Deep in hiding, Hubbard kept tight grip on the church. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard often said that man's most basic drive is that of survival. And when it came to his own, he used whatever was necessary — false identities, cover stories, deception. There is no better illustration of this than the way he secretly controlled the Church of Scientology while hiding from a world he viewed as increasingly hostile. Hubbard was last seen publicly in February 1980, in the ...

Scientology is determined that the words of L. Ron Hubbard shall live forever. Using state-of-the art technology, the movement has spent more than $15 million to protect Hubbard's original writings, tape-recorded lectures and filmed treatises from natural and man-made calamities, including nuclear holocaust. The effort illustrates two fundamental truths about the Scientology movement: It believes in its future and it never does anything halfheartedly. In charge of the preservation task is the Church of Spiritual Technology, which functions as archivist for ...

What is Scientology? Not even the vast majority of Scientologists can fully answer the question. In the Church of Scientology, there is no one book that comprehensively sets forth the religion's beliefs in the fashion of, say, the Bible or the Koran. Rather, Scientology's theology is scattered among the voluminous writings and tape-recorded discourses of the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who founded the religion in the early 1950s. Piece by piece, his teachings are revealed to church members ...

As L. Ron Hubbard told it, he was 4 years old when a medicine man named "Old Tom" made him a "blood brother" of the Blackfeet Indians of Montana, providing the inspiration for the Scientology founder's first novel, "Buckskin Brigades." But one expert on the tribe doesn't buy Hubbard's account. Historian Hugh Dempsey is associate director of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada. He has extensively researched the tribe, of which his wife is a member. He said that blood brothers ...

The Church of Scientology today is run by a high-school dropout who grew up at the knee of the late L. Ron Hubbard and wields power with the iron-fisted approach of his mentor. At 30, David Miscavige is chairman of the board of an organization that sits atop the bureaucratic labyrinth known as the Church of Scientology. This organization, the Religious Technology Center, owns the trademarks that Scientology churches need to operate, including the words Scientology and Dianetics. The Religious Technology ...

Thanks to your enduring help, the Oklahoma State Legislature has passed (91 to 0 in the House and similar in the Senate), and Governor Henry Bellmon has signed a law which should insure that Oklahoma will certify only legitimate, medically safe drug and alcohol treatment facilities for operation in our state. Practitioners of Body Thetan exorcism and other hocus pocus won't cut it. The law requires that drug abuse treatment providers be accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare ...

We believe that a community newspaper should do more than entertain and make money. A community newspaper has an obligation to inform, warn, preach, and plead for what is good for the town it serves. Sometimes the stories are tough to cover. Sometimes even frightening. Sometimes they make people angry. Sometimes they are dull. Sometimes it means exposing the warts on our community nose. And, of course, once in awhile the stories we run happen to be fun and entertaining. But ...

A festering dispute between a nontraditional religion and an anti-cult group has escalated to the point where each camp is accusing the other of using Nazilike tactics. Chances of a truce between the Church of Scientology and the Cult Awareness Network appear slim. Each denies the other's allegations of employing techniques that fleece victims of money and inflict psychological damage. The two have been at odds for at least a decade. The faceoff heated up in a recent solicitation letter from ...

The Church of Scientology should hand over stacks of financial documents to the Internal Revenue Service, which is studying whether to deny the organization tax-exempt status, a federal magistrate says. But Magistrate Elizabeth Jenkins has pared the number of documents the IRS originally sought. Jenkins' recommendations, issued last week in U.S. District Court, will be forwarded to a federal judge who can adopt or revise them. The IRS says it has information indicating the Clearwater-based Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization ...

The Church of Scientology's genesis was the 1950 best seller by L. Ron Hubbard, "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health." Church officials claim there are 7 million Scientologists worldwide, but former members allege there may be fewer than 100,000. The church promotes Scientology as a religion — one not based on the worship of a god but on the belief in "scientific" principles applied to the mind. Hubbard argued in "Dianetics" that inner turmoil springs from subconscious mental images, or ...

