According to Mark Hanna, missionaries are sometimes sent to Australia from the American Church of Scientology to look over operations and advise on improvements. The advice seems to be effective. Hanna says the Church has about 30,000 Australian members and is in the midst of an "unprecedented boom". During the day, the four floors of its Sydney headquarters at 201 Castlereagh St are occupied by about 60 Scientologists liaising with church offices in other states and training recruits. Off the foyer ...

CLEARWATER — A former Scientologist says he is about to form a group in north Pinellas County that will offer Scientology-related classes, but will not be affiliated with the controversial sect. David Findlay, who recently moved to North Pinellas, said he plans to begin offering the classes somewhere in Clearwater's Countryside area in the next two or three months. Like other splinter Scientology groups around the country, Findlay said he will largely draw on people who have left the Church of ...

"Corrupt, sinister and dangerous" were the words used to describe the Church of Scientology in a judgment given by Mr Justice Latey this summer. He also referred to it as "immoral and socially obnoxious". But who controls the Church now? A major Sunday Times Magazine investigation into the activities of the cult in America and Britain has uncovered a disturbing and extraordinary story — the takeover of the organisation by a small band of youthful fanatics following the disappearance of the ...

LOS ANGELES — Michael J. Flynn, a Boston lawyer, was piloting a light aircraft toward South Bend, Ind., in October 1979 when its engine quit mysteriously at 8,500 feet. After making an emergency landing, he said he found several quarts of water in the fuel tank. Since then, Mr. Flynn, who has led a legal battle against the Church of Scientology, a group that has long been the subject of Government investigations, says he has been followed by as many as ...

THE head of the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, whose organisation was described by a High Court judge as 'dangerous, immoral, sinister and corrupt', has been ordered to stay away from Britain. The 74-year-old recluse, himself declared a 'charlatan' by the judge, had hoped to reverse a Home Office ruling which barred him from coming to this country to address his followers at the British headquarters of the sect, Saint Hill, at East Grinstead, Sussex. But when he refused to ...

A HIGH Court judge yesterday delivered a damning indictment of the Church of Scientology. Mr Justice Latey described the Californian-based sect as 'corrupt, immoral, sinister and dangerous'. And of its methods, he declared: 'For those of us old enough to remember, it is grimly reminiscent of the ranting and bullying of Hitler and his henchmen.' He was giving judgment in the High Court Family Division at the end of a six-month 'tug of love' battle over two children whose father is ...

Two youngsters were expelled from a private school in Bellevue last week because of a continuing dispute about the real wishes of a 72-year-old man who hasn't been seen in years. The youngsters, brothers Garrett and Allen Dean, aged 6 and 9, must wonder what happened. Despite their good grades and conduct, the boys were kicked out of The Learning Place School, a private institution that follows the educational philosophy of L. Ron Hubbard but invites students of all faiths. Hubbard, ...

With $175 and a small box of books under his arm, Martin Samuels brought Scientology to the Sacramento area in the 1960s. He soon built a $10 million empire. The church rated his missions in Davis and Sacramento the best in the world. Then, in 1982, it all collapsed. Samuels left the church with nothing more than a suitcase half full of clothes. Samuels charges in a lawsuit that the Church illegally took it all away from him. The suit, being ...

Church says it's stronger now, while some ex-leaders say end is inevitable First of two parts A hot wind blows through the masts of the $565,000 clipper ship "docked" on a rocky plateau in the middle of a Southern California desert. Down the hill, a car nears a gate guarded by young men in brown shirts. As if with the snap of unseen fingers, members of the elite Sea Org pour from buildings around the ship with cameras in hand, furiously ...

AT LEAST 10 leading local members of the East Grinstead-based Church of Scientology have resigned from the sect over policy differences, it was disclosed this week. It is understood that the resignations follow disquiet over the reintroduction of "disconnection" practices whereby church members are advised to completely sever relations with fellow members. These policies were abandoned for a time in 1968. It is alleged that these disconnection policies are now beck in force since a new policy dated September 10, 1983. ...

DENVER — The Church of Scientology, one of the nation’s wealthiest and most controversial religious organizations, has moved into the oil business with the purchase of a significant interest in an Oklahoma City oil and gas exploration company, The Denver Post has learned. The church also has provided $3.3 million to finance drilling for the company, HG&G Inc. The investment was made through a Florida-based, non-profit unit of the church, and is the religious group’s first venture into active participation in ...

Hours after hearing the good news, Melbourne scientologists were deciding how they were going to spread it. "We're going to have TV ads, and we'll promote the book 'Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health', the young scientologist said. David Griffiths, 28, son of a Uniting Church minister, was sitting on a pile of books in the foyer of the church's Russell Street headquarter. He was delighted by the victory, and by the knowledge that finances were going to improve with ...

In a newish sort of castle in Sussex a suite of rooms, with private bar, an electric organ, and an elegant writing desk complete with pens and an unopened pack of his favorite cigarettes, await one of the world's most prolific and richest authors. Yet the rooms, cleaned regularly, remain unused; the chair behind the desk has not been sat upon for over fifteen years, though the man for whom all this is carefully — even lovingly maintained — has sold ...

A best-selling adventure novel by a controversial figure who has not been seen in public for years has become the focus of concern among some book sellers. The book sellers said they belleve that "Battlefield Earth" by L. Ron Hubbard is being bought in large numbers in their stores by members of the Church of Scientology, founded by the reclusive Hubbard, as part of an effort to boost it onto the country's best-seller lists. Some book sellers and critics of Hubbard ...

The D.C. Police Department is conducting an internal investigation to determine how members of the Church of Scientology, a controversial religious group that has been investigated by law enforcement agencies, were able to set up a course for recruits at the D.C. Police Training Academy, police officials said. The course, taught by church members, was set up without the approval of Chief Maurice T. Turner Jr. and is contrary to the department's procedures regarding outsiders teaching police academy courses, according to ...

[Picture / Caption: Scientology's headquarters in L.A. was formerly the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The church purchased It for $5 million In 1977.] Last October in San Francisco, some 70 local leaders of the Church of Scientology gathered to hear nine church executives harangue them about their shortcomings. Styling themselves with titles that ranged from the quasi-military ("Commander," "Warrant Officer") to the quasi-lunatic ("International Finance Dictator"), the men announced that they represented the new hierarchy of the organization, and that they ...

Defections by older members and publicity given a legal battle over control of hundreds of millions of dollars are believed to be cutting into the membership of the Church of Scientology. The church, which has a headquarters in Clearwater, is described by its leaders as a religion and by its critics as a highly profitable business with cult-like overtones. The church claims a worldwide membership of 6-million, although former officials say the number of adherents is probably fewer than 700,000. According ...