An ex-Scientologist and an army of online pranksters attempt to bring down the controversial religion. Maybe it's his badass black outfit with blood-red letters screaming "Scientology Kills." Or possibly it's his crew cut, or his nose slammed 45 degrees left after catching one too many right hooks. Maybe it's the hardcore cell-phone earpiece or the camcorder strapped to his palm to record confrontations. Whatever it is, when Tommy Gorman stands at a man's door demanding he get his "chicken-shit ass out ...

Soul legend Isaac Hayes, who died aged 65 on Sunday, was killed by a stroke, US authorities have said. The musician's doctor listed it on his death certificate, while there has been no post mortem, said Memphis sheriff's spokesman Steve Shular. Mr Shular added that Dr David Kraus was treating Hayes, who suffered a stroke in 2006, for high blood pressure. The Oscar-winner was found at home by members of his family lying next to a treadmill which was still switched ...

As Rob Harvilla, the Voice music editor, pointed out to us yesterday, there was one really awful detail in the news this weekend about the death of the legendary Isaac Hayes - that the 65-year-old singer was found next to a treadmill which was still running. Chilling. Naturally, there's been some speculation in the press about Hayes and his religion, the wacky cabal of L. Ron Hubbard worshippers at Scientology. Hayes was one of Scientology's high-profile celebrity members, which (supposedly) led ...

Eric Szulczewski has taken off his mask. A month ago, the 43-year-old food safety consultant from Clarendon Hills gave his name to the media, revealing that he's a member of Anonymous, a group dedicated to exposing alleged misdeeds by the Church of Scientology. "Calling them a criminal cult doesn't cover it," said Szulczewski, one of the few members in Chicago willing to reveal his identity. An Internet-based group with members across the world, Anonymous says it does not protest Scientology as ...

Scientology defines itself as the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life. Members of the church believe man is an immortal, spiritual being whose experiences extend beyond a single lifetime. Man cannot only solve his own problems and reach his own goals, but he can gain a higher status of awareness and ability through Scientology. Karin Pouw, public affairs director for the Church of Scientology International, said the religion has more than 7,500 ...

My friend, Isaac Hayes, died on Sunday, and his passing leaves many unanswered questions. The great R&B star, actor, DJ, performer and family man, the composer of “Soul Man,” “Hold On I’m Coming” and other hits by Sam Moore and Dave Prater like “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby,” also was a member of the Church of Scientology. Isaac was found dead by his treadmill, but conveniently missing from the wire stories was a significant fact: in January 2006, Isaac ...

Thank goodness Isaac Hayes wrote "Soul Man" before he became a Scientologist. Whatever would have become of Sam and Dave or the Blues Brothers if they had belted out a song called "Thetan Man"? According to beliefs promoted by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, the immortal soul – or "thetan" – passes from one body to the next through reincarnations over trillions of years. When a person dies, Hubbard said, the thetan goes to a landing station on Venus where it ...

IN the months before a psychotic 25-year-old woman stabbed her father and sister to death and seriously wounded her mother, her psychiatrist, Yolande Lucire, had prescribed 25ml of Largactil a day – a dose so small it used to be recommended as a treatment for hiccups. Last week in the NSW Supreme Court, judge Michael Grove found Pamela Willings (not her real name) not guilty by reason of mental illness. But the treatment she received has created a furore in psychiatric ...

CLEARWATER - The Church of Scientology has added to its downtown property holdings, buying a 5-acre waterfront parcel from church members whose plans for a condominium failed. The church paid $10 million for the property along North Fort Harrison Avenue but has no plans for it, church spokeswoman Pat Harney said Thursday. It could become part of the church's expansion of the Sandcastle complex that fronts Clearwater Harbor, she said. "Now we have a little more land to play with," Harney ...

CLEARWATER — In one of its biggest purchases in years, the Church of Scientology has added 5 acres to its already defining downtown presence. The $10-million cash purchase signals the demise of an ambitious waterfront condominium project proposed by a group of Scientology parishioners who assembled parcels immediately north of downtown four years ago and shared visions of turning downtown Clearwater into another Naples. Despite having no experience in condo development, Triangle Development partners Ben Kugler and Ron Pollack hoped to ...

In the mid-1980s, more than ever before, television advertising was about big budgets and excess. Bucking that trend was Scientologist and marketing whiz Jeff Hawkins, whose understated, minimalist TV ads for L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics helped launch the book onto the best-seller list—and arguably sparked a worldwide interest in the religion. Hawkins' ads featured simple questions like, "Why are you unhappy?" in white print against a black background, backed by edgy music supplied by Hawkins' friends, and finally, a shot of ...

The Church of Scientology has this property at the corner of Buckner Boulevard and Dixie Lane on the market for $725,000. That’s for .8 acre. It is listed with Perry Jones, who is also apparently bullish on Genghis Grill. (Genghis Grill and Scientologists, now there’s a combo.) According to a 2005 article in the Dallas Morning News, the Church of Scientology purchased this property in 2000 and made all the neighbors nervous. The home was originally built in the 1940’s, was ...

