It was a warm August day in 1986. I was in my office on the third floor of the main building in the PAC Scientology complex in LA — "Big Blue." We had the windows open and the fans running, to try to suck in any vestige of a breeze that we could. Out the open window, I could see Fountain Avenue below me, and across the street, New York George’s, where I sometimes had a bowl of chili. A simmering ...

Bruce Livesey investigates how former inner-sanctum member Gerry Armstrong became the Salman Rushdie of Scientology. The first time I met Gerry Armstrong, I thought he was paranoid. I’d driven down from Vancouver, summer 2007, into the verdant Fraser Valley to Chilliwack, BC, a somnolent, wind-blown town surrounded by jagged mountain ranges. A place as far removed from Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Scientology’s loopiness as one can possibly get. Armstrong and his third wife Caroline live in a walk-up, one-bedroom apartment ...

Astra and Lawrence Woodcraft will be joining Dawn Olsen of Glosslip Radio for a special show to discuss their experiences inside the Church of Scientology, including their life inside the Sea Org, which has been exposed recently as forcing abortions on members, prison work camps and an asbestos cover-up on the CoS Freewinds cruise ship.

Scientology officials insist its S.S. Asbestos will sail again. Reports of cancer-causing particles aboard the 40-year-old Scientology cruise ship and floating fortress for the church's secret OT VIII training floated around yesterday after a report by a St. Martins newspaper that the ship was sealed by authorities on the island of Curacao. Perhaps most interesting was the old interview with the ship's architect Lawrence Woodcraft, originally aired by Xenu TV and reposted by the anti-Scientology Lisa McPherson Trust and others. Woodcraft ...

He's one of the biggest box-office draws in history, but in recent years Tom Cruise has become more than just the face of his films. He has also become the face of his religion – Scientology. A recent video of Cruise – made for a Scientology event and leaked online – showed the star's unbridled passion for his religion and piqued the public's interest in a belief system that has long been surrounded by controversy. "I think it's a privilege to ...

The Court of Appeal for this district has rejected an attorney’s claim to a portion of the millions of dollars recovered by a former Scientologist in the decades-long suit over what he said were coercive tactics by the church. Div. Two Wednesday affirmed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert L. Hess’ ruling invalidating Leta Schlosser’s attorney fee lien against Lawrence D. Wollersheim’s $8.7 million recovery from the Church of Scientology and its affiliated organizations. Wollersheim, who filed suit in 1980, won ...

(CBS) There was never a question who committed the murder of Elli Perkins on March 13, 2003. As correspondent Peter Van Sant reports, within hours, police had a confession. His jeans drenched in blood, 28-year-old Jeremy Perkins had just stabbed his mother 77 times. Weeks later, in a recorded interview, Jeremy told a psychiatrist what was going through his mind. "My mom, I thought she was out to get me," he said. "Like sometimes she’d be totally normal and then she’d ...

DEREK perches on his seat among the VIPs, eyes blazing rapturously. "Do you have any idea how huge this is for Scientology?" he says, reading the sign over the garlanded new £ 40million headquarters of the "church of Scientology London" in the heart of the Square Mile. "For how long have we dreamed of this! It's like the tipping point. With this base, we'll be recruiting the people who control the planet!" Behind him, beaming ecstatically despite the driving rain, an ...

Tom Cruise says Katie Holmes is now a fully-fledged follower of L Ron Hubbard. So what is it about the sci-fi writer's 'religion' that exerts such a hold? Sara Lawrence goes undercover to find out Sitting on a red velvet chair in the middle of a majestic, oak-panelled hall in East Grinstead, I have rarely felt more fearful for my sanity. On the wall in front of me, a creepy, larger-than-life-sized portrait of an old man seems to be staring straight ...

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. ...

After years of conflict, the church and the media seem to have reached a truce. Is it because Scientology has become less confrontational — or because the press is scared? For anyone interested in the Church of Scientology, the May 6, 1991, issue of Time magazine remains a milestone in news coverage. For those who back the church, it ran an outrageously biased account that eventually led to a libel suit by the church — later dismissed — and prompted Scientology ...

[Re. Scientology's Operation Funny Bone, or the "fair gaming" of cartoonist Jim Berry.]

