I am responding to the article "Scientology may make West Tampa home" by Shannon Behnken of the Tampa Tribune and published April 25 in the Herald-Tribune. I was interviewed by Ms. Behnken but her data is not entirely correct. What I said was that if we moved into the area we would enjoy meeting the neighbors and helping them with their ventures. We do pay taxes on the Andres Diaz building, which we purchased in October. We have honored the leases ...

As a Scientologist, I was encouraged by Mayor Glenda Hood's op-ed piece regarding Leadership Florida's initiative, "Faces of Florida," which she co-chairs and whose goal is to curtail prejudice. As a new religion, Scientology has come up against discrimination from time to time. Discriminating against a religion is not a new activity for prejudiced individuals. Having a group such as Faces of Florida promoting communication between citizens of diverse backgrounds whether they be religious, racial or geographic will certainly improve our ...

PEOPLE with questions about religions can find a new book in local libraries. The book, Theology and Practice of a Contemporary Religion: Scientology, has been donated to the Leederville, Floreat, Nedlands and Subiaco libraries to help answer people's questions about the fast-growing religion.

RE Travolta's Battlefield (May 7) which reports on John Travolta's new film about Scientology. Now I've heard it all. Subliminal messages in our movie theatres - what next? LSD in the popcorn as part of some pre-conditioning experiment by the Psychlos? This so-called watchdog, FACTNet, wouldn't be the first small group that has come up with some "controversy" to launch themselves into the spotlight. The only connection between Battlefield Earth and Scientology is the author, L. Ron Hubbard. Mr Hubbard was ...

DEREK PEDLEY was right to point out that the makers of the SBS program on Scientology last week were not followers of the religion (Today, 9/5), but what was not pointed out was that they did not ask any Scientologist about any of the wild allegations they made against the church and individual Scientologists, nor did they back up any of their allegations with any proof. This disgusting program aired by SBS (which violated its own charter to be "sensitive and ...

I REFER to the Mercury (April 1) and the article "Friends friendly for top dollar" by John Michael Howson. Yet again the founder of Scientology, L Ron Hubbard, was misquoted: "If you want to become a millionaire, set up a religion." The actual author of this quote was George Orwell who wrote in a letter to his friend in 1938: "But I have always thought there might be a lot of cash in starting a new religion, and we'll talk it ...

So the French want to disband the Church of Scientology (Feb. 29). Which of the other 172 "sects" on the French list will be next? The French action is a blatant human rights violation that is opposed by many religious and human rights groups. The French government claims the right to dissolve religious organizations that have never been charged with a crime and never provided with due process of law. Apparently the French want the government to protect them from "false" ...

Your Nov. 15 article about Scientologists in a case in Marseille, France ("Former Scientology leader guilty of fraud in France," World digest), omits the larger picture, which includes why Scientologists have been targeted. The article also did not mention the disappearance of the court files in this trial. Documents critical to the defense were among the files destroyed, and the president of the Marseille court admitted that court personnel were responsible for it. There is also no question about Scientology's religiosity ...

In early June, The Globe and Mail distributed an insert published by The Church of Scientology entitled Freedom. This insert contained an article that amounted to a lengthy and defamatory attack on me and my research on new and alternative religions, particularly Scientology itself. As an insert in The Globe and Mail, this Scientology publication and the article about me may have enjoyed a greater degree of credibility than would otherwise have been the case, which prompts my response in these ...

DEAR DRUM I think Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) would think twice about joining Scientology if she visited http://www.xenu.net If she joins, who will be next? TISM? (If so, God help us!) Best wishes WGERT'S PIG (harryburton@hotmail.com)

CLARIFICATION is required regarding the article on Scientology (June 21), as no German court decision exists which states that Scientology is not a religion, while 36 local and regional courts there have held that it is a bona fide religious community. It appears that the German courts have had to shoulder the whole burden of being objective and just. The Government inquiry on new religions was roundly condemned by parliamentarians and scholars and solidly lampooned in Spiegel magazine as "a kindergarten ...

AFTER reading so many news articles of violent deaths and murders in the past few weeks I am sure I am not alone in wanting a solution to the problems that cause such occurrences. Frustrated politicians and social commentators tell us that we have to stop the killing, and the primary solutions offered are more police, tighter gun controls, "intervention" with enforced mental health "treatment" and tougher prison sentences. And while it is obviously true we have to do something about ...

Dear Revolver, I pass on a big yawn to letter writer "Slug" (Revolver #28) who recirculated once again a tired old lie about L. Ron Hubbard which has been disproved in various forums around the world on many, many occasions. I quote from a statutory declaration by David A Kyle, a publisher who was present at the meeting of literary figures at which L. Ron Hubbard was supposed to have made the statement ascribed to him so smugly by Slug. ...

Dear Revolver, I have known about the McSpotlight site (www.mcspotlight.org - good on ya for mentioning it!!!!) for some time, and must admit that I was a little pissed off when I read a piece on a certain hamburger restaurant in an earlier issue of Revolver. However, maybe you can alert your readership about another group accused of exploiting people (especially the young, the curious, reforming druggies etc) - Scientology. This group was founded by an ex Science Fiction writer (L ...

Re: Spreading pure innuendo, Dec. 11, 1997 When reading the letter from Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder, it is important to keep a crucial fact in mind. Rinder's department, the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), is part public relations machine and part covert intelligence agency. OSA is the successor to Scientology's Guardian's Office (GO), which was supposedly "disbanded" after its leaders were convicted of conspiracy against the U.S. government for executing "Operation Snow White". The GO also ran a number of operations, ...

Letters to the Editor: Dear Editor: Sara Catania's sarcastic piece about L. Ron Hubbard's study technology ["The Learning Cure'" November 14-20] was a disgrace. As international spokesperson for Applied Scholastics, I have firsthand experience with the work that volunteers all over the world are doing utilizing Hubbard's discoveries. These individuals devote hundreds of hours of time and heartfelt effort to help both young people and adults improve their study skills. Their work daily changes lives. As a parent, I also have ...

Regarding "Reassessing U.S.-German Friendship" (Special Report, Dec. 9) by John Dornberg: Mr. Dornberg writes that claims of discrimination against Scientologists in Germany are "ludicrous." As human rights counsel for the Church of Scientology of Germany, I must inform you that Mr. Dornberg's statement is flatly incorrect. I have personally documented hundreds of cases of Scientologists who have been seriously discriminated against in Germany. In some cases they have been forced to leave their country and seek asylum abroad. Scientologists in Germany ...

As if your article of pure innuendo (For some Scientologists, pilgrimage has been fatal) weren't enough, you've also continued to use discredited sources as "authoritative consultants" to forward your bigoted agenda. I won't detail how a similar article could be written about any religion. Indeed, I'd bet money that no newspaper in the United States has ever started isolating the death of the members of a religion. If you were to do it with the local Catholics, I am sure it ...

On Dec. 2, the IHT ran an article concerning the tragic death of the Scientologist Lisa Mc-Pherson ("Police Studying a Life and Death in Scientology") that had appeared on the front page of The New York Times the day before. The article was a biased distortion of the facts that used the tragedy of Ms. McPherson's death to present a misleading picture of the activities of the church and its members in the city of Clearwater, Florida. The church and its ...

Rena Weinberg's column ("Education Is the Real Issue," Aug. 3) about L. Ron Hubbard's textbooks had a serious error. The materials which Weinberg refers to were reviewed in July 1996 and did not pass legal compliance. Therefore the books should not be in use in any California public school. During the past year, Bridge Publications has submitted proposed revisions to address the legal compliance concerns. However, until completely corrected versions of the books are reviewed, there is no final consideration ...

The problems facing schools are too great to ignore the methods of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. RENA WEINBERG, Rena Weinberg is president of the Assn. for Better Living and Education (ABLE), an organization formed to coordinate the use of L. Ron Hubbard's social betterment methods in society The proposal by a teacher to open a charter school in the Sunland-Tujunga area, one which will include among its textbooks some written by L. Ron Hubbard, has become something of a controversy—which ...