DANGEROUS dismissal of psychiatry and mental health problems must be part of a Senate inquiry into the Church of Scientology, a Melbourne cult counsellor said yesterday. Cult Counselling Australia director Raphael Aron said Scientologists put vulnerable people at risk by taking them off psychiatric drugs and treatment, instead treating them with vitamins and E-meter readings. Mr Aron supported Senator Nick Xenophon's call in Federal Parliament on Tuesday for a Senate inquiry into the Scientologists. The senator tabled letters citing forced abortions, ...

The Church of Scientology says independent senator Nick Xenophon ignored an invitation to meet with church officials before he used parliamentary privilege to attack the organisation. Church of Scientology Australia president Reverend Vicki Dunstan said Senator Xenophon "made no effort to ascertain the truth or falsity of the allegations he made in the Senate on Tuesday night". Senator Xenophon used parliamentary privilege to raise allegations of criminal misconduct on behalf of ex-members of the church, and called for an inquiry into ...

KEVIN Rudd raised concerns about the Church of Scientology yesterday, as NSW police began investigating complaints from seven former Scientologists. The Prime Minister said he intended to examine allegations against the church before deciding whether to back independent senator Nick Xenophon's demand for a Senate inquiry. Senator Xenophon told parliament on Tuesday that Scientology was a "criminal organisation" hiding behind religion. In response to that statement, Mr Rudd said the senator was making "grave allegations". "Many people in Australia have real ...

Scientology offers refunds to people who leave the group, a spokesperson told Sunrise this morning. Scientologist Virginia Stewart appeared on Sunrise today to further defend the Church of Scientology against the allegations made in parliament by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon. "It's very shocking to me to hear what they're saying," Stewart said of the allegations aired on Today Tonight on Wednesday evening. "The points that they raise, we are going to individually take up." "We will be addressing these in full," ...

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has concerns about Scientology but says the government will exercise caution in examining allegations of abuse levelled against the church. Mr Rudd says the government will consider the need for a formal inquiry into the church - and its tax-free status. South Australian senator Nick Xenophon used parliamentary privilege on Tuesday to castigate the church, labelling it a criminal organisation hiding behind so-called religious beliefs. Advertisement: Story continues below Tabling letters from eight former followers, he said ...

Since writing about the public connection between Scientology and Polaris Media Group a lot of accusations and claims have been thrown around as the discussion ran hot. There’s been a lot of claims made and from what I gather the revelation of the link, which up until only recently hasn’t been publicised with any concrete proof, has made a lot of people uncomfortable. Up until now I’ve been written off by Polaris EMC as spreading rumours, despite the fact that I ...

The Church of Scientology has rejected claims by Senator Nick Xenophon that it's involved in widespread criminal behaviour and abuse. John & Sandy reveal recent accusations with spokesperson Cyrus Brooks. [Embedded audio.]

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is to investigate claims that Scientology is a criminal organisation that sanctioned beatings, imprisonments, forced abortions, sexual abuse and fraud. The sensational claims about the church, whose members include many high-profile celebrities, were made by a South Australian senator, Nick Xenophon, who shares a surname with an ancient Greek warrior. But unlike the mercenary of history who fought armies in central Asia in about 400BC, Mr Xenophon has gone into battle with Scientologists after receiving letters ...

Hollywood heavy Tom Cruise looked like just another member of The Firm the other night when he turned up at attorney Earle Cooley’s jam-packed memorial service at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse . The “Knight & Day” leading man, wearing a dark suit and his trademark Tinseltown smile, joined rarely seen Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige at the service for Cooley, who was the religious group’s legal Top Gun for more than 25 years. Talk about Risky Business . . ...

NEWARK — A 19-year-old Verona man today was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for participating in a cyber attack against the Church of Scientology’s websites almost two years ago. Dmitriy Guzner, who pleaded guilty in May to one count of unauthorized impairment of a protected computer, appeared in U.S. District Court in Newark this morning before Judge Joseph A. Greenaway. [Embedded video: Video from Scientology raid in New York by the group Anonymous.] Greenaway said he ...

This is a speech Senator Nick Xenophon gave in the Senate on November 17, 2009 I rise to speak tonight on an issue of utmost seriousness that I believe deserves a great deal of scrutiny by law enforcement agencies and by this parliament. In the past few weeks, I have been contacted by former members of the Church of Scientology after I questioned the tax exemption status the organisation has under our tax laws during an interview on the Seven Network’s ...

