A personal aide to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard for eight of her nearly 20 years with the group says that fluoxetine (Prozac) and therapy have finally stopped the depression and suicidal ideation she had suffered since 1976. "I have to speak out." Hana (Eltringham) Whitfield told The Psychiatric Times. "The Scientologists choose the most prominent psychiatrists and the most successful drugs to attack. That's why they attacked Ritalin, and that's why they are now attacking Prozac." Although ...

Two American cult-busters recently flew to Australia to try to reclaim a young man from Scientology. JACQUI MACDONALD watched as they tried to unlock his mind, hour by hour, inch by inch. The names of the family and the cult-busters have been changed. FOR TWO days Peter Nolan has rehearsed how to greet his son. Peter and his wife Mary have planned how they will open the flywire front door and smile at the son they have not seen for several ...

WHEN a royal commission last year exposed atrocities at Chelmsford Private Hospital in New South Wales, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights scored dual victories: one public, one private. The first came with the release of Mr Justice Slattery's 12-volume report into the nightmarish "cuckoo's nest" of Chelmsford — a private hospital where the commission found that at least 24 people died as a result of deep-sleep therapy. Another 24 patients survived the treatment but later took their own lives, 19 ...

The Church of Scientology promised a Michigan man he would achieve "spiritual immortality" - but first, according to a new lawsuit, he had to pay thousands. Clearwater is considered the spiritual headquarters for Scientology, which members say is a religion, but which critics say is a money-making outfit or a cult. It was founded by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer and author of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. When he came to Clearwater, the lawsuit said, he ...

The ruling says the law does not apply to donations the Scientologists receive for "auditing and training." Auditing is a Scientology counseling process. [Heber Jentzsch] said almost all donations the Church of Scientology receives are for auditing or training. "That's the whole of Scientology," he said. "That's really what we do." Asked if the organization received donations for any other purposes beside auditing and training, Jentzsch said, "I don't know."

The Church of Scientology began as a pseudo-scientific healing cult, Dianetics, described by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer, in his best-selling book "Dianetics: The Modern science of Mental Health" (1950). At first, Dianetics attracted followers by promising to cure psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders through a procedure called "dianetic auditing," based on pop-psychology, hypnosis, and cybernetics. Hubbard's theory as based on the principle that people can achieve health through abolishing ("clearing") negative influences ("engrams") from their minds by going back ...

Emerging from years of internal strife and public scandal, the Scientology movement has embarked on a sweeping and sophisticated campaign to gain new influence in America. The goal is to refurbish the tarnished image of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and elevate him to the ranks of history's great humanitarians and thinkers. By so doing, the church hopes to broaden the acceptability of Hubbard's Scientology teachings and attract millions of new members. The campaign relies on official church programs and a ...

Behind the religious trappings, the Church of Scientology is run like a lean, no-nonsense business in which potential members are called "prospects," "raw meat" and "bodies in the shop." Its governing financial policy, written by the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, is simple and direct: "MAKE MONEY, MAKE MORE MONEY, MAKE OTHERS PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MONEY." The organization uses sophisticated sales tactics to sell a seemingly endless progression of expensive courses, each serving as a prerequisite for the ...

Lawsuit: State justices let stand an appellate ruling that a 'preposterous' $30 million in damages for a former church member be reduced to $2.5 million. SAN FRANCISCO — The state Supreme Court on Thursday rejected challenges to a ruling that dramatically reduced a jury award of $30 million against the Church of Scientology for coercive practices that drove a former member to the edge of insanity and bankruptcy. The high court let stand a decision by the state Court of Appeal ...

Six-month project Julie Edgar, 28, has worked for The Daily Tribune since 1987. Edgar, a Farmington native and graduate of the University of Michigan, wrote this report following six months of research and interviews. —– Church of Scientology members hawking free "personality test" used to be a common sight on Main Street in Royal Oak. That was before the church moved from its previous location at the corner of Main and Third streets to a building at Williams and Fourth streets ...

Claims that the Church of Scientology is a religion are false, a former member charged. The church is an intelligence and information agency that uses mind manipulation, hypnotism and other methods to gradually turn members into agents to financially enhance the organization, said Larry Wollersheim, a former salesman and touring spokesman for the Church of Scientology. After spending 11 years as an active member in the church Wollersheim, 40, a native of Milwaukee, sued the organization In 1980 for intentional and ...

TAMPA — You shouldn't be reading this story. The tale of Margery Wakefield vs. the Church of Scientology is supposed to be a secret. Church officials say so. So does a federal judge. In fact, Wakefield could go to jail for talking about the 12 years she spent as a member of the cult, which has its spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. Wakefield, 41, is talking anyway, braving the threats of Scientology lawyers and testing the patience of a U.S. district judge. ...

