People who spend money unwisely or damage their own reputation could be classified as mentally ill and forcibly taken away for treatment in an institution, under new mental health legislation due to come into effect within two weeks. Under the new laws, police will be able to take people from their home to hospital for psychiatric assessment for three days or longer. The changes to the Mental Health Act are strongly supported by relatives and friends of the mentally ill. However, ...

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl ignored protesters wearing Nazi SS uniforms as he boarded a boat for a Sydney Harbour cruise yesterday afternoon. A group of 30 Church of Scientology members, some wearing Nazi SS uniforms and carrying placards reading "Hands Off Our Religion" and "Is Germany Really A Free Country?", heckled Dr Kohl before his cruise. Protester Liz Reeve said the German Government was orchestrating a campaign against Scientologists, even taking their children from schools. "That shouldn't be happening to children ...

SYDNEY, May 6 AAP — German Chancellor Helmut Kohl ignored protesters wearing Nazi SS uniforms as he boarded a boat for a Sydney Harbour cruise this afternoon. A group of 30 noisy demonstrators, members of the Australian branch of the US-based Church of Scientology, some wearing Nazi SS uniforms and carrying placards reading 'Hands Off Our Religion' and 'Is Germany Really A Free Country?', heckled Dr Kohl before his cruise. One protester, Liz Reeve, said the German government was orchestrating a ...

The Church of Scientology responds to the article "Cult of Personality" which appeared in the last issue of Woroni The anonymous author of the article on Scientology in the last Woroni of March 20, 1997, at least got a few things right: the description and definition of Scientology, the aims of Scientology, that it is a religion and a Church. However, journalistic accountability having been thrown to the wind, there followed a mixture of opinion and fiction. Objectivity died with ...

A local mother warned parents last week that young people who travel to Perth in search of education, work or adventure could be influenced by cult groups. Young people often gravitated to Perth in search of excitement and some cults have been accused of preying on the lonely, offering friendship to young people feeling lost in an unfamiliar place, the mother said. Matilda, not her real name, said she wanted to warn others because her life had been turned upside down ...

Having spent the morning on the Net, surfing any number of hideous accounts by ex-scientologists, I climbed the stairs of the Civic Scientology office with some trepidation. I felt armed with my newly enhanced awareness of cult recruiting tactics and brainwashing techniques, and had the specific aim of grabbing any printed material I could see and getting out fast. I was greeted warmly by a young woman and told that someone would be 'with me shortly.' A few minutes later she ...

The most worrying aspect of the abusive response of the German Government to concerns about discrimination against Scientologists (Victims or Villains? Focus, 1-2/2) is that the actual violations and offences against Scientologists are hardly even entering into consideration, either by the German politicians themselves or media writers (such as Washington correspondent Peter Wilson) who report on them. The treatment of Scientologists has been disturbing for several years, with no just circumstantial but massive instances of their basic rights being violated. There ...