---

Quackery

---

More than 1,000 unreleased recordings of lectures by L. Ron Hubbard and reams of corresponding writings have been unveiled in the culmination of a 25-year project to locate, restore and transcribe lost pieces of the Scientology founder’s work.

Records show that the science fiction author made up many details of his own life.
» Full Story

Dangerous dismissal of psychiatry and mental health problems must be part of a Senate inquiry into the Church of Scientology, a Melbourne cult-counsellor said yesterday

Cult Counselling Australia director Raphael Aron said Scientologists put vulnerable people at risk by taking them off psychiatric drugs and treatment, instead treating them with vitamins and E-meter readings.
» Full Story

French judges said they did not order the church offices closed because they did not want to drive Scientologists underground, where they could not be monitored.

At least five other cases involving complaints against the church are under investigation by courts around France, according to press reports. [video]
» Full Story

A doctor who is also an ordained minister was charged by federal prosecutors after claiming that her ‘C-Extract’ was an alternative to traditional cancer treatments.

Using her influence as an ordained Pentecostal minister, Christine Daniel tapped into the vessel of faith to entice people from across the nation to try her regimen.
» Full Story

A group session at a doctor’s house in northern Berlin left two men dead and another in a coma after their therapist gave them a dangerous cocktail of drugs.

The doctor was arrested on Sunday evening with two counts of assault leading to death and six counts of dangerous assault, the police announced on Monday.

The doctor, Garik “Garri” R., is reported to have been born in Uzbekistan. He is a registered doctor with insurance companies and is accredited to work as a psychotherapist.

The suspect is an adherent of the controversial Swiss psychiatrist Samuel Widmer, who promotes the use of drugs in therapy.

Widmer lives with two women and has 11 children by them. In an interview on his own Web site, he criticized the taboo surrounding incest.
» Full Story

While giving testimony in an extortion trial, John Travolta acknowledged publicly for the first time that his late son had suffered from autism.

The admission puts Travolta at odds with the Church of Scientology in which he is a leading figure. The cult, which among other things practices quackery, does not acknowledge autism as a real affliction.
» Full Story

A new French law means the Church of Scientology cannot be dissolved in France even if it is convicted of fraud, it has emerged during a trial of the organisation.

A prosecutor has recommended that a Paris court dissolve the church’s French branch, which has been charged with fraud after complaints by former members who say they gave huge sums to the church for spiritual classes and “purification packs.”
» Full Story

A dying Jehovah’s Witness has been granted the right to refuse life-saving medical treatment on the grounds of his religious beliefs.

Mr A’s guardians produced two Jehovah’s Witness “worksheets” indicating his attitude to various forms of medical treatment. Justice Robert McDougall found Mr A’s directives should be followed “even if the likely consequence of giving effect to Mr A’s wishes … is that he will die”.
» Full Story

Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder, the highest-ranking executives to leave the Church of Scientology, are speaking out for the first time.

Two other former executives who defected also agreed to interviews with the St. Petersburg Times: De Vocht, who for years oversaw the church’s spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, and Amy Scobee, who helped create Scientology’s celebrity network, which caters to the likes of John Travolta and Tom Cruise.

One by one, the four defectors walked away from the only life they knew. That Rathbun and Rinder are speaking out is a stunning reversal because they were among Miscavige’s closest associates, Haldeman and Ehrlichman to his Nixon.
» Full Story

The father of a girl who died after refusing blood transfusions, on the basis of un-biblical teachings by the Jehovah’s Witnesses — continues to battle the cult in court.

Some legal scholars observing the case see what could be worrying setbacks for this legally aggressive sect accustomed to mobilizing the courts to block members from receiving life-saving transfusions
» Full Story

The Church of Scientology, which many view as a commercial enterprise masquerading as a religion, is in trouble again.

While the movement is considered a ‘religion’ in the USA, many others countries view it as a cult whose sole aim is to separate gullible people from their money by selling quackery and false promises.

In France, the cult is now on trial for fraud and practicing ‘medicine’ without a license.
» Full Story

Despite celebrity followers such as John Travolta, the Church of Scientology is viewed with suspicion in some countries.

Now the organisation faces a legal battle in France, with a trial starting next week threatening its operations there. [video]
» Full Story

A court in Belgium that was to decide whether to prosecute the Church of Scientology as a criminal organization has postponed its decision indefinitely.

Lawyers for the cult filed requests for additional research to be performed.

These requests must first be evaluated on their merit before a decision to prosecute can be made.
» Full Story

In Amsterdam the court case opens today concerning the death of actress and TV presenter Sylvia Millecam.

The self-styled medium and faith healer known as Jomanda and two alternative doctors are on trial because they told Millecam her cancer needed no treatment.
» Full Story

Legal representatives for a Jehovah’s Witness have abandoned an appeal into what is believed to be the first instance in Ireland where a court ordered a blood transfusion to be given to an adult against her will.