Greg Bashaw's father respected him and trusted him to make wise choices. Even after he chose to devote his life to Scientology. While the shock and grief of his son's suicide were still fresh, Bob Bashaw read back through their decades-long correspondence, looking in particular for references to Scientology. "I wanted to see what there was here I missed," he says. His son Greg had been a member of the Church of Scientology for more than 20 years. During that time ...

For years, Bob Minton was the principal opponent in one of the church's nastiest public battles. Now, in a stunning reversal, Minton's testimony is helping the church fight the Lisa McPherson wrongful death lawsuit. The handwritten list ran three pages long, an account of the trouble and expense Robert Minton had caused the Church of Scientology. * Fighting the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case: $14.4-million. * Dealing with lawsuits around the globe: more than $6-million. * Paying security to protect Clearwater ...

A 22-year legal battle came to an abrupt end last week when the Church of Scientology paid $8.67 million to one of its harshest critics: a former member who claimed the church had harassed him for years and driven him "to the brink of insanity." The settlement between the church's California organization and former Boulder resident Lawrence Wollersheim is notable not only for its size, but for its public nature. In the past, litigation involving the controversial "new religion"—founded by science-fiction ...

Nearly 22 years ago, Lawrence Wollersheim, a disaffected member of the Church of Scientology, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles accusing the church of mental abuse that pushed him to the brink of suicide. Teams of lawyers and various rulings came and went, all the way to the US Supreme Court. Judgments against the church hit $US30 million ($A55 million), then dropped to $US2.5 million. But the Church of Scientology never paid - until Thursday, when officials wrote a cheque for ...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Church of Scientology has agreed to pay a former member more than $8.6 million to resolve a lawsuit filed nearly 22 years ago. In his 1980 lawsuit, Lawrence Wollersheim accused the church of causing him to develop bipolar disorder and to contemplate suicide. A jury in 1986 awarded him $30 million, an amount reduced on appeal to $2.5 million and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1994. Church officials on Thursday handed over a check for ...

Nearly 22 years ago, Lawrence Wollersheim, a disaffected member of the Church of Scientology, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles accusing the church of mental abuse that pushed him to the brink of suicide. Teams of lawyers and various rulings came and went, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judgments against the church hit $30 million, then dropped to $2.5 million. But the Church of Scientology never paid — until Thursday, when officials wrote a check for more than ...

Nearly 22 years ago, Lawrence Wollersheim, a disaffected member of the Church of Scientology, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles accusing the church of mental abuse that pushed him to the brink of suicide. Teams of lawyers and various rulings came and went, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judgments against the church hit $30 million, then dropped to $2.5 million. But the Church of Scientology never paid — until yesterday, when officials wrote a check for more than ...

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY, STATE OF FLORIDA GENERAL CIVIL DIVISION Case No. 00-5682-C1 Section 11 ESTATE OF LISA McPHERSON, by and through the Personal Representative, DELL LIEBREICH Plaintiff, vs. CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY FLAG SERVICE ORGANIZATION, INC.; JANIS JOHNSON; ALAIN KARTUZINSKI; and DAVID HOUGHTON, Defendants. —– APRIL 2002 AFFIDAVIT OF JESSE PRINCE STATE OF FLORIDA COUNTY OF HILLSBOROUGH BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority, personally appeared JESSE PRINCE, who after being duly sworn ...

READ THE ARTICLE (Thanks to nytimes.com for access to their archives.): Scientology's Puzzling Journey From Tax Rebel to Tax Exempt New York Times March 9, 1997 By Douglas Frantz The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 by a writer named L. Ron Hubbard. For years Scientology sought to persuade the Internal Revenue Service that it was a religion and deserved the same tax deduction given to traditional religious groups. Scientology took in hundreds of millions of dollars, and for decades ...

it’s an unshaven and frazzled-looking Keith Henson who shuffles into the converted jail cell used as a hearing room Thursday morning at the Metro West Detention Centre. He’s in broad-rims, jail-issue orange jumpsuit and blue canvas runners that he’s wearing like flip-flops because they’re too small for his feet. A flap of grey hair is swooshed over a bald spot on the top of his head. The unrepentant Scientology foe was arrested in a parking lot in Oakville by Halton regional ...