The Church of Scientology faces mounting legal pressure in courts worldwide to explain its actions, policies, beliefs and inner workings. In the United States, Canada and Europe, Scientology is under ever-increasing scrutiny by law enforcement agencies, courts and even governments. And a ruling handed down last week by it Los Angeles Superior Court judge may complicate the legal proceedings involving the Clearwater-based sect. Judge Paul G. Breckenridge stated in an intended ruling Thursday that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is the ...

Although Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is credited with patenting the sect's E-meter, it is arguable whether the renowned author and adventurer actually invented the electronic device. Over the past 34 years, Scientology literature has referred to the E-meter as the "Hubbard Professional Electrometer," and many people have assumed the 73-year-old science-fiction writer actually invented it. However, Hubbard's estranged son—his father's disciple until a family falling out in 1953—recalls that a man named Volney G. Mathison actually invented the elaborate galvonometer ...

It's called the Hubbard Electrometer and is used as a spiritual guide during "auditing," a Church of Scientology practice somewhat similar to Catholic confession. The E-meter, as it is known, is said to be capable of measuring a person's "mental state and change of state" and can pinpoint deeply rooted, previously undetected problems in the brain. The small, simple electronic device, patented by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, may be the most visible of the "religious artifacts" associated with the Clearwater-based ...

The Supreme Court of Ontario ruled Friday that there is no legal recognition of priest/parishioner privilege. During a hearing before the court brought by the Church of Scientology of Toronto, Justice John Osler ruled that communications between a parishioner and a recognized religions leader are not protected from disclosure in the manner of lawyer/client communications. The Scientologists asked for the ruling as part of their motion to quash an Ontario Provincial Police search warrant executed last year on the sect. During ...

Lawyers who for years have engaged the Church of Scientology in legal battles said Friday that a Los Angeles County Superior court decision handed down this week heralds "the beginning of the end of Scientology." "The walls are collapsing and the truth is finally coining out," Boston attorney Michael Flynn said of the "landmark ruling" of Judge Paul G. Breckenridge. The California judge late Thursday exonerated a former sect member charged with stealing thousands of Scientology documents. But a sect attorney ...

In a stinging rebuke to the Church of Scientology of California, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled Thursday that a former sect archivist was justified in taking about 10,000 Scientology documents when he fled the Clearwater-based sect in 1982. Most of the documents in question belonged to the reclusive 73-year-old founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, who has not been seen publicly since 1979. In his 12-page decision, Judge Paul G. Breckenridge said 37-year-old Gerald Armstrong—who was personally authorized by ...

An organization affiliated with the Church of Scientology has filed papers of dissolution in Pinellas Circuit Court, breaking up that arm of the Clearwater-based sect. Sect spokesman Richard Haworth said Monday he was unaware of the Church of Scientology of Clearwater Inc. and that its dissolution would have no effect on the operations of the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology of Clearwater Inc., incorporated as a non-profit religious organization in December 1982, filed paper's of corporate dissolution in April ...

Testimony has ended in the Los Angeles trial of a former Scientologists charged with stealing thousands of documents, letters and pictures when he fled the controversial sect. A Superior Court judge is weighing the evidence before handing down a decision. "The judge (Paul G. Breckenridge) has taken the case under submission, and we don't know how long it will take," Scientology attorney Barrett Litt said Tuesday. "I assume he'll be working on it and we'll hear sometime in the next little ...

TORONTO—The church of Scientology of Toronto was commanded Friday to move ahead with its case in Ontario Supreme Court proceedings unprecedented in Canadian history. The sect's reason for being in court—a civil motion questioning the legality of a police search warrant—has been usurped by arguments about religion and parishioner/priest confidentiality. Originally, the sect requested the hearing before Justice John Osler asking that he quash the March 4, 1983, Ontario Provincial Police warrant because, the sect said, the document was based on ...

