Sunday night, Tom Cruise rewarded high-ranking members of the Church of Scientology with tickets to a private screening of his new movie, "Lions for Lambs." This is the provocative anti-war movie which he executive-produced for United Artists with partner Paula Wagner. I rather doubt that director Robert Redford, who's also a co-star, and Cruise's other co-star, Meryl Streep, had any idea that the screening room at the Museum of Modern Art and the cocktail party following was full of Scientologists, including ...

The six-story building that houses the New York headquarters for the Church of Scientology is located on 227 West 46th St., reserving its place amid an ever-bustling, tourist-laden Times Square.Rendering of the new Scientology complex Inside, over 80 staff members work hard on finalizing community service programs for the Church’s most recent real estate purchase: a 50,000-square-foot property on 125th St. in East Harlem. Valued at more than $13 million, the new property is intended to restore Harlem as a center ...

Hollywood star Kelly Preston took time out of filming new comedy Old Dogs with her husband John Travolta, to support a Scientology charity concert in West Sussex. The 45-year-old actress was master of ceremonies at the 11th annual Gala Charity Concert at Saint Hill, home of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard and headquarters for the Church of Scientology UK. Kelly said: "It was a great day. What we were doing with the concert is perpetuating what L Ron Hubbard started in ...

Amidst the controversy over Columbia University's proposed expansion into Harlem, another expansion is occurring with far less protest. The Church of Scientology in Harlem, currently operating out of a storefront space on Third Avenue, recently purchased several buildings on 125th street, where they plan to rebuild and expand the church. Scientology, known for its controversial views and prominent celebrity members, has several churches in Manhattan, the largest of which is here in Times Square. They also have a small church in ...

Critics aside, they say Scientology's detox center cures ills. By Art Carey Inquirer Staff Writer Within days of beginning treatment, Mike Wire noticed changes. His pain eased. His mood brightened. His sense of smell returned, sharper than ever. A retired millwright from Bucks County, Wire, 60, is among thousands of rescue workers, firefighters and police officers who developed an array of serious ailments after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. Wire spent 21/2 ...

Attorney General Abbott Charges Foreclosure Rescue Firm With Operating Unlawful Scam Court freezes assets of Foreclosure Assistance Solutions HOUSTON – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today charged a business with operating an unlawful foreclosure rescue scam that targeted struggling Texas homeowners. As a result, the 408th District Court issued a temporary restraining order and froze assets belonging to three businessmen who organized the scheme. According to court documents, the defendants fraudulently advertised that they could save homeowners from imminent foreclosures. The ...

There are moments in life, coincidences, which have the potential to utterly change the direction and meaning of your existence. Of these I have had several; they have all marked me in various ways, but none more so than that fateful late afternoon in Stuttgart, Germany, when an attractive and rather aggressive young woman blocked my path and accosted me with the interrogative; "Do you have a good memory"? This story aims to serve a dual function: Enlighten those who may ...

Recently, the Church of Scientology announced that it was purchasing three buildings on East 125th Street for an estimated $10 million. Since 2003, the controversial religion had been running a mostly overlooked storefront on Third Avenue between 122nd and 123rd streets, but the new expansion marks a major move into Harlem. The buildings will be fully renovated and turned into not only a church, but a community center with the usual Scientology programs: job training, literacy and drug rehab. Media reports ...

Here's the connection between a tiny new school in Janesville and Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology, a religion popular among some Hollywood types such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Hubbard wrote science fiction books, but he also wrote about education. His educational theories are the basis for something called Applied Scholastics. Applied Scholastics is the method used by Sequoia Academy, a fledgling school that will open its doors Sept. 4 in the home of Christine Koth on the city's ...

It's been a year since Tom Cruise's war of words with Paramount resulted in one of Hollywood's biggest splits - and, apparently, new days of thunder for the 45-year-old superstar. Previous to the much-publicized split, the 5-foot-7 actor was riding high. How high? Cruise has had seven consecutive films that made $100 million or more (a record he shares with Tom Hanks). He has won three Golden Globes, and has been nominated for an acting Oscar three times. He has worked ...

His rant at a Scientology spokesman was a ratings winner, but the Panorama reporter insists there's more to him than just a loud voice Panorama reporters are not supposed to "lose it". Not on camera, anyway. So no wonder that John Sweeney's spectacular cartoonish strop with Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis three months ago - in which he resembled an incandescent frog, eyes bulging, voice croaking with rage - became one of those water-cooler TV moments, making headlines and propelling him to ...

Harlem, beware! The neighborhood long weary of gentrification may soon have to deal with the likes of Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. The Church of Scientology, known for its celebrity devotees, is making a big push to expand its empire along 125th Street, purchasing three properties there last week, and planning a major recruitment drive in the neighborhood. The Rev. John Carmichael, president of the church in New York, declined to give details about the purchase, but reports put ...

Best-selling science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson felt like a giddy fan while completing the unfinished last novel of A. E. van Vogt, the forgotten... JACKSON, Miss. (AP ) — Best-selling science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson felt like a giddy fan while completing the unfinished last novel of A.E. van Vogt, the forgotten science fiction master's sequel to the influential "Slan." Van Vogt filled the imaginations of boys across America with telepathic mutants and big ideas when he published "Slan" ...

