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 ...

The Manhattan borough president campaign of Margarita Lopez was knocked off stride this week by a one-two punch — from the right and the left as it were — about ties between the Lower East Side city councilmember and the Church of Scientology. In a series of three stories and an editorial that began Monday, the New York Post reported that Lopez was the key City Council player in securing $630,000 in city funds for the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification ...

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 ...

Why was there a Scientology tent on the set of War of the Worlds? Boyd Farrow explains how this cult religion, whose followers believe that people are immortal spiritual beings, is gaining ground thanks to support from Hollywood's biggest stars The summer blockbuster season has been dominated by an evil galactic ruler who, 75 million years ago, blew up 178 billion abducted alien souls with hydrogen bombs planted in earth's volcanoes and bundled them into clusters that now cling to every ...

Some say it's the only true way toward a happier existence. Others label it a new religion that soon will be accepted in society, like the Mormon Church. And then there are the people who call it a cult. Scientology has been called many things in its half century of existence, and even now, it is a controversial organization. The word Scientology is taken from the Latin scio, which means "knowing in the fullest sense of the word," and the Greek ...

Some of the things Chuck Beatty says he's done over the past 30 years sound like scenes from a science fiction movie. Signing over a billion years of his current and future lives to service. Hiding from German news helicopters flying over the California camp where he lived. Spending more than six years doing hard labor under constant monitoring by his peers. But Beatty, 53, now of Carnegie, says he was just one of the many faithful members of the Sea ...

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 ...

Undercover inside the disturbing world of Tom Cruise's church IT'S the belief system which actor Tom Cruise says has changed his life and made him a better man. But the controversial Church of Scientology was criticised last week after claims it was preying on people caught up in the London bombings. Packs of yellow-shirted believers arrived at the scenes of carnage, offering "spiritual healing" to distraught relatives - and £3 booklets titled How To Improve Conditions In Life. And yesterday 200 ...

Our summer of Tom Cruise's madness and Katie Holmes' creepy path toward zombie bridedom has been a useful reminder of how truly strange Scientology is. By now those interested in the Cruise-Holmes saga may be passingly familiar with the church's creation myth, in which an evil, intergalactic warlord named Xenu kidnaps billions of alien life forms, chains them near Earth's volcanoes, and blows them up with nuclear weapons. Strange as Scientology's pseudo-theology may be, though, it's not as entertaining as the ...

Dr. Joan Wood gives up her medical license after a report strongly criticizes her handling of a disputed 1995 death. Former Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood has relinquished her Florida medical license in the wake of a state health department claim that she "became an advocate for the Church of Scientology" in a bitter dispute over the 1995 death of Scientology member Lisa McPherson. Wood changed the probable cause of death from "severe dehydration" to "accident" based on "factors other than ...

Washington Post staff writer Richard Leiby was online Thursday, July 7, at 1:30 p.m. ET to field questions about Scientology teachings and its celebrity adherents. Leiby has covered the Church of Scientology for 26 years, on and off, ever since he was a young reporter in Clearwater, Fla., where Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard established an international headquarters in the 1970s. In 1979-80, he covered the criminal proceedings against 11 Scientology officials convicted of participating in plots to plant spies in ...

Frank K. Flinn, adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., was online Tuesday, July 5, at 3 p.m. ET to discuss Scientology. Flinn received his undergraduate degree from Quincy College, a Bachelor of Divinity, magna cum laude, from Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in Special Religious Studies from St. Michael's College, University of Toronto. He also serves as an expert in forensic religion, testifying on the legal definition of religion and religious practices in 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 ...

TOM CRUISE's leap of faith into Scientology is a visible example of the religion's hold on its followers — but the Church of Scientology already has a multimillion-dollar grip on Manhattan. The controversial group, now blitzing the media after Cruise became its most outspoken advocate, has a massive city empire used by tens of thousands of devotees. And New York's church president the Rev. John Carmichael said, "Interest is increasing markedly." Its huge seven-story city headquarters was opened last year at ...

The controversial church, whose founder called shrinks "terrorists" and which labels mental illness a fraud, is closer than you think to implanting its extreme beliefs in the nation's laws and schools. It may be easy to dismiss Tom Cruise's recent outbursts against psychiatry as the ravings of an egomaniacal celebrity. Comedians have certainly had a field day with Cruise, a fervent disciple of the Church of Scientology, ever since he scolded Brooke Shields for taking prescribed medication to treat her postpartum ...

