Deep in hiding, Hubbard kept tight grip on the church. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard often said that man's most basic drive is that of survival. And when it came to his own, he used whatever was necessary — false identities, cover stories, deception. There is no better illustration of this than the way he secretly controlled the Church of Scientology while hiding from a world he viewed as increasingly hostile. Hubbard was last seen publicly in February 1980, in the ...

Scientology is determined that the words of L. Ron Hubbard shall live forever. Using state-of-the art technology, the movement has spent more than $15 million to protect Hubbard's original writings, tape-recorded lectures and filmed treatises from natural and man-made calamities, including nuclear holocaust. The effort illustrates two fundamental truths about the Scientology movement: It believes in its future and it never does anything halfheartedly. In charge of the preservation task is the Church of Spiritual Technology, which functions as archivist for ...

What is Scientology? Not even the vast majority of Scientologists can fully answer the question. In the Church of Scientology, there is no one book that comprehensively sets forth the religion's beliefs in the fashion of, say, the Bible or the Koran. Rather, Scientology's theology is scattered among the voluminous writings and tape-recorded discourses of the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who founded the religion in the early 1950s. Piece by piece, his teachings are revealed to church members ...

As L. Ron Hubbard told it, he was 4 years old when a medicine man named "Old Tom" made him a "blood brother" of the Blackfeet Indians of Montana, providing the inspiration for the Scientology founder's first novel, "Buckskin Brigades." But one expert on the tribe doesn't buy Hubbard's account. Historian Hugh Dempsey is associate director of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada. He has extensively researched the tribe, of which his wife is a member. He said that blood brothers ...

The Church of Scientology today is run by a high-school dropout who grew up at the knee of the late L. Ron Hubbard and wields power with the iron-fisted approach of his mentor. At 30, David Miscavige is chairman of the board of an organization that sits atop the bureaucratic labyrinth known as the Church of Scientology. This organization, the Religious Technology Center, owns the trademarks that Scientology churches need to operate, including the words Scientology and Dianetics. The Religious Technology ...

After eight years at Headquarters, I am "moving on" to other work. My duties as Director of Public Affairs will be handled by Taj. Hamad and Linda Shapiro although I will try to continue to work, with many of the contacts I have made/over the years. For me, they are much more than professional contacts—they are my friends. Thus, my change in mission does not mean I will forget my friends. Those relationships will continue and hopefully flourish for many years ...

NEW YORK — An upcoming critical biography of L. Ron Hubbard, author and founder of the Church of Scientology, may be published in its original form, a federal appeals court ruled. The 2nd us. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling in February for New Era Publications International, exclusive licensee of Hubbard's works, which had filed a copyright infringement lawsuit. Hubbard died in 1986. The appeals court held Thursday the book's quotations from Hubbard's published works, which amount to ...

A Federal appeals court has ruled that a publisher is not required to delete material from a coming biography of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. The ruling, issued Thursday, overturned a lower court's decision, and barring the unlikely chance of a rehearing or a quick reversal by the Supreme Court, the biography will be published in its original form next month. Michael Lee Hertzberg, who argued the case against the publisher, said the plaintiff had not decided ...

[...] COPYRIGHTED WRITINGS can be used in critical biography, court rules. A federal appeals court in New York reversed a lower court ruling that appeared to signify tighter restrictions on the use of copyrighted materials by authors and journalists. The appeals court ruled that Carol Publishing Group's critical biography of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, doesn't violate federal law by including copyrighted quotations from Mr. Hubbard's published writings. The plaintiff was New Era Publications International, a Copenhagen ...

Thanks to your enduring help, the Oklahoma State Legislature has passed (91 to 0 in the House and similar in the Senate), and Governor Henry Bellmon has signed a law which should insure that Oklahoma will certify only legitimate, medically safe drug and alcohol treatment facilities for operation in our state. Practitioners of Body Thetan exorcism and other hocus pocus won't cut it. The law requires that drug abuse treatment providers be accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare ...

We believe that a community newspaper should do more than entertain and make money. A community newspaper has an obligation to inform, warn, preach, and plead for what is good for the town it serves. Sometimes the stories are tough to cover. Sometimes even frightening. Sometimes they make people angry. Sometimes they are dull. Sometimes it means exposing the warts on our community nose. And, of course, once in awhile the stories we run happen to be fun and entertaining. But ...

A festering dispute between a nontraditional religion and an anti-cult group has escalated to the point where each camp is accusing the other of using Nazilike tactics. Chances of a truce between the Church of Scientology and the Cult Awareness Network appear slim. Each denies the other's allegations of employing techniques that fleece victims of money and inflict psychological damage. The two have been at odds for at least a decade. The faceoff heated up in a recent solicitation letter from ...

The C.A. 2nd has upheld dismissal of a complaint filed by former members of the Church of Scientology that was based on allegations of fraud, disclosure of confidential confessions and the diversion of church funds. Six individuals, a nonprofit organization, and a 400-member class sued 14 individuals, six nonprofit organizations, two corporations and five other entities for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and injunctive relief. The claims were based on allegations that the plaintiffs had been induced to join the Church ...

The Church of Scientology should hand over stacks of financial documents to the Internal Revenue Service, which is studying whether to deny the organization tax-exempt status, a federal magistrate says. But Magistrate Elizabeth Jenkins has pared the number of documents the IRS originally sought. Jenkins' recommendations, issued last week in U.S. District Court, will be forwarded to a federal judge who can adopt or revise them. The IRS says it has information indicating the Clearwater-based Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization ...

