Skeptic Magazine makes case for decline and fall of Scientology

After 25 years in operation, the Cult Information Centre in England fears it may no longer be able to work effectively.
The Cult Information Centre (CIC) was granted education charity status in 1992 but has recently run into difficulties with the commission after complaints were received from the Church of Scientology that it is in breach of the rules governing status.
The Church of Scientology has been rocked by accusations from one of its former senior executives that the religion is becoming a hollow moneymaking machine run by an autocratic ruler.
In recent years many high-profile members have left the cult. While some keep their faith in Scientology they speak out against what they consider the hi-jacking of their religion by David Miscavige and his supporters.
An Australian resident has told Lateline, an Australian television news and current affairs program, that the Church of Scientology imprisoned her on its cruise ship The Freewinds.
Valeska Paris says the Church of Scientology’s leader David Miscavige — who she describes as a psychopath — sent her to the ship when she was 17, to prevent her mother taking her away from Scientology.
Moscow police have been searching the Church of Scientology on Taganskaya Street since Thursday morning.
According to a source who spoke to Russian news agency Interfax, “The search could be part of a criminal investigation by the Moscow region’s Investigative Committee into the distribution of scientology literature of the extremist nature.”
A former rugby league star has attacked the head of the church of Scientology, David Miscavige, describing him as a “violent man” who sent him to a re-education camp for 2 1/2-years where he was paid as little as $2 a week and stripped of his passport.
The cult refers to the camp as a “voluntary religious program of spiritual rehabilitation.” Critics call it a prison camp in which cult member are brainwashed.
The Scientology cult is facing a class action in Australia over claims it underpaid former workers. Earlier this week it was revealed that a draft report by the Fair Work Ombudsman had found the church had wrongly classified employees as volunteers.
Law firm Slater and Gordon has also been looking into the claims and says under the Fair Work Act, those employees and ex-employees are owed large sums of money in wages, holiday pay, overtime and superannuation.
The Church of Scientology is threatening to sue a volunteer organisation for publishing a brochure it claims labels the ‘religion’ a ”cult.”
But the Cult Information and Family Support (CIFS) group, which helps victims of cults and their families, refuses to bow to the demands of the Scientologists, saying they will continue their ”humanitarian support work”