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 ...

A HIGHER PROFILE ; CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY OPENING MORE VISIBLE FACILITIES, INCLUDING ONE IN NEW HAVEN FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR; Courant Staff Writer Hartford Courant 09-09-2005 A HIGHER PROFILE ; CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY OPENING MORE VISIBLE FACILITIES, INCLUDING ONE IN NEW HAVEN Byline: FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR; Courant Staff Writer Edition: STATEWIDE Section: LIFE Despite such high-profile adherents as Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Chick Corea and Kirstie Alley, the Church of Scientology can seem as mysterious to outsiders as its reclusive founder, science-fiction ...

In the 1900 block of East Carson Street on the South Side, there's an unassuming storefront that marked its first anniversary last month. It's the Pittsburgh office of the Church of Scientology, the controversial religious movement that recently captured international headlines when celebrity disciple Tom Cruise became increasingly public and, at times, combative, about his beliefs. Although the office opened here with little fanfare, Scientologists have high hopes for its growth as they try to regain a foothold in the region ...

From the looks of it, Tom Cruise’s televised crackup is actually helping the Church of Scientology's recruitment efforts. Since he declared his eternal love for Katie Holmes in early May, visits to the Church’s official website have shot up 263 percent to a peak of 375,000 visitors per day last week, according to site traffic tracker alexa. A lot of those visitors must have come through Google, which listed “Scientology” as the 10th-fastest-gaining query for the week of June 27. While ...

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 ...

The Church of Scientology is 50 years old this year, having survived its skeptics and detractors, an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and John Travolta's box-office flop, "Battlefield Earth," based on a science fiction novel by the church's founder L. Ron Hubbard. The church's 50th anniversary makes it a young religion as far as religions go but also attests to its staying power. According to Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles, the church now claims more than 8 million members in ...

The Church of Scientology's new Buffalo headquarters is a work of love. A lot of love. When the doors opened on the historic Main Street building last November, it marked both the completion of a cycle for the late-1800s building and a new chapter for the religious order. That both intersect, is in itself, sort of divine intervention with everything lining up the right way at the right time. "You could say we've put the building back to its original use," ...

For a second or so the needle proceeds smoothly along the dial. I watch its progress while clutching two can-shaped metal devices, wired to the small machine housing the dial. Suddenly, the needle jerks violently. 'What was that?' asks Janet Laveau, head of the UK Office of Special Affairs, the Church of Scientology's PR machine. I'm disturbed and temporarily impressed - the needle jumped just as I was thinking of a friend who is seriously depressed. How could the machine 'know' ...

Buffalo's Church of Scientology, soon to be forced from its downtown church for a new city parking ramp, turned to Erie County prison inmates to help get its new Main Street home ready. A crew of six inmates from the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden, dressed in orange prison jumpsuits and guarded by corrections officers, spent the last month helping with interior renovations in the new Scientology Church at Main and Virginia streets. The inmate crew arrived before 8 a.m. ...

Critic: Are you guys a cult? Mike Ferris, Public Relations Spokesperson, Church of Scientology of NZ: Depends on what you mean by a cult. Every religion in its forming stage was considered to be a cult, pretty much. Critic: You guys aren't in your forming stages though, you've been around for fifty years. You claim to be the only major religion that's emerged out of the twentieth century. So, are you a cult? Ferris: Not in the derogatory sense, no, we ...

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 ...

MADRID — A Spanish court yesterday acquitted 15 members and employees of the Church of Scientology on charges of criminal conspiracy, closing a case dating to 1984. The court said there was no evidence to support prosecutors' allegations that drug rehabilitation and other programs sponsored by the church in Spain amounted to illicit gatherings aimed at activities such as bilking people of money. The Church of Scientology has 10,000 members in Spain. It is officially classified as a lay association with ...

France has become the first country in the world to introduce specific legislation aimed at controlling the activities of cults. The objective is to combat the 175-odd movements of a quasi-religious nature considered a danger to society. The Scientology movement and the Unification Church of the Rev Sun Myung Moon immediately denounced the bill - endorsed almost unanimously on Wednesday by national assembly deputies - as anti-democratic and in breach of human rights laws. Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders have expressed ...

THE CHURCH of Scientology failed in its attempt to become a registered charity yesterday because the organisation was not of "public benefit". The Charity Commission rejected the application for charity status after detailed consideration and despite taking a "broad and flexible" view of the law, it emerged. The Church of Scientology had sought to be registered as a charity on the grounds that "it was established for the advancement of religion or to promote the moral or spiritual welfare or improvement ...

A court in the French city of Marseilles has found five members of the Church of Scientology guilty on fraud charges over courses offered by the organisation. The former leader of the church in southern France, Xavier Delamare, was sentenced to two years in jail, including 18 months suspended, and fined 16,000 dollars for manipulating people into giving money to the church. He will not return to jail because he has spent 17 weeks in pre-trial detention. Four more people were ...

The Scientologists prepare to open a studio in Gilman Hot Springs. Films will be educational and won't star Tom Cruise. Talk of movies and Scientology usually leads to mention of John Travolta and Tom Cruise. But don't expect to see the church's best-known members on the set when its new $7 million film studio in Gilman Hot Springs opens Saturday. Golden Era Productions makes religious training and education films, not blockbusters needing big-name talent to sell tickets, general manager Ken Hoden ...

Scientology leaders say they want peace. They say they want to stay out of court. But with both foes at home and foes abroad, that goal may be elusive. The spiritual home of the Church of Scientology is in Clearwater, but for many years now its leaders have had worldwide ambitions. But as disciples have carried L. Ron Hubbard's teachings away from America's shore, the reception has been almost universally chilly at best – and at times openly hostile. At one ...

CLEARWATER — Two of the top candidates for mayor differed sharply on what traditionally has been a major issue in Clearwater, but it never came up during the recent campaign. Brian Aungst and Rita Garvey never discussed the Church of Scientology, which is expanding its downtown presence as never before and trying to shed its controversial image. Garvey, a longtime Scientology critic, made it a habit through the years never to speak with the church, which moved its "spiritual headquarters" to ...