TORONTO—An Ontario Supreme Court judge is expected to rule today in a hearing brought by the Church of Scientology centering on questions of religious equality and criminal wrongdoing. Judge John Osler said Thursday he will study lawyers' arguments and legal precedent in deciding whether to move forward in the hearing to quash an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) search warrant resulting in the seizure of 25,000 sect documents. At issue is whether the massive 158-page search warrant and its supporting documents ...

TORONTO—A lawyer representing the Church Scientology likened the 34-year-old sect to the Roman Catholic Church during hearing Wednesday in Ontario Supreme Court. Arguing that the Ontario Provincial Police had no right to seize Scientology files during a raid on the sect's Toronto mission last year, Clayton Ruby told the court that Scientology should be given the same respect and protection afforded established religions. "Should a new church be (treated differently) because its doctrines are not as well-known?" Ruby asked Justice John ...

TORONTO—Is Scientology a religion? Since the inception of Scientology in 1950, the question of the sect's religious status has been argued in courts worldwide. And various courts' have offered different opinions. The Canadian Province of Ontario may rule on the religious status of Scientology during a hearing here that began Monday. But "religion" is only one of a myriad of questions before the Ontario Supreme Court. Monday's proceedings stemmed from a March 4, 1983, police raid involving 100 Ontario Provincial policemen ...

The Church of Scientology of Toronto will petition the Supreme Court of Ontario Monday asking that a search warrant executed last year be quashed, although the Ontario Provincial Police have already used it to raid the sect's headquarters and seize 14 million documents. Investigators armed with the warrant raided the sect's Toronto headquarters in March 1983 and seized 904 boxes of papers and documents believed to substantiate suspected sect fraud, conspiracy, breaking and entering and theft, according to the warrant and ...

Staff Writer George-Wayne Shelor was talking to Managing Editor Sam Fenton on the phone from Los Angeles, where he was covering a lawsuit brought by the Scientologists against a defector who had taken confidential sect documents. "How many letters (to the editor) have you received so far?" Shelor asked. "None," Fenton replied. "None!" Shelor echoed in amazement. "What's going on?" What, indeed! The silence from the community on the latest revelations of the Scientologists' skulduggery is baffling. While members of the ...

LOS ANGELES—In an extraordinary move, lawyers for the Church of Scientology have asked that parts of the official court transcript of a civil case be destroyed upon the completion of the trial. The motion was railed "unusual" by Superior Court Judge Paul G. Breckenridge Jr., who denied the request. Breckenridge is ruling over the non-jury trial brought by the sect and Mary Sue Hubbard, the wife of its founder. They are asking for the return of 10,000 documents a former Scientologist ...

LOS ANGELES—Scientology lawyers introduced several hundred pages of sealed documents in Superior Court Friday, saying they fracture the defense of a man charged with taking thousands of sect papers when he fled the organization. Letters written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to his children, parents, and wives were submitted by attorney Barrett Litt in an effort to impugn Gerald Armstrong's testimony. Armstrong, a 37-year-old sect researcher, contends he took 10,000 documents in 1981 to defend himself against an anticipated suit. ...

LOS ANGELES—Gerald Armstrong steadfastly maintained Thursday that for 11 years he worked only for L. Ron Hubbard, and he refused to acknowledge Church of Scientology lawyers' contentions he was actually a sect employee. Time and again during his Superior Court trial, Armstrong brushed off suggestions of his sect employment, insisting he worked for Scientology founder Hubbard—regardless of the chain of command. "I was a Scientologist, and I worked for Mr. Hubbard," the former Scientology archivist told Superior Court Judge Paul G. ...

LOS ANGELES—Church of Scientology lawyers began their cross-examination of Gerald Armstrong in Superior Court here Wednesday, trying to prove he continued collecting sect-related documents after a temporary restraining order prevented him from doing so. Sect lawyers also began eliciting testimony from Armstrong, a former Scientology archivist, that he joined the Clearwater-based church not because of his belief in founder L. Ron Hubbard, as Armstrong testified, but because he believed in the organization and its technology. It was Armstrong's fifth day of ...

