inféodée et ruinée, a vécu une méthodique entreprise de déstructuration de la personnalité. Elle raconte. Dans l’Eglise de scientologie, le fond du gouffre, c’est à Copenhague qu’Aline* l’a connu. Cadre brillante d’une société financière, généreuse, idéaliste, élevée dans une ambiance religieuse, solitaire mais ouverte aux autres, elle est entrée dans la secte en juillet 1990. Neuf ans plus tard, toutes ses économies ...

Marie-France Hirigoyen, psychiatre, et Rodolphe Bosselut, avocat d'Aline [Voir son témoignage en lien], nous expliquent les mécanismes sur lesquels s'appuie une secte pour qu'un individu «structuré» se retrouve sous emprise psychique. Paris Match. A quoi reconnaît-on qu’on a affaire à une secte ? Me Rodolphe Bosselut. J’ai une définition simple : “C’est un groupe où il est très facile d’entrer et dont il est très difficile de sortir.” Et sa caractéristique essentielle ? Le phénomène d’emprise psychi­que. Mais attention ! Il ...

Workers are busily transforming the old Science Museum of Minnesota in downtown St. Paul into the new local headquarters for the Church of Scientology—thanks to a $3 million renovation. The Clearwater, Fla.-based denomination, which claims more than 8,000 churches and adherents in 165 countries, has been headquartered in the Twin Cities at 1011 Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis since 1991. That will change when the renovated, three-story, 80,640-square-foot building at 505 N. Wabasha St. in St. Paul reopens as a Scientology “Ideal ...

LOS ANGELES – A federal judge has dismissed part of a lawsuit brought against the Church of Scientology by a woman who alleged she worked 100-hour weeks for almost no pay for years while a member of Scientology's elite inner corps. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer issued a written order late Friday that dismissed the wage claims portion of Claire Headley's lawsuit. The judge did not address two other causes of action: allegations that the church coerces members of the inner ...

In a sleepy beach town in the Bible Belt, a 22-year-old journalist found himself in the middle of what was then considered by some a cult - and is now known as the Church of Scientology. That young journalist was adjunct professor Richard Leiby, one of the first to unearth religious leaders' clandestine activities during his time at The Clearwater Sun in Florida. During his stay at the now defunct Tampa Bay-area newspaper, Leiby was sent to the nation's capital to ...

CHICAGO (RNS) The windows are boarded-up and there's a "Keep Out" sign in the windowsill. Many in the Printer's Row neighborhood are unaware that the vacant brick building is slated to become Illinois' new welcome center for the Church of Scientology at the end of the year. The $4-million purchase of the seven-story structure is part of a nationwide push by Scientologists to open a host of new church buildings and draw new members into the faith. In all, more than ...

COLOGNE, Germany – A German TV-movie about Scientology that claims to reveal the dark side of the organization was a huge ratings hit for public broadcaster ARD, with 8.7 million viewers tuning in Wednesday night, a 27% market share. Germany has long been at odds with Scientology. Most here view the organization with suspicion. During the shooting of Brian Singer's war film "Valkyrie" in Berlin, famed Scientologist Tom Cruise was savaged in the German press for his beliefs. The ARD film, ...

BRISBANE Scientologists claim they’re being vilified following recent TV reports calling their religion a dangerous cult. In March, ABC’s Four Corners program aired claims of forced abortions, imprisonment in boot camps and separation of families, and Channel 7’s Sunday Night program explored Scientology’s controversial beliefs. The allegations preceded independent senator Nick Xenophon’s failed bid to get the Senate to launch a Parliamentary inquiry into the church, which he labelled a cult. The Church of Scientology of Brisbane, at Annerley, has about ...

The former Science Museum of Minnesota is being transformed into the largest Church of Scientology in the Midwest. Renovations started this week on the vacant downtown St. Paul building that the church bought three years ago. It appears to be the church's first foray into St. Paul and its largest footprint in Minnesota. The building will serve followers from across the state, according to a video on the Scientology website. Church officials did not return a message seeking comment on Thursday. ...

