Visit any neighborhood in the Black community and you're bound to find a church on nearly every city block. When it comes to faith-based communities, African Americans are believed to be one of the most religious and spiritual especially those who practice Christianity, Islam, Catholicism, or Judaism. There are even some Buddhists, thanks in part to iconic celebrity, Tina Turner, who introduced Black folk to the religion in her autobiography, "What's Love Got to Do With It." But, when it comes ...

This is the Church of Scientology's response to the St. Petersburg Times story that, in addition to the four church defectors the newspaper wrote about in June, quotes 11 more defectors who have provided accounts of physical or mental abuse by Scientology leader David Miscavige. The Church of Scientology provided 25 affidavits and declarations from current and former church executives and staffers who uniformly describe David Miscavige as a kind, compassionate, inspiring leader who never has been violent or abusive, physically ...

THE Church of Scientology has angrily denied that high-profile follower John Travolta allegedly blames it for not being able to prevent his son’s death. Tabloid reports earlier this week claimed Travolta had become a “bitter recluse” after the death of his son Jett, 16, who was believed to have suffered from autism. Britain’s Mail on Sunday claimed church insiders had said Travolta bitterly regretted adhering to Scientology’s teachings when treating his son's condition and had threatened to quit the secretive church. ...

A July 25 report in Britain's Daily Mail newspaper claiming that Travolta, 55, had grown disenchanted with his longtime religion in the wake of his son Jett's death in January is "totally false," his rep Paul Bloch tells PEOPLE. "There's no change in the relationship between the Church of Scientology and John," says Bloch. "He is a member and it's as it was, now and forever." The still-grieving actor, his wife Kelly Preston, 46, and their daughter Ella Bleu, 9, recently ...

The Spot: ''"You are not your name," says a voice-over announcer, as we see a series of different nametags. "You're not your job." We see people in the uniforms of different occupations. "You're not the clothes you wear or the neighborhood you live in." Images continue to illustrate the litany of things that you are not. "You are a spirit that will never die," the announcer concludes. "And no matter how beaten down, you will rise again." The tag line: "Scientology. ...

As a fiercely secular nation, France has always had an awkward relationship with religious groups. Officials often find themselves struggling to strike the delicate balance between maintaining church-state separation and honoring the right of citizens to express their faith. But in the current case against the U.S.-based Church of Scientology, authorities have abandoned their usual attempts at fine-tuning religion's standing in French society — instead, they want to ban Scientology from France altogether. In a long-awaited trial that opened this week, ...

May 14, 2009 (La Mesa)—La Mesa’s City Council voted unanimously to table a “Hate Free” resolution proposed by a coalition of 52 community groups countywide at a meeting Tuesday following heated and divisive public testimony. (For text of the resolution and details, see our previous article at http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/1105.)Supporters said the measure was needed to reduce hate crimes by addressing “hate-motivated behavior” and promoting tolerance in the community. Opponents argued that it could restrict free speech and religious expression. Supporters of the ...

Intense scrutiny has focused on John Travolta's family after the death of the actor's chronically ill 16-year-old son Jett, who died at the family's vacation home at a Grand Bahama resort on Friday. Yesterday, an undertaker said the death certificate concluded that the cause of death was a seizure, and that the teen's body showed no sign of head trauma despite earlier police reports that he hit his head on a bathtub. Mr. Travolta, 54, and wife Kelly Preston, 46, were ...

The Church of Scientology has this property at the corner of Buckner Boulevard and Dixie Lane on the market for $725,000. That’s for .8 acre. It is listed with Perry Jones, who is also apparently bullish on Genghis Grill. (Genghis Grill and Scientologists, now there’s a combo.) According to a 2005 article in the Dallas Morning News, the Church of Scientology purchased this property in 2000 and made all the neighbors nervous. The home was originally built in the 1940’s, was ...

A rival church’s petition against the Church of Scientology was dismissed by the Cook Islands High Court this afternoon after Scientology officials removed a display tent that was the focus of the court action. Local church leader Reverend Alfred Morris applied to the court this week for the removal of a display tent erected by the Church of Scientology in the capital Avarua. Morris said that apart from having no approval under the Religious Organisations Restrictions Act 1975, the Scientologists were ...

I had never been this close to a real cobra before. As it rose up and spread its hood, I could feel my hackles raise and a primordial fear tickle some primitive level of my brain. The handler said we were perfectly safe, but even so, I didn’t want to get too close to the thing. [...]

What do you expect when a program as mainstream as Nightline tries to take on a moving story like the new, growing opposition to Scientology? Certainly not something this weak. Stumbling in the footsteps of a recent terrific story by John Cook at Radar, Nightline tried to tell the story of Jenna Miscavige Hill last night. Why is her story important? She’s niece to the tiny leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, so her defection, and subsequent allegations about how her family ...

