COOPER: It's no secret that Tom Cruise is a devoted, outspoken member of the Church of Scientology. That has not always been the case. There was a time when the subject of his religion was off limits to reporters and to interviewers. Not so now. Just ask Matt Lauer who got lectured by Cruise weeks ago on what the actors says are the evils of psychiatry. Now, while some are surprised by the chance in Cruise, former Scientologists insist it's really ...

[Picture / Caption: Richard Perry/The New York Times Subway riders have become used to Scientologists' offer to gauge their stress level. But the city has ejected the group for selling books.] A corridor of the Times Square subway station may not seem to be the ideal spot to conduct a carefully controlled psychological experiment. For one thing, the soundproofing is entirely inadequate. The confluence of a dozen subway lines creates constantly shifting sonic interference, ranging from mild to deafening, that an ...

It boasts an 80 per cent success rate, the rock star Beck is a fan, and schools are inviting the Narconon centre into the classroom. So why are some people worried? Jamie Doward reports The following clarification was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday April 3 2005 In the article below we state that 'The use of ear [auricular] acupuncture in treating acute drug withdrawal began in Hong Kong in 1972.' We should clarify that in 1972 surgeons ...

Scientology: religion, sect, cult or scam? Whichever it is, its making big moves in Westville. From a car coasting up Whalley Avenue in Westville, it's easy to miss the yellow banner across the old Hallock's furniture store. Look closer: It announces the impending arrival of the Church of Scientology. The church is now housed in a small storefront a block away—but bigger things are coming. Since purchasing a small storefront from the adjacent Frame Shop 20 years ago, the Westville Scientologists ...

In September 2002, the New York Rescue Workers Detox Project began to offer free "detoxification treatment" to firefighters, police officers, and others exposed to high levels of toxic debris in the aftermath of the World Trade Center's collapse. The detox program—based on the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and detailed in his book Clear Body, Clear Mind—purports to "flush" poisons from the body's fat stores using an intensive regimen of jogging, oil ingestion, sauna, and high doses of vitamins, ...

WATSONVILLE — A woman who says she was raped at a drug-treatment center has sued Narconon of Northern California and its parent company, Narconon International, alleging she was assaulted by a staff member while undergoing treatment in November 2003. The suit alleges that when notified of the assault, staff at the Watsonville treatment center failed to respond in an appropriate manner and took the unidentified, out-of-state woman out of treatment. The Sentinel is not identifying the plaintiff because of the nature ...

Re: Detox center seeks acceptance, story, March 30. Narconon, a Scientology drug treatment program, wants taxpayers' dollars by having the local court system order people into the program at a cost of $7,500 per client. The article goes on to state that the "political elite" - such as Clearwater Mayor Brian Aungst, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judges Linda Allan and Linda Babb (how can judges endorse a $7,500-per-client religious program?) and County Commissioner Susan Latvala - are impressed, and Pinellas Public Defender Robert ...

Narconon, a drug treatment program with Scientology backing, now wants taxpayer assistance. CLEARWATER – At Tampa Bay's newest alternative to mainstream drug treatment, the license issued by the state hangs next to commendations from the Church of Scientology. Narconon, a controversial drug treatment program based on techniques developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, has opened its first Florida facility in Clearwater in a commercial park off U.S. 19. Past the meticulously clean lobby are classrooms where recovering addicts take a ...

Greg Bashaw's father respected him and trusted him to make wise choices. Even after he chose to devote his life to Scientology. While the shock and grief of his son's suicide were still fresh, Bob Bashaw read back through their decades-long correspondence, looking in particular for references to Scientology. "I wanted to see what there was here I missed," he says. His son Greg had been a member of the Church of Scientology for more than 20 years. During that time ...

Long shrouded in secrecy about its practices, leaders at the local Church of Scientology have opened up to discuss basic processes they employ to achieve Scientology's ultimate goal: increase stability in a person's environment through an increase in rational, sane behavior. Eric Everett, director of community services for the Scientology Mission of Memphis, says Scientology is an "applied religious philosophy" appropriate for any faith tradition. "We live in a society under siege, bombarded by an onslaught of drugs and toxins. No ...

[...] Mr. Brad Melnychuk (Executive Director, Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE Canada)): Thank you. I want to start out by saying a little bit more about who I am. I am the executive director of ABLE Canada, the Association for Better Living and Education. This is an organization that's responsible for various charities and non-profits. One of them is Narconon. I'm also chairman of the board of Narconon Incorporated. By the way, don't confuse Narconon with Narcotics Anonymous; it ...

