Published Monday, February 4, 2008 Issue 69 / Volume 88 [Picture of masked protestors / Source: Sabrina Ricci; Daily Nexus] A group of protesters yielding signs and handouts rally outside the Church of Scientology on State Street Saturday afternoon during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in protest of the Church's alleged restrictions of free speech. A group of protesters yielding signs and handouts rally outside the Church of Scientology on State Street Saturday afternoon during the Santa Barbara International Film ...

The Church of Scientology plans to spend up to $10 million to convert a landmark building in the Exchange District into a church and community outreach centre. Rev. Yvette Shank, president of the church's Canadian office in Toronto, said the church plans to undertake a major refurbishing of the 115-year-old Peck Building, which it quietly acquired last March for a previously unheard of price for the Exchange of $2.2 million. "We love it," Shank said of the six-storey, brick-and-stone building at ...

As the fight for the presidency heats up, Hollywood's celebrities will be speaking their minds about the candidates and the issues – and studio chieftains already are cringing. Politics breeds controversy, and there are many who feel that stars should be seen and not heard. The campaign will be shrill enough, they reason, without celebrity input. There's more than a little hypocrisy to this position. The corporate Brahmins wield their wealth and power to support favored candidates, one could argue, so ...

Watch out, there's an alien about An online onslaught against Scientology A VICIOUS cult run by cynical fraudsters, or a sincerely held religious belief persecuted by zealots? That is the long-standing row about Scientology, founded by the late science-fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard. In some countries, such as Germany, the group is watched by the security services. In others, such as America and Australia, it has won charitable status as a religion. Until now the fight could mostly be seen as ...

In a move seen by some as an attempt to take advantage of Sderot’s shell-shocked residents, a nonprofit group is offering them free workshops based on the teachings of the late L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. [Embedded video: Scientology Way to Happiness in Israel 2/4 ] A group calling itself the Association for Prosperity and Security in the Middle East, which denies any connection with the Church of Scientology, has sent e-mails to social workers in ...

The besieged residents of Sderot are being offered free workshops based on the teachings of Scientology’s founder. A nonprofit group, the Association for Prosperity and Security in the Middle East, has sent e-mails to social workers in the southern Israeli town offering to help the residents cope with Kassam rocket attacks, The Jerusalem Post reported. Some say the group, which claims to have no connection to the Church of Scientology or its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, is trying to take advantage ...

One of the historic landmarks in Port Elizabeth's central business district - the United Building on the corner of St Mary's Terrace and Govan Mbeki Avenue - is soon to have a R6-million facelift, adding a new look to the inner city. The building has been bought by the Church of Scientology, which wants to turn it into its regional headquarters, for about R8-million. Recently approved by the commissioner of revenue as a public benefit organisation, and also tax- exempted, the ...

In this article, we argue that Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, likely presented a personality disorder known as malignant narcissism, and then we establish that this disorder probably contributed to his creation of organizational policies against perceived enemies that reflected his narcissistic rage. We illustrate our argument by discussing Hubbard’s creation of an internal Scientology organization called the Guardian’s Office, which carried out a sustained and covert attack against a Scientology critic, Paulette Cooper. This attack, and the Scientology policies that ...

The Church of Scientology of Boston Inc. has bought the historic Alexandra Hotel building at Washington Street and Massachusetts Avenue in the South End and plans to relocate its local headquarters from the Back Bay, following extensive renovations. The sales price of the Alexandra - ravaged by fire in the 1993, decayed, empty, and recently eluding City Hall's hopes that it would become residences - was not disclosed by the Rev. Gerard Renna, the top Scientology representative in Boston. The church, ...

I spent a few days with Prof. Stephen Kent, of the Sociology Department of the University of Alberta, a couple of months ago. He is one of the few really brave academics willing to face up to mind control cults of the Scientology ilk, study, and expose what they really are and the damage they do the people they control. I spent many hours with Steve, describing my 20-year experiences within the cult’s fanatical, militant and secretive inner circle, an organization ...

Websites associated with the Church of Scientology are intermittently unavailable today after an internet group calling itself Anonymous declared war on the controversial organisation. In a statement posted via video on YouTube and through various internet sites Anonymous claimed its actions were designed to safeguard the right to freedom of speech against assaults by the Church of Scientology. It also wants to curtail what it claims is the financial exploitation of church members and aims to "systematically dismantle the Church of ...

A hacking group calling itself Anonymous has posted a chilling video on the internet, announcing that it plans to dismantle the Church of Scientology. A hacking group calling itself "Anonymous" has posted a chilling video on the internet, announcing that it plans to "dismantle" the Church of Scientology. Wired.com reports that Anonymous has flooded Scientology servers with a distributed denial of service attack, is choking the Church's phone lines with prank calls and sending looped faxes of solid black pages. "Over ...