Rome, Italy, Jan 12, 2010 / 09:09 pm (CNA) — In Italy, the pre-Christmas release of the book "The Courage to Speak Out - Stories of ex-Scientologists" was met with a promise from the National Church of Scientology of Italy to bring legal action against the author and "whomever has assisted her." A spokeswoman for the book's publisher told CNA that, as of yet, no such action has been taken against them. "The Courage to Speak Out" includes stories from 14 ...

I have known the staff at Golden Era Productions for well over 20 years, and I have to say that I really take offense to the article that Charlie Hand wrote Dec. 18 about the lawsuit against Golden Era. As someone who has visited Golden Era numerous occasions, I have met countless friendly, productive individuals who are dedicated to their chosen vocation and way of life. They are there because they are deeply committed to the social betterment programs they ...

Tom Cruise is being sued for allegedly hiring a notorious P.I. to illegally wiretap a magazine editor's phone ... according to documents obtained by TMZ. [Link to document: http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/1221_cruise.PDF] The plaintiff, Michael Davis Sapir, claims Cruise, attorney Bert Fields and jailed private investigator Anthony Pellicano conspired to spy on him. There is a long history between Cruise and Sapir. In 2001, Cruise sued Sapir for $100 million after Sapir claimed to have video evidence that Cruise "engaged in a homosexual relationship." ...

[Picture of property] Built in 1925 on 6.4 acres, the Fenway resort on the shore of St. Joseph Sound served as a waterfront getaway for Jazz Age high society. It has also been the campus of two colleges. DUNEDIN — George Rahdert invested $6 million of his money into the Fenway renovation, hoping profits from hotel customers and condo sales would follow its timely completion. Yet after four years and another $6 million in borrowed money, not a single shovel has ...

WAGES SOUGHT: Scientology official denies conditions at compound described in the suit. A lawsuit seeking unspecified back wages describes the Scientology compound outside San Jacinto as a virtual prison camp in which workers are forced to put in long hours in exchange for little pay, to give up their children to a boarding school where they are taught only about Scientology, and to give up their right to communicate with those on the outside. Scientology spokeswoman Catherine Fraser declined an interview ...

Scientology is coming to Sandy Springs – but a federal lawsuit is coming first. “Absolutely,” said attorney William Woodson Galloway, when asked if the Church of Scientology will pursue a religious liberty lawsuit following a vote Tuesday that limited the size of the church in Sandy Springs. “We are not happy with the result.” The result was a 3-3 vote by the City Council on Tuesday night that tried to find a common ground between outright denial of the rezoning of ...

The showdown over Scientology in Sandy Springs comes up for a vote Tuesday night that both opponents and supporters hope puts an end to the matter. It isn’t likely. The threat of a religious-liberty lawsuit looms if the City Council rejects outright the Church of Scientology’s request for a zoning change so it can move from its current state headquarters in Dunwoody into a Sandy Springs office building it owns. On the other side are the more than 700 residents – ...

Nancy Many appeared on a KNOP radio show today from Washington state to promote her new book, My Billion Year Contract. She talks about her experiences in Scientology as an aide to L. Ron Hubbard, being sent to the RPF by Hubbard where she was locked in the garage of the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater when she was five months pregnant, escaping from Scientology with her husband, disconnection and much more.

One time Scientologist Lance Hoskins has had a first hand insight inside the mind and workings of the strange religion.

Scientology’s relentless hard sell has driven some members to the edge of bankruptcy, wrote one former member who had experienced such tactics. [...]

Hollywood figures quit 'rip-off' church as Australian prime minister threatens parliamentary inquiry into its activities The security at the red-brick and glass-walled horseshoe of the John Joseph Moakley courthouse on Boston's waterfront was unusually tight. Anybody who was not a member of the city's bar association was swept with a search wand. Photo IDs were checked. Mobile phones were taken from guests, who included the Hollywood star Tom Cruise. The occasion was a memorial service for Scientology's top legal adviser for ...

LEGAL action is threatened by the family of Sir Winston Churchill in a bid to stop Scientologists using the famous wartime leader's picture and words in their recruitment drive. Town MP Nicholas Soames told the Courier and Observer: "Organisation like the BNP and the Scientologists have no right whatsoever to use my grandfather as a means to solicit and elicit support. "I have written to them asking them to desist from using his image immediately. Unless I get a satisfactory reply, ...

The American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed., 2009) defines "obsession" as "(a) compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion." There could be no better example to illustrate this definition than the Times' ongoing coverage of the Church of Scientology. Once again, the Times turns a deaf ear to any voices save those of a handful of disaffected former Scientologists — people who have admitted lying, suborning perjury and obstructing justice — because their falsehoods support the Times' compulsive and unreasonable views ...

Robert S. Minton seemed to surface out of nowhere in late 1997. • A retired investment banker and millionaire from New England, he began to show up at anti-Scientology demonstrations in Boston and Clearwater. He gave millions to groups critical of the church. • He became the money man behind a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of Lisa McPherson, whose unexplained death at Scientology's Clearwater mecca threw the church into crisis. • Minton quickly became the Church of Scientology's No. ...

Church spokesman Tommy Davis says the Times' sources admitted they left Scientology because they could not meet the church's strict ethical standards. Now they are lying, he says, and the Times is helping advance their agenda. Here is the Church of Scientology's response to their allegations, submitted as a 10-page letter: + + + CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 15 October 2009 VIA HAND DELIVERY Mr. Joe Childs Mr. Tom Tobin St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A college student is suing the Nashville Church of Scientology, a security company and three off-duty Spring Hill police officers for $6 million. Thomas Parker said he was knocked to the ground, handcuffed and arrested, for nothing more than attempting to peacefully protest. The Church of Scientology's grand opening turned into a grand mess when hired security arrested protesters. It would have been a he-said, she-said – except that it was all caught on tape. Parker was on ...

A Murfreesboro man has filed a $6 million lawsuit against the Church of Scientology's Nashville celebrity center claiming that guards hired by the church assaulted him while he was staging a protest. Thomas A. Parker and other members of an anti-Scientology group called Anonymous planned to protest the center's grand opening on April 25. Parker and others were walking down Eighth Avenue South, when two off-duty Spring Hill police officers, hired as security guards by the church, confronted them, the suit ...

A much-abbreviated list of Earle Cooley’s law clients might read like this: Boston University, the Celtics, and the Church of Scientology, along with divorce cases, patent infringement challenges for Fortune 500 companies, and criminal defendants who included those accused of drug dealing or murder. “He said to me: ‘Look, when you have skills as a trial lawyer, you can try anything. The rules may change from venue to venue, but show me the rules, and I’ll play,’ ’’ said his son ...

The waiting continues on whether the Church of Scientology will move to Sandy Springs. The City Council on Tuesday deferred voting on a rezoning request by the church until December, despite a packed house of several dozen opponents wearing “STOP” stickers on their lapels and several dozen supporters on hand with a court reporter, taking down all comments. Council members said the latest delay on the issue, which has been bubbling up since last spring, was required so the Planning Commission ...

A ballot initiative imposing a tax on millionaires to fund mental health services did not violate equal protection, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled yesterday. Reasoning that taxpayers earning more than $1 million annually do not comprise a “suspect class” requiring strict scrutiny analysis, Div. Two rejected a challenge to Proposition 63 by two La Canada Scientologists. Proposition 63 was passed in 2004 and expanded funding for mental health services for all Californians by imposing an additional tax of 1 percent ...