As no doubt befits a society founded by Pilgrims, America has a long tradition of controversial movements maturing to success, whether Mormons or Christian Scientists or Jehovah's Witnesses. Today, the latest cult forcing itself to our attention is the Church of Scientology. Scientology was founded in the early 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer. He fashioned a creation myth around Xenu, who froze and transported thetan souls to volcanoes in Teegeeack, now earth. The creed holds that humans ...

On Oct. 8, 1993, 10,000 cheering Scientologists thronged the Los Angeles Sports Arena to celebrate the most important milestone in the church's recent history: victory in its all-out war against the Internal Revenue Service. For 25 years, I.R.S. agents had branded Scientology a commercial enterprise and refused to give it the tax exemption granted to churches. The refusals had been upheld in every court. But that night the crowd learned of an astonishing turnaround. The I.R.S. had granted tax exemptions to ...

WASHINGTON — The State Department's annual survey of human rights conditions around the world will contain expanded, toughened language criticizing Germany for restrictions on the Church of Scientology and its members, administration officials say. The report, to be issued Wednesday, will chastise Germany for what a senior administration official called "a campaign of harassment and intimidation" against the controversial church. He said the United States, seeking to protect religious freedom, has urged Germany through diplomatic channels "not to prosecute people for ...

Movies: The success of the film, targeted by conservatives because it stars Scientologist Tom Cruise, eases studio fears about releasing other films featuring members of the movement. Despite the much-publicized boycott in Germany of "Mission: Impossible" because its star, Tom Cruise, is a Scientologist, the film grossed about $24 million, considered a huge success for the important German market by Hollywood studios, and ranked eighth in Germany for 1996. The results could help assuage the Hollywood studios that are preparing for ...

Europe: Open letter to Kohl draws analogy to treatment of Jews before World War II. Politicians respond angrily. BERLIN — A running battle between German government officials and the Church of Scientology escalated this week, with 34 prominent Americans from the entertainment industry denouncing Germany for allegedly treating Scientologists as it treated the Jews in 1936, and the German foreign minister accusing the celebrities of "falsifying history." "It's out of the question that there's persecution of Scientology in Germany," Foreign Minister ...

The onetime building of the Riverside Young Men's Christian Association, a Cultural Heritage Landmark designated as Italian Renaissance in style, is trying to develop an active community status. It faces University Avenue at Lemon Street. It has an auditorium, which combines earlier smaller rooms, available for conventions and other meetings. Its newest portion, the gymnasium built in 1951, has been decorated with murals designed by artist Sam Huang. Among its uses are programs called quincineras, a coming-of-age celebration for Hispanic girls. ...

The article regarding the renaming of Berendo Street to L. Ron Hubbard Way (Aug. 23) omits the reason that Hubbard should be honored and the reason the church initiated the petition over a year ago. The man is being honored for the work that he did as an educator, his breakthroughs in the field of drug rehabilitation and his other contributions to mankind. The Los Angeles Church of Scientology is making this request after celebrating our 40th anniversary and completing ...

What's in a name, anyway? To some neighbors, Berendo Street in Hollywood is about as good an address as any. But to leaders of the Church of Scientology that is located there, "L. Ron Hubbard Way" is much better. In honor of their charismatic founder–a man adherents call "one of the greatest visionaries of the 20th century" and critics call a fraud–the church has quietly sought a name change from the city of Los Angeles. Just this week the church won ...

[...] Mission: Stop Scientology: Germans youths picketed cinemas throughout their country on Thursday to protest Tom Cruise's movie "Mission: Impossible" because the American actor is a member of the Scientology religion. The protests–organized by the normally placid youth wing of Helmut Kohl's Christian Democratic Union–are a token of the growing political pressure against Scientology in Germany, where recruiting has been active. The pickets came after Paul Stefan Mauz, a Christian Democrat member of parliament, claimed that Cruise was a "high-ranking" Scientologist ...

Courts: Online firm agrees to set up protocol for handling copyright disagreements. SAN JOSE — Netcom On-Line Communications Services Inc. has settled a copyright lawsuit by the Church of Scientology that threatened to set new boundaries for speech on the free-wheeling Internet. The Scientologists sued Netcom after the Internet access provider refused to remove church writings posted to its computer network by a former Scientologist minister. In a closely watched decision six months ago, a federal judge in California ruled that ...

Lawsuits: Group with controversial ties to deprogrammers files for bankruptcy and may be forced to shut down in wake of $1-million judgment. Plagued by numerous lawsuits from religious groups and fighting a $1.1-million judgment against it, the Cult Awareness Network has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. "How we will operate or if we will continue to operate in the short term, I don't know," said Cynthia Kisser, executive director of the 12-year-old organization, known for ...

SAN FRANCISCO — Saying that the Church of Scientology has been playing "fast and loose with the judicial system," a federal appeals court has ordered the religious organization to pay nearly $3 million in attorneys fees to a former member it sued after he formed his own splinter group. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the unusual sanction against the church for years of litigation spawned by two 1985 suits it filed against David Mayo and others involved with ...

At 6:30 on the morning of July 26, a contingent of off-duty U.S. marshals and officials from software maker Novell Inc. rang the doorbell at Joseph and Miki Casalino's home outside Salt Lake City. Thinking her husband had forgotten something when he left for work, Miki padded to the door in her robe and was shocked to find a marshal flashing his badge. They were there, they told her, to search and seize any and all computer bulletin board (bbs) equipment ...

With white-collar crimes on the rise nationwide, more and more businesses are looking into ways of preventing internal theft and fraud before it costs them or their clients billions of dollars. The Glendale-based financial firm of Wiseman and Burke, Inc. is an example of a business that takes the threat of white-collar crime very seriously. "White-collar crime costs more than street crime does," said Robert LaRose, vice president of the Business Fraud Division. Last year the company, at 206 S. Brand ...