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Nov 1, 2005
The Strange Case of Garry Scarff — Jonestown Report
Type: Press
Author(s):
Rebecca Moore Source:
Jonestown Report In 1989, Fielding McGehee and I published The Need for a Second Look at Jonestown, a collection of essays written by those who had been involved with Peoples Temple. In this retrospective volume, people reflected on their experiences of the previous decade, as well as on their understanding of the Temple. Contributors included former members, relatives, and others who had had connections with the Temple, such as news reporters and social activists. Shortly after the book appeared, Chris Hatcher, the psychologist ...
Dec 7, 2003
Margaret Singer, a Leading Brainwashing Expert, Dies at 82 — New York Times
Type: Press
Author(s):
Anahad O'Connor Source:
New York Times Dr. Margaret Singer, a leading expert on brainwashing who testified in several high-profile cases contending that various groups inappropriately manipulated their members to control their behavior, died on Nov. 23 in Berkeley, Calif. She was 82.
The cause was respiratory failure, said her son, Sam.
In her long career, Dr. Singer investigated and testified about techniques used by North Koreans against American soldiers in wartime and the Symbionese Liberation Army's influence over the kidnapped heiress Patricia Hearst.
In the 1950's, Dr. ...
Aug 16, 2002
Death of a Scientologist — Chicago ReaderMore: scientology-lies.com
Type: Press
Author(s):
Tori Marlan Source:
Chicago Reader Greg Bashaw's father respected him and trusted him to make wise choices. Even after he chose to devote his life to Scientology. While the shock and grief of his son's suicide were still fresh, Bob Bashaw read back through their decades-long correspondence, looking in particular for references to Scientology. "I wanted to see what there was here I missed," he says. His son Greg had been a member of the Church of Scientology for more than 20 years. During that time ...
Tag(s):
American Psychological Association (APA) •
Anti-psychiatry •
Auditing •
Blackmail •
Body thetans (BTs) •
Chicago Reader •
Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization (CSFSO) •
Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) •
Communications Course •
Confidential preclear (PC) folder •
Cost •
Cult Awareness Network (CAN) (earlier form, Citizen's Freedom Foundation) •
Cynthia Kisser •
Dead agenting (Black PR, smear campaign) •
Death •
Deprogramming •
Disconnection •
Divorce •
E-Meter •
Engram •
Erich Fromm •
FACTNet •
Fair game •
False imprisonment •
Freedom (Scientology magazine) •
Greg Barnes •
Greg Bashaw •
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) •
International Association of Scientologists (IAS) •
Introspection Rundown (also, "Baby watch") •
Jason Scott •
Jim Beebe •
Lawrence "Larry" Wollersheim •
Lawsuit •
Lisa McPherson •
Lisa McPherson Trust •
Margaret Thaler Singer •
Mary Anne Ahmad •
Mental illness •
Nazi labelling •
Noah Lottick •
Operating Thetan (OT) •
Operation Snow White •
Philip Gale •
Potential Trouble Source (PTS) •
Protest, picket •
Quentin Geoffrey MaCauley Hubbard •
Reader's Digest •
Reg Alev •
Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) •
Release contract, form, waiver •
Religious Technology Center (RTC) •
Scientology's "Clear" state •
Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power (article) •
Sea Organization (Sea Org, SO) •
Security check ("sec check") •
Silencing criticism, censorship •
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) •
Steven Hassan •
Sue Strozewski •
Suicide •
Supernatural abilities (aka OT powers) •
Suppressive person (SP) •
Tax matter •
Tori Marlan •
Wedding •
Xenu (Operating Thetan level 3, OT 3, Wall of Fire)
Jan 1, 1999
"When Scholars Know Sin" forum debate / Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa! / J. Gordon Melton responds — Skeptic magazineMore: link
Dec 1, 1998
Brainwashed! // Scholars of cults accuse each other of bad faith — Lingua Franca
Type: Press
Author(s):
Charlotte Allen Source:
Lingua Franca RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SOCIOLOGY professor Benjamin Zablocki has been studying cults–now called, thanks to academic political correctness, new religious movements, or NRMs–since his graduate school days at Johns Hopkins during the mid-1960s, when he bought a ninety-nine dollar Greyhound bus pass and traveled around the country visiting all the religious communes he could find. "My style of research is participant observation," he explains. "I live with the groups, wash dishes with them, pray with them, and immerse myself in their way of ...
