Several months after she went to work at a Manhattan real estate firm, Karen Schwartz says her boss, developer Lawrence Feldman, ordered her to take an unusual series of night classes. Ms. Schwartz says he informed her they were simply "business courses." But when she arrived at the classroom, Ms. Schwartz couldn't have been more astonished. According to a complaint Ms. Schwartz has filed with the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she was subjected to something close to an indoctrination into ...

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 ...

Some extremist religious sects and a number of related self-help therapies employ communication techniques that may over time "alter or impair fundamental information-processing abilities" and may result in severe physical, emotional and mental disorders, a team of University researchers announced at a press conference Tuesday. Authors and research associates Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman released a study titled "Information Disease," presenting findings of a nationwide study on the effects of covert induction and deprogramming. These results are the culmination of four ...

Three years after publishing a best-selling book in 1950 about his theories for improving mental health, L. Ron Hubbard, 42, was living in Spain and worrying about money. An idea struck him. Why not present Scientology as a religion, he suggested in a letter written to Helen O'Brien, then the head of an organization for marketing his mental health concepts known as the Hubbard Association of Scientologists. This was the formative stage of the Church of Scientology. Over the next 30 ...

A gathering billed as a news conference turned into a rally Wednesday as several hundred Scientologists shouted fervent "amens" to religious spokesmen decrying a $39 million judgment against the Church of Scientology awarded by a Multnomah County jury last week. "I heard a fight was going on in Oregon, and I wanted to get in on it," said the Rev. Everett Sileven, a Baptist minister from Louisville, Neb., who served 157 days in jail because he refused to permit state certification ...

2,000 march through Salem in attempt to see governor [Picture / Caption: ON THEIR WAY — Scientologists loaded up several school buses in downtown Portland Tuesday morning to head for Salem, where they said they planned to march around the state Capitol to protest last week's decision against the Church of Scientology.] A 38-bus caravan of Church of Scientology members arrived in Salem from Portland early Tuesday afternoon for a demonstration to show their displeasure with the $39-million verdict issued last ...

Movie star John Travolta, looking tired, tousled and in need of a shave, arrived shortly after midnight Monday in Portland to defend the Church of Scientology and back the growing protest of the $39 million judgment handed down against it last week by a Multnomah County jury. "It's simple," Travolta said after walking into a small conference room on the third floor of the Hilton Hotel and taking a long drink from the water glass placed in front of him. "I've ...

The Church of Scientology in Portland waged an expensive, large-scale advertising campaign throughout the fraud trial that led to a $39 million verdict against the church and its founder, but jurors said they paid no attention to it. Printed advertisements appeared frequently in daily and weekly newspapers in the Portland area throughout the 10-week trial, and radio and television commercials were played on several local stations. Two jurors who were interviewed Monday said the jury's decision was based on long discussions ...

An estimated 300 members of the Church of Scientology rallied in downtown Portland Sunday, protesting a $39-million judgment against the church issued by a jury last week. For 90 minutes, the demonstrators, many of whom came to Portland from around the country, carried placards and chanted slogans as they marched around the Multnomah County Courthouse, which was closed Sunday. There were no incidents and no visible police presence during the rally. The protest is expected to continue at least through Monday, ...

PORTLAND, Ore.—Members of the Church of Scientology converged on Portland on Sunday to protest a $39 million fraud judgment which one church leader called "a slap in the face of the First Amendment." The Rev. John Carmichael, head of the church in Oregon, predicted Sunday morning that the Multnomah County Circuit Court jury award will not stand on appeal. "Major disasters in which hundreds of people are killed don't get $39 million judgments," Carmichael said. In Clearwater, Scientology midday followers gathered ...

An estimated 500 members of the Church of Scientology rallied in downtown Portland late into the night Sunday, anticipating the early morning arrival of film star John Travolta. Travolta, flying his private plane from Los Angeles for a quick stop in Portland to show solidarity with other Scientology members, arrived at Portland International Airport shortly after midnight. He was greeted by more than 200 supporters who had been bused to the airport after a day of protest against a $39 million ...

Thousands of Scientologists, including actor John Travolta, are planning to flock to Portland this week to protest a $39 million court judgment against the church, Scientology officials said Saturday. Scientologists started their protest Saturday night with a march outside the Multnomah County Courthouse by about 150 persons carrying signs that read "Restore the Bill of Rights" and "We Want Justice" and chanting "religious freedom now." Another rally is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Sunday outside the courthouse in response to the jury ...

A Multnomah County Circuit Court jury awarded $39 million in punitive damages Friday to a Portland woman after finding she was victimized by "wanton misconduct" by the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The verdict was returned in favor of Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, 27, after 2½ days of deliberation and a 10-week trial. One of her lawyers, Ronald L. Wade, said it was the biggest punitive damages verdict in Oregon history. John Carmichael, president of the Church of ...