Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith, who died yesterday aged 86, was a charismatic television reporter who switched to politics and enjoyed a 41-year career in the Commons. [...] Johnson Smith, who was later to launch a successful campaign on behalf of haemophiliacs who had been given infected blood, fought a long battle to curb the Church of Scientology, which had its headquarters near East Grinstead, in 1970 enduring a six-week libel case before a jury vindicated his stance. [...]

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 ...

In February this year, the infamous cult of Scientology set up a school in Ghana. Untoma Oxford International School was established by the Milan branch of the Scientology movement. This is a serious cause for concern. Scientology is steadily targeting Africa and indoctrinating children is one of its aims to further the building its movement. Scientology has been defined as a dangerous money-making cult that uses hypnotic techniques to control its members. It was set up by the science fiction writer ...

LISA MCPHERSON TIMELINE: This is part of a St. Petersburg Times special report on Scientology. For the full report, see tampabay.com/scientology. 1994: Lisa McPherson, a longtime Scientologist, moves from Dallas to Clearwater with her employer, AMC Publishing. The company is operated and staffed mostly by Scientologists who want to be close to the church's spiritual headquarters. September 1995: In a ceremony at the Fort Harrison Hotel, Lisa McPherson is publicly declared "clear," a state in which a Scientologist is said ...

The night after Lisa McPherson died, the leader of the Church of Scientology sent word for one of his top lieutenants to wait by a pay phone at the Holiday Inn Surfside on Clearwater Beach. When Marty Rathbun answered the ringing phone in the lobby, David Miscavige let him have it: Why aren’t you all over this mess? The police are poking around. Do something. "Yes sir," Rathbun said. McPherson, a 36-year-old parishioner in apparent good health, had spent 17 days ...

Work in Sweeney canyon stopped By JAMI FORD Staff Writer Published: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 2:59 PM MST Work being done in Sweeney Canyon south of Rock Springs has come to a standstill, according to Sweetwater County Attorney Brett Johnson. County residents had expressed concerns over IGSS building something unknown in Sweeney Canyon in 2008. Rumors flew as suspicions surfaced about possible links between IGSS and the church of scientology, and people started to make formal complaints. As concerns rose, multiple ...

SWEENEY CANYON, Wyo. (AP) — The construction began last summer, stirring up dust that wafted down this desert valley and into a small community of off-the-grid homes. As many as 20 heavy trucks a day hauling construction materials and equipment rumbled down the valley's main gravel road, passing into a gate marked with a "No Trespassing" sign. Helicopters flew in sling loads of cargo. Powerful work lights lit up the valley at night. Public planners in southwest Wyoming's Sweetwater County — ...

Curry County Commissioners agreed Tuesday not to pursue a contract with an Albuquerque rehabilitation program aimed at treating habitual drug offenders. [Picture: "Following Tuesday's meeting, officials toured the Special Events Center. Construction on the Special Events Center is about 98 percent complete with more than $31,000 left in contingency, Construction Project Supervisor Randy Kamradt said."] County Manager Lance Pyle told commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting the Second Chance Center has neglected to return a signed contract to the county since the commission ...

Isaac Hayes, Oscar-winner, R&B legend and musical icon, got two sendoffs in two days here in his Tennessee hometown, and each was as strange as it was surreal. Monday afternoon had been billed as a tribute to Hayes, and many in the Memphis music community thought it would be the day of the Stax Records star’s actual funeral. But in fact, a "secret" service was held on Sunday in order to accommodate a boatload of celebrities who flew into town under ...

The news of the sudden death of Isaac Hayes was shocking to many Ghanaians all over the world. The legendary Grammy and Oscar winning US mega musician and entertainer is also known in Ghana as Nene Katey Ocansey I, Nkosuoehne (Chief for Development) of the Ada Traditional Area and a beloved member of the Ocansey Royal Family. He co-founded the Nene Katey Ocansey I Learning and Technology (NekoTech) Center of Excellence in Ada, Ghana, with Princess Asie Ocansey of Ada. They ...

