DEREK perches on his seat among the VIPs, eyes blazing rapturously. "Do you have any idea how huge this is for Scientology?" he says, reading the sign over the garlanded new £ 40million headquarters of the "church of Scientology London" in the heart of the Square Mile. "For how long have we dreamed of this! It's like the tipping point. With this base, we'll be recruiting the people who control the planet!" Behind him, beaming ecstatically despite the driving rain, an ...

Church-run charities abound by the dozens in Roxbury, but they are not usually operated by the oft-controversial Church of Scientology, which last month kick-started classes at its Washington Street literacy center with a grand opening that offered free food and sidewalk chalk for children. The church members who staff the literacy center, in a storefront marked with bright-yellow "Boston Scientology Ministry" signs, say they wanted to do something about the increase in violence in Boston, which they attribute in part to ...

'So what is it then, Scientology?' asks a contractor delivering supplies to builders who were putting the finishing touches yesterday to Number 146, Queen Victoria Street, one of the City of London's most exclusive addresses. 'I mean,' continues the contractor , 'I've heard a lot about it. Is it based on science? Who's the big man in charge?' Such questions are likely to be asked more often from today when the controversial Church of Scientology opens its biggest UK centre in ...

Kenneth Anger doesn’t have a phone and for the past year he’s been living in a Los Angeles hotel that doesn’t take messages. "I’ve managed to do all my various things without one," he informs me on a cellphone handed to him by his assistant after much muffled talk about how to operate the bloody thing. "I got so irritated with people calling me when I was meditating or writing. If you want to get me, try mental telepathy!" Those aren’t ...

Gabe Cazares spoke out, whether it was as Clearwater mayor, to promote civil rights or to fight Scientology. CLEARWATER — Former Clearwater Mayor Gabe Cazares, a civil rights advocate, champion of the disadvantaged and archenemy of the Church of Scientology, died Friday (Sept. 29, 2006). He was 86. As a politician, Mr. Cazares led the local Democratic Party and won public office at a time when few Hispanics even lived in Pinellas County. As a community activist, he worked to help ...

CLEARWATER — Former Clearwater Mayor Gabe Cazares, a civil rights advocate, champion of the disadvantaged and arch-enemy of the Church of Scientology, died Friday (Sept. 29, 2006). He was 86. As a politician, Mr. Cazares led the local Democratic Party and won public office at a time when few Hispanics even lived in Pinellas County. As a community activist, he worked to help the poor and build bridges in Clearwater during the early years of integration. But after the Church of ...

When Viacom kingpin Sumner Redstone cited Tom Cruise's personal conduct as the reason for killing his production deal with Paramount, the 83-year-old mogul's candor rocked Hollywood. But Radar has learned Redstone may have let Cruise off easy, particularly in light of allegations the actor dispatched goons from the Church of Scientology to intimidate Redstone's studio chieftan, Brad Grey. According to a high-ranking media executive, Paramount Pictures honcho Grey had a highly unpleasant run-in with the Church during his tense negotiations with ...

This is KRQE News 13 with Dick Knipfing and Erika Ruiz. DICK KNIPFING: More than half a million dollars in taxpayer money has been allocated for a privately-run drug and alcohol treatment program for offenders. ERIKA RUIZ: But our investigations find the rehab facility is nothing more than a thinly-veiled program based on the teachings of the founder of Scientology. News 13's Michael Hertzenberg is here with the story. MICHAEL HERZENBERG: Erika, when you think of drug and alcohol rehab, you ...

"In my opinion," says Rick Ross, who has spent years studying cults and religious groups, "(Tom Cruise's) meltdown is likely attributable to Scientology. He's made some bad career choices lately. He's damaged goods. How do you go from the world's biggest movie star to someone Viacom dumps?" The New York Times this morning said simply that Cruise has gone "into full Scientology mode." Indeed, his recent responses to Matt Lauer, inveighing against modern psychiatric care, reflect Scientology's claim that its own ...

A definition of Scientology is hard to pin down. Basically, it's a system of beliefs, teachings and rituals originally established as a secular philosophy by L. Ron Hubbard. His 1950 book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, provided the core principles of what would later become Scientology. Scientologists regard the publication of the book as a seminal event, and celebrate its publication date — May 9, 1950 — as a religious holiday. A central belief of Scientology is that a ...

The head of Narconon International says Bouquet Canyon is a great place to open a drug rehab center. But some neighbors strongly disagree, citing state records to back up their opposition. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will have a public hearing Tuesday morning in downtown Los Angeles on plans for the Scientology-based drug rehabilitation program in Leona Valley. Narconon Southern California plans to turn an abandoned boarding school on Bouquet Canyon Road into a rehab center for 66 people, ...

Scientologists describe their religion as a cathartic journey toward happiness and clarity of mind. Church of Scientology critics call it kooky science fiction disguised as religion. Whatever you believe, the church says it is growing. Although the church's membership remains a much-debated mystery, its land holdings tell the story of a robust organization in the midst of a new chapter of growth. Worldwide, Scientologists say they have bought 21 buildings they plan to turn into churches. Still, some former Scientologists and ...

Neighbors' reaction on group's relocation mixed Pasadena — Scientologists will soon have a sizable presence in Old Pasadena. Last week, local members of the Church of Scientology purchased the historic Braley Building, at 35 S. Raymond Ave., and immediately donated it to their church. "We have been looking for a building for quite some time now," said Eden Stein, president of the church's Pasadena branch. "People love beautiful things; this will be a beautiful space for our parishioners to go to." ...

