---

Scientology

---

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

Actor Tom Cruise and his wife Katie Holmes are said to be living in fear after receiving death threats.

Sources close to the star, a leading Scientologist, say the threats are believed to have come from groups opposed to the religious organisation.

Hence we remind our readers how the cult tried to frame one former Scientologist-turned-critic — and how the Scientology protesters have exposed Scientology’s human rights abuses.
» Full Story

Scientologists tried to woo British stars to raise the church’s profile on this side of the Atlantic, claims a former top recruiter.

Celebs including Madonna’s ex-husband Guy Ritchie, veteran rocker Peter Gabriel and Belfast-born superstar Van Morrison were on their target list.

And the church still has a file on ex-Beatle George Harrison, who died aged 58 in 2001, says John Duignan in a controversial new book.
» Full Story

Cruise returned for Round Two on Monday and was more contrite than crazy, at least during the interview. But if he was trying to present a more sane version of himself while promoting his new film he probably shouldn’t have wandered on to Today’s live set before his interview to hijack the news segment of the program.

Cruise stood beside co-hosts Lauer and Meredith Vieira and began reading from the teleprompter as both Lauer and Vieira mentioned on-air that his behaviour was “bizarre.”
» Full Story

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today rejected taxpayers Michael and Marla Sklars’ argument that they were entitled to claim deductions for tuition and fees paid to their children’s Orthodox Jewish day schools, the Justice Department announced.

Among other things, the Sklars argued that denial of their claimed deductions violated the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, as well as principles of administrative consistency, because allegedly similar deductions were allowed for members of the Church of Scientology under a closing agreement with the Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ).
» Full Story

Riverside County supervisors Tuesday backed off from picketing restrictions supported by the Church of Scientology that supervisors had preliminarily approved last month.

Supervisor Bob Buster cautioned, “The board is being dragged into not so much a protection of people living in houses being imprisoned, as it were, by ongoing protests,” Buster said. “But it seems to me we are connecting it to a particular religious group and that to me is dangerous ground on which to proceed with an ordinance that does engage a very vital part of our U.S. constitution.”
» Full Story

The city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is immediately ending an anti-drug program aimed at third-graders after it was revealed it was created and bankrolled by the Church of Scientology.

In 2005, California State Superintendent Jack O’Connell urged all California schools to drop a Scientology-related antidrug education program after a state evaluation concluded that its curriculum offers inaccurate and unscientific information.
» Full Story

A security guard who shot and killed a man wielding samurai swords on the grounds of a Scientology facility in Hollywood will not face criminal charges, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

The decision by prosecutors was in line with the conclusion of Los Angeles police detectives, who determined that the guard, a 64-year-old retired Seal Beach police officer, acted in defense of himself and other guards at the church’s Celebrity Centre.
» Full Story

Scientology has a long history of trying to suppress material written about it that it doesn’t like. Several times they’ve taken legal action to try and stop websites revealing their teachings – particularly those which, to outsiders, might look a bit odd. (I won’t quote them, but just type “Xenu” into a search engine, then sit back and marvel.)

It’s hardly surprising that, despite all the money they spend on PR, the Church of Scientology has such a poor public image.
» Full Story

Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith insists it was simply Britain’s tough libel laws that forced Amazon.co.uk to yank “The Complex.” The book, a­vail­­­able on Amazon.com as of last Tuesday, is now “temporarily out of stock,” according to the American Web site.

Lawyers for the complaining member, a noncelebrity, want to keep it that way: They’ve demanded the “destruction” of the books.

Smith says: “We definitely want to offer it to our Amazon.com customers. We just don’t have the inventory.”
» Full Story

The Church of Scientology’s concerns about protesters outside their Gilman Hot Springs base led Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone to seek and gain approval Tuesday for county restrictions on picketing in residential neighborhoods.

Only Supervisor Bob Buster voted against the ordinance, which forbids demonstrators from coming within 300 feet of a home they are targeting in unincorporated Riverside County.

Buster said a 300-foot buffer would effectively quash demonstrations outside residences. He said the ordinance threatens free-speech rights.
» Full Story

The reasons for Majorski’s transformation from fervent believer to attacker remained a mystery Monday.

A church spokesman said the 48-year-old had not participated in Scientology activities for more than a decade, but in recent years he had made a series of threatening phone calls to church offices in Los Angeles and Oregon, where he had been living. [video]
» Full Story

Majorski had threatened the church in a string of incidents dating to at least 2005 that were reported to the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI and Oregon authorities, said Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis.

The threats were allegedly made through faxes and telephone calls but police could not immediately confirm how many were made.

Majorski had been a Scientologist in the early 1990s but appeared to have left the church about 15 years ago, Davis said. [Updated]
» Full Story

A former Scientologist who went to the church’s Celebrity Centre in Hollywood armed with two samurai swords and apparently tried to attack security guards, one of whom fatally shot him, was identified today as an Oregon resident.

Mario Majorski, 48, of Florence, Ore., died at County-USC Medical Center, according to police and coroner’s officials.
» Full Story

Security guards shot and killed a man who was reportedly wielding a sword at the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood Sunday, police said.

The man, whose name has not been released, was approached by security personnel who later shot him in the parking lot of the center, Jerrett said. [video]
» Full Story

Germany is dropping its pursuit of a ban on Scientology after finding insufficient evidence of illegal activity, security officials said Friday.

Domestic intelligence services will continue to monitor the group, officials said.
» Full Story

---

Scientology Research Resources

---

Our Scientology news feed with only items about Scientology

Books about Scientology

Apologetics Research Resources on Scientology

---

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 Scientology

---

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

---

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