With its dedication of the new Church of Scientology and Celebrity Centre Las Vegas last month, the Church of Scientology International is poised to assume a higher profile in Southern Nevada than it has during its 40-year-long presence here. Tommy Davis, spokesman for the Church of Scientology International, notes the Las Vegas center is the eighth new church the denomination has opened in the past 12 months, and that more than a dozen others are scheduled to open this year. The ...

A former Scientologist who says she was a "child slave" and alleges she saw a six-year-old boy chained up in a ship's hold is disappointed the Senate has blocked a full inquiry into the religious organisation. Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has been calling for a full inquiry into the church since revealing claims of forced abortions and other abuses in Parliament last year. Keryn, 54, grew up in the church and has asked the ABC to identify her only by her ...

Interview: Tommy Davis Part 1 Read part one of the transcript of Quentin McDermott's interview with Tommy Davis, Church of Scientology Spokesperson. NB: For legal and editorial purposes, this transcript has been edited. Reporter: Quentin McDermott Date: 08/03/2010 Q. Tommy first of all thank you very much for… A. My pleasure Q. First of all I think a lot of people are mystified by the Church of Scientology, they don’t know what it stands for or what its core beliefs are. ...

Read the full program transcript from Quentin McDermott's report, Scientology - The Ex-Files, first broadcast 8th March 2010. Reporter: Quentin McDermott Date: 08/03/2010 (On screen: Cars passing big blue building with 'Scientology sign') QUENTIN MCDERMOTT, REPORTER: Many religions claim to hold the key to man’s salvation. Scientology is no exception. TOMMY DAVIS: The most fundamental explanation as regards Scientology’s basic beliefs is that man is basically good, and that the individual’s a spiritual being; that you’ve lived before and you’ll live ...

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Raised as Scientologists, Christie King Collbran and her husband, Chris, were recruited as teenagers to work for the elite corps of staff members who keep the Church of Scientology running, known as the Sea Organization, or Sea Org. They signed a contract for a billion years — in keeping with the church’s belief that Scientologists are immortal. They worked seven days a week, often on little sleep, for sporadic paychecks of $50 a week, at most. But after ...

TAMPA (2010-2-25) - The Church of Scientology is deploying a new weapon in its three-decade battle with the St. Petersburg Times: award-winning investigative journalists. Those reporters completed their own review of the newspaper's coverage of Scientology, but church officials won’t release it. In 1980, The St. Petersburg Times won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the secretive religion, headquartered in Clearwater. Since then, church officials have said the newspaper’s coverage is unfair. So church officials decided to do something about ...

Hollywood - The Church of Scientology is coming under fire from six former members. They claim they were mentally and physically abused and forced to work around the clock. Susan Hirasuna was live at the Scientology headquarters in Hollywood and has the latest in this video report.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) – Former Scientologists are suing the Church of Scientology for abuse they allegedly suffered while working for them. They spoke about the abuse publically for the first time Friday. "I was personally beat up on five separate occasions by the head of Scientology, David Miscavige," said former Scientology director Jeffrey Hawkins, a member of the church for 35 years. Hawkins is a former official of the Church of Scientology who was their marketing whiz then promoted to the ...

LAS VEGAS - The First Church of Scientology in Las Vegas dedicated a new building on Saturday. The relentless rain didn't stop Saturday's dedication. "We have opened new churches in cultural epicenters before, but talk about center stage, planet earth," exclaimed Ecclesiastical Leader David Miscavige. "This one stands in a town so bright you can even see it glowing from deep space." Several public officials attended the grand opening, including Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. "As the mayor of the fastest ...

Les scientologues ont inauguré en grande pompe hier leur lieu de culte nouvellement redessiné dans le quartier Saint-Roch pour répondre à tous les besoins de leur religion, projet de six millions de dollars. L’église sera ouverte au public à compter d’aujourd’hui. Fermeture d’une portion de la rue Saint-Joseph, scènes montées avec plusieurs caméras, plus d’une centaine de sièges placés à même la rue et des centaines de fidèles mobilisés malgré le froid : les scientologues n’ont pas ménagé les efforts pour ...

Hollywood figures quit 'rip-off' church as Australian prime minister threatens parliamentary inquiry into its activities The security at the red-brick and glass-walled horseshoe of the John Joseph Moakley courthouse on Boston's waterfront was unusually tight. Anybody who was not a member of the city's bar association was swept with a search wand. Photo IDs were checked. Mobile phones were taken from guests, who included the Hollywood star Tom Cruise. The occasion was a memorial service for Scientology's top legal adviser for ...

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, ...