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 ...

Southern California is seasonally inundated with tour buses plying the streets of Hollywood and the homes of entertainment stars. But a new tour, begun this summer, takes the curious to places far hotter and more significant: the Military Tour of Southern California, sponsored by the L.A. chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). It's a chance for locals to get in touch with the amazing amount of military toxins in our environment, by boarding a bus to military-related sites that ooze ...

The owner of the former Masonic Temple is negotiating with the Church of Scientology. Proceeds will help fund his 37-story office tower. The developer who bought up and then rebuilt much of Santa Ana's downtown is negotiating to sell one of his prized historic buildings to the Church of Scientology. Mike Harrah spent $11 million to restore the four-story building, which features three theaters with ornate moldings, painted ceilings and enormous candelabra. Reborn as the Santa Ana Performing Arts and Event ...

When a mysterious buyer expressed interest in the old, bankrupt Gilman Hot Springs resort in 1978, Richard J. Hoag thought it might be a group of expatriates from Rhodesia. Others whispered that maybe the Mafia or the Moonies were moving onto the 500-acre property near Hemet. Only much later did anyone learn that the buyer — which paid $2.78 million and went by the names Scottish Highland Quietude Society and Western States Scientific Assn. — was really the Church of Scientology. ...

Tom Cruise studied intensively at the remote compound near Hemet while becoming a passionate messenger for the church. GILMAN HOT SPRINGS, Calif. — Nearly 30 years ago, the Church of Scientology bought a dilapidated and bankrupt resort here and turned the erstwhile haven for Hollywood moguls and starlets into a retreat for L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer who founded the religion. Today, the out-of-the-way 500-acre compound near Hemet has quietly grown into one of Scientology's major bases of operation, ...

A former Southern California business consultant received a four-month prison sentence for conspiring to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of financial advisor Reed E. Slatkin's $593-million investment scam, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Daniel W. Jacobs helped stall the SEC for more than a year by pretending to represent a Swiss brokerage holding hundreds of millions of dollars in funds from Slatkin investors, according to his plea agreement with the government. Jacobs, 63, who pleaded guilty and cooperated extensively with ...

Just when Tom Cruise was starting to look good again, we hear from the New York Daily News that Cruise's pregnant fiance, Katie Holmes, is supposed to sign on for a "silent birth," without screams or painkillers. Ouch. But is "Quit yellin', it's only childbirth," as the News headline so succinctly put it, the true position of the Church of Scientology, of which Cruise is a member? Not according to Greg LaClaire, vice president of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre ...

Los Angeles city school officials were caught off guard this week by the Church of Scientology's role in an upcoming event at a South Los Angeles high school, which, while not illegal, is considered unusual. On Monday, teenagers from about 25 countries are expected to meet with students at Jordan High School in Watts for a conference on human rights. The gathering is part of a three-day event organized by Youth for Human Rights International — a group with close ties ...

For a moment, you might think you're in 17th century France and glaring up at a Normandy chateau. But you're not - you're peering up at L. Ron Hubbard's towering salute to the artist on Franklin Street in Hollywood. The Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International, a 10-minute drive from USC, is a church, but one like no other. The church caters not only to the spiritual needs of its parishioners but also to its artistic needs. L. Ron Hubbard, the ...

Tom cruise calls his religion "extraordinary," but 26-year-old Astra Woodcraft, who grew up in the Church's inner circle, has a different story to tell — about bizarre beliefs, pressured rules and how she finally broke tree to start her life over. On a chilly February evening in 1998, I strode quietly through Los Angeles International Airport, clutching a Virgin Atlantic ticket for London in one hand and a duffel bag stuffed with my clothes in the other. I was drenched, having ...

Exposing some of the unsavory claims that Tom Cruise, John Travolta and other celebrities would rather you didn't know about Scientology For nearly 20 years, Tom Cruise has been Hollywood's Golden Boy. The star of Top Gun," "Risky Business" and, most recently, "The War of the Worlds," Cruise has attributed his vast success to being a follower of Scientology, a self-help movement-turned-religion which claims the ability to "clear" its followers from all their problems. It seemed like the perfect match: the ...

These days you can't turn a corner in Hollywood without bumping into a scientologist. The same, it seems, is true for property owned by the Church of Scientology. The Weekly has connected ownership of more than a dozen properties in Hollywood to the Church, thanks to some help from LA County Assessor's Office Press Deputy Robert Knowles. An exhaustive search would be difficult to conduct, since many of the properties associated with the church are held under names other than the ...

By his account, Tom Cruise owes his cool head, defeat of dyslexia and, in a way, his unstoppable stardom to Scientology. But Scientology has much to thank Tom Cruise for as well. His glowing adherence to Scientology and the initiation of his bride-to-be, actress Katie Holmes, into the off-beat and oft-maligned system of beliefs has stirred a surge of interest. The search engine company Lycos reported that “Scientology” had leaped into the top 50 search terms last week for the first ...