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 ...

COOPER: Well today Tom Cruise's new film "War of the Worlds" hits theaters. And for the actor, a lot is riding on the success of this film. In recent days, Cruise has stunned audiences by lecturing "Today Show" Host Matt Lauer, as well as Actress Brooke Shields, on what he believes are the evils of psychiatry and antidepressant medication. Now this week the reaction from the medical community has been swift and strong. In the next half hour, we're focusing not ...

Tom Cruise has become a top proselytizer for Scientology. Is it because of a new private conviction, or a new public role for the church itself? In the course of just a few months, Tom Cruise has made an astounding public leap: He has transformed himself from one of the world's biggest movie stars into one of the oddest. It's not just his sudden romance with and engagement to actress Katie Holmes, which has not yet managed to shake the air ...

Before Katie Holmes’ devoutly Catholic parents officially sign their daughter over to the Church of Scientology, they might want to get in touch with Philip J. Spickler. One of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s original disciples, Spickler is the father of Mimi Rogers, Tom Cruise’s first wife and the person responsible for recruiting him into the cult in the early ’80s. Like his daughter—who, at her most pious, worked for the Church full-time—Spickler has since left Scientology. Unlike his daughter—who spent ...

Actor Tom Cruise sparred with Today show host Matt Lauer last week over the merits of psychiatry. Although his ostensible reason for appearing on the morning show was to promote this week's release of War of the Worlds, Cruise got into a heated debate when Lauer brought up comments that Cruise has made in the past about depression. The on-air argument is the latest in a growing number of interviews in which Cruise, known for his roles in movies like ''Minority ...

The sign advertising "Free Stress Test" beckoned Marian Prescott as she crossed Farragut Square, and she found herself settling into a chair beneath a yellow tent and taking hold of two metal poles hooked up to a device that the tester said could detect psychic strain. "What did you think of?" asked Kelly Turrisi, the tester, as the needle on the electrometer jumped to the right. Prescott tilted back her head and laughed. Work. Her husband. What else? Turrisi, 19, leaned ...

Question: What ever happened to the Narconon anti-drug prevention program interested in holding presentations at Hawaii's public schools? Answer: State Department of Education officials are not allowing Narconon presentations at public schools. In February, state education officials stopped Narconon's drug prevention and education presentations at public schools on Oahu after Narconon received a negative evaluation by the California Department of Education. The California evaluation "found that the program offered inaccurate and unscientific information and was inconsistent with research-based practices." Based on ...

Colombo, 10 June, (Asiantribune.com): Sri Lankans did not invite Scientologist to come to Sri Lanka and or sought their support and assistance. They came and saw the situation after tsunami favorable to them and in the pretext of helping the affected people; they started exploiting the human misery and began to proselytize Sri Lankans. Shame on them - said Venerable Medagama Dhammanda of the Asgiriya Chapter, Kandy. The Venerable Medagama Dhammanda of, has challenged Scientologists to refute allegations made against them ...

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 ...

Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed a bill Thursday that would have required schools to inform parents about the possible repercussions of mental disorder diagnoses before referring students for mental evaluations. By attempting to color parents' perception, the bill "places the school between the parent and the medical professional," Bush said. The bill was backed by the Church of Scientology and sponsored by Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach and Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa.

The sponsor gets word that Bush plans to veto $500,000 for the prison program. TALLAHASSEE — A $500,000 program that uses some teachings of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to help prison inmates likely will be vetoed by the governor today, the bill's sponsor says. The program, known as Criminon, was quietly added to the state budget by one powerful legislator: Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican. He heads the House subcommittee overseeing billions of dollars in criminal ...

Actor says study technique helped him deal with dyslexia Tom Cruise is a founding board member of the Hollywood Education Literacy Project, known as H.E.L.P., a community-based literacy and mentoring project providing one-on-one tutoring for students and their families at no cost. The cause is dear to Tom because he was once diagnosed as dyslexic, a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin and characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. ...

A packed council chamber erupted in applause Thursday as the Petoskey Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny a special use permit for TIA Corp. of Battle Creek. The company wanted to house a 63-bed residential Narconon alcohol and drug rehabilitation center in the former Rues Residential nursing center along Arlington Avenue, just east of MacDonald Drive. However, the request met great opposition from area residents who feared it would be too intensive a use for the site and would create health ...