The American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed., 2009) defines "obsession" as "(a) compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion." There could be no better example to illustrate this definition than the Times' ongoing coverage of the Church of Scientology. Once again, the Times turns a deaf ear to any voices save those of a handful of disaffected former Scientologists — people who have admitted lying, suborning perjury and obstructing justice — because their falsehoods support the Times' compulsive and unreasonable views ...

Marty Rathbun said he participated in a criminal act to protect the church against a possible security breach. Longtime executive Terri Gamboa and her husband, Fernando, abandoned their posts in January 1990, setting off what Rathbun called a "seven-alert fire.'' Terri Gamboa was executive director of Author Services Inc., the independent corporation set up by founder L. Ron Hubbard to control rights to his intellectual properties. David Miscavige, the leader of the church, wanted to know if she had access to ...

Pat Broeker could say what no one else in Scientology could: He outranked David Miscavige. But he left the church in 1989 and started a new life in Colorado. Still, Miscavige worried about him. "He (Miscavige) came directly to me," Marty Rathbun recalled. "He said, 'Marty, you get on this guy. I want to know every move he makes.' " Broeker and his wife, Annie, assisted Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in the months before he died in 1986. Hubbard bestowed ...

Robert S. Minton seemed to surface out of nowhere in late 1997. • A retired investment banker and millionaire from New England, he began to show up at anti-Scientology demonstrations in Boston and Clearwater. He gave millions to groups critical of the church. • He became the money man behind a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of Lisa McPherson, whose unexplained death at Scientology's Clearwater mecca threw the church into crisis. • Minton quickly became the Church of Scientology's No. ...

The church said its leader, David Miscavige, and other church officials did not hire private investigators, church attorneys did. The church directs that its attorneys and their agents follow all laws and regulations and adhere to the highest ethical standards. "If Rathbun and Rinder used PIs to 'abuse poor innocent people,' they are the only ones to blame," spokesman Tommy Davis said. The Times submitted written questions to the church about David Lubow and Ferris Khan's involvement with former church staff ...

They squeezed into a two bedroom apartment, all they could afford. Two couples and a single guy had left the Church of Scientology and joined up in Las Vegas, starting a mortgage business near the Palace Station Casino. They were faces in the crowd. Except that the two wives were important in Scientology history, sisters Terri and Janis Gillham. They were two of the original four "messengers" for L. Ron Hubbard. The founder ran his church from his ship, the Apollo, ...

THE LAS VEGAS GROUP Five Scientology defectors started new lives together in Las Vegas. MARK FISHER, 51 Joined Scientology: at 14, in 1973 in Washington, D.C. Joined Sea Org in 1976. Left Sea Org: September 1990 Career highlights: Statistics analyst, trained evaluators. Became corporate liaison to Miscavige, supervising his household, carrying out special assignments. Now: Divorced his wife, a Sea Org member, after he left. A loan officer, lives in Las Vegas. On Lubow: "He was hustling, trying to get loans ...

Sixteen years later, Betsy Perkins is sobbing as she talks about the day she ran away from Scientology. "I thought I was handing in my ticket to eternity," she says. Now 56, a graphic artist in Dallas, she says she is going public to offer her own "first-hand account of what happened to a person who was in there." She spent 17 years in Scientology's work force, the Sea Org, moved by the church's mantra that Scientologists held the future of ...

[Picture / Caption: Responding to written questions, church spokesman Tommy Davis sent a binder addressing issues with individual sources.] The church said the Times is relying on sources who, before they left Scientology, admitted in sworn declarations, affidavits and confessions that all responsibility was theirs and they held the church blameless. For every person but one (Sinar Parman), Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis provided documents from church files, including confessions, ethics orders and Suppressive Person declarations. SINAR PARMAN AND JACKIE WOLFF ====FROM ...