May 9, 1950: "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" by L. Ron Hubbard is published. June 7, 1951: Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation established in Elizabeth, N.J. May 1952: The Wichita, Kan., Dianetics training center is moved to Phoenix. Hubbard publicly announces the formal establishment of the philosophy of Scientology and the formation of the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International. July 1952: "Scientology: A History of Man" published. February 1954: Church of Scientology founded in Los Angeles. 1956: The church is ...

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 ...

Did Reader’s Digest sell its soul to the Church of Scientology to get Tom Cruise on the cover of its current issue? According to several sources inside the world’s largest-selling monthly, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jackie Leo, wanted Cruise as her cover boy but was impeded by the magazine’s history with the controversial group. Back in 1991, Reader’s Digest excerpted an in-depth investigative piece from Time magazine entitled Scientology: The Cult of Greed. Among other things, the article asserted that the Church ...

By E. Scott Reckard November 17, 2004 in print edition C-2 Federal prosecutors announced tax-evasion charges Tuesday against former Grateful Dead road manager Ronald L. Rakow and his girlfriend in connection with a scheme to conceal Rakow’s income, much of which he earned working for convicted Ponzi scheme operator Reed Slatkin. Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael R. Wilner said Rakow diverted $5.2 million that he received from Slatkin and other sources to his girlfriend, Denise Del Bianco, from 1998 through 2001. At ...

After a lifetime playing wholesome, all-American heroes, Tom Cruise has finally discovered his dark side. He's also ditched his publicist, moved in with his sisters and is looking for the third Mrs Cruise. So is Hollywood's leading man having a middle-youth crisis? Interview by Neil Strauss [Picture: "What sinister ambitions lie concealed behind that smile? ... Tom Cruise. Photograph: Domenico Stinellis / AP"] Want to meet my mom?' Tom Cruise asks as we walk through the halls of the Celebrity Center, ...

Los Angeles school officials are warning campuses not to use a drug prevention program linked to the Church of Scientology while California's schools chief has ordered an investigation to determine whether the anti-drug presentations are scientifically sound and free from the religion's influence. The target of the district and state actions is Narconon, a drug prevention and rehabilitation program that bases its ideas partly on the research and controversial teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Narconon has conducted educational assemblies ...

School district officials in Los Angeles have ordered a review of an anti-drug program whose teachings are linked with the Church of Scientology and are warning teachers that its instruction "is not based on science." Los Angeles is the second district in the state to scrutinize Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, which reaches thousands of students in at least 20 California districts and has provided lectures in schools across the country for two decades. Earlier this month, San Francisco schools Superintendent ...

The Church of Scientology on July 18 paid more than $94,000 in delinquent property taxes on four of its Hollywood properties, including tens of thousands to the local business improvement district. The Independent reported the day before that the church - one of the largest property owners in Hollywood - had failed to pay $94,625 for the fiscal year that ended June 30 on its properties, including $41,227 to the Hollywood Entertainment District. A Church of Scientology spokesperson said the nonprofit ...

The Church of Scientology appears to have paid its tithe. The church, which until two months ago risked having two of its Hollywood properties auctioned by the county for being delinquent on its property taxes since the 1996-97 fiscal year, is now current on the parcels. On June 20, the Church paid the county more than $248,000 for its annex site at 6349 Hollywood Blvd. and more than $156,000 for 6724 Hollywood Blvd. "They were paid in full, which surprised me," ...

MADRID — A Spanish court has acquitted 15 members and employees of the Church of Scientology of charges of criminal conspiracy, closing a case dating back to 1984. Prosecutors had brought additional charges, which included tax fraud and endangering public health, but after the trial began in February, the Madrid Provincial Court threw out all but the conspiracy charge. On Monday, the court rejected that charge as well. It said there was no evidence to support prosecutors' allegations that drug rehabilitation ...

Tory Bezazian was a veteran Scientologist who loved going after church critics. Until she met the darkest detractor of all. Last year, Church of Scientology operatives received an alarming tip: During the upcoming 2000 MTV Movie Awards scheduled for June 8, a short South Park film parodying Battlefield Earth would feature the character Cartman wiping his ass with a copy of L. Ron Hubbard's sacred text, Dianetics. The tip was erroneous. Cartman would actually be wiping his ass with a Scientology ...

Admirers of L. Ron Hubbard have launched a major environmental and morality offensive in Southern California’s beach cities, rankling critics who say the proselytizers have been less than forthcoming about their ties to the Church of Scientology. The controversy first flared when Scientology Surf Club president Rob Hoover asked the city of Malibu to proclaim March 13 L. Ron Hubbard Day, in honor of Scientology’s founder. The request made the City Council agenda, but was withdrawn by Hoover when March 13 ...