A HUMAN rights youth forum at Parliament House in Sydney promoted the views of the Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and was organised by a group linked to the Church of Scientology. In a kit given to students, Hubbard's photograph was more prominent than those of the human rights activists Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Thomas Jefferson. Hubbard's quotes were littered through the material. The Church of Scientology is the major sponsor of Youth for Human Rights Australia, ...

The controversial church, whose founder called shrinks "terrorists" and which labels mental illness a fraud, is closer than you think to implanting its extreme beliefs in the nation's laws and schools. It may be easy to dismiss Tom Cruise's recent outbursts against psychiatry as the ravings of an egomaniacal celebrity. Comedians have certainly had a field day with Cruise, a fervent disciple of the Church of Scientology, ever since he scolded Brooke Shields for taking prescribed medication to treat her postpartum ...

HR professionals have been warned to watch out for a mailshot from a psychometric testing organisation that fails to make clear its links to Scientology. People Management followed up a complaint from a reader who had received a letter from Silhouet UK inviting the recipient to complete an enclosed test questionnaire as a "free introductory service". The reader became suspicious after noticing the copyright on the test was for L Ron Hubbard, the founder of the controversial religious group. The letter ...

Clearwater picket 1997–Xenu picketing with sign saying “L. Ron Hubbard: Psychotic CON MAN”, other picketers with signs saying “www.scientology-kills.net” “Xenu Crossing (inside a yellow sign on picket sign)”; Deana Holmes with sign saying “Did Standard Tech kill Lisa?”; lecture at Scientology church VO: While church administration is busy dealing with a steady stream of conflict, individual Scientologists are out among the people, spreading Hubbard’s word at every opportunity. MIKE RINDER: Well, you know, the aims of Scientology are a civilization without ...

In the early fall of 1991 Atlanta businessman Ralph Regan participated in a local radio talk show dealing with abuses by the Internal Revenue Service and problems with the federal tax system. Shortly afterward, the 35-year old nurseryman received a call from Victor Krohn, the head of Citizens for an Alternative Tax System (CATS), who asked Mr. Regan to start up an Atlanta area CATS chapter. A few months later Mr. Regan resigned his post after discovering that CATS had been ...

JOHN WOOD wants to tell your children the truth about drugs. He is the UK president of an organisation which claims it has been educating young people about the dangers of addiction for 25 years. It claims that message had been successful, and it claims it can also help those who have already fallen to drugs and drink. In fact, Narconon makes rather a lot of claims, and the group has targeted Sussex with literature and glowing tributes from grateful "clients". ...

Is L. Ron Hubbard's morals text harmless? When Carol Burgeson received a copy of "The Way to Happiness" in the mail 18 months ago, she read it through and decided it was the perfect non-religious vehicle for teaching moral values to her senior students at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Ill. So Burgeson ordered more free copies of the book by L. Ron Hubbard and used them to stimulate discussions in her classes. "It seemed so harmless," she says. "Brush ...

When Carol Burgeson received a copy of "The Way to Happiness" in the mail 18 months ago, she read it through and decided it was the perfect non-religious vehicle for teaching moral values to her senior students at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Ill. So Burgeson ordered more free copies of the book by L. Ron Hubbard and used them to stimulate discussions in her classes. "It seemed so harmless," she says. "Brush your teeth, do your work, don't be ...

Jesus is a fantasy Implanted in our minds millions of years ago, according to the Scientology cult. And L Ron Hubbard, who founded Dianetics and Scientology, dabbled in anti-Christian rituals with a disciple of black magician Aleister Crowley. Former Scientologists Jon Atack and Bonnie Woods spoke to a Chichester audience of head teachers and representatives from churches, Scouts, local councils and the police. Mr Atack, who thought the city was the cult's latest target, said Scientology has "200 front groups" including ...

Members of a group led by a supporter of the Church of Scientology have alerted Glendale police to alleged "deprogramming" activities of a Glendale woman. Kevin Hulce, a member of the Church of Scientology, along with two members of the Deprogramming Survivor's Network, accused Priscilla Coates of conspiring with Hulce's parents to turn him away from the religious group formed by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. "Because Priscilla Coates lives in Glendale, Kevin thought the police might like ...