L’Église de scientologie a investi 4 millions de dollars pour l’aménagement d’une église de nouvelle génération au centre du quartier Nouvo St-Roch. Ce super centre, qui sera le plus moderne au Canada, ouvrira d’ici peu ses portes sur la rue St-Joseph. Avec les scandales qui éclaboussent l’Église depuis quelques mois, doit-on s’inquiéter de son expansion à Québec? ? La question n’est pas de critiquer les croyances de qui que ce soit. Par contre, il est nécessaire de se questionner sur certaines ...

THE Church of Scientology is a "criminal organisation" hiding behind religion, the Senate was told last night. Independent senator Nick Xenophon tabled explosive letters from former Scientology officials and staff alleging a litany of abuses, including coerced abortions, assault, imprisonment, covering up sexual abuse, embezzlement of church funds and blackmail. Senator Xenophon, who said he had referred the allegations to police, demanded a Senate inquiry into the church. And he questioned the tax-exempt status given to the church, which he said ...

INDEPENDENT senator Nick Xenophon has accused the Church of Scientology of being a criminal organisation. The South Australian parliamentarian said he had been contacted by a number of former Scientologists, after he questioned the organisation's tax exempt status in a recent television interview. "They have provided long and detailed letters to me about the workings of this organisation," he told the Senate. "These people rightly see themselves as victims of Scientology." Senator Xenophon said their correspondence implicated the organisation in a ...

In January 2008, online hackers launched a massive attack on the Church of Scientology’s websites, forcing the church to hire computer security experts to reinstate its online presence. In the end, only one person, 19-year-old Dmitriy Guzner, of Verona, has admitted playing a role in the cyber assault. On Wednesday, three days before his 20th birthday, Guzner is expected to be sentenced by Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. in federal court in Newark. Guzner, who has pleaded guilty to "unauthorized impairment ...

THE Irish wing of the controversial Church of Scientology is making annual profits of over €270,000 but its director last night insisted all the money was going to pay off the company's "substantial debts". A favourite with celebrities such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, the local Scientology spin-off has been the subject of numerous protests at its Middle Abbey Street base in Dublin, with a Fine Gael TD branding the movement a "crackpot cult". New financial filings show the Irish ...

BLOOMINGTON — A local insurance firm has agreed to pay a $5,000 fine for allegedly sending a consumer information about the Church of Scientology that contained other consumers' personal information, the Illinois Department of Insurance said. Horizon Insurance & Associates, 1114 E. Oakland Ave., Bloomington, and licensed employee Stephen L. Blust also agreed to better protect consumer personal information in the future. The state was told about the alleged violation of the Illinois Insurance Code in January. As a condition of ...

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 ...

The arrest of a member of an anti-Scientology group on terrorism-related charges last month thrust Las Vegas into the forefront of a worldwide dispute between the group and the celebrity-laden church. Metro SWAT officers and counterterrorism detectives stormed the southwest Las Vegas Valley home of Colby Schoolcraft in the middle of the night Oct. 15 and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition, including an AK-47 assault rifle. Authorities say they believed acts of violence were about to be committed against ...

New revelations from disaffected Scientologists suggest the cult uses Tom Cruise’s image to keep members in line New revelations about the Church of Scientology suggest Tom Cruise is fast becoming the cult's figurehead, used to inspire the faithful to acts of greatness - and to strike fear into the hearts of those who stray. A former high-ranking Scientologist claims that the cult's leader, David Miscavige, invoked Cruise's name in order to incite a mob to beat up three disaffected members, telling ...

[Picture of Tom Cruise / Caption: Would you like having this guy as your news editor?] You may think it’s extremely tough to find well-paying, longform investigative writing work these days, but maybe you’re not looking in the right places. Maybe you’re not looking toward Scientology. Freedom Magazine, the official investigative reporting arm of the Church of Scientology, is looking for sleuths: Company: 'Freedom Magazine Position: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER NEEDED Location: Clearwater, Florida Job Status: Freelance Salary: Negotiable Description: Freedom Magazine ...

I knew Scientology was in trouble when the media moved on from the usual silly gossip about its celebrity members to much darker, disturbing issues at the heart of the movement. After a Paris court last month convicted several Scientologists and two organisations associated with the movement in France of organised fraud, and amid other investigations in France looking at a suicide and an alleged abduction, Oscar-winning film-maker Paul Haggis, a long-time member, quit Scientology. Haggis, who wrote and directed Crash, ...