Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has concerns about Scientology but says the government will exercise caution in examining allegations of abuse levelled against the church. Mr Rudd says the government will consider the need for a formal inquiry into the church - and its tax-free status. South Australian senator Nick Xenophon used parliamentary privilege on Tuesday to castigate the church, labelling it a criminal organisation hiding behind so-called religious beliefs. Advertisement: Story continues below Tabling letters from eight former followers, he said ...

The Church of Scientology has rejected claims by Senator Nick Xenophon that it's involved in widespread criminal behaviour and abuse. John & Sandy reveal recent accusations with spokesperson Cyrus Brooks. [Embedded audio.]

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is to investigate claims that Scientology is a criminal organisation that sanctioned beatings, imprisonments, forced abortions, sexual abuse and fraud. The sensational claims about the church, whose members include many high-profile celebrities, were made by a South Australian senator, Nick Xenophon, who shares a surname with an ancient Greek warrior. But unlike the mercenary of history who fought armies in central Asia in about 400BC, Mr Xenophon has gone into battle with Scientologists after receiving letters ...

This is a speech Senator Nick Xenophon gave in the Senate on November 17, 2009 I rise to speak tonight on an issue of utmost seriousness that I believe deserves a great deal of scrutiny by law enforcement agencies and by this parliament. In the past few weeks, I have been contacted by former members of the Church of Scientology after I questioned the tax exemption status the organisation has under our tax laws during an interview on the Seven Network’s ...

THE Church of Scientology is a "criminal organisation" hiding behind religion, the Senate was told last night. Independent senator Nick Xenophon tabled explosive letters from former Scientology officials and staff alleging a litany of abuses, including coerced abortions, assault, imprisonment, covering up sexual abuse, embezzlement of church funds and blackmail. Senator Xenophon, who said he had referred the allegations to police, demanded a Senate inquiry into the church. And he questioned the tax-exempt status given to the church, which he said ...

INDEPENDENT senator Nick Xenophon has accused the Church of Scientology of being a criminal organisation. The South Australian parliamentarian said he had been contacted by a number of former Scientologists, after he questioned the organisation's tax exempt status in a recent television interview. "They have provided long and detailed letters to me about the workings of this organisation," he told the Senate. "These people rightly see themselves as victims of Scientology." Senator Xenophon said their correspondence implicated the organisation in a ...

For years, the Church of Scientology chased down and brought back staff members who tried to leave. Ex-staffers describe being pursued by their church and detained, cut off from family and friends and subjected to months of interrogation, humiliation and manual labor. One said he was locked in a room and guarded around the clock. Some who did leave said the church spied on them for years. Others said that, as a condition for leaving, the church cowed them into signing ...

It claims to be one of the world's fastest-growing new religions but a battery of legal cases threaten its very existence in this secular country In a small Normandy village, surrounded by wheat fields, Gwen Le Berre keeps a Scientology "electrometer" machine in his bedroom. He opens the large green briefcase and peers at the machine inside. It looks like a lie-detector from an old TV cop show and Le Berre doesn't really understand how it works — he just knows ...

Recovery centers mistreated former client and provided him Scientology literature instead of the care that they promised, lawsuit claims. By Joseph Serna A recovering drug addict was called homophobic slurs, held against his will and forced to repeat Scientology lessons at a pair of Southern California rehab homes, including one in Newport Beach, according to a lawsuit filed in Nevada County. In a lawsuit filed June 29 claiming breach of contract, misrepresentation and attempts at religious conversion, Sarah Locatelli claims her ...

A lawsuit was filed in Nevada County, CA last week by a woman who paid for rehabilitation help for her then fiance, only to find out that she was repeatedly deceived and the services were dangerous and not as promised. Scientology practices, made Daniel Locatelli subject to verbal attacks, often of an anti gay substance. He was denied medical care when he needed it and the staff kept him and his belongings against his will when he asked to leave. He ...

The four high-ranking executives who left Scientology say that church leader David Miscavige not only physically attacked members of his executive staff, he messed with their minds. He frequently had groups of managers jump into a pool or a lake. He mustered them into group confessions that sometimes spun into free-for-alls, with people hitting one another. Mike Rinder, who defended the church to the media for two decades, couldn't stomach what was happening on the inside. The tactics to keep executives ...

The Church of Scientology purchased a multi-million dollar estate in the La Quinta Cove. They reportedly plan to use it as a museum and spiritual retreat center. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard once lived at that estate in the 1970s. Now, former Scientologists are coming forward to say they were abused there by the church and they fear it could happen to others. The estate is right next to the La Quinta Resort at 49875 Avenida Obregon. Former owner Richard Fredericks ...

PART NINE The Church of Scientology believes one woman, Maureen Bolstad, is one of the worst people in the world. She is one of a few to be declared a "suppressive person." Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard declared so-called "suppressive" people "cannot be granted the rights ordinarily accorded rational beings." Her crime? Talking to the media about the church. Bolstad was recruited into the Church of Scientology at age 16. She was told she'd get an education, and the chance to ...

“I started my life over with $200, a motorcycle and some clothes,” says Marc Headley, a former 25-year member of the Church of Scientology. He describes the night he “blew”—a term widely used within both critics circles as well as the Church community—and decided he was finished with life as a Scientologist. He managed to drive off on his motorcycle. As he made his way down a dark and winding two-lane road that runs along the edge of the compound through ...

In the mid-1980s, more than ever before, television advertising was about big budgets and excess. Bucking that trend was Scientologist and marketing whiz Jeff Hawkins, whose understated, minimalist TV ads for L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics helped launch the book onto the best-seller list—and arguably sparked a worldwide interest in the religion. Hawkins' ads featured simple questions like, "Why are you unhappy?" in white print against a black background, backed by edgy music supplied by Hawkins' friends, and finally, a shot of ...

He's one of the biggest box-office draws in history, but in recent years Tom Cruise has become more than just the face of his films. He has also become the face of his religion – Scientology. A recent video of Cruise – made for a Scientology event and leaked online – showed the star's unbridled passion for his religion and piqued the public's interest in a belief system that has long been surrounded by controversy. "I think it's a privilege to ...