Getting blunt with Razor

The Church of Scientology – never one to take criticism lying down – has been rattling sabers at Razor magazine.

The male-oriented mag’s latest issue contains a muckraking article about the religion, which claims among its members powerful Hollywood stars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and was founded in the 1950s by the late science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

Razor’s story, headlined “The Curse of Scientology – Lawsuits, Death, and Finance,” chronicles the strange death of church member Lisa McPherson, and was written by David S. Touretzky and Peter Alexander, a disaffected former Scientologist.

“Imagine a church so dangerous you must sign a release form before you can receive its spiritual assistance,” the authors assert.

This week, Scientology spokeswoman Linda Simmons Hight left several urgent messages with Razor publisher Richard Botto and sent a tough E-mail to editor in chief Craig Knight. The Los Angeles-based Hight, communications director for Scientology International, made what a Razor spokeswoman tells me are “veiled threats of legal action.”

Hight’s message: “You and your magazine do not understand the agenda of the people who wrote this article … I suggest you return my call immediately.”

Razor is “treading on serious ground,” she added.

Hight’s E-mail to Knight was more explicit: “A moment ago, I logged onto your Web site and saw the highly offensive promotion for the story. Until we connect with each other by phone, I strongly urge you to remove it from your site. I can only assume you do not know the persons who authored the story, nor what their actual agenda is, nor how inaccurate and slanted the story is. Please do return my call as soon as possible.”

Yesterday, Knight said: “Her message certainly sounds aggressive to me … I’ve called her back twice and left two messages for her, but we haven’t connected.”

Hight, for her part, told me: “I have called the publisher and the editor. I told them my name and my phone number and that I’d like to talk to them, but I haven’t heard back.”

Read Another Article

A Church’s Lethal Contract
Bloodied Ugandans recall night of terror

Related News Articles Topic(s): Scientology Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Scientology Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog