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. ...

After dabbling... I still say stay away AT OUR monthly meeting held on Monday I asked how many of those who signed the letter from the clergy of East Grinstead (report and Letters, May 7) had visited Saint Hill. Four of us had. Our knowledge of Scientology is not confined to anti-Scientology literature, as Barbara Bradley seems to imply. Speaking for myself, I visited Saint Hill in September 1985. I have dipped into dianetics, which I admit did not interest me ...

HOLLYWOOD (Special) — The U.S. National Dyslexia Foundation is unhappy with a recent statement by Tom Cruise that Scientology has cured the movie star of the reading impairment affliction, columnist Marilyn Beck reports. Joyce Bulifant, executive vice-president, says "Dyslexia is not a disease that can be cured. Research at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Hospital has shown that the dyslexic brain is shaped differently and perceives things differently. Building self- confidence is extraordinarily important for a dyslexic, and if Scientology ...

The Church of Scientology says it will appeal a federal judge's decision to dismiss its lawsuit against an executive at the Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co., the maker of Prozac. The suit claimed Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. maligned the church in comments published in USA Today's. The Arlington, Va.-based newspaper was not named in the suit.

The Food and Drug Administration has denied Scientology's Citizens Commission on Human Rights' (CCHR) petition to withdraw fluoxetine (Prozac) from the market, indicating in its report that CCHR's evidence was primarily based on five "unsubstantiated cases that cannot be adequately evaluated." The agency said that its Psychopharmacological Drugs Advisory Committee will review all pertinent data linking suicide and antidepressants in a late summer or early fall meeting. Although most of the media coverage has been about fluoxetine, the committee will look ...

Among its many adversaries, the Church of Scientology's longest-running feud has been with the Internal Revenue Service. So far, neither combatant has blinked. Over the past three decades, the IRS has revoked the tax-exempt status of various Scientology organizations, accusing them of operating in a commercial manner and of financially benefiting private individuals. From the late 1960s through mid-1970s, IRS agents classified Scientology as a "tax resister" and "subversive," a characterization later deemed improper by a judge. In 1984, the IRS's ...

Scientology grew out of the ashes of L Ron Hubbard's 'new science' of Dianetics, which enjoyed a brief vogue in the America of the 1950s then faded to bring its founder close to bankruptcy. In this second extract from the book the Church of Scientology tried to ban, RUSSELL MILLER describes the bizarre, science-fiction basis of the new, highly profitable religion and Hubbard's self-appointed mission to 'save the world' —– L RON HUBBARD had often said: "If a man really wanted ...

The Government's War Against SCIENTOLOGY Scientologists say the church is engaged in "a war for the human spirit" against a global conspiracy, involving psychiatrists, the Rockefeller family, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the U.S. government (including the FBI, CIA and IRS). According to Ken Hoden, Scientologists feel that although each of these diverse entities have different reasons for attacking the church, their enemies have banded together as one to achieve a common end — "destroying the Church of Scientology." ...

The recent anti-Internal Revenue Service forum sponsored by the Church of Scientology may turn out to be a boon to the taxpaying public. While we hold no brief for the Scientologists or their doctrines, we feel it is only fair to spotlight their contributions to the public good. And, although their motives are questionable (the Scientologists have suffered at the hands of the IRS and have a policy of getting even with attackers), they have certainly done the American public a ...

Eighteen months ago, the U.S.-based Church of Scientology launched a global—and unsuccessful—campaign to prevent publication of a Reader's Digest report called "Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult." The church engaged a detective agency to investigate the author, Digest Senior Editor Eugene H. Methvin. Digest offices in a half-dozen nations were picketed or bombarded with nuisance phone calls. In Denmark, South Africa and Australia, the church sued unsuccessfully to prevent publication. In the months since the article appeared, in May 1980, a ...

DAVID BERESFORD investigates the activities of Scientology's secret intelligence unit whose director is based in Britain IT WAS a familiar beginning to an American public scandal: soon after 7 pm on the night of June 11, 1976, two burglars were caught in the US Court House in Washington DC. In the Watergate tradition frantic attempts were made to localise responsibility. But the cover-up finally cracked and disclosures followed which were to lead, not to the top of the Republican Party, but ...

The Church of Scientology attempts to reform individuals through its counseling and teaching techniques. It also has a large operation dedicated to reforming society. This comes under the heading of traditional religious activism, Scientologists say, but various government agencies say it goes far beyond. In this, the fourth and final segment of a series on Scientology, the Valley News explores the legal and political entanglements of the church. By BRIAN ALEXANDER The "applied religious philosophy" of Scientology has political as ...

The Church of Scientology offers a free personality evaluation to persons interested in its counseling services. Valley News staff writer Brian Alexander took the test at the Sherman Oaks Scientology center, posing as a college student and using an assumed name. As the second segment of a four-part series on the church, he tells what happened. —– The Church of Scientology's free personality test is like a warm handshake, but the grip is too tight. The counselor who evaluates ...

The two-story brick building at N. Ballenger Hwy. and Sloan St. looks as if it should house an insurance agency or doctor's office. It is a well-built, well-kept structure. Inside, quality furniture and a quiet, professional greeting welcome the visitor. But this building houses a center related to a church that is under fire from federal agencies. Early this month, the FBI used crowbars and sledgehammers to enter offices of the Church of Scientology in Hollywood and Washington, D.C. Agents were ...

ONCE THE PANDORA'S BOX of unsubstantiated allegations is pried open, it no longer becomes a question of, "Is there one?" but rather, "Who is the one?" Alexander Butterfield seems to have rebutted reports that he was the CIA's man in the White House. But is it even logical to assume such a direct contact exists? It is, if you know anything about Washington bureaucratic infighting. Is one of President Ford's 43 assistants and special assistants in league with the CIA? A ...

[Reproduced here with express permission of Paul Krassner — Publisher of The Realist. Thank you! Transcribed from scanned pages at The Realist Project Archive.] Although many people have had some brief acquaintance with Scientology, very few have gotten into the subject far enough to find out what it is really all about. It is a subject which doesn't easily lend itself to study. The courses are many and tend to become quite expensive, not only in terms of money, ...

ONE OF the federal Labor government's many decisions in the past four months — recognition of scientology as a religion — has passed with little, if any, coverage by the Australian press. However, the move has been more than popular with the nation's 3000 active scientologists and has received rave reviews in the movement's press, both here and overseas. The government's proclamation, gazetted on february 15, recognised as celebrants of marriage fiftyfive religious bodies, including the Church of the New Faith ...

Labor's Senate leader, Lionel Murphy, seems to have alarmed a few people in declaring that a Labor Government would recognise the Scientology Church of the New Faith. The alarm is unfounded, or at least no more founded than a similar scare would be if it were learned that Labor would recognise the Church of the Immaculate Whatever. It is not simply that in these matters the Federal Government's writ extends only to Canberra and its environs and the Northern Territory. It ...

Mr. Steinman is a free-lance writer living in New York. Like all true believers, the members of the young Church of Scientology (or Dianetics as it is sometimes known) believe they have found the answers. A visit to their New York headquarters in the Hotel Martinique shows that Scientology has at least put smiles on a few faces and seems to have solved many of the existential problems of the members who work and study there. According to the recent U. ...