Abolish income tax; we'd all benefit By David Miscavige Guest columnist LOS ANGELES — When the 16th Amendment passed, permitting an income tax, voters were promised this new tax would be fairly administered. They were assured it would represent no threat to our liberties. And they were promised it would be temporary. They were also warned. On the floor of the House, Samuel Walker McCall of Massachusetts said the income tax is not "primarily to raise money for the state but ...

The Church of Scientology's genesis was the 1950 best seller by L. Ron Hubbard, "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health." Church officials claim there are 7 million Scientologists worldwide, but former members allege there may be fewer than 100,000. The church promotes Scientology as a religion — one not based on the worship of a god but on the belief in "scientific" principles applied to the mind. Hubbard argued in "Dianetics" that inner turmoil springs from subconscious mental images, or ...

In 1981, St. Martin's Press was offered a sure thing. L. Ron Hubbard, the pulp writer turned religious leader, had written his first science-fiction novel in more than 30 years. If St. Martin's published it, Hubbard aides promised the firm, subsidiary organizations of Hubbard's Church of Scientology would buy at least 15,000 copies. "Battlefield Earth," priced at $24.95, was released the next year in hardcover, rare for a science-fiction title. Despite mixed reviews, the book quickly sold 120,000 copies — enough ...

Eastern San Fernando Valley community and church leaders spoke out Saturday against plans to almost double the capacity of a residential mental health facility in Lake View Terrace. "We feel we've already been inundated with this type of facility," said Fred Taylor, president of Focus '90, an organization that is working with the Ministers Fellowship of the Greater San Fernando Valley to improve the area's image. "This area has become a slum, a dumping ground," said the Rev. James Wade, pastor ...

The San Diego Union first asked for an interview with Bridge Publications in December 1989. The request was referred to the L. Ron Hubbard Office of Public Relations, a Church of Scientology organization in Los Angeles. Several times throughout January, Union reporter Mike McIntyre contacted the L Ron Hubbard Office of Public Relations to request an interview with Bridge personnel. Each time, L. Ron Hubbard spokeswoman Sharyn Runyon said that a decision had not been made. Runyon later asked McIntyre to ...

Former employees of EST founder Werner Erhard say they were forced to obey the pop psychology guru in a manner akin to God and to submit themselves to numerous instances of verbally and physically abusive behavior. In sworn statements, the ex-employees also charge that they were required to worship Erhard as the Source and were controlled with exhausting work schedules, loyalty oaths, threats and emotional abuse. The allegations – by five former staff members of est, of the Forum and of ...

We must: A) stop the killing in El Salvador, B) stop censorship of the arts, C) reform the Internal Revenue Service, and D) provide housing for AIDS victims. It was all of the above yesterday at the Federal Office Building, where the first day of spring was greeted by more than 100 people rallying for various causes. It made for a curious melange of symbolism and rhetoric. There were the crude wooden crosses to symbolize the victims of Salvadoran death squads, ...

A television network has decided to broadcast commercials from a sponsor that is affiliated with the Church of Scientology. Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) said Monday that it will allow Bridge Publications to be one of 12 companies sponsoring the 1990 Goodwill Games. [...]

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A group of ex-Scientologists is spearheading a protest campaign against the Olympic-style Goodwill Games over a corporate sponsor affiliated with the controversial Church of Scientology. Complaints began after Turner Broadcasting System signed Bridge Publications as one of the 12 worldwide sponsors of the games, which will be July 20-Aug. 5 in Seattle and other Washington state cities, said Mike Mobley, an Atlanta spokesman for the Games. Bridge joined such corporate giants as Pepsi-Cola, Miller Brewing Co., Frito-Lay, Gillette ...

The Goodwill Games, an Olympic-style competition designed to bring people together, is prompting protests because one of its sponsors is affiliated with the Church of Scientology. Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) has received complaints from people upset that Bridge Publications is one of 12 companies that paid millions to become worldwide sponsors, spokesmen for the games said. The games were founded in 1986 by TBS president Ted Turner and are broadcast by TBS. Mike Mobley of TBS did not know the number ...

Imagine that a biographer is rummaging through an old trunk. He discovers a previously unseen letter from George Washington to Martha. He unfolds the brittle pages. "Martha, I must tell you, I was fibbing when I said, 'I cannot tell a lie.' " When that hypothetical biography is published, will you, the book buyer, get to read the Founding Father's confession? Hard to say. Last month the Supreme Court refused to review an appeals court ruling that copyright law strictly limits ...

Three men accused of money laundering in a Clearwater rare-coin dealership claim they were unfairly singled out for prosecution because they are Scientologists. They claim the internal Revenue had no evidence of criminal activity when it began an investigation of the coin dealership, Bernstein, McCaffrey & Lee. Instead, the three accused men charge that they were "targeted for investigation and prosecution solely because they are Scientologists," and say the case against them should be dismissed. They claim another example of this ...

Police Chief Daryl. F. Gates arrived 20 minutes late, knifing his way into a warm, stuffy conference room that seemed more like a lion's den, jammed with 17 television cameras and more than 70 news media members. He appeared ruddy and strained, despite his dapper blue suit and a red tie spangled with tiny American flags. The news conference Thursday–amid a nationwide uproar over the beating of black construction worker Rodney G. King by several Los Angeles police officers–was perhaps the ...

The Gray Moss Inn, a turn-of-the century downtown hotel, has been sold to a California lawyer for $1.65-million. The hotel at 215 S Fort Harrison Ave. is across the street from another landmark Clearwater hotel: the Fort Harrison. The Fort Harrison Hotel is owned by the Church of Scientology, which has its worldwide spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. The buyer of the Gray Moss is Los Angeles lawyer Bert B. Babero. The sale was handled by state Rep. Gerald S. "Jerry" Rehm, ...