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Scientology

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England’s Crown Prosecution Service has reportedly granted the controversial Church of Scientology a measure of protection — but it does not follow that Scientology’s critics will no longer be able to call the movement a ‘cult’.

Critics of the organisation, whose members include Tom Cruise and John Travolta, attacked the decision last night, saying it would encourage Scientologists to push for official recognition in Britain.
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Protesters targeting a Church of Scientology compound in one California county now face stricter limits on how they can conduct demonstrations, according to a new ordinance adopted Tuesday by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Critics of the measure say it needlessly constrains free speech.
» Full Story

Religion News Blog’s roundup of Scientology-related stories includes a look at • Katie Holmes’ diet • Scientology front group offers tutoring • the ‘Church’ is building a ‘mission’ near John Travolta’s home.

Plus: • Actor John Duignan talks about his experiences during 22 years in the cult. Also, • a California town will again look at an ordinance that would limit picketing outside homes in unincorporated Riverside County, including dormitories at the Church of Scientology’s compound near Hemet.
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Glosslip.com reports that well-known anti-Scientology critic Mark Bunker was arrested along with another critic, Mark Lowell at the Scientology’s Hemet, California compound known as Gold Base.

The cult, which has a long history of hate- and harassment activities, has pressured the Riverside County Board of Supervisors into imposing picketing limits.
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Police investigated the role Scientology played in the suicide of a troubled young man two years ago, but did not conclude church members forced him off his antidepressant medication or contributed to his death.

Clearwater police on Tuesday released more than 200 pages of documents from the investigation of Brennan’s death. The reports don’t provide evidence of a key claim in the lawsuit: that Brennan was denied access to the antidepressant Lexapro.
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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.
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The Economic Inter-District Court of Karaganda, the administrative center of the Karaganda region in Kazakhstan, has banned the Church of Scientology in the Karaganda region.

“The court ordered the liquidation of the Church of Scientology organization due to illegal entrepreneurship and profit-making. The court ruled to create a special commission to deal with the liquidation procedure,” says the verdict.
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Education Minister Shirley Bond is defending a ministry publication that identifies a Scientology website as a potential resource for teachers to use while preparing lessons about human rights and social justice.

We provide some web links that show Scientology teachings and/or actions that violate human rights and social justice — behavior based on the unethical teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the cult.
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The Church of Spiritual Technology, which holds Scientology’s copyrights and trademarks, stores church documents in underground vaults to preserve the religion in case of nuclear war…

Among the documents are writings from L. Ron Hubbard, the charlatan who founded Scientology.

Now a contractor in Wyoming says it has been hired to built an underground vault there.
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Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, has recruited the cartoon character to promote a Scientology event.

Ms Cartwright, who earns an estimated $400,000 ( £280,000) per episode, was recently awarded Scientology’s Patron Laureate Award after reportedly donating $10 million to the organisation, founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard, the science-fiction writer. As an Operating Thetan VII — and therefore an individual who can operate independently of her body, according to the movement’s website — she has attained the second-highest rank in the Church.
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Police have confirmed the alleged plot to extort money from actor John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston included a request for $25 million so that a supposedly ‘damaging’ document would not be made public.

It has been suggested the alleged culprits were in possession of pictures of Jett in the moments before and after he died. But the Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police said this is “incorrect.”

He said the complaint alleges the conspirators approached the Travoltas with a document, that if released, would prove damaging to the Travoltas.
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Two people have been arrested in the Bahamas over an alleged plot to extort money from the actor John Travolta, whose son Jett collapsed and died while on holiday in the islands.

Police said Tarino Lightbourne, an ambulance driver quoted in newspapers talking about efforts to revive the 16-year-old, was detained yesterday. Senator Pleasant Bridgewater was held on Thursday.
» Full Story

A poster denouncing Scientology has gone up on a public kiosk outside the Scientology headquarters in Berlin. Local officials warn that Scientology may be “undemocratic” — part of an ongoing battle between Berlin and the guardians of L. Ron Hubbard’s belief system.


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The Church of Scientology has appealed for religious tolerance after its $12 million bid to redevelop its Sydney headquarters sparked fears from neighbours of an increase in “menacing” and “aggressive” recruitment tactics.

However, since the cult is known for its unethical behavior — including ongoing hate- and harassment campaigns based on the teachings of its charlatan founder, Scientology’s appeal comes across as hypocritical at best.
» Full Story

A hooligan claiming to be a member of an anti-Scientology group was arrested Wednesday for attempting to “desecrate” the Church of Scientology with a wacky weapon – Vaseline, police said.

The boy tossed a number of books around, then smeared the petroleum jelly on a TV set, shelves and himself during the incident at the W. 46th St. Scientology center last week.
» Full Story

A Chicago dentist has agreed to pay $462,500 to settle federal allegations that he violated U.S. discrimination laws by sexually harassing workers and by forcing employees who wanted to keep their jobs to submit to indoctrination in the tenets of Scientology.

A consent decree filed with the U.S. District court Tuesday calls for Orrington to pay $462,500 to the workers involved and enjoins him from further sexual or religious workplace discrimination.
» Full Story

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors today temporarily suspended an ordinance it passed last week to limit protests outside a large Church of Scientology compound near Hemet, California.

Worries about enforcement arose after a group of anti-Church of Scientology protesters told the board that, under the new law, they could not readily identify an acceptable place to effectively demonstrate outside the church’s compound near Hemet.

In today’s debate, Supervisor Bob Buster questioned whether the ordinance was needed.
» Full Story

Opponents of the Church of Scientology say their 1st Amendment rights are being quashed by Riverside County after the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance requiring protesters to stay 50 feet from the property line of a massive Scientology campus near Hemet, California.

Catherine Fraser, Golden Era’s director of public affairs, contends that the protesters are dangerous. We think such paranoia is largely inspired by the cult’s own record of hate- and harassment activities against its critics — unethical behavior promoted and condoned by the founder of Scientology.
» 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

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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).

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Most Read about Scientology

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1. Travolta's attack on BBC man in Scientology expose
2. Tom Cruise is banned from second Berlin location
3. Woman denied psych treatment by Scientology parents: I just butchered my family
4. John Sweeney explains: Row over Scientology video
5. Cultic Studies Association receives donation on behalf of Tom Cruise
6. A church accounting: Joyce Meyer's $23,000 toilet, Scientology, and more...
7. Scientology's Ambulance Chasers, Gemstones from heaven, and Old Time Religion
8. A Legacy of Craziness
9. Scarlett Johansson escaped Cruise's plans
10. Scientology's love affair with Hollywood

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