Reporter Elodie Harper goes undercover to reveal the tactics used by Scientology followers in the immediate aftermath of traumatic events.

INTEREST-FREE loans from abroad are propping up the troubled Irish branch of the controversial Church of Scientology. Financial documents seen by the Irish Independent reveal that the church is more than €1m in the red after running up huge legal bills in an epic eight-year battle brought by a disgruntled former member. As a result, members of the mega-rich Church of Scientology in the United States have had to cough up almost €400,000 just to keep the Dublin arm afloat. The ...

Religions have always penalized those who betray the cause. Catholics excommunicate, barring the wayward from church rites. The Amish, Jehovah's Witnesses and some orthodox Jewish sects shun their nonconformists. In the Tampa Bay area's burgeoning Scientology community, members abide by a policy considered by some religious experts extreme: Scientologists declare their outcasts "suppressive persons." Another Scientology policy — called "disconnection" — forbids Scientologists from interacting with a suppressive person. No calls, no letters, no contact. An SP is a pariah. Anyone ...

Scientologists are taking advantage of Germany's education problems for their own ends: They are luring weak students by providing after-school tutoring. Education authorities in Germany are on alert. The ad on a supermarket notice board in the city of Essen was aimed at all the parents in the neighborhood. Right nearby there was an "alternative school" where learning was still fun. "Sounds just right", thought one dad, who is now reluctant to give his name out of sheer fear. He took ...

The Church of Scientology is gearing up to bring its message to a whole new arena: racing fans. "Ignite Your Potential" is the mantra Scientology uses to get Tom Cruise and other Hollywood celebs jumping up and down. Now that message will be used to fuel the engines of a new NASCAR race team. The venture is called "The Dianetics Racing Team," named after the best-selling self-help book written by the movement's founder, science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Kenton Gray, ...

A former Russian MP, a local education chief, has been jailed for embezzlement and abuse of authority — he made his subordinates study scientology and used budget money to pay for their studies. Boris Shalimov of the Skovorodinsk region in Russia's Far East has been sentenced to two years in prison for embezzlement and abuse of authority, the website of Russia's Prosecutor General's Office reports. In October 2002 Shalimov became a member of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises. To get ...

Hugh B. Urban is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the Department of Comparative Studies, Ohio State University, 431 Hagerty Hall, Columbus, OH 43210. From Tom Cruise’s wedding to South Park’s scathing cartoon parody, the Church of Scientology has emerged as one of the wealthiest, most powerful but also most controversial new religious movements of the last fifty years. Remarkably, however, it has rarely been subjected to serious, critical study by historians of religions, in large part because of the ...

EDMONTON - A drug and alcohol treatment program backed by the controversial Church of Scientology is promising addicted Albertans an extraordinary 70-per-cent success rate. The Narconon program is marketed as "100-per-cent natural," and prescribes intensive saunas, exercise and high doses of vitamins to cleanse the body of "radiation, drugs and toxins." Advertisements for the Narconon program have appeared in recent months on Edmonton's CKUA radio and in weekly newspapers throughout the province. Addiction experts and academics in Canada, the United States ...

The church is purchasing a building in St. Petersburg, where it plans to start a new recruiting effort. ST. PETERSBURG — After more than 30 years in Clearwater, the Church of Scientology is making its first significant step toward recruiting members in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg. The church has a contract to purchase a historic 7,000-square-foot building at 336 1st Ave. N, near Williams Park. The sale is not final, but church officials hope it will be by June. ...

Jackson, Miss. The Church of Scientology has opened its first mission on the Mississippi Gulf Coast amid the ruins of Hurricane Katrina. The Church of Scientology was created by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. In his 1950 book "Dianetics," Hubbard said the mind has a subconscious level that exerts a "hidden influence" to make a person behave a certain way. The book also says the soul suffers from negative "engrams" implanted in this life and previous lives. The religion has ...

ST. PETERSBURG — In the world of Scientology, Scott W. Snow is a winner. He has achieved the religion’s highest level of training, higher even than megastar Tom Cruise, a distinction that brings with it lofty ethical standards. But in St. Petersburg, city leaders call him slumlord. Snow, 51, is the owner of the Chinook Apartments in Midtown, which the city shut down May 2 after finding multiple fire code violations. Now two dozen Chinook tenants have hired a lawyer and ...

In the works for decades, the closely guarded spiritual training program will be revealed in Clearwater. CLEARWATER - Matt Feshbach believes he has super powers. He senses danger faster than most people. He appreciates beauty more deeply than he used to. He says he outperforms his peers in the money management industry. He heightened his powers of perception in 1995 when he went to Los Angeles and became the first and so far only "public" Scientologist to take a highly classified ...

COUNSELLING experts have issued a warning about a drug and alcohol treatment group operating in the Capital, linked to the controversial Church of Scientology. The group, called Narconon Scotland, is targeting the city's drug and alcohol addicts to join its rehabilitation programme. Leaflets have been put through doors in Leith and Muirhouse urging addicts or their families to get in touch. The leaflets contain no references to the quasi-religious group despite using the principles of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard to ...

COUNSELLING experts have warned about a drug and alcohol treatment group operating in the Capital, linked to the controversial Church of Scientology. Narconon Scotland has leafleted homes in the city, but the leaflets do not mention the quasi-religious group, despite using the principles of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard to treat addicts. Tom Wood, chairman of the Edinburgh Drug and Alcohol Action Team, said: "We know of this group, but we would only ever encourage people to attend credible counselling groups." ...