The tale of Jon and Stacy Roberts and the Church of Scientology is the story of a typical couple, in many ways, who were looking for answers. When the financial advice they sought turned into spiritual guidance, the couple began to regret the direction their search had taken. In the process, they gave more than $100,000 to the Church of Scientology and an organization connected with it. Now they want to warn others not to do the same. Jon Roberts filed ...

And now, the next Walt Disney Studios— the Church of Scientology! That is, if entrepreneurs connected with the Hollywood based cult can muscle into the film business with their proposal to homogenize films by tailoring them to the tastes of the unwashed masses. It all began last July, when Future Films, a new, eccentric studio, began running ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter touting its revolutionary ideas. No one knew what to make of it all. The grand concept, to ...

Like the church he founded, the teaching methods espoused by L. Ron Hubbard create controversy. And they are spreading, across the United States and around the world. L. Ron Hubbard wrote science fiction stories and founded a religion — but he didn't stop there. He went on, according to his followers, to achieve tremendous breakthroughs in education. There are now more than 150 Hubbard-method schools around the world. They achieve superior results, according to supporters, and are free of drugs and ...

If you have a drug problem, Narconon isn't the answer, some experts say. "As far as I'm concerned, it's bad news, and I would not advise anyone to go near it," says UCLA psychiatry professor Dr. Louis West, who has studied the church since 1950, when it was L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, and not a recognized religion. "If someone needs help, they (Narconon) are taking the time and money away from a program that could actually help them," West said yesterday. ...

Dozens of Winnipeg teenagers have been hired to raise funds for a drug rehabilitation program which critics charge is nothing more than a recruiting front for a "mind-control cult." About 60 teenagers who answered newspaper advertisements for summer jobs are selling pepperoni and T-shirts door-to-door to raise money for Narconon — a drug rehab organization linked to the Church of Scientology. And while officials from the program and the man behind the drive say it's all above board, it has sparked ...

When Narconon comes to town, the Church of Scientology — and trouble — follows, residents of Newkirk, Okla. warned yesterday. Newkirk civic leaders were threatened and harassed by the controversial church and its private investigators after they opposed a Narconon treatment centre set up on Indian territory near the small, rural town in 1989, Mayor Gary Bilger said. "We had three investigators in our little town of 2,300 off and on for weeks," he said. "My little boy was 11 years ...

WASHINGTON —The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday rejected a request by a group affiliated with the Church of Scientology that it ban the anti-depressant drug Prozac on grounds that it makes people suicidal and violent. The FDA released a letter to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights saying that it had found no evidence for these claims or for the commission's additional claims that Prozac is addictive and causes movement disorders. The agency said it had reviewed the evidence provided ...

A personal aide to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard for eight of her nearly 20 years with the group says that fluoxetine (Prozac) and therapy have finally stopped the depression and suicidal ideation she had suffered since 1976. "I have to speak out." Hana (Eltringham) Whitfield told The Psychiatric Times. "The Scientologists choose the most prominent psychiatrists and the most successful drugs to attack. That's why they attacked Ritalin, and that's why they are now attacking Prozac." Although ...

Emerging from years of internal strife and public scandal, the Scientology movement has embarked on a sweeping and sophisticated campaign to gain new influence in America. The goal is to refurbish the tarnished image of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and elevate him to the ranks of history's great humanitarians and thinkers. By so doing, the church hopes to broaden the acceptability of Hubbard's Scientology teachings and attract millions of new members. The campaign relies on official church programs and a ...

NEWKIRK, Okla. — The people of this farming hamlet near the Oklahoma-Kansas border thought the idea was the perfect tonic for their rural economic ills. Out-of-state investors offered to take over the abandoned Chilocco Indian School and transform it into a major drug and alcohol treatment center. They signed a 25-year lease — worth an estimated $16 million — with the five tribes that control the campus. They brought expectations of new jobs and increased business for the area. Now, only ...