LOS ANGELES—Bigamy and black magic were a part of the life of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, according to documents introduced Tuesday as exhibits in Superior Court. And according to a former high-ranking Scientologist, Hubbard wrote a series of "Admissions" in which he acknowledged to himself bis systematic manipulation of the U.S. Navy and the Veterans Administration to increase his disability pension. Basing his testimony on 11 years of firsthand knowledge and thousands of documents under court seal, Gerald Armstrong said ...

LOS ANGELES—According to a former high-ranking Scientologist, L. Ron Hubbard was never a war hero; never commanded a squadron of Navy ships; never saw combat and was not crippled and blinded, later healing himself with his theory of Dianetics. Instead, Gerald Armstrong testified Monday that documents sealed by the California Superior Court will prove Hubbard's career was one of "a recurring pattern of malingering, feigning illnesses and false reporting to his superiors." Armstrong said the documents will prove that widely held ...

LOS ANGELES — It's 1984, and Big Brother — under the guise of L. Ron Hubbard — is being slowly exposed. Now 34 years after Hubbard created the Church of Scientology, the documents he wrote, the laws he created, the orders he issued, and the people who lied and cheated to protect him are surfacing in a court of law. They all offer evidence of a chilling tale. Since the sect orchestrated its surreptitious "takeover" of Clearwater in 1975, newspapers and ...

LOS ANGELES—Court-sealed tapes reveal that Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard used a myriad of corporations to funnel millions of dollars from the sect into his personal bank account in Liechtenstein, a lawyer representing a man accused of taking thousands of documents and tapes from the church charged in Superior Court here Friday. Michael Flynn, who represents former Scientologist Gerald Armstrong, said the tape recordings of a Sept. 29, 1980, meeting between Hubbard's personal lawyer and legal officials of the ...

LOS ANGELES—The horror, the degradation, the humiliation and the pain all caught up with Gerald Armstrong Thursday when he broke down in tears while testifying in Superior Court here about his 11 years within the Church of Scientology. The former sect archivist and subject of a suit Charging him with taking personal papers of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, Armstrong shook with sob while recalling his 17-month term in the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), a form of Scientology punishment where he ...

LOS ANGELES—An author hired to write a biography of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard testified Wednesday that he is not "an image maker" and he refused to write a "puff piece" on the reclusive 72-year-old. Omar Garrison described himself as "an honest reporter (and) biographer (to whom) anything about the subject is grist for the mill" during the trial of a former Scientology archivist accused of stealing 10,000 documents the Clearwater-based sect contends it owns. "The Church (of Scientology) has provided ...

LOS ANGELES—The lawyer representing a former Scientologist who took thousands of sect documents began chipping away at the prosecutions's case Tuesday by trying to show the documents were not personal or private. Rather, Michael Flynn claims the secret documents contain damning evidence of an elabortate scheme to defraud Scientology members through the misrepresention of the background of sect found L. Ron Hubbard. Flynn, who represents former Scientology archivist Gerald Armstrong in the non-jury Los Angeles County Superior Court case, used the ...

LOS ANGELES—The wife of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard testified in Superior Court here Monday that a 37-year-old California man stole thousands of sensitive documents which belong to her and the Clearwater-based sect. Mary Sue Hubbard also testified she has been "mentally raped" knowing that others have seen the papers. Mrs. Hubbard, wife of the reclusive Scientology founder and science-fiction author, said Gerald Armstrong, a former Scientologist and sect archivist, has no right to the documents. She also testified Armstrong's attorney, ...

Clearwater police Monday released a transcript of a tape-recorded statement made last month by Daniel Cotrino, a New York Scientologist who be had been held against his will at the sect's 210 S. Fort Harrison Ave. headquarters. The transcript indicates the 30-year-old Cotrino, a Scientologist for 11 years, was frightened and angry at the time he made the statement. It is also clear that Cotrino did make the statements he later accused police of fabricating. The transcript of the tape was ...