When the Church of Scientology bought the Stevens Building in 2008, it told tenants to vacate when their leases ended. Most of them did. Now the Portland building is 42 percent vacant, another 20 percent is used for storage, and the church no longer plans to move in. “It would be nice to have it back to where it was in 2006 - about three-quarters full,” said Steven Ballinger, who has maintained a Princeton University Press sales office in the building ...

Scientology is suing Maria Pia Gardini for 2 million euros and has cowardly decided not to face off against the publisher, Edizioni Paoline, or to sue the journalist co-author of her books, Albert Laggia. The persecutory intentions of the well-known psycho-sect, which is at the center of controversy and trials around the world, are clear. In the citation [dated March 30, 2010 and available in Italian in a PDF file], Maria Pia Gardini is accused of having "behaved and spoken on ...

If you believe Marty Rathbun, people in the top ranks of the Church of Scientology have used physical intimidation and outright beatings as a means of discipline. Scientology's current leaders, including Rathbun's ex-wife, call him a liar and an "apostate." They say the only beatings were those inflicted by Rathbun and a small number of others, all of whom have left Scientology. But both sides appear to agree that periodic beatings occurred among the highest echelons of the church for some ...

Much was made of the news this month when a Beacon Hill developer was unable to sell his home for an acceptable price, but the lack of wealthy buyers appears to be more-widespread in that neighborhood and in the Back Bay. Currently, there are seven single-family homes in Boston priced at over $10 million. The most-recent listing came on the market fifty days ago while the prize for longest is held by an historic home at 128 Commonwealth Avenue owned by ...

Los Angeles, California (CNN) – Marty Rathbun used to beat people. He admits it. But he says he was pressured to do it by his boss. Rathbun was once a senior official of the Church of Scientology, reporting directly to church leader David Miscavige. He says that Scientology's leadership fostered a culture of violence among its top ranks and that Miscavige "constantly pushed me to get physical with people" during his time among its top ranks. "And I've got to tell ...

The General Medical Council has been forced to disclose documents it tried to keep secret about its handling of a case involving a lay panel member who was banned from hearing professional conduct cases after failing to disclose the extent of his links with the Church of Scientology. The UK regulator has written to around 70 doctors to tell them that Christopher Brightmore, one of the panel members who sat on their cases, had his contract as a panellist terminated in ...

Violence and abuse in Scientology can be traced right back to the founder, L. Ron Hubbard, said a former Sea Org veteran who worked alongside him. At a conference in Hamburg Friday a former veteran Scientologist who worked directly with L. Ron Hubbard painted a devastating picture of the movement’s founder. [...]

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This month, "Battlefield Earth," the blockbuster bomb based on the novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, won the Razzie for "Worst Movie of the Decade." J.D. Shapiro, the film's first screenwriter, accepted the award in person. Shapiro, who also wrote the screenplay for "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," "We Married Margo," and is developing a King Arthur spoof called "524 AD" (524AD.com), explains what it's like to be attached to one of Hollywood's most notorious flops. Let me start by ...

SAN JACINTO, Calif. – At the edge of arid foothills far outside Los Angeles, hundreds of Scientology followers live on a gated, 500-acre campus and work long hours for almost no pay reproducing the works of founder L. Ron Hubbard and creating the church's teaching and promotional materials. The church says its 5,000 so-called Sea Organization members are religious devotees akin to monks who are exempt from wage requirements and overtime. But two lawsuits filed by two former Sea Org members, ...

[...] Time for a fair go AFTER many years of perusing the media on minority religions, I know how it works. Media feeds on media. Falsehoods are published, then taken to be fact and republished by other media. The disaffected minority who have left a religious group are treated as if they are experts on their former group. I have no information on the Exclusive Brethren apart from what I have read in newspapers, but I am willing to believe that ...

[Hana was kind enough to send her whole transcript, which she did not have time to read completely at the Hamburg Symposium.] Talk given in 2010 in Hamburg, Germany My name is Hana Eltringham Whitfield. I was a Scientologist and a member of the Sea Organization for over twenty years. I captained two of Hubbard’s ships, ran his organizations, and was Deputy Commodore under Hubbard in the United States for two years. After I left, and as a way of giving ...