The man took exception to being filmed as part of a documentary for a public-access TV station. CLEARWATER — A longtime member of the Church of Scientology was arrested Saturday after he scuffled with an amateur filmmaker who was videotaping on a downtown sidewalk next to a sign reading "Cult Watch," police and a witness said. Michael Fitzgerald, 52, a self-employed carpenter, was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on a misdemeanor battery charge and released after posting $250 bail. Fitzgerald ...

A longtime Scientologist has been charged with battery in a sidewalk scuffle over a filmmaker's videocamera. CLEARWATER — A longtime member of the Church of Scientology was arrested Saturday after he scuffled with an amateur filmmaker who was videotaping on a downtown sidewalk next to a sign reading "Cult Watch," police and a witness said. Michael Fitzgerald, 52, a self-employed carpenter, was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on a misdemeanor battery charge and released after posting $250 bail. Fitzgerald said ...

A man filming a documentary outside the Church of Scientology in Clearwater says he was attacked by a man claiming to be a Scientologist. But a Scientology spokeswoman says the photographer, Shawn Lonsdale, has been harassing their staff and members for weeks, and that the fight was not a church incident. Lonsdale said his cameras have been pointed toward the Church of Scientology in Clearwater every day for two weeks. "Basically, I'm filming a pseudo-documentary for one of our free-access Pinellas ...

Scientologists describe their religion as a cathartic journey toward happiness and clarity of mind. Church of Scientology critics call it kooky science fiction disguised as religion. Whatever you believe, the church says it is growing. Although the church's membership remains a much-debated mystery, its land holdings tell the story of a robust organization in the midst of a new chapter of growth. Worldwide, Scientologists say they have bought 21 buildings they plan to turn into churches. Still, some former Scientologists and ...

Neighbors' reaction on group's relocation mixed Pasadena — Scientologists will soon have a sizable presence in Old Pasadena. Last week, local members of the Church of Scientology purchased the historic Braley Building, at 35 S. Raymond Ave., and immediately donated it to their church. "We have been looking for a building for quite some time now," said Eden Stein, president of the church's Pasadena branch. "People love beautiful things; this will be a beautiful space for our parishioners to go to." ...

Reporter Elodie Harper goes undercover to reveal the tactics used by Scientology followers in the immediate aftermath of traumatic events.

INTEREST-FREE loans from abroad are propping up the troubled Irish branch of the controversial Church of Scientology. Financial documents seen by the Irish Independent reveal that the church is more than €1m in the red after running up huge legal bills in an epic eight-year battle brought by a disgruntled former member. As a result, members of the mega-rich Church of Scientology in the United States have had to cough up almost €400,000 just to keep the Dublin arm afloat. The ...

When the Times told officials at the Church of Scientology in Clearwater about plans to write a story about its suppressive person and disconnection policies, Scientology spokesman Ben Shaw aggressively sought to refute the story and persuade the newspaper not to tell it. Shaw provided numerous articles about the ways other churches deal with apostates, including one in which a Catholic bishop in Nebraska excommunicated every member of one church. "I don't see how you can do a fair article on ...

Karen Pressley of Atlanta and her then-husband Peter Schless — a musician and composer who wrote the hit song On the Wings of Love — became Scientologists and later joined staff. Pressley mostly worked for the church's international organization in Los Angeles, but she spent six months in Clearwater. She said she designed the new uniforms still worn by staffers today. Pressley left Scientology in 1998 and refused to come back for sec checks. She has publicly denounced "substandard" child care ...

Religions have always penalized those who betray the cause. Catholics excommunicate, barring the wayward from church rites. The Amish, Jehovah's Witnesses and some orthodox Jewish sects shun their nonconformists. In the Tampa Bay area's burgeoning Scientology community, members abide by a policy considered by some religious experts extreme: Scientologists declare their outcasts "suppressive persons." Another Scientology policy — called "disconnection" — forbids Scientologists from interacting with a suppressive person. No calls, no letters, no contact. An SP is a pariah. Anyone ...

Scientologists are taking advantage of Germany's education problems for their own ends: They are luring weak students by providing after-school tutoring. Education authorities in Germany are on alert. The ad on a supermarket notice board in the city of Essen was aimed at all the parents in the neighborhood. Right nearby there was an "alternative school" where learning was still fun. "Sounds just right", thought one dad, who is now reluctant to give his name out of sheer fear. He took ...

If Tom Cruise's recent public displays weren't evidence enough, Scientologists Jenna and Bodhi Elfman prove that they, too, are willing to go to great lengths to defend their religion. Indie film director John Roecker tells TMZ he was walking to his car with a female friend in LA's trendy Los Feliz neighborhood last Sunday when he was approached by a shirtless man and a tall blonde. "Hey, man, you're making fun of my religion," said the stranger angrily. Roecker quickly recognized ...

The Church of Scientology is gearing up to bring its message to a whole new arena: racing fans. "Ignite Your Potential" is the mantra Scientology uses to get Tom Cruise and other Hollywood celebs jumping up and down. Now that message will be used to fuel the engines of a new NASCAR race team. The venture is called "The Dianetics Racing Team," named after the best-selling self-help book written by the movement's founder, science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Kenton Gray, ...