[Picture / Caption: The green volumes: L. Ron Hubbard’s writings on administration of the church are in books referred to as the green volumes. He detailed Scientology religious practices in the red volumes.] LEAVING AND LEAVES In the mid 1970s, L. Ron Hubbard ran his church from aboard his ship, the Apollo, sailing from port to port. He handwrote his notes, in red ink for a bulletin, in green ink for a policy letter. He said two things about those who ...

Church spokesman Tommy Davis says the Times' sources admitted they left Scientology because they could not meet the church's strict ethical standards. Now they are lying, he says, and the Times is helping advance their agenda. Here is the Church of Scientology's response to their allegations, submitted as a 10-page letter: + + + CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 15 October 2009 VIA HAND DELIVERY Mr. Joe Childs Mr. Tom Tobin St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 ...

David Miscavige, 49 Born: Suburban Philadelphia Joined Scientology: As a child, with his parents; joined Sea Org at age 16. Family status: Married to Sea Org member Michelle Miscavige. They have no children. Career highlights: The ecclesiastical leader of Scientology since 1987, when he became chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center. The RTC is responsible for preserving, maintaining and protecting Scientology and ensuring that its practices hold true to the original "technology" set out by founder L. Ron ...

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 ...

[...] *The only irritation of the night had nothing to do with Summer Jam 5 and everything to do with the annoying Church of Scientology recruits stationed on either side of Centro Ybor. On the Seventh Avenue side, where the religious fanatics usually set up shop, a pleasant young man and his newb companion (who was actually wearing a Dianetics shirt) asked, “Where are you going tonight? Would you like a free personality test?” “No, thanks, I like my personality just ...

The advertisement is sleek and subtle, surfacing on the upper right side of the St. Petersburg Times' Web site, tampabay.com. The text floats onto the screen: "Love" then "Hate" then "What is the answer?" The final display comes in a flash of light: "Scientology.org." It's a small spot, rotating among a lineup of online ads that includes commercials for Radio Shack and BlackBerry. But it has drawn some attention, partly because the newspaper has published several stories recently featuring serious allegations ...

Clearwater, Florida – The Church of Scientology is launching a TV ad campaign in Tampa Bay this week. But the controversial group, which is based in Clearwater, insists the ads are not connected to recent news stories that slam the church and its powerful leader. The ad push will target multiple channels, but very particular time slots. The goal's to catch the eyes of anyone watching TV at that moment, even if they flip the channel. Turn to another station, and ...

Don't overlook the good Scientology does I think it is disgusting that you chose to tear apart Scientology and Scientologists. You discriminate against and attack a religion that has much to praise and respect. Have you actually taken a look at what local Scientologists do for their communities? Take Clearwater for instance. There is Criminon, a group of dedicated volunteers who work with criminals in jail to help them change their lives so that they will be worthwhile individuals when they ...

Scientology calls itself a religion and claims to offer purpose and meaning to its members. Yet for some who worked in the church's militaristic Sea Organization, Scientology provided something different: physical punishment, humiliation, beatings, sleep deprivation, and long and ruinous separation from loved ones. The stories of 11 former staffers, reported in a St. Petersburg Times special report Sunday, are told with such detail and emotional heft that the church's official denials of abuse ring hollow. It takes courage to challenge ...

Jeff Hawkins, 63 Joined Scientology: at age 21, in 1967 in L.A. Left Sea Org: 2005 Career highlights: Marketing and design, created TV ad that featured exploding volcano to promote Dianetics. Now: Single, lives in Portland, Ore. Freelances as a graphic designer. Scientologists "say they're the experts in organizational technology. ... Well, then how come you need to have that level of threat and duress to get people to do what you want them to do?" Video: Jeff Hawkins '''Marc Headley, ...

They are stepping forward — from Dallas and Denver, Portland, Las Vegas, Montana — talking about what happened, to them and their friends, during their years in the Church of Scientology. Jackie Wolff wept as she recalled the chaotic night she was ordered to stand at a microphone in the mess hall and confess her "crimes" in front of 300 fellow workers, many jeering and heckling her. Gary Morehead dredged up his recollection of Scientology leader David Miscavige punishing venerable church ...

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 ...