Cult Friction After an embarrassing string of high-profile defection and leaked videos, Scientology is under attack from a faceless cabal of online activists. Has America's most controversial religion finally met its match? By John Cook [Picture] Masked hackers have declared war on Scientology. Could the celebrity-friendly religion be in its final days? (Photo: Sam Comen) This article is from the April issue of Radar Magazine. For a risk-free issue, click here Clearwater is prepared for its enemies. It's a warm, if ...

Their targets used to be university students, but today fringe religious groups are believed to be recruiting school-aged children. Lynne Wallis reports. If one of your pupils became distant, distracted and antisocial, your first thought might be that they were experimenting with drink or drugs. But religious cults pose another danger to young people, and one from which it can be equally difficult to extricate them. Although the notion of children being lured into fringe religious organisations might seem far-fetched, it ...

Last Sunday, the German Protestant Church's religious cult specialist called Tom Cruise the "Goebbels of Scientology." This comparison of the War of the Worlds actor and the head of the Nazi propaganda machine is only the most recent example of a German official having harsh words for the Church of Scientology. Last month, a German Defense Ministry spokesman said Cruise couldn't film his movie at military sites because the actor had "publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult." ...

Tessa Mayes is the first reporter to have gone undercover in the London Celebrity Centre of the Church of Scientology. It is, she finds, like a pious version of Pop Idol. The adherents want to be celebrities at least as much as Scientologists ‘A culture is only as great as its dreams and its dreams are dreamed by artists,’ wrote L. Ron Hubbard, who founded the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in 1969, 15 years after he formed the church itself. ...

For the past week, they set up big yellow tents with three snow-cone points and little flags on top on the Common right behind City Hall. From a distance you'd have thought that the circus had come to town. It didn't. It was the Church of Scientology's International Volunteer Minister Pioneer Cavalcade, a kind of roving revival tent show to spread the word of church founder L. Ron Hubbard. Emblazed across the front of the tents were the words: "Do Something ...

Tom Cruise studied intensively at the remote compound near Hemet while becoming a passionate messenger for the church. GILMAN HOT SPRINGS, Calif. — Nearly 30 years ago, the Church of Scientology bought a dilapidated and bankrupt resort here and turned the erstwhile haven for Hollywood moguls and starlets into a retreat for L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer who founded the religion. Today, the out-of-the-way 500-acre compound near Hemet has quietly grown into one of Scientology's major bases of operation, ...

In 1989, Fielding McGehee and I published The Need for a Second Look at Jonestown, a collection of essays written by those who had been involved with Peoples Temple. In this retrospective volume, people reflected on their experiences of the previous decade, as well as on their understanding of the Temple. Contributors included former members, relatives, and others who had had connections with the Temple, such as news reporters and social activists. Shortly after the book appeared, Chris Hatcher, the psychologist ...

Just when Tom Cruise was starting to look good again, we hear from the New York Daily News that Cruise's pregnant fiance, Katie Holmes, is supposed to sign on for a "silent birth," without screams or painkillers. Ouch. But is "Quit yellin', it's only childbirth," as the News headline so succinctly put it, the true position of the Church of Scientology, of which Cruise is a member? Not according to Greg LaClaire, vice president of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre ...

At first I thought it was a tossup which news item was scarier: the bombing of a peaceful Smurf village in a new UNICEF commercial, or the news that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are expecting a child. But after reading up on Scientological birth practices, the choice is clear. Even the loss of Smurfette to carpet bombs, and the subsequent abandonment of Baby Smurf, who ends the 20-second public service announcement alone and weeping amidst what one New York tabloid ...

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 ...

Why was there a Scientology tent on the set of War of the Worlds? Boyd Farrow explains how this cult religion, whose followers believe that people are immortal spiritual beings, is gaining ground thanks to support from Hollywood's biggest stars The summer blockbuster season has been dominated by an evil galactic ruler who, 75 million years ago, blew up 178 billion abducted alien souls with hydrogen bombs planted in earth's volcanoes and bundled them into clusters that now cling to every ...

Leaders of the Church of Scientology have long had the reputation of being uncooperative with the media. Still, we were surprised at their tenaciousness in trying to control our stories. Whenever reporters delve into a topic that is even the least bit controversial, we take extra care in making sure we've pulled together as balanced a report as possible. Such was the case on a package of stories published last Sunday on the Church of Scientology, one of the most unusual ...

May 9, 1950: "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" by L. Ron Hubbard is published. June 7, 1951: Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation established in Elizabeth, N.J. May 1952: The Wichita, Kan., Dianetics training center is moved to Phoenix. Hubbard publicly announces the formal establishment of the philosophy of Scientology and the formation of the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International. July 1952: "Scientology: A History of Man" published. February 1954: Church of Scientology founded in Los Angeles. 1956: The church is ...