Doctors at Coombe Hospital in Dublin had obtained a court order allowing them to give a blood transfusion to a women who lost eighty percent of her blood when she haemorrhaged after giving birth.
» Full Story

The Utah Legislature continued funding a Scientology-based treatment for police officers exposed to methamphetamine, despite a state-funded study that was unable to find a connection between the drug and officers’ illnesses.

As lawmakers were slashing funds for other state programs, they sidestepped public debate and appropriated $100,000 — enough cash for about 20 police officers to undergo the regimen of exercise, sauna time and large doses of antioxidants.
» Full Story

A Florida man is suing Narconon Southern California, saying a brief stint in its Newport Beach drug rehab house subjected him to sexual assault, unwanted medication and demeaning work.

In the suit, Mendoza also complains about Scientology being practiced at Narconon. “It was never revealed that Narconon is a Scientology facility.”
» Full Story

A mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, its Flag Service Organization and three parishioners, claiming they brought about her son’s death by denying him access to his antidepression medication.

The cult is known for its hate campaign against psychiatry and psychiatric drugs, as well as for medical claims that amount to quackery.
» Full Story

Since the sudden death last weekend of John Travolta’s son, many questions have been raised about the views of the Church of Scientology about treating illnesses.

The Scientology spokesman who two years ago — in defending Scientology’s ludicrous anti-psychiatry exhibition — goaded a BBC reporter into blowing his top, partially explains Scientology’s views on illness. [Buyer beware]
» Full Story

Nearly a week after the death of John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s 16-year-old son, Jett, Tom Cruise is weighing in on the tragedy.

Cruise trailed off before commenting on the speculation that Scientology, the religion to which he and the Travoltas adhere, discourages followers from seeking medical care.
» Full Story

A post-mortem examination determined last night that John Travolta’s chronically ill son died of a seizure, as controversy erupted over the Scientologist actor’s handling of the boy’s medical condition.

The Travoltas have said little about their son’s condition and his medical treatment over the years. The couple are Scientologists, followers of the controversial religion created by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
» Full Story

Police will question Travolta, 54, and Preston, 46 about their son’s medication as part of routine inquiries into his death, the Daily Star reported.

Jett had been diagnosed with Kawasaki Syndrome, a vascular illness that leads to inflamed blood vessels, and his parents had always denied that he suffered from autism, despite the concerns of Travolta’s brother Joey, an autism campaigner.

Scientology-watchers have openly wondered whether the cult’s quackery may have contributed to Jett’s death.
» Full Story

In 2003 Cruise also claimed that Scientology helped cure his dyslexia. At the time, both Thomas Viall, executive director of the prestigious International Dyslexia Association, and Philip Pasho, executive director of the National Dyslexic Foundation, cast doubts on the actor’s statements.

Aside from its dubious medical claims, the Scientology cult is also involved in an extended hate campaign against psychiatry.
» Full Story

The tragic death of Jett Travolta has once again turned the spotlights on the insane medical claims of Scientology — the cult his parents, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, are deeply involved in.

Their faith in the bizarre fantasies — and claims regarding healing technology — of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard certainly can not have helped.

We also provide links to additional information about Scientology’s quackery, as well as other research resources on the cult.
» Full Story

Kelly Preston, Travolta’s wife, has said that Jett became very sick when he was 2 years old and was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, an illness that leads to inflammation of the blood vessels in young children.

She blamed household cleaners and fertilizers, and said that a detoxification program based on teachings from the Church of Scientology helped improve his health, according to People magazine.
» Full Story

---

Quackery Research Resources

---

Our Quackery news feed with only items about Quackery

Books about Quackery

Apologetics Research Resources on Quackery

---

Factlet

---

---

Advertisement

---

---

About Religion News Blog

---

Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, new religious movements, alternative religions, abusive churches and - to a lesser extent - related issues (e.g. ethics, human rights).

The information is provided for research and educational purposes.

RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.

Categories / News Trackers:
Samples of the hundreds of religious news subjects covered in Religion News Blog include (click links for respective news trackers): the Alpha Course, Alternative Healing, Catholic Church, Christianity, Cults, Falun Gong, Hate Groups, Interfaith issues, Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism / Mormon Church, Polygamy, Religion Trends, Scientology, Transcendental Meditation, Unification Church, Wicca / Witchcraft, and many more.
[More info : How to link]

---

Most Read about Quackery

---

1. Police probe suicide linked to Scientologists
2. Another Tom Cruise Scientology video surfaces
3. Church of Scientology to be tried for fraud in France: source
4. Man sees subtle victory in fight against Jehovah's Witnesses
5. Scientology trial in France set to begin
6. Meth cops swear they can sweat off toxins (Scientology Quackery)
7. 'Psychic Healer' Controversy
8. Church of Scientology facing dissolution in France as members go on trial accused of organised fraud
9. Scientology removes E-Meter auctions from eBay
10. Questions raised over Narcanon lease on historic building

---

Headlines by Email or RSS

---

RNB's RSS feed | What is this?

Subscribe by Email | What is this?

---

Use Our Headlines

---

Free: Place RNB Headlines on your website! It's easy: just copy and paste