Jan 30, 1998
Special feature / An in-depth examination of Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California, a remarkable case poised for another round of appellate review [article authored by the Church of Scientology International] — Daily Journal (Los Angeles, California)More: link
Dec 11, 1997
Letters to the Editor / Spreading pure innuendo — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)More: whyaretheydead.info
Type: Press
Source:
St. Petersburg Times (Florida) As if your article of pure innuendo (For some Scientologists, pilgrimage has been fatal) weren't enough, you've also continued to use discredited sources as "authoritative consultants" to forward your bigoted agenda. I won't detail how a similar article could be written about any religion. Indeed, I'd bet money that no newspaper in the United States has ever started isolating the death of the members of a religion. If you were to do it with the local Catholics, I am sure it ...
Dec 7, 1997
For some Scientologists, pilgrimage has been fatal — St. Petersburg Times (Florida)More: pqasb.pqarchiver.com , link
Jun 1, 1997
Did Scientology strike back? — The American Lawyer
Type: Press
Author(s):
Susan Hansen Source:
The American Lawyer When the end finally came for the old Cult Awareness Network, it happened fast. Cynthia Kisser, CAN's executive director, struggled to stay calm as she sat in federal bankruptcy court in Chicago late last October waiting for the auction to begin. Kisser, who had spent the past nine years leading CAN's efforts to inform the public about dangerous cults, had hoped that she wouldn't have to pay much for her group's assets that day. Nor did she want much, she claims ...
Mar 6, 1997
Nightmare on the Net — Denver Westword News
Type: Press
Author(s):
Alan Prendergast Source:
Denver Westword News A web of intrigue surrounds the high-stakes legal brawl between FACTnet and the Church of Scientology. Strange things happen around Lawrence Wollersheim. His businesses collapse. His Boulder apartment gets raided by federal marshals, his computers seized. When college students offer to help him rebuild his computer bulletin-board system, they receive threatening phone calls–anonymous voices urging them to stay away from Larry. A California judge who presided over a lawsuit in which Wollersheim was the plaintiff told reporters he'd encountered a lot ...
May 21, 1995
Investing it // If the hair is gray, con artists see green — New York Times
Type: Press
Author(s):
Constance L. Hays Source:
New York Times BETTY NORMAN was no match for the telephone con men who emptied her pockets of more than $40,000. A plain-talking widow who runs a small motel in Ionia, Mich., a town of state prisons and apple orchards, Mrs. Norman, born and raised here, was taught to believe that people are essentially honest. So she trusted salespeople who picked up details about her life in seemingly casual telephone chat while pitching her pens, costume jewelry and other trinkets. And after being swindled ...
May 19, 1994
Declaration of Vicki Aznaran [post-settlement]
Jun 14, 1993
Church's litany of lawsuits — The National Law JournalMore: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Andrew Blum Source:
The National Law Journal Scientology's leaders say the best defense is a good offense. DID THE CHURCH of Scientology kill a judge's dog during a trial? Did the judge, who is now dead, think church members did? Did that lead him to be prejudiced, and bias the jury against the church? These and other issues are part of an intense battle by the church's litigation machine to overturn what remains of a $30 million verdict won in 1986 by former church member Larry Wollersheim. Mr. ...
May 6, 1991
The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power — TIME Magazine
Type: Press
Author(s):
Richard Behar Source:
TIME Magazine By all appearances, Noah Lottick of Kingston, Pa., had been a normal, happy 24-year-old who was looking for his place in the world. On the day last June when his parents drove to New York City to claim his body, they were nearly catatonic with grief. The young Russian-studies scholar had jumped from a 10th-floor window of the Milford Plaza Hotel and bounced off the hood of a stretch limousine. When the police arrived, his fingers were still clutching $171 in ...