The saga over the presence of the Church of Scientology in the Cook Islands has taken a new twist. A church tent, pulled down last month by the Scientology Volunteer Ministers to avoid a legal battle, is up again after the church clarified its position with the Ministry of Justice, especially under the Constitution, which grants freedom of religion and of conscience. The church was legally challenged by Pentecostal leader Reverend Alfred Morris, who challenged the church’s display tent in the ...

The Anonymous group is calling for disillusioned former members to return to the fold ahead of a new phase in its battle against the Church of Scientology. A video posted on YouTube on Friday said it was time for the original founders of the protest movement to return in time for a "shift to more subtle and shocking tactics". Anonymous has staged demonstrations against Scientology around the world over the last six months as part of Project Chanology. Members of the ...

All acknowledgement to Poynter's Jim Romenesko, whose blog [http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45] alerted me to the Reporter's Notebook Web site [http://www.reportersnotebook.net/article.php3?id_article=57], which contains a compelling collection of memories by alums of the long gone Clearwater Sun newspaper. While I'm not so sure about the contention that a newspaper 25 miles away can't provide comprehensive coverage of a community, it is illuminating and sobering to read about the Sun's glory days. A particular standout is the essay crafted by Mike Pride [http://nenews.org/stories/639.html], a well-regarded, recently-retired ...

Written by Marc Pallisco Saturday, 02 August 2008 The Church of Scientology is close to selling its Russell Street headquarters, as it prepares to leave the CBD. Sources say the church will reap about $8 million for the four-level heritage building, on the corner of Flinders Lane. It paid $720,000 in 1980. The church, whose members include Kirstie Alley, Tom Cruise and Lisa Marie Presley, is restoring and renovating the former Sisters of Mercy College in Ascot Vale. It is expected ...

The Church of Scientology is out and California-based First Republic Bank is in as a new owner takes control of the historic Helmer building in the heart of downtown Portland. The Goodman family, which owns or controls numerous commercial sites in downtown, closed its purchase of the Helmer building at 969 S.W. Broadway on July 25 in a deal worth about $5 million. The two-story building takes its name from its most prominent retail tenant, John Helmer Haberdashery, and also is ...

Among the 'garbage' that was washed ashore in Sri Lanka in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami were a number of foreign-funded, unscrupulous evangelist groups. Among these were the 'Scientologists' trying to fish in troubled waters. After exposure by several foreigners including some German journalists as well as the Venerable Medagama Dhammananda of the Asgiriya Buddhist Chapter Sri Lanka, the group kept a low-profile, while 'helping' in the tsunami relief operations for sometime. It now appears that these nefarious crusaders are ...

Tom Cruise is named in a $250 million federal lawsuit that is using the RICO statute against the Church of Scientology. Ex-Scientologist Peter Letterese, a longtime critic of the church, filed suit in Southern District Court in Florida on July 15 alleging, among other things, that members of the church harassed him after he left. In court papers provided to The News by investigator Paul Barresi, Letterese claims a member of the church phoned his lawyer at home, and when the ...

Reacting to a DW-WORLD.DE report on German film projects about Scientology, the organization's press spokesperson in Berlin said she doesn't like the way Scientology is portrayed. A DVD film for schools showing statements by Scientology leaders in the United States and drop-outs in Europe is anything but objective, said Sabine Weber, the spokeswoman of Scientology in Berlin. She added she feels that young people get indoctrinated by the Lutheran church in Germany which had no small share in the film coming ...

Film companies in Germany are now making attempts to look behind what they believe is the true nature of Scientology. The movies are primarily aimed at young people, who are most likely to fall for the organization. Young people tend to be the first to fall for Scientology and are therefore much courted by the group's scouts across the nation. This is where a new, 25-minute film by the Matthias Film company comes in. It shows interviews with Scientology leaders, former ...

A Sydney judge has found a father's association with Scientology did not affect the treatment of his daughter's mental illness before she stabbed him and her sister to death. The 26-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with killing her father and sister in July last year and inflicting grievous bodily harm on her mother. Justice Michael Grove today found her not guilty by reason of mental illness. The court had previously been told the woman was denied ...

29 July 2008, 13:00 Kazakhstan authorities oust foreign missionaries Astana, July 29, Interfax - Foreign missionaries have been expelled from Kazakhstan, country's Justice Minister Zagipa Baliyeva said. "A large number of foreigners from the United States, Georgia, South Korea and Japan were expelled from the country by law enforcement authorities following court decisions for violating regulations while working as missionaries without the required registration," the minister said at a government session on Tuesday. In particular, "head of Narconon, an organization associated ...

A Sydney woman charged with the stabbing murder of her father and sister has pleaded not guilty due to mental illness. The 26-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with murdering her father and younger sister at their Revesby home in Sydney's south-west in July 2007. She has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to murder her mother. The court previously heard the woman was diagnosed with a mental ...