Scientology's biggest star comes to Canada to make a movie that will bring church's values and villains to a theatre near you Members of the Church of Scientology were in Yorkville this past holiday weekend, questionnaires in hand, to collect opinions about the church from passersby. It's been a difficult couple of years for Scientology, which is trying to polish its fringe image as it awaits word from Revenue Canada about its application for charitable status. But positive PR may be ...

THE MOST MAIL Daily Variety has received this year about a single article has come in response to a story that the newspaper will never run. The subject was Scientology and its influence on Hollywood. The story was in the process of being researched by our film editor, Dan Cox, who recently left the paper to accept a job as a literary agent without finishing the article. In approaching his story, Cox was impressed by the fact that the Scientologists, who've ...

ANNOUNCER: On December 14, 1998, this is “Investigative Reports”. BILL KURTIS: Hello, I’m Bill Kurtis. It is America’s most controversial religion. Some, in fact, say it’s not a religion at all. For 40 years, the Church of Scientology has flourished in this country, while under constant attack by the government, the media, and the psychiatric profession. It’s been perceived as an organization interested only in money making, which brainwashes its members and then bankrupts them; all untrue, say its leaders and ...

outside Celebrity Centre; newspaper article titled “Scientology–A Long Trail of Controversy”; another shot of Celebrity Centre; part of newspaper article title “struggle for credibility” VO: Over its rocky 45- year history, Scientology has driven for mainstream acceptance. DAVID MISCAVIGE (interview): People have been searching for thousands of years for spiritual release and freedom, and what we have in Scientology is the answer. How to achieve that. JOHN TRAVOLTA (on movie set in Army camouflage outfit): Ultimately, the whole purpose is to ...

outside Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles; magazine “Bay Guardian” with cover story “Scientology secrets revealed in 2 million dollar consumer fraud case”; outside AOLA building in Los Angeles; news footage from Julie Christofferson Titchbourne trial in Portland, with Scienos picketing VO: The ’80s saw a series of lawsuits brought against the Church of Scientology. Ex-members united, claiming they had been lied to and bilked out of millions of dollars. In 1985, an ex-Scientologist was awarded $39 million after she claimed the ...

Clearwater picket 1997–Xenu picketing with sign saying “L. Ron Hubbard: Psychotic CON MAN”, other picketers with signs saying “www.scientology-kills.net” “Xenu Crossing (inside a yellow sign on picket sign)”; Deana Holmes with sign saying “Did Standard Tech kill Lisa?”; lecture at Scientology church VO: While church administration is busy dealing with a steady stream of conflict, individual Scientologists are out among the people, spreading Hubbard’s word at every opportunity. MIKE RINDER: Well, you know, the aims of Scientology are a civilization without ...

Crowd of people outside Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles; picture of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman VO: The high profile role of Scientology’s celebrities– which include America’s most popular actor, Tom Cruise– adds to Scientology’s mystique. footage of Travolta being presented with a “1998 Celebrity with glamour of the year” (?) award from somebody (glass trophy with red and blue hand prints painted on it) JOHN TRAVOLTA (on movie set in Army camouflage outfit) (voice of and on camera): I’m part ...

ASHINGTON – Cable News Network legal analyst Greta Van Susteren and her wealthy trial-lawyer husband, John Coale, are a Beltway power couple. She is the co-host of CNN's top-rated Burden of Proof. He is a mover behind the multi-billion-dollar anti-tobacco lawsuits. Both have dined at the White House. And what about the fact they belong to a religion that teaches of Xenu, evil head of the Galactic Confederation? Who flew people to Teegeeack (Earth) 75-million years ago in space ships, chained ...

WASHINGTON – After years of holding the U.S. government in contempt, the Church of Scientology is enlisting members of Congress, the U.S. State Department and even President Clinton to advance its agenda in foreign lands. Prodded by the Scientologists' paid lobbyists and its cadre of sympathetic entertainers, several lawmakers and the Clinton administration have criticized the German government for allegedly discriminating against Scientology practitioners. They even got their argument against Germany to the floor of the House of Representatives last November. ...

There are some Germans out there who don't trust John Travolta. Not only that, at least one of these Germans - actually a member of Germany's parliament - doesn't at all like the idea of Travolta talking with the president of the United States or his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, about the state of U.S.-German relations. The reason this German lawmaker worries about the popular movie actor getting to see the president and his advisers is that Travolta is a ...

Type: Tort, intentional infliction of emotion distress, alter ego. Bench decision: Amendment of judgment - $6,025,857 ($4,649,328 renewed judgment plus $1,376,529 accrued interest). Case/Number: Larry Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California / C332027. Court/Date: L.A. Superior Central / Oct. 29, 1997. Judge: John P. Shook. Attorneys: Plaintiff - Craig J. Stein (Gartenberg, Jaffe, Gelfand & Stein, LLP, L.A.); Daniel A. Leipold, Cathy Shipe, Robert F. Donohue (Hagenbaugh & Murphy, Orange); Lita Schlosser (Encino); Ford Greene (Hub Law Offices, San Anselmo). ...

When you sit down to read, do you find yourself feeling blank or sort of spinny? Squashed, bent or just not there? Sure you do. And here's why: You've gone past a word you don't understand. In fact, the only reason a person gives up studying or becomes confused or unable to learn is because that person went past a word that was misunderstood. At least that's what the followers of the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard want you to ...

BERLIN — Speaking from a vast video screen, actor John Travolta told a mass rally of Scientologists here Monday that there is no excuse for government discrimination against religious bodies. Singing and chanting, adherents from Germany, the United States and across Europe joined the L.A.-based Church of Scientology's largest demonstration in Germany against what it said is official discrimination against religious minorities. "Scientology is our religion," Travolta said in the video message, taped in Los Angeles. "It has helped us a ...