A former Russian MP, a local education chief, has been jailed for embezzlement and abuse of authority — he made his subordinates study scientology and used budget money to pay for their studies. Boris Shalimov of the Skovorodinsk region in Russia's Far East has been sentenced to two years in prison for embezzlement and abuse of authority, the website of Russia's Prosecutor General's Office reports. In October 2002 Shalimov became a member of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises. To get ...

Hugh B. Urban is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the Department of Comparative Studies, Ohio State University, 431 Hagerty Hall, Columbus, OH 43210. From Tom Cruise’s wedding to South Park’s scathing cartoon parody, the Church of Scientology has emerged as one of the wealthiest, most powerful but also most controversial new religious movements of the last fifty years. Remarkably, however, it has rarely been subjected to serious, critical study by historians of religions, in large part because of the ...

EDMONTON - A drug and alcohol treatment program backed by the controversial Church of Scientology is promising addicted Albertans an extraordinary 70-per-cent success rate. The Narconon program is marketed as "100-per-cent natural," and prescribes intensive saunas, exercise and high doses of vitamins to cleanse the body of "radiation, drugs and toxins." Advertisements for the Narconon program have appeared in recent months on Edmonton's CKUA radio and in weekly newspapers throughout the province. Addiction experts and academics in Canada, the United States ...

The church is purchasing a building in St. Petersburg, where it plans to start a new recruiting effort. ST. PETERSBURG — After more than 30 years in Clearwater, the Church of Scientology is making its first significant step toward recruiting members in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg. The church has a contract to purchase a historic 7,000-square-foot building at 336 1st Ave. N, near Williams Park. The sale is not final, but church officials hope it will be by June. ...

Jackson, Miss. The Church of Scientology has opened its first mission on the Mississippi Gulf Coast amid the ruins of Hurricane Katrina. The Church of Scientology was created by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. In his 1950 book "Dianetics," Hubbard said the mind has a subconscious level that exerts a "hidden influence" to make a person behave a certain way. The book also says the soul suffers from negative "engrams" implanted in this life and previous lives. The religion has ...

ST. PETERSBURG — In the world of Scientology, Scott W. Snow is a winner. He has achieved the religion’s highest level of training, higher even than megastar Tom Cruise, a distinction that brings with it lofty ethical standards. But in St. Petersburg, city leaders call him slumlord. Snow, 51, is the owner of the Chinook Apartments in Midtown, which the city shut down May 2 after finding multiple fire code violations. Now two dozen Chinook tenants have hired a lawyer and ...

At first glance, it seemed like a classic David-and-Goliath punch-up: Danielle Lavigueur, a separated mother of two living in Longueuil, on Montreal's South Shore, claims the high school her 12-year-old son Gabriel attends is pressuring her to medicate him with Ritalin for hyperactivity. She refuses to yield to the alleged demand, and eventually someone calls in the Children's Aid Society. Feeling besieged, Lavigueur confides in a friend, who introduces her to Raphaël Huppé, head of research for the Montreal-based National Parents ...

In the works for decades, the closely guarded spiritual training program will be revealed in Clearwater. CLEARWATER - Matt Feshbach believes he has super powers. He senses danger faster than most people. He appreciates beauty more deeply than he used to. He says he outperforms his peers in the money management industry. He heightened his powers of perception in 1995 when he went to Los Angeles and became the first and so far only "public" Scientologist to take a highly classified ...

COUNSELLING experts have issued a warning about a drug and alcohol treatment group operating in the Capital, linked to the controversial Church of Scientology. The group, called Narconon Scotland, is targeting the city's drug and alcohol addicts to join its rehabilitation programme. Leaflets have been put through doors in Leith and Muirhouse urging addicts or their families to get in touch. The leaflets contain no references to the quasi-religious group despite using the principles of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard to ...

COUNSELLING experts have warned about a drug and alcohol treatment group operating in the Capital, linked to the controversial Church of Scientology. Narconon Scotland has leafleted homes in the city, but the leaflets do not mention the quasi-religious group, despite using the principles of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard to treat addicts. Tom Wood, chairman of the Edinburgh Drug and Alcohol Action Team, said: "We know of this group, but we would only ever encourage people to attend credible counselling groups." ...

Jackson Wyan, a young Tom Cruise look-alike with short black hair and a black button-down shirt, greets people with laser-focused eye contact, a fixed smile and solid handshake at the Founding Church of Scientology of D.C. in Dupont Circle. His mission not-so-impossible: Recruit more members. Would-be Scientologists approach the landmark red building, also known as Fraser Mansion, at 20th and R streets NW, with regularity. Wyan, who's been with the D.C. church six years, gives tours that include a sweep through ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — With the price of gas going sky high, a new product has hit the market. It's called BioPerformance Fuel, but most people just called it "the little green pill." It claims to save you big bucks on gas. The gas pill almost seems to have a cult following, WESH 2 News reported. "Is this too good to be true? Are you running interference?" WESH 2 I-Team reporter Michelle Meredith asked the company's president, as he brushed by her. ...

Why is Janeane Garofalo touting a Scientology-linked project? The actress and talk-show host has done two segments on her Air America radio show “Majority Report,” heaping praise on the controversial New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, a program based on the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. On one show, her guests included Leah Remini, star of “King of Queens” and a devout Scientologist, who sang the praises of the detox project. Although the Detoxification Project has been heralded by ...