Scientology claims bad publicity helps recruitment

Allegations have since been made that the Church had pressured YouTube’s owners Google in to removing the offending clip.

Despite this, however, the organisation has said that the coverage has contributed to unexpectedly high levels of interest in the organisation, particularly in its recruitment drive.

“These selective and out-of-context excerpts with the intent of creating both controversy and ridicule nevertheless resulted in people searching for and visiting Church of Scientology websites,” British Scientology spokesman Janet Laveau told The Guardian newspaper.

“Those wishing to find out the Church of Scientology’s views and to gain context of the video have the right to search official Church websites.”

Global anti-Scientology protests are planned for this Sunday, with groups expected to congregate in London, Los Angeles, Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne.

Protestors claim that the group is a for-profit organisation and should lose its charitable tax exemption status.

Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, last week donated $10 million to the Church.

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