"To try to stop people from listening, the Chaos Merchant has to use words like 'cult,' " says L. Ron Hubbard (founder of the Church of Scientology) of his enemies. "That's a closed group, whereas Scientology is the most open group on Earth to anyone." Cult or religion? Scientology has been called both. A note prefacing most of Hubbard's books defines Scientology as "a religious philosophy containing pastoral counseling procedures intended to assist an individual to gain greater self-confidence and personal ...

(Editor's note: One of the first steps in the Church of Scientology's "Communications Course" is an introductory lecture. In Santa Rosa, it's offered every Monday and Wednesday evening at the Scientology headquarters at 721 Mendocino Avenue. Following is a description of the event.) On this particular evening, virtually no one showed up for Scientology's free lecture. So I was an audience of one, listening attentively to a young woman named Joanna, but feeling a little self-conscious. I sat on a stiff-backed ...

The year was 1950. The book was Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, written by a 39-year-old "pulp" writer of science fiction, L. Ron Hubbard. A few months earlier, Hubbard had outlined the book's tenets in a magazine called Astounding Science Fiction. And a year before that, at a lecture for science fiction writers, Hubbard had mused, "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be ...

The film would star a former science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard who founded a religion — or what his critics call a "cult." Also included in the cast would be Charles Manson, John Travolta, numerous former cultists turned "deprogrammers," and billions of Thetans, or immortal beings trapped in "meat bodies" on the planet earth — and don't forget Hubbard's renegade son, who works in a Nevada casino and suspects his father is either dead or hopelessly insane. Scenery in ...

CARSON CITY, Nev. — The former L. Ron Hubbard Jr. shed his father's name in a simple legal maneuver. Shedding the effects of his powerful church is another matter. Left behind are bitter hatreds, fears for his safety only half-jokingly laughed off, charges of money-grubbing and wrongdoing and deep emotional scars. The Church of Scientology counters that the wayward son is merely fantasizing. Ron DeWolf, 47, first born offspring of Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, the brilliant and controversial force behind the fabulously ...

CLEARWATER—Four doctors, a certified public accountant, a lawyer and a businessman have offered the Church of Scientology $3.25-million in cash to buy the former Fort Harrison Hotel and Sandcastle Motel. The offer was made Tuesday, one day after the Clearwater City Commission ended its public hearings on Scientology. The church has 60 days to respond. Church spokesman Hugh Wilhere said he does not plan to meet with the group. "We get offers all the time" to buy property, he said, but ...

CLEARWATER — The Church of Scientology promised Monday to give citizens of Clearwater "adequate information" about itself, but some people already are accusing the group of distributing misleading material. Others say the church's new policy of openness is merely an old policy to appear to be open and above-board. The skirmishing came as the Clearwater City Commission wrapped up five days of public hearings on Scientology and the church launched a media blitz intended to win over the public. The information ...

The 16 witnesses who testified in Clearwater's public hearings on Church of Scientology activities provided the first-hand information city officials will use if they decide to design ordinances to regulate the sect. Boston attorney Michael Flynn, who gathered the witnesses, said he questioned them extensively about their Scientology experiences and people they knew in the sect. He confirmed that information through other witnesses and contacts inside the church, he said. If they had not been in the sect, Flynn said, "I'd ...

The Clearwater City Commission's Scientology hearings ended Monday with searing criticism from the church and a vow from commissioners that their efforts to regulate Scientology have only begun. Church lawyer Paul B. Johnson told commissioners they had conducted a biased "Roman circus" that has unjustly Scientology hearings end "embarrassed and scandalized" Scientology across the country. Though the city had offered the church four days to rebut witnesses and documents presented by Boston lawyer Michael J. Flynn, Johnson announced that the church ...

The Church of Scientology has embarked on a citywide publicity campaign in the wake of five days of public hearings on the sect by the Clearwater City Commission, a church minister said Monday. At a 10:30 a.m. press conference, Scientology spokesman the Rev. Hugh Wilhere announced the beginning of an "open house" publicity campaign. Less than an hour earlier church attorney Paul B. Johnson of Tampa had told the Commission he would not use the four days set aside for church ...