Tory Bezazian was a veteran Scientologist who loved going after church critics. Until she met the darkest detractor of all. Last year, Church of Scientology operatives received an alarming tip: During the upcoming 2000 MTV Movie Awards scheduled for June 8, a short South Park film parodying Battlefield Earth would feature the character Cartman wiping his ass with a copy of L. Ron Hubbard's sacred text, Dianetics. The tip was erroneous. Cartman would actually be wiping his ass with a Scientology ...

Newkirk — In 1989, Newkirk residents prepared for a battle to stop the establishment of a drug and alcohol treatment program north of their town. It was an often bitter fight through the court system that lasted almost three years. Then, Narconon International received its certification in 1992 to establish a treatment center six miles north of Newkirk leased from five Indian tribes. Now, Narconon is closing its Newkirk branch in favor of combining the entire treatment site at Arrowhead Lodge ...

France has become the first country in the world to introduce specific legislation aimed at controlling the activities of cults. The objective is to combat the 175-odd movements of a quasi-religious nature considered a danger to society. The Scientology movement and the Unification Church of the Rev Sun Myung Moon immediately denounced the bill - endorsed almost unanimously on Wednesday by national assembly deputies - as anti-democratic and in breach of human rights laws. Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders have expressed ...

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 ...

John Travolta insists that Battlefield Earth, his $90 million screen homage to L. Ron Hubbard, has nothing to do with his longtime devotion to the Church of Scientology. Hubbard is both the founder of that controversial religious movement and the author of the 1982 science-fiction novel that forms the basis of Travolta's latest movie. Battlefield Earth is just a great story, Travolta says, and he finally has enough Hollywood leverage to push his pet project onto the big screen. Mark Bunker ...

In another blow to the controversial Church of Scientology's battle to be recognised as a religion rather than a sect, a French court yesterday found one of its former leaders guilty of fraud and sentenced him to six months in prison. Xavier Delamare, a former regional Scientology leader in south-east France, was given a further 18 month suspended sentence by the Marseille court while four other members accused of fraud, violence and illegally practising medicine were given suspended sentences of six ...

One Clearwater official says the church need not provide parking until its building is nearly complete, but others disagree. CLEARWATER — The foundation has been poured and two towering white cranes reach into the downtown sky. Construction is well under way on a 370,000-square-foot Church of Scientology building that will take two years to build. When it opens, Scientology expects to have doubled its uniformed staff to 2,000. It also projects that the number of Scientology parishioners visiting Clearwater will increase ...

Workers today will pour the base for the Ministerial Training and Counseling Center, which is expected to be the largest building in downtown Clearwater. CLEARWATER — A massive foundation will be constructed beginning early this morning for what is expected to be the largest building downtown. The Church of Scientology and its contractor, Beers Construction Co. of Tampa, have coordinated an 18-hour task that will involve more than 500 construction workers, 130 mixing trucks, 1,200 truckloads of high-strength concrete from six ...

outside Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles; magazine “Bay Guardian” with cover story “Scientology secrets revealed in 2 million dollar consumer fraud case”; outside AOLA building in Los Angeles; news footage from Julie Christofferson Titchbourne trial in Portland, with Scienos picketing VO: The ’80s saw a series of lawsuits brought against the Church of Scientology. Ex-members united, claiming they had been lied to and bilked out of millions of dollars. In 1985, an ex-Scientologist was awarded $39 million after she claimed the ...

BILL KURTIS: Since its emergence in the 1950s, the Church of Scientology has been a source of great fascination. It has spent many of those years at war with the U.S. government, the press, and portions of the public. But behind the headlines are real people who have experienced Scientology firsthand. In this second hour of a special A&E presentation of “Investigative Reports,” we hear directly from those who remain members of the church, and from those who have now left ...

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Dec 6, 1998 - "I am L. Ron Hubbard," the woman on the hotel room bed announced in a robotic voice. "I created time 3 billion years ago." She rambled on and on, every outburst dutifully scribbled down by those assigned to watch her. "I can't confront force . . . I need my auditor . . . I want to take a toothbrush and brush the floor until I have a cognition." The jargon of Scientology was ...

[Picture / Caption: THE FOUNDER: The finale to the L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition in Los Angeles is a series of pocket doors displaying 400 proclamations Hubbard received through the years. The Hollywood Boulevard museum, conceived by Miscavige, is open to the public.] [Picture / Caption: PRESERVING HIS WORDS: Titanium capsules, on display in Los Angeles, are part of Scientology’s ongoing $226-million effort to archive Hubbard’s writings. His words are imprinted on stainless steel plates, stored in the capsules, then wrapped ...