Local religious spokesmen Saturday disputed statements by Scientologists that a $39 million court judgment against the Church of Scientology represented a threat to freedom of religion. "This is not a freedom of religion issue at all," the Rev. Rodney I. Page, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, said Saturday of the punitive damages awarded Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, who sued the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, for fraud. "This was a case in which someone's civil rights ...

"Corrupt, sinister and dangerous" were the words used to describe the Church of Scientology in a judgment given by Mr Justice Latey this summer. He also referred to it as "immoral and socially obnoxious". But who controls the Church now? A major Sunday Times Magazine investigation into the activities of the cult in America and Britain has uncovered a disturbing and extraordinary story — the takeover of the organisation by a small band of youthful fanatics following the disappearance of the ...

Scientology founder hasn't been seen in public since 1976 Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard has replaced the late Howard Hughes as the man of mystery. Hubbard, 73, was last viewed in public in 1976. And he was last seen by any close associate willing to talk about him in March 1980. So where is he? "Somewhere around here," said Bent Corydon, pointing to the bleak desert of Riverside County around the church's compound at Gilman Hot Springs. "He's never more than ...

Church says it's stronger now, while some ex-leaders say end is inevitable First of two parts A hot wind blows through the masts of the $565,000 clipper ship "docked" on a rocky plateau in the middle of a Southern California desert. Down the hill, a car nears a gate guarded by young men in brown shirts. As if with the snap of unseen fingers, members of the elite Sea Org pour from buildings around the ship with cameras in hand, furiously ...

Members of a Church of Scientology splinter group have filed a $42 million suit against the church, alleging fraud, slander and breach of contract. The suit was filed here last week on behalf of Bent Corydon, former director of the Riverside Scientology mission and member of the new Church of Sciologos. It seeks $40 million in punitive damages plus real damages of $1.83 million, said Corydon's attorney, Paul Morantz of Pacific Palisades. The suit is a cross-complaint to a $6.2 million ...

[Picture / Caption: Scientology's headquarters in L.A. was formerly the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The church purchased It for $5 million In 1977.] Last October in San Francisco, some 70 local leaders of the Church of Scientology gathered to hear nine church executives harangue them about their shortcomings. Styling themselves with titles that ranged from the quasi-military ("Commander," "Warrant Officer") to the quasi-lunatic ("International Finance Dictator"), the men announced that they represented the new hierarchy of the organization, and that they ...

RIVERSIDE (AP)—Charges against five Scientologists accused of grand theft and conspiracy in an alleged multimillion-dollar loan fraud scheme were dismissed by a Riverside Municipal Court judge. Judge John H. Barnard made the ruling Monday at the conclusion of a two-day preliminary hearing in which the five, all former high-ranking members of Scientology's Riverside Mission, had been accused of either lying or counseling others to lie on loan applications to nine banks and loan companies. The money assertedly was to go to ...