INDEPENDENT senator Nick Xenophon has accused the Church of Scientology of being a criminal organisation. The South Australian parliamentarian said he had been contacted by a number of former Scientologists, after he questioned the organisation's tax exempt status in a recent television interview. "They have provided long and detailed letters to me about the workings of this organisation," he told the Senate. "These people rightly see themselves as victims of Scientology." Senator Xenophon said their correspondence implicated the organisation in a ...

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A woman accuses the Church of Scientology of human trafficking, obstructing justice, employment violations, discrimination and violation of privacy. Laura Ann DeCrescenzo says she signed her first "contract" with the church when she was 12, and did not "escape" until she had suffered 13 years of forced labor at less than minimum wage. "There are two very different versions of Scientology," DeCrescenzo aka Laura Dieckman says in her Superior Court complaint. "There is the Scientology as presented ...

PART TEN Former Scientologist Maureen Bolstad continues her account of her years at the church headquarters near Hemet. "I was actually one of the older ones at 17. There were 13-year-olds, 12-year-olds," Bolstad recollects. "There was just one kid, 12-years-old that was given an executive responsibility doing something. He had a complete nervous breakdown." This is how Maureen spent her teenage years: making videos for the church. Looking at her social security tax forms, she says nobody ever told her about ...

PART NINE The Church of Scientology believes one woman, Maureen Bolstad, is one of the worst people in the world. She is one of a few to be declared a "suppressive person." Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard declared so-called "suppressive" people "cannot be granted the rights ordinarily accorded rational beings." Her crime? Talking to the media about the church. Bolstad was recruited into the Church of Scientology at age 16. She was told she'd get an education, and the chance to ...

Astra and Lawrence Woodcraft will be joining Dawn Olsen of Glosslip Radio for a special show to discuss their experiences inside the Church of Scientology, including their life inside the Sea Org, which has been exposed recently as forcing abortions on members, prison work camps and an asbestos cover-up on the CoS Freewinds cruise ship.

He's one of the biggest box-office draws in history, but in recent years Tom Cruise has become more than just the face of his films. He has also become the face of his religion – Scientology. A recent video of Cruise – made for a Scientology event and leaked online – showed the star's unbridled passion for his religion and piqued the public's interest in a belief system that has long been surrounded by controversy. "I think it's a privilege to ...

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 ...

Tom cruise calls his religion "extraordinary," but 26-year-old Astra Woodcraft, who grew up in the Church's inner circle, has a different story to tell — about bizarre beliefs, pressured rules and how she finally broke tree to start her life over. On a chilly February evening in 1998, I strode quietly through Los Angeles International Airport, clutching a Virgin Atlantic ticket for London in one hand and a duffel bag stuffed with my clothes in the other. I was drenched, having ...

L. Ron Hubbard's "Dianetics" is a fantastically dull, terribly written, crackpot rant — it's also the founding text of Scientology. So, what does it actually say? Most of us respond instinctively to "Dianetics." We glimpse the covers (for some reason, you only see this book in battalions of copies), with their lurid pictures of spouting volcanoes emblazoned with screaming, foil-stamp lettering, and as if by reflex, our steps quicken, our eyes avert and our faces compose themselves into the expression of ...

DECLARATION OF TERA HATTAWAY I, Tera Hattaway, declare as follows: 1. I am over 18 years of age. —– 2. The statements herein are of my own personal knowledge and if called upon as a witness, I can testify competently thereto. —– 3. When I was involved with the Church of Scientology in Dallas Texas, I had a boyfriend of many months prior to joining staff. This was in 1978. Within several weeks of being on staff I was pressured ...

Astra Woodcraft, apostate and defector, is the latest enemy of the Church of Scientology. Woodcraft, 22, never really joined this controversial psycho-spiritual movement, at least not as a free-thinking adult. Astra was born into it. Founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard, a prolific science fiction writer and freelance philosopher, Scientology describes itself as "the only major new religion established in the 20th century," as a bridge to increased awareness and spiritual freedom. Woodcraft, a third-generation Scientologist, paints a different ...

Lisa McPherson turned to the Church of Scientology in her 20s as she tried to shed the emotional baggage of a rocky youth. By age 36, with a high school education, she was earning a handsome salary as a sales representative in Clearwater. Today, as the church tries to rebut assertions that it caused her sudden death, it also credits Scientology for her successes in life. But McPherson's turnaround came at a financial price. From 1991 until she died in December ...

Since its founding in 1954, the Church of Scientology has sparked some fear, mistrust and controversy. This doesn't surprise the Rev. Lee Holzinger, 38, minister of the Santa Barbara Church of Scientology. "We are different from other churches in many ways," he said. "How could anything come along that is so fundamentally important to life and society and not rouse controversy?" The church was involved in a 40-year battle with the Internal Revenue Service that ended Oct 1, 1993 when the ...