Thank goodness Isaac Hayes wrote "Soul Man" before he became a Scientologist. Whatever would have become of Sam and Dave or the Blues Brothers if they had belted out a song called "Thetan Man"? According to beliefs promoted by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, the immortal soul – or "thetan" – passes from one body to the next through reincarnations over trillions of years. When a person dies, Hubbard said, the thetan goes to a landing station on Venus where it ...

Tribal members are getting advice, free trips—and perhaps a new rehab program—from their connection with L. Ron Hubbard's church. Is this the help they need? In 1964, when Rayola Running Crane was just 13, her parents sent her away from her home in Browning on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. She and her friends were drinking alcohol on a regular basis, and she had already been in an alcohol-related car accident that caused her permanent back injuries. She says her parents gave ...

THE Church of Scientology is striking back at a group that's been harassing it. The wacky religion - which claims Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Juliette Lewis and Leah Remini as members - has been the target of a group calling itself "Anonymous," whose members take credit for bombarding Scientology churches across the country with prank calls, bomb threats and cyber attacks since January. But now the church has counterattacked by posting YouTube videos under the title, "Anonymous Facts," detailing ...

Karen Johnson still remembers how it felt to watch parades as a youngster in her northern Illinois hometown. SLIDESHOW: Sen. Karen Johnson has represented Mesa for nearly 2 decades Templar: Sen. Karen Johnson impresses with upbeat attitude —– [Picture] QUITE A PERSONALITY: Mesa Sen. Karen Johnson is a conservative pro-gun, anti-abortion Republican who has championed the rights of juvenile sex offenders and chastised the Bush administration as being too compassionate and extravagant. Paul O'Neill, Tribune —– “When the bands and the ...

ST. PETERSBURG — In the world of Scientology, Scott W. Snow is a winner. He has achieved the religion’s highest level of training, higher even than megastar Tom Cruise, a distinction that brings with it lofty ethical standards. But in St. Petersburg, city leaders call him slumlord. Snow, 51, is the owner of the Chinook Apartments in Midtown, which the city shut down May 2 after finding multiple fire code violations. Now two dozen Chinook tenants have hired a lawyer and ...

A group affiliated with the Church of Scientology has forged close ties with several influential members of the Arizona Legislature as part of a nationwide battle against the mental-health industry. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights has courted key lawmakers with trips to glitzy Scientologist events in Hollywood. And, observers say, it has been the force behind more than two dozen bills in Arizona in recent years, including measures to restrict prescriptions of Ritalin and mood-altering drugs. One of the measures ...

A jury trial is slated to start in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday in a case in which an attorney who failed to secure a written representation agreement is seeking to recover the reasonable value of her services. So far, that probably seems hum drum. What makes this case worthy of note is that the proceeding will take place in Case No. C332027 — which was filed on July 28, 1980. The name of this 25-year-old case will probably sound familiar. ...

As early as the third grade, students in S.F. and elsewhere are subtly introduced to church's concepts via anti-drug teachings A popular anti-drug program provided free to schools in San Francisco and elsewhere teaches concepts straight out of the Church of Scientology, including medical theories that some addiction experts described as "irresponsible" and "pseudoscience." As a result, students are being introduced to somebeliefs and methods of Scientology without their knowledge. Anyone listening to a classroom talk by Narconon Drug Prevention & ...

David I. Minkoff loses his license for one year for improperly prescribing drugs for the Scientologist. TALLAHASSEE — Florida's Board of Medicine has sternly sanctioned Clearwater physician David I. Minkoff, finding he improperly prescribed medicine for a patient he had never seen — Scientologist Lisa McPherson. Minkoff, also a Scientologist, prescribed Valium and the muscle relaxant chloral hydrate at the behest of unlicensed Church of Scientology staffers who were trying to nurse McPherson, 36, through a severe mental breakdown. When they ...