[This is a reprint of an article published on December 23, 1988 in the St. Petersburg Times.]

[...] Wakefield now repudiates the agreement, claiming she was pressured into signing it, and aggressively seeks forums — in the press, on radio shows, in churches — to denounce Scientology. "I don't care what the legal repercussions are at this point," she told the Tribune recently. "I want people in this area to know what Scientology is about. I want them to know it's a satanic cult." The church has been the center of controversy since it was founded by science ...

[This is a reprint of an article published on Dec. 22, 1988 in the St. Petersburg Times.]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Contributions called "fixed donations" made to the Church of Scientology by its members may not be claimed as federal income tax deductions, the Supreme Court ruled today. By a 5-2 vote, the justices upheld the Internal Revenue Service's contention that the fixed donations are not charitable contributions that can be counted as tax deductions. Lawyers for the Scientologists had argued that the IRS singled out their church for unfair treatment - a contention with which two justices agreed. ...

TAXATION Deductions Are Denied for Payments Made to Receive Religious Services Cite as 89 Daily Journal D.A.R. 7177 SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Syllabus HERNANDEZ v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT No. 87-963. Argued November 28, 1988—Decided June 6,1989* The Church of Scientology (Church) provides "auditing" sessions designed to increase members' spiritual awareness and training comes at which participants study the tenets of the faith and seek to attain ...

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that taxpayers could not deduct as charitable contributions payments made to the Church of Scientology in order to receive "auditing" and "training" services. Members of the Church of Scientology believe that an immortal spirit live in each individual and that a person becomes aware of the spirit through a process called "auditing." Auditing is a one-on-one encounter between a participant and a church official. The church also offers "training" sessions to instruct participants wishing to ...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that taxpayers can't deduct the cost of Church of Scientology courses and counseling. In Clearwater, where the church has its headquarters and is locked in legal battles with the city and the Pinellas County Property Appraiser, local officials were encouraged by the ruling. The 5-2 ruling written by Justice Thurgood Marshall said that money paid to the church by Scientologists for training and a form of counseling called "auditing" are more like fees for ...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the "fixed donations" paid by members to the Church of Scientology are not tax-deductible, charitable contributions. In the 5-2 ruling, the high court said that money paid to the church by Scientologists for training and a form of counseling called "auditing" are more like fees for a service than donations to a church. The church requires fixed donations of as much as $3,000 for 12 1/2 hours of "auditing," during which a person ...

NEWKIRK, OK – A proposed drug treatment and rehabilitation center which could be in operation on Indian land at the former Chilocco Indian School north of Newkirk by June 15th may be part of a notorious religious cult. Narconon was approved for a 75-bed facility by the State Health Planning Commission in January of this year as part of The Chilocco Development Authority. The projected cost is $400,000 for renovation and the five Indian tribes involved are projected to receive $16,000,000 ...

After years of sparring with the townsfolk and veiling itself in secrecy, the Church of Scientology has succeeded in turning Clearwater into its spiritual mecca. Scientologists quietly run teen nightclubs, schools, day-care centers, management consulting firms and other businesses, records and interviews show. Now the strategy of the organization, longtime observers say, is to confront controversy, gain converts and make money - lots of it. Scientology's Clearwater operation brings in $1.5-million to $2-million a week, say church watchers who include Clearwater ...

The year was 1976, one year after the Church of Scientology had secretly moved its spiritual headquarters to Clearwater, and Mayor Gabe Cazares was complaining too loudly for the church's comfort. So, as documents seized by the FBI would later show, the church's Clearwater office devised a scheme to "ruin Mayor Gabriel Cazares' political career by spreading scandal about his sex life." Church officials came up with ways to get Cazares' school records, birth records, anything — from checking with the ...

As a campaign by members of the church of Scientology to make Britain the first Scientology country gains momentum, we can reveal the cost of the "hard sell" 'religion' which has split families and which last week led one Ashurst Wood couple to the Bankruptcy Court. Our investigations suggest the cult uses high pitch American style sales techniques to trap their hapless "believers" in a never ending web of lengthy courses. Scientology is the religious philosophy which grew out of Dianetics, ...

* Fixed fees paid by member of Church of Scientology for auditing and training rituals are deductible as charitable contributions. (CA 2; Miner, J.; Foley v. Commissioner, No. 86-4026, 4/19/88; Newman, J., dissents) Facts: As members of the Church of Scientology, the taxpayers participate in the rituals of auditing and training, which are the central religious experiences of Scientology. Auditing is a one-to-one encounter between the participant and a church staff member, called an auditor, designed to raise the spiritual awareness ...