Calling Clearwater's public hearings on the Church of Scientology a "Roman Circus," the sect's lawyer walked out on the proceedings Monday. "The Church of Scientology has been embarrassed and scandalized," said Tampa attorney Paul B. Johnson before leaving. In a brief presentation as Monday's session began, Johnson chastised city commissioners for what he said was their lack of objectivity. He also questioned the selection of Boston attorney Michael Flynn as the city's consultant and the credibility of "handpicked" witnesses Flynn provided. ...

CLEARWATER — The way Leon Haigler tells it, Scientology is just about as contagious as the common cold. In his family, it started with his daughter Karen, spread to his son Donald and then afflicted his youngest child David. Haigler, a retired U.S. government geologist, came to Clearwater last week from his home in Fairfax, Va., to witness the Clearwater City Commission's public hearings on Scientology. EACH DAY he came to City Hall with a large black briefcase out of which ...

Clearwater city commissioners received a warning and some advice Saturday as witnesses gave final testimony against the Church of Scientology during public hearings on the sect's activities. Scientologists' four-day time slot to present their side in the controversy begins Monday. Church spokesman Hugh Wilhere said Saturday night it has not been decided whether the sect will take advantage of its rebuttal time. The warning came near the end of the hearings as consultant Michael Flynn, the Boston attorney hired by the ...

The Clearwater City Commission opens the second half of its public hearings on the Church of Scientology at 9 a.m. today. The next four days have been set aside for the sect to present its side of the story. As of Sunday, however, church spokesman Hugh Wilhere said no decision had been reached as to whether the organization will take advantage of its half of the forum. This past week, Tampa attorney Paul B. Johnson, the sect's attorney, said it is ...

CLEARWATER — Why, Robert Dardano was asked, had he done it — why had he participated with other Scientologists in burglaries and theft of documents and smear campaigns against the church's perceived enemies? Because he was convinced, the slender, soft-spoken Dardano told Clearwater city commissioners, "that Scientology was going to save the planet and free the world. "That we were right and everyone else was wrong," Dardano, a 31-year-old Boston resident, was one of eight witnesses to testify Saturday during commission ...

In a story of international intrigue, a former senior executive of the Church of Scientology testified Saturday about a worldwide sect network involving infiltrations, conspiracies and smuggling. Scott Mayer, 38, told Clearwater city commissioners "I have personal experiences of all of these," in the forth day of the city's Scientology hearings, where legal consultant Michael Flynn paraded seven of his most damaging witnesses. Commissioners heard also from a former Guardian Office worker who said she used the sect's "confessional files" during ...

CLEARWATER. Fla. (UPI) — The father of a young girl who was killed in 1971 aboard a ship owned by the Church of Scientology in Morocco said Friday he doesn't believe the church officials who told him his daughter committed suicide. George Meister, testifying before the City Council, said he flew to Morocco and was shown a photograph of his bloodied daughter Susan and was told by church officials she had been found shot to death with a long-barreled .22-caliber pistol, ...

This week's public hearings on the Church of Scientology is just a case of sect founder L. Ron Hubbard getting a dose of his own medicine, according to one interested spectator. "This is an auditing session," said George Kelly, who has attended all three days of the hearings. "This is L. Ron Hubbard's auditing session and Michael Flynn is the auditor." Kelly, a 34-year-old Canadian and ex-Scientologist, based his analysis on his 14-year study of the Church of Scientology and his ...

CLEARWATER — He hates exercise but loves to watch football games on television and to tinker with a 1971 Volkswagen. He "consumes" literature to the point of leading the labels on Campbell soup cans, is practicing Episcopalian, chain smokes and answers to the nickname Nibs. He watched his father try to perform an abortion on his mother. He practiced black magic, spoke in the jargon of Scientology until he was 25 years old and used to be known as "the great ...