In 1981, St. Martin's Press was offered a sure thing. L. Ron Hubbard, the pulp writer turned religious leader, had written his first science-fiction novel in more than 30 years. If St. Martin's published it, Hubbard aides promised the firm, subsidiary organizations of Hubbard's Church of Scientology would buy at least 15,000 copies. "Battlefield Earth," priced at $24.95, was released the next year in hardcover, rare for a science-fiction title. Despite mixed reviews, the book quickly sold 120,000 copies — enough ...

The San Diego Union first asked for an interview with Bridge Publications in December 1989. The request was referred to the L. Ron Hubbard Office of Public Relations, a Church of Scientology organization in Los Angeles. Several times throughout January, Union reporter Mike McIntyre contacted the L Ron Hubbard Office of Public Relations to request an interview with Bridge personnel. Each time, L. Ron Hubbard spokeswoman Sharyn Runyon said that a decision had not been made. Runyon later asked McIntyre to ...

The Goodwill Games, an Olympic-style competition designed to bring people together, is prompting protests because one of its sponsors is affiliated with the Church of Scientology. Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) has received complaints from people upset that Bridge Publications is one of 12 companies that paid millions to become worldwide sponsors, spokesmen for the games said. The games were founded in 1986 by TBS president Ted Turner and are broadcast by TBS. Mike Mobley of TBS did not know the number ...

Three men accused of money laundering in a Clearwater rare-coin dealership claim they were unfairly singled out for prosecution because they are Scientologists. They claim the internal Revenue had no evidence of criminal activity when it began an investigation of the coin dealership, Bernstein, McCaffrey & Lee. Instead, the three accused men charge that they were "targeted for investigation and prosecution solely because they are Scientologists," and say the case against them should be dismissed. They claim another example of this ...

Police Chief Daryl. F. Gates arrived 20 minutes late, knifing his way into a warm, stuffy conference room that seemed more like a lion's den, jammed with 17 television cameras and more than 70 news media members. He appeared ruddy and strained, despite his dapper blue suit and a red tie spangled with tiny American flags. The news conference Thursday–amid a nationwide uproar over the beating of black construction worker Rodney G. King by several Los Angeles police officers–was perhaps the ...

The IRS, which earlier took on the Scientologists in Washington and Los Angeles, now has brought its court battle to federal court in Tampa. Its target is Scientology's worldwide spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. Scientologists vehemently disagree, calling the IRS corrupt and accusing it of pursuing a vendetta against Scientology. ``We feel the federal government should investigate illegal drug running in Florida and should investigate money laundering in Florida banks,`` said spokesman Humberto Fontana. Scientologists also are in court with Pinellas County ...

Lawsuit: State justices let stand an appellate ruling that a 'preposterous' $30 million in damages for a former church member be reduced to $2.5 million. SAN FRANCISCO — The state Supreme Court on Thursday rejected challenges to a ruling that dramatically reduced a jury award of $30 million against the Church of Scientology for coercive practices that drove a former member to the edge of insanity and bankruptcy. The high court let stand a decision by the state Court of Appeal ...

As an employee of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health, Leroy Bridges "actively lobbied" his colleagues in support of Narconon International's proposed drug treatment center near Newkirk, a memo states. Meanwhile, Bridges had ties to a consulting firm hired by Narconon International to help that controversial drug treatment organization in its application for a certificate of need from the Oklahoma Health Planning Commission. Bridges denies any wrongdoing, but his activities are being probed by federal investigators. Records on file in the ...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP): Gov. Henry Bellmon is being advised not to get involved in a dispute over a proposed drug treatment center in Newkirk, an aide says. "It would be inappropriate for the governor to sign any document endorsing a drag treatment center prior to completion of the Department of Mental Health's review of the facility for certification," Andrew Tevington, Bellmon's aide, said Wednesday. A group of Native Americans asked Bellmon to sign a proclamation about drug abuse that mentions the ...