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 ...

Cult Friction After an embarrassing string of high-profile defection and leaked videos, Scientology is under attack from a faceless cabal of online activists. Has America's most controversial religion finally met its match? By John Cook [Picture] Masked hackers have declared war on Scientology. Could the celebrity-friendly religion be in its final days? (Photo: Sam Comen) This article is from the April issue of Radar Magazine. For a risk-free issue, click here Clearwater is prepared for its enemies. It's a warm, if ...

[Picture]'All lies': Cruise is considering a lawsuit Star's fury over claims by Diana author Andrew Morton: • Daughter by Katie Holmes "conceived like Rosemary's Baby" • Nicole Kidman "feared blackmail" over sex tapes made with Scientologists • Scientologists "planted meadown of flowers for Tom and Nicole to run through" • Cruise's next mission is to recruit David Beckham Tom Cruise has become the de-facto second in command of the Church of Scientology, according to a new biography - which makes an ...

Scientology is trying to transform its image from that of a shadowy cult When Scientology officially opened its spectacular new British church in the Square Mile, the movement was given an unusually warm embrace by the Establishment. Ian Luder, an Alderman of the Corporation of London and a magistrate, lauded the organisation’s anti-drugs efforts. “The work which you do in this area is greatly to be welcomed,” he said, “and I wish you growing success.” It was a satisfying moment for ...

When it came to marriage and family life, the late L. Ron Hubbard did not practice what he preached. According to its official teachings, the Church of Scientology "regards the family as the building block of any society and marriage as an essential component of a stable family life." According to his unofficial biographers, Hubbard, who lived from 1911 to 1986, had at least seven children by three different wives, including one bigamous marriage. His first son, L. Ron Hubbard Jr., ...

Strange Death in a Strange Land The Old Man in the Desert He had achieved success beyond his wildest dreams; wealth, fame and the adulation of thousands of devoted adherents. Yet for the last five years of his life, L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, dwelt, a virtual prisoner of his own paranoia, a recluse in self-imposed exile, on a ranch in the desert of Creston, California. Surrounded by a handful of trusted aides, he handed over the running of his ...

Harold J. McElhinny (Bar No. 66781) Rachel Krevans (Bar No. 116421) Stephen P. Freccero (Bar No. 131093) Ronald P. Flynn (Bar No. 184 186) Jason A. Crotty (Bar No. 196036) MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP 425 Market Street San Francisco, California 94105-2482 Telephone: (415) 268-7000 Facsimile: (415) 268-7522 Jana G. Gold (Bar No. 154246) MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP 755 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, California 94304-1018 Telephone: (650) 8 13-5600 Facsimile: (650) 494-0792 Attorneys for Defendant DENNIS ERLICH UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ...

ANNOUNCER: On December 14, 1998, this is “Investigative Reports”. BILL KURTIS: Hello, I’m Bill Kurtis. It is America’s most controversial religion. Some, in fact, say it’s not a religion at all. For 40 years, the Church of Scientology has flourished in this country, while under constant attack by the government, the media, and the psychiatric profession. It’s been perceived as an organization interested only in money making, which brainwashes its members and then bankrupts them; all untrue, say its leaders and ...

Getting religion has never been easy if you're a member of the media. A few years ago, in response to complaints that journalism was neglecting matters of faith, many newspapers expanded the space and staffing devoted to such topics. Television news also began doing more pieces devoted to Promise Keepers, papal policy, mega-churches and the like. Yet most journalists still have a blind spot when it comes to the spiritual quotient in stories. Perhaps the problem lies in the average reporter's ...

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Dec 6, 1998 - "I am L. Ron Hubbard," the woman on the hotel room bed announced in a robotic voice. "I created time 3 billion years ago." She rambled on and on, every outburst dutifully scribbled down by those assigned to watch her. "I can't confront force . . . I need my auditor . . . I want to take a toothbrush and brush the floor until I have a cognition." The jargon of Scientology was ...

[Picture / Caption: THE FOUNDER: The finale to the L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition in Los Angeles is a series of pocket doors displaying 400 proclamations Hubbard received through the years. The Hollywood Boulevard museum, conceived by Miscavige, is open to the public.] [Picture / Caption: PRESERVING HIS WORDS: Titanium capsules, on display in Los Angeles, are part of Scientology’s ongoing $226-million effort to archive Hubbard’s writings. His words are imprinted on stainless steel plates, stored in the capsules, then wrapped ...

(Gerry Armstrong is my friend now that we are both out of Scientology, and I have already told him this story. I have told him how sorry I am for my part in trying to destroy him when I was still an OSA staff member. I’ve told several other people this story as well, and they have urged me to share it because it is such a classic illustration of how far DM and his cronies are willing to ...

Type: Tort, intentional infliction of emotion distress, alter ego. Bench decision: Amendment of judgment - $6,025,857 ($4,649,328 renewed judgment plus $1,376,529 accrued interest). Case/Number: Larry Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of California / C332027. Court/Date: L.A. Superior Central / Oct. 29, 1997. Judge: John P. Shook. Attorneys: Plaintiff - Craig J. Stein (Gartenberg, Jaffe, Gelfand & Stein, LLP, L.A.); Daniel A. Leipold, Cathy Shipe, Robert F. Donohue (Hagenbaugh & Murphy, Orange); Lita Schlosser (Encino); Ford Greene (Hub Law Offices, San Anselmo). ...

In the early fall of 1991 Atlanta businessman Ralph Regan participated in a local radio talk show dealing with abuses by the Internal Revenue Service and problems with the federal tax system. Shortly afterward, the 35-year old nurseryman received a call from Victor Krohn, the head of Citizens for an Alternative Tax System (CATS), who asked Mr. Regan to start up an Atlanta area CATS chapter. A few months later Mr. Regan resigned his post after discovering that CATS had been ...

On Oct. 8, 1993, 10,000 cheering Scientologists thronged the Los Angeles Sports Arena to celebrate the most important milestone in the church's recent history: victory in its all-out war against the Internal Revenue Service. For 25 years, I.R.S. agents had branded Scientology a commercial enterprise and refused to give it the tax exemption granted to churches. The refusals had been upheld in every court. But that night the crowd learned of an astonishing turnaround. The I.R.S. had granted tax exemptions to ...