Jun 1, 1990
Parting is such sweet sorrow — Unification NewsMore: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
John Biermans Source:
Unification News After eight years at Headquarters, I am "moving on" to other work. My duties as Director of Public Affairs will be handled by Taj. Hamad and Linda Shapiro although I will try to continue to work, with many of the contacts I have made/over the years. For me, they are much more than professional contacts—they are my friends. Thus, my change in mission does not mean I will forget my friends. Those relationships will continue and hopefully flourish for many years ...
Nov 17, 1988
The cult wars // Ten years after Jonestown, the battle intensifies over the influence of 'alternative' religions — Los Angeles Times (California)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Bob Sipchen Source:
Los Angeles Times (California) Eldridge Broussard Jr.'s face screwed into a grimace of such anger and pain that the unflappable Oprah Winfrey seemed unnerved. It hurts to be branded "the new Jimmy Jones" by a society eager to condemn what it doesn't understand, the founder of the Ecclesia Athletic Assn. lamented on TV just a few days after his 8-year-old daughter had been beaten to death, apparently by Ecclesia members. At issue were complex questions of whether the group he had formed to instill discipline ...
Nov 27, 1987
High court to hear appeal of suit accusing Moon's church of fraud — Los Angeles Times (California)More: pqasb.pqarchiver.com
Aug 12, 1986
'Expert' turns bad trial into bad verdict — Journal-AmericanMore: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Ron Arnold Source:
Journal-American Why do I have to spend so much time defending religions I don't belong to? I didn't really want a scrapbook of columns sticking up for persecuted Jews, Evangelical Christians, Muslims, Taoists, Native American Shamanists, Moonies and Scientologists, among others. The question that troubles me most, though, is why do I have to defend them from our own government? The reason, of course, is that I don't want the First Amendment repealed. And a Los Angeles jury did just that July ...
Jul 23, 1986
Scientologists must pay $30 million to critical ex-member — Los Angeles Times (California)More: link , @L.A. Times, differs from scanned version
Type: Press
Author(s):
Joel Sappell ,
Robert W. Welkos Source:
Los Angeles Times (California) A Los Angeles Superior Court jury Tuesday awarded $30 million in damages to a former member of the Church of Scientology who said the organization intentionally drove him to the edge of insanity and ruined him financially for criticizing the group. The 12-0 verdict in favor of Larry Wollersheim brought gasps from the Scientologists who packed Judge Ronald Swearinger's court-room, as they had throughout the bitterly contested five-month-long trial. Some sobbed. Wollersheim was awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $25 ...
Apr 27, 1986
Suit challenges tactics of church — New York TimesMore: nytimes.com
Type: Press
Author(s):
Marcia Chambers Source:
New York Times A former official of the Church of Scientology, testifying at the trial of his suit charging the church with fraud, says church staff members engaged in a pattern of lies, tricks and deception in efforts to keep him from disclosing how the organization operates. The former official, Larry Wollersheim, who says the church should pay him $25 million in damages because it ruined him financially and emotionally, has spent three weeks testifying before a Superior Court jury here. For its part, ...
May 30, 1985
Scientology on trial — Willamette WeekMore: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Bill Driver Source:
Willamette Week Why a Portland jury awarded $39 million in damages against one of the world's most profitable cults. ONE SUNNY AFTERNOON last week, an elderly man, who looked as though he had probably spent the past few nights sleeping under the stars, stood in the southeast corner of Lownsdale Square in downtown Portland gazing in bewilderment at the scene before him. Several hundred people, many wearing T-shirts proclaiming something about a crusade for religious freedom, gathered around a large stage in the ...