For the past week, they set up big yellow tents with three snow-cone points and little flags on top on the Common right behind City Hall. From a distance you'd have thought that the circus had come to town. It didn't. It was the Church of Scientology's International Volunteer Minister Pioneer Cavalcade, a kind of roving revival tent show to spread the word of church founder L. Ron Hubbard. Emblazed across the front of the tents were the words: "Do Something ...

The show is about karma and redemption, but could there be a deeper message? James Donaghy examines the influence of the Church of Scientology on hit comedy My Name Is Earl Do good things and good things will happen to you. Do bad things and it will come back to haunt you". Why can't all TV have a simple message like that at its heart? The brilliantly slick My Name Is Earl carries the karmic principle through to its logical/absurd conclusion ...

In response to this, Religious Freedom Watch (RFW), universally regarded as a front group for the Church of Scientology, has posted a rundown (pun intended) of the supposed crimes against journalism that I committed in the writing of my piece on the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Program. "Methinks you doth protest too much DeSio. Or do you find Touretzky’s racist comments so normal, and your defense of his bigoted statements so necessary to support your own deep hatred, ...

John Travolta and his family recently were spotted in Hawaii. Janet Charlton's Hollywood blog reports the reason that Travolta was visiting the Aloha state was for the church of Scientology's Narconon program and a potential fundraiser. Narconon is a four part treatment that is taken in nine steps, which critics and Scientology watchdog groups claim there are major red flags. Some have raised serious safety concerns, while othersclaim it is based on wholly unscientific theories and virtually all are very closely ...

Religious Freedom Watch (RFW) has just put up an item on its website charging that in my New York Detox piece Scientology critic Dave Touretzky (left) could not defend himself from charges that he is a racist, but simply stated that the charges are untrue because they cannot be found via a Lexis-Nexis search. The RFW item can be found here. RFW is almost universally regarded as a front group for the Church of Scientology and devotes a considerable amount of ...

Here's a little source material for you all regarding my piece on the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project. In it, I mention a particularly strongly worded letter sent by Queens City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. to Rev. John Carmichael, president of the New York branch of the Church of Scientology. The letter was sent to Carmichael in response to Vallone's strong words about Scientology, which can be found here and here. Carmichael requested a meeting with Vallone, but that ain't ...

Apparently, I’m a hate-filled bigot. That would have to be the conclusion you would draw if you follow the dealings of the Church of Scientology, particularly the organization known as Religious Freedom Watch (RFW), which is almost universally recognized as a Scientology front group. In response to last week’s cover story on the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, the controversial alternative health clinic based on the writings of Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, RFW has bared its teeth. Evidently lacking ...

“I'm not here converting these men and women to Scientology. And I've got to tell you something—I've been a Scientologist 20 years. In Sacramento I, more than any other Scientologist, got new people into Scientology, me personally. I'm very good at converting people, if I want to.” Jim Woodworth is the director of the New York Rescue Workers' Detoxification Project, and he is bristling at the suggestion that his program is an arm of the Church of Scientology. He insists that ...

The controversial Church of Scientology is planning to target students at Scottish universities and colleges in a new recruitment drive. Leaders of the church, which is largely regarded as a cult and believes humans descended from aliens, have revealed they intend to send workers into campuses to seek out impressionable youngsters. Ironically, they believe recent bad publicity after the movement featured on the BBC's Panorama programme has helped attract new converts. Following the programme screening two weeks ago, which featured presenter ...

Attention South Park writers looking for their next episode! (Comedy Central) While the verdict may still be out as to whether Scientology is a brainwashing cult or not, after a recent run-in with the BBC, two things are abundantly clear: Scientologists can't stand being called cult members, and they have the power to drive even seasoned journalists absolutely insane. BBC reporter John Sweeney, whose documentary "Scientology and Me" ends in a 40-second shouting match between him and Church spokesman Tommy Davis, ...

As Chad Bloom can attest from firsthand experience, the Narconon rehab program can bring ‘ice’ addicts back to live a productive, drug-free life Lari Zelinsky-Bloom is proud of her recent graduate. No ceremony or lei hail his achievement, but thanks to celebrities Kelly Preston and John Travolta, there will be many others to follow in the footsteps of her son, 21-year-old Chad Bloom. Chad just graduated from Narconon, a drug rehabilitation center. After a harrowing nightmare suffering the effects of ice ...

RESPECTED Panorama journalist John Sweeney was this week seen on TV exploding in a fury during an interview with a leader of the Church of Scientology. Here he apologises but also reveals the other side of the movement ? what one one judge called “corrupt, sinister and dangerous” ? not to mention the stranger hiding in the bushes outside his recent wedding. THE Archbishop of Canterbury, MPs, Lords, top coppers and, for all I know, Wayne Rooney and the Beckhams: Anyone ...

Gays should be wary of ‘church’ that has helped advance the reckless idea that homosexuality can be cured. THE CULT OF Scientology is back in the news this week, after a video of a BBC reporter shouting down a church spokesperson hit YouTube. The BBC’s John Sweeney claims he was followed and harassed while working on a documentary about Scientology. The spokesperson in question is the son of actress Anne Archer. “I have been shouted at, spied on, had my hotel ...