The 'Big League Sales' Church AS the perpetrator of the supposed 'hooligan antics' against the Concerned Businessman's Association at the May Fayre, could I reply to the Scientology Public Relations officer's allegations? Worried by the Courier's recent story on the tactic of luring children into Scientology via front groups, I stopped by at the Concerned Businessman's Association stand to find whether they admitted any link to Scientology. Asked the question, one of the scientologists on the stand said 'yes', the other ...

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, ...

Panorama's investigation into the Scientologists revealed an organisation which uses its founder's 'mixture of half-practical, half-gobbledegook psychological techniques' to draw large sums of money from its adherents, with threatening consequences if they opt out. Religious cults are a problem. They enslave the minds and empty the pockets of gullible young people, causing heartfelt grief to their families. The Moonies, the Children of God and the other cults have a poor public image, but they almost always operate within the law. The ...

Description of video is in italics. VO=VOICEOVER shot of Church of Scientology, Los Angeles; apparently group of ex-members VOICEOVER: The Church of Scientology, one of the largest and richest new religious movements, is being sued for a billion dollars by former members for fraud and breach of trust. They regard Scientology as a dangerous cult. group of Scientologists VO: Yet the church goes on expanding, making converts and claiming it is "The Road to Total Freedom". ''"Panorama" opening credits; while music ...

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury Tuesday awarded $30 million in damages to a former member of the Church of Scientology who said the organization intentionally drove him to the edge of insanity and ruined him financially for criticizing the group. The 12-0 verdict in favor of Larry Wollersheim brought gasps from the Scientologists who packed Judge Ronald Swearinger's court-room, as they had throughout the bitterly contested five-month-long trial. Some sobbed. Wollersheim was awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $25 ...

Ideological Totalism? Juliann Savage is a clinical social worker in the Cult Clinic, six years a non-sectarian affiliate of Jewish Family Services operating out of the United Way building in Van Nuys. Savage has treated more than 70 victims of mind control, from Hare Krishnas to Moonies, in her two and a half years on staff. She insists the 10 former Scientologists with whom she has worked have been her most difficult assignments. "These people have given their entire lives over ...

A Montreal stockbroker who claims he was brainwashed last year by members of the Church of Scientology testified yesterday that he paid $12,000 to the sect for personality courses. Gilles Lanthier, 28, told Sessions Court Judge Benjamin Schecter that he began having doubts about the sect when he was told to abandon his wife and seek further Scientology instruction in Toronto. He said that his personality courses were to cost $22,000, but a church member told him he had been ...

Why a Portland jury awarded $39 million in damages against one of the world's most profitable cults. ONE SUNNY AFTERNOON last week, an elderly man, who looked as though he had probably spent the past few nights sleeping under the stars, stood in the southeast corner of Lownsdale Square in downtown Portland gazing in bewilderment at the scene before him. Several hundred people, many wearing T-shirts proclaiming something about a crusade for religious freedom, gathered around a large stage in the ...

A civil fraud suit in Portland seeking $42 million in punitive damages against the Church of Scientology was described Tuesday as the "broadest-based attack on religion that has ever happened in the history of man." Earle C. Cooley, a Boston attorney who headed the church defense, told a Multnomah County Circuit jury that Scientology "ranks up among the most abused religions in the history of the world. Perhaps only the Jews have suffered more at the hands of their enemies." Cooley, ...

Members of the Church of Scientology who appear as defense witnesses in a fraud case against their church will not have to answer questions about basic tenets of their religion, a Portland judge ruled Tuesday. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Donald H. Londer based his ruling on the constitutional right to religious freedom. "Religious beliefs are of no concern to the court," he said. "Basic tenets of religion will not be made the subject of examination." The ruling was a victory for ...

THE head of the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, whose organisation was described by a High Court judge as 'dangerous, immoral, sinister and corrupt', has been ordered to stay away from Britain. The 74-year-old recluse, himself declared a 'charlatan' by the judge, had hoped to reverse a Home Office ruling which barred him from coming to this country to address his followers at the British headquarters of the sect, Saint Hill, at East Grinstead, Sussex. But when he refused to ...

The Scientology cult was branded "corrupt, sinister and dangerous" by a High Court judge in London yesterday when he ordered two young children to be placed in the custody of their mother. He described the practices of the founder of the so-called "church", Ron Hubbard and his helpers, as "grimly reminiscent of the ranting and bullying of Hitler and his henchmen". Mr Justice Latey ordered a Scientologist father to hand over his son, aged 10, and daughter, aged eight ...

