Last week we learned that Amazon.co.uk has bowed to pressure to stop selling a book by a former senior Irish Scientologist. The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology (Merlin Publishing, Dublin) describes John Duignan's 21 years in the religion, not all of it a happy tale. According to Amazon, "Unfortunately, we have had to withdraw The Complex by John Duignan in the UK because we received a specific allegation that a passage in the book ...

As many people know, Omar Garrison was working on a biography of L. Ron Hubbard back in the early 1980s that was completely sanctioned by Hubbard and by organized scientology. In fact Gerry Armstrong was actually assigned to and working with Omar back then with the approval of both Hubbard and organized scientology. And, Gerry was part of that Mission Corporate Category Sortout (MCCS) mission that was run by [David Miscavige] with Gerry’s primary part of it being ...

OREM, UTAH - Officer Terry Sparks says he feels like he was beaten with a sledgehammer. The pounding headache was bad enough, but the surging nausea made it almost unbearable. He gathered his energy and once again entered the nondescript clinic in this rural community south of Salt Lake City. The side effects of his treatment there are a price he is willing to pay to purge his body of toxins he believes have built up in his system after years ...

Tribal members are getting advice, free trips—and perhaps a new rehab program—from their connection with L. Ron Hubbard's church. Is this the help they need? In 1964, when Rayola Running Crane was just 13, her parents sent her away from her home in Browning on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. She and her friends were drinking alcohol on a regular basis, and she had already been in an alcohol-related car accident that caused her permanent back injuries. She says her parents gave ...

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — Christians can be deceived by "counterfeit Christianity," James Walker, president of Watchman Fellowship, said during a chapel service at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Watchman Fellowship, founded in 1978, is a nondenominational Christian research, apologetics and information ministry focusing on new religious movements, cults, the occult and the New Age movement. The ministry is based in Arlington, Texas. Walker's Oct. 25 chapel appearance officially marked the transfer of some 20,000 books and 50,000 other documentary items to ...

IN a booklet called The Way To Happiness, it appears as if Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz officially endorses the musings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Katz's image and the official City of Winnipeg logo appear on the back cover of the 68-page booklet, which implores readers to observe life lessons such as "do not take alcohol to excess," "don't be promiscuous," "preserve your teeth" and "don't do anything illegal." The booklet purports to be "presented by Sam Katz, mayor" and ...

SAN FRANCISCO — The city of San Francisco has ordered a Scientology group to stop using a picture of Mayor Gavin Newsom on its promotional materials. A group called the Way to Happiness Foundation International sent a box full of booklets to Newsom's City Hall office describing some of Scientology's core principles. The pamphlets came emblazoned with the seal of the city of San Francisco and featured a picture of a smiling Newsom with a fictitious letter from him. The president ...

Here's a little source material for you all regarding my piece on the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project. In it, I mention a particularly strongly worded letter sent by Queens City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. to Rev. John Carmichael, president of the New York branch of the Church of Scientology. The letter was sent to Carmichael in response to Vallone's strong words about Scientology, which can be found here and here. Carmichael requested a meeting with Vallone, but that ain't ...

Apparently, I’m a hate-filled bigot. That would have to be the conclusion you would draw if you follow the dealings of the Church of Scientology, particularly the organization known as Religious Freedom Watch (RFW), which is almost universally recognized as a Scientology front group. In response to last week’s cover story on the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, the controversial alternative health clinic based on the writings of Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, RFW has bared its teeth. Evidently lacking ...

“I'm not here converting these men and women to Scientology. And I've got to tell you something—I've been a Scientologist 20 years. In Sacramento I, more than any other Scientologist, got new people into Scientology, me personally. I'm very good at converting people, if I want to.” Jim Woodworth is the director of the New York Rescue Workers' Detoxification Project, and he is bristling at the suggestion that his program is an arm of the Church of Scientology. He insists that ...

As could be expected, Scientologists are none too happy with Mayor Mike Bloomberg and City Councilman Peter Vallone for questioning the scientific validity of their "sweat and vitamins" detox project for 9/11 rescue workers. And at least one California-based follower of the ways of L. Ron hubbard is speaking out, sending an open letter to a variety of elected officials, newspapers and others praising the scientific validity of the New York Rescue Workers Detox Project. The full letter is after the ...

A Canadian Nutritionist and Graduate of the Program Talks About How the Detox Program Cleansed His Body - and Helped Boost His 'Thought Processes' TORONTO, Nov. 9 /CNW/ – Doctors, scientists and other professionals around the world have spoken and written about Narconon's Drug Detoxification Program in ridding the body of harmful chemicals and other pollutants. And thousands of people worldwide have experienced the substantial benefits the program has to offer, says the team at Narcodex. (x)(PHOTO: Send2Press.com/mediadesk/1106-S2P-Nar- Wardle_72dpi.jpg) (x)(Photo Caption: ...

Tom Cruise studied intensively at the remote compound near Hemet while becoming a passionate messenger for the church. GILMAN HOT SPRINGS, Calif. — Nearly 30 years ago, the Church of Scientology bought a dilapidated and bankrupt resort here and turned the erstwhile haven for Hollywood moguls and starlets into a retreat for L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer who founded the religion. Today, the out-of-the-way 500-acre compound near Hemet has quietly grown into one of Scientology's major bases of operation, ...

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 ...

Key players in the controversial Hokitika plastics factory proposal are devotees of the Church of Scientology. Wayne Byrne, of Sydney, and Soren Kierkegaard, of Tauranga, are the two principals of FT Manufacturing (Westland) Ltd, which has received a $500,000 loan from the Westland District Council, along with a council commitment to build the factory for a further $2.2 million. Several others involved in the Hokitika project are believed to have links with the American-based church, which is centred on a controversial ...

Scientology's biggest star comes to Canada to make a movie that will bring church's values and villains to a theatre near you Members of the Church of Scientology were in Yorkville this past holiday weekend, questionnaires in hand, to collect opinions about the church from passersby. It's been a difficult couple of years for Scientology, which is trying to polish its fringe image as it awaits word from Revenue Canada about its application for charitable status. But positive PR may be ...

Scientology leaders say they want peace. They say they want to stay out of court. But with both foes at home and foes abroad, that goal may be elusive. The spiritual home of the Church of Scientology is in Clearwater, but for many years now its leaders have had worldwide ambitions. But as disciples have carried L. Ron Hubbard's teachings away from America's shore, the reception has been almost universally chilly at best – and at times openly hostile. At one ...

David Miscavige, the seldom-seen leader of the church, comes forth in his first newspaper interview to talk of a more peaceful time for Scientology. LOS ANGELES — When David Miscavige recounts his rise to power in the Church of Scientology — a journey that began when he quit high school at age 16 — it is mostly a story of war. War against renegade Scientologists. War against Scientology’s critics. War against its one-time arch enemy, the IRS. But Scientology’s 38-year-old leader ...

Pressure from the Church of Scientology International was at least partly responsible for the recent shutdown of a well-known Internet messaging service based in Helsinki, according to the Finnish operator of the service. The service, known by its Internet address, anon.penet.fi, was used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to send and receive electronic messages without divulging their true identities. It was the best known of a small, global network of special computers known as remailers, whose legitimate users include ...

BERLIN — American musician Chick Corea was able to perform at the Burghausen Jazz Festival this spring only after a fight among Bavarian officials about whether the state should fund an event in which a Scientologist participated. In the past, Corea was kept out of German festivals because of such fund-withdrawal threats by government officials. This time the concert went on because Bavarian Culture Minister Hans Zehetmair made an argument rarely heard in Germany: "Chick Corea is appearing in Burghausen not ...