Tag(s):
Apollo (formerly, "Royal Scot Man"; often misspelled "Royal Scotman", "Royal Scotsman") •
Assets •
Bill Driver •
Blackmail •
Church of Scientology Mission of Davis •
Church of Scientology of California (CSC) •
Communications Course •
Confidential preclear (PC) folder •
Delphi Schools, Inc. •
Disconnection •
E-Meter •
Earle C. Cooley •
Edward "Eddie" Walters •
Fair game •
Fraud, lie, deceit, misrepresentation •
Garry P. McMurry •
Gerald "Gerry" Armstrong •
Heber C. Jentzsch •
Howard "Homer" D. Schomer •
Income •
Inurement •
Judge Donald H. Londer •
Judge Robert P. Jones •
Julie Christofferson Titchbourne •
L. Ron Hubbard's credentials •
Laurel J. Sullivan (née Watson) •
Lawsuit •
Margaret Thaler Singer •
Mark Segal •
Martin L. Samuels •
Medical claims •
Mission Corporate Category Sort out (MCCS) •
Office of Special Affairs (OSA) (formerly, Guardian's Office) •
Pat Flanagan •
Perjury •
Protest, picket •
Refunds •
Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) •
Religious Research Foundation (RRF) •
Ronald L. Wade •
Royalties, license, trademark, management fees •
Salary •
Sea Organization (Sea Org, SO) •
Security check ("sec check") •
Sequoia University of California •
SOR Services (UK) •
Statistics (Stats) •
Suppressive person (SP) •
Timothy Bowles •
Training Routines (TRs) •
Willamette Week •
William W. "Bill" Franks
Mar 15, 1982
The psychology of the cult experience — New York Times
Type: Press
Author(s):
Glenn Collins Source:
New York Times The same story makes the headlines again and again. An anguished family is trying to rescue its child, who has, the parents charge, been stolen by a cult, sometimes after only a single weekend of involvement. The parents describe the child as a humorless zombie - where formerly he or she was self-possessed, intelligent and completely normal. And, as family members begin to consult the clergy, lawyers and deprogrammers, they keep expressing confusion about exactly what has happened, and why. A ...
Apr 1, 1981
Take cults seriously — The Advisor
May 1, 1980
Scientology: Anatomy of a frightening cult [Canadian edition] — Reader's DigestMore: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Eugene H. Methvin Source:
Reader's Digest The faithful inner core serve as thieves, decoys and spies. The shocking story behind one of the most dangerous “religious cults” operating today IN THE late 1940s, pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard declared, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million, the best way would be to start his own religion.” Hubbard did start his own religion, calling it the “Church of Scientology,” and it has grown into an enterprise today grossing ...
Tag(s):
American Medical Association (AMA) •
American Psychiatric Association (APA) •
Anne Rosenblum •
Apollo (formerly, "Royal Scot Man"; often misspelled "Royal Scotman", "Royal Scotsman") •
Auditing •
Better Business Bureau (BBB) •
Blackmail •
Canada •
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) •
Commissions •
Communications Course •
Cost •
Dead agenting (Black PR, smear campaign) •
Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (book) •
Engram •
Eric McLean •
Eugene H. Methvin •
Fair game •
False imprisonment •
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) •
Field Staff Member (FSM) •
Fraud, lie, deceit, misrepresentation •
Income •
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) •
Julie Christofferson Titchbourne •
L. Ron Hubbard's credentials •
Lawsuit •
Margaret Thaler Singer •
Mary Sue (Whipp) Hubbard •
Medical claims •
Membership •
Michael J. Flynn •
Michael James Meisner •
Nancy McLean •
Office of Special Affairs (OSA) (formerly, Guardian's Office) •
Operation Snow White •
Potential Trouble Source (PTS) •
Raymond Banoun •
Reader's Digest •
Recruitment •
Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) •
Royalties, license, trademark, management fees •
Saint Hill Manor @ East Grinstead (UK) •
Salary •
Scientology's "Clear" state •
Suicide •
Threat of physical harm •
Training Routines (TRs) •
U.S. Department of Justice •
World Federation of Mental Health •
[needtotag]
Sep 19, 1979
Scientology secrets revealed in 2 million dollar consumer fraud case // Scientology on trial — Bay Guardian (San Francisco)More: link
Type: Press
Author(s):
Richard H. Meeker Source:
Bay Guardian (San Francisco) How a Portland jury got a crash course in one of the oddest "religions" ever created and awarded the plaintiff more than $2. million Note: This summer, a jury in Portland spent a month listening to testimony in a $4 million lawsuit over the practices of the Church of Scientology there. The plaintiff: Julie Christofferson, a young Portland woman who was a follower of Scientology in 1975 and 1976. The defendants: three local Scientology organizations and one of their leaders. ''Richard ...
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