A HIGH Court judge yesterday delivered a damning indictment of the Church of Scientology. Mr Justice Latey described the Californian-based sect as 'corrupt, immoral, sinister and dangerous'. And of its methods, he declared: 'For those of us old enough to remember, it is grimly reminiscent of the ranting and bullying of Hitler and his henchmen.' He was giving judgment in the High Court Family Division at the end of a six-month 'tug of love' battle over two children whose father is ...

The Church of Scientology has lost thousands of adherents in recent years due to an internal revolt by members who embrace the teachings of founder L. Ron Hubbard but question many policies of the mother organization. Disillusioned Scientologists—still practicing the tenets of Dianetics and Scientology—have splintered from the Church of Scientology to form their own organizations such as the Clear Center, the Council for Spiritual Intregrity, Advanced Abilities Center and the Revitalization Center. Such assemblages offer Scientology and Dianetics-related courses to ...

Two youngsters were expelled from a private school in Bellevue last week because of a continuing dispute about the real wishes of a 72-year-old man who hasn't been seen in years. The youngsters, brothers Garrett and Allen Dean, aged 6 and 9, must wonder what happened. Despite their good grades and conduct, the boys were kicked out of The Learning Place School, a private institution that follows the educational philosophy of L. Ron Hubbard but invites students of all faiths. Hubbard, ...

FORTY-FIVE members of a splinter group of Scientologists demonstrated outside the entrance of Saint Hill UK headquarters on Sunday, in protest at the cost of the sect's courses. The group demanded reforms within the workings of the church, including a refusal to interfere in the sexual, marital and family affairs of its members. This was a reference to the scientology practice of "disconnection" — cutting off communication with relatives if there is a disagreement over their beliefs. Mr Eric Ballard, a ...

A REWARD of £120,000 had been offered by the international body of the Church of Scientology for information leading to the recovery of what are said to be scriptures stolen from its European headquarters in Denmark. The sect is hoping to obtain information which will lead to the arrest of other people in Britain and abroad who were involved in the theft. The offer follows an international police operation and the issuing of High Court orders in London and Edinburgh to ...

AT LEAST 10 leading local members of the East Grinstead-based Church of Scientology have resigned from the sect over policy differences, it was disclosed this week. It is understood that the resignations follow disquiet over the reintroduction of "disconnection" practices whereby church members are advised to completely sever relations with fellow members. These policies were abandoned for a time in 1968. It is alleged that these disconnection policies are now beck in force since a new policy dated September 10, 1983. ...

A federal judge opened the way Monday for four former Scientologists to sue the church for fraud over a variety of claims including promises that it could prevent colds, raise intelligence and solve obesity. Attorneys for the disillusioned Scientologists hailed the ruling, saying that it will open the way for other former church members to bring their complaints of fraud before juries. U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall ruled that while Scientology is a religion, many of the claims it makes ...

Several former policies of the Church of Scientology, founded by L. Ron Hubbard, have persistently tainted its public image. Scientologists say these policies were either "jokes" from the very beginning, or were misunderstood by the public — and in any case they have all been canceled. Most of these policies involve ways the Church deals with people it has labeled "Potential Trouble Sources" and "Suppressive Persons." The latter are "those who are destructively antisocial" or those who "actively seek to suppress ...

CLEARWATER — Citing "social problems" in the public schools, the Church of Scientology has decided to open its own parochial school for children of its staff members. Church spokesman Milt Wolfe said Monday the school will open by this fall in the former Quality Inn in the 2000 block of U.S. 19S, just north of Tri-City Plaza at U.S. 19 and E Bay Drive. The church bought the former motel in 1979 and uses it for staff quarters. The school will ...

CLEARWATER — Donald Haigler, a 23-year old Scientologist torn between love for his parent, and his religious sect, has reaffirmed his belief in Scientology. In a telephone interview Friday afternoon, the young Haigler said he loves his parents and is willing to see them frequently but he will not forsake Scientology, and he will not get involved with alleged "deprogramers," such as Nan McLean. Leon and Kathleen Haigler, who came to Clearwater with Mrs. McLean in hopes of convincing their son ...

CLEARWATER — Tears of joy mingled with beads of sweat under a warm noontime gun Thursday when a young Scientologist embraced his father and mother on the steps of Clearwater City Hall. Crowded around them were officials of the Church of Scientology, church critics, news people and residents. No one interfered as the emotional seconds passed, and tears streamed quietly down the relieved faces of the family members. For Leon and Kathleen Haigler, a retired couple from Fairfax. Va., the embrace ...