Weird, Sure. A Cult, No.

By Mark Oppenheimer ("Washington Post," August 5, 2007)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/25848/?&place=united-states&section=scientology

Washington, USA - Scientology, the controversial religion whose adherents include John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Jenna Elfman, can't seem to stay out of the news. Sometimes the church would rather not have the publicity, as when Germany, which considers Scientology a cult, recently refused to let Cruise shoot scenes for his new movie in government buildings. Other times, Scientologists court the attention -- as when Cruise brought his Scientology-influenced anti-psychiatry crusade to the "Today" show in 2005.

Some Americans may consider Scientology perhaps a cult, maybe a violent sect, and certainly very weird. But Scientology is no more bizarre than other religions. And it's the similarities between Scientology and, say, Christianity and Judaism that make us so uncomfortable. We need to hate Scientology, lest we hate ourselves.

When it comes to Scientology, there's a hunger for the negative. I suspect that's because Scientology evinces an acute case of what Sigmund Freud called the narcissism of small differences: We're made most uncomfortable by that which is most like us. And everything of which Scientology is accused is an exaggerated form of what more "normal" religions do.

Does Scientology charge money for services? Yes -- but the average Mormon, tithing 10 percent annually, pays more to his church than all but the most committed Scientologists pay to theirs. Jews buying "tickets" to high-holiday services can easily part with thousands of dollars a year per family. Is Scientology authoritarian and cult-like? Yes -- but mainly at the higher levels, which is true of many religions. There may be pressure for members of Scientology's elite "Sea Organization" not to drop out, but pressure is also placed on Catholics who may want to leave some cloistered orders. Does Scientology embrace pseudoscience? Absolutely -- but its "engrams" and "E-meter" are no worse than what's propagated by your average "intelligent design" enthusiast. In fact, its very silliness makes it less pernicious.

And what about the Xenu creation myth that anti-Scientologists are so fond of? Scientologists have promised me that it is not part of their theology. Some say they learned about Xenu from "South Park." Several ex-Scientologists have sworn the opposite. Given his frequent conflation of science fiction, theology and incoherent musings, I think that L. Ron Hubbard may have taught that eons ago, the galactic warlord Xenu dumped 13.5 trillion beings in volcanoes on Earth, blowing them up and scattering their souls. But I'm not sure that it is an important part of Scientology's teachings. And if Xenu is part of the church's theology, it's no stranger than what's in Genesis. It's just newer and so seems weirder.

Religions appear strange in inverse proportion to their age. Judaism and Catholicism seem normal -- or at least not deviant. Mormonism, less than 200 years old, can seem a bit incredible. And Scientology, founded 50 years ago, sounds truly bizarre. To hear from a burning bush 3,000 years ago is not as strange as meeting the angel Moroni two centuries ago, which is far less strange than having a hack sci-fi writer as your prophet.

That's not to say that all religions are "equal" or equally deserving of respect. I'm no more a Scientologist than I am a Swedenborgian or a member of the Nation of Islam, and I do have two criticisms of Scientology that one rarely hears from the Xenu-obsessed detractors.

First, while the introductory Scientology costs are not outlandish (for example, a member may pay about $200 for a dozen sessions of "auditing," to start out), the fees increase as adherents gain knowledge through advanced coursework (going "up the bridge to total freedom," in Scientology-speak) -- and it does make the religion resemble a pyramid or matrix scheme. More than one Scientologist explained to me that they don't have the financial resources of the Catholic Church that come from thousands of years of donations. They have to charge. Well, that's not the whole truth. The secrecy surrounding Scientology's higher levels of knowledge has no apparent analog in the Abrahamic faiths, and the steep financial outlay to get higher knowledge also seems unique. Catholicism doesn't charge people to become learned, nor does Judaism. In fact, the greatest scholars in those faiths are often revered paupers: penniless rabbis and voluntarily poor priests, monks and nuns.

Poverty is not Scientology's style, to say the least. That leads me to my second criticism: bad aesthetics. Whether the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles, the church off Times Square in New York or the local branch down the street from my house, Scientology buildings are filled with garish colors, flat-screen TVs showing silly, dull videos, and glossy pamphlets recycling the legend of the overrated Hubbard, whom Scientologists revere as a scientist, writer and seer of the first rank. In my opinion, Hubbard's books are bad, the movies they inspire are worse and the derivative futuro-techno look that Scientology loves is an affront to good taste on every level. It's a religion that screams nouveau-"Star Trek"-riche. For those of us who seek mystery, wonder and beauty in our religions, Scientology is a nonstarter.

But good taste, as the art critic Dave Hickey says, is just the residue of someone else's privilege. Catholicism has its Gothic cathedrals, Judaism its timeless Torah scrolls. Scientology is new, but it has played an impressive game of catch-up. In its drive to be a major world religion, it will inevitably go through a period when its absurdities and missteps are glaringly apparent. But someday it will be old and prosaic, and there may still be Scientologists. And when some of those Scientologists embezzle, lie and steal -- as they surely will -- they'll seem no worse than Christians, Jews and Muslims who have done the same.

How Did Scientology Influence 'The Master'?

By Sheila Marikar ("ABC News," September 12, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38055/

Paul Thomas Anderson has downplayed "The Master's" connection to Scientology. At the Toronto International Film Festival, he reportedly rolled his eyes when asked about the parallels between his latest movie, which comes out in limited release Friday, and the polarizing religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard.

He was less dismissive at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month. "I really don't know a whole hell of a lot about Scientology, particularly now," he said at a news conference. "But I do know a lot about the beginning of the movement, and it inspired me to use it as a backdrop for these characters."

A representative for the Church of Scientology did not directly respond to requests for comment, but sources versed in Scientology told ABCNews.com that the parallels between the religion and scenes from the movie are too strong to ignore.

A Tale of Two Men and Many Tests

In "The Master," Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Lancaster Dodd, the creator of a religion called "The Cause." That's also the name of his first book, a religious tome much like Hubbard's "Dianetics." Lancaster is known to disciples as The Master, and when a wayward naval veteran, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), wanders onto his yacht, Lancaster takes him under his wing as his right-hand man and test subject.

Test No. 1 is "informal processing," a one-on-one interrogation in which The Master sits across from Freddie and asks him to look "back beyond" to "return to the prebirth era." He repeats questions, asking Freddie, "What is your name?" and "Do your past failures bother you?" five times. Stephen Kent, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta who specializes in Scientology, said the processing scene is nearly identical to the auditing exercises of Scientology.

"The repetition of questions, for example, often happens, so that people being audited can go back to an earlier related incident," he said. "The one-on-one process, sitting across from each other, it's hard to imagine what else they could have been modeling this on."

An anonymous machine ticks back and forth during the processing scene. "One has to think about an e-meter," Kent said, referring to the device that measures electrical resistance during Scientology auditing.

Later on, Freddie is subjected to a similar exercise in which he sits across from Lancaster's son-in-law, Clark, and is told that he must continue to look at Clark, without flinching, for one minute, no matter what.

Clark launches into a verbal attack on Freddie, disparaging his ex-girlfriend. Freddie initially lashes out, and The Master orders him to start over. This happens multiple times before Freddie sits back, calm, as Clark hurls slurs at his face.

Kent compared that exchange to bull baiting, an exercise from Scientology's communications course that teaches believers how to "handle upsets" and "be comfortable and confident in anyone's presence," according to the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles' website.

"People sit across from each other, and each has to say insulting things to each other up to the point where the other person is not reacting," Kent said.

The similarities extend beyond scenes. Details of the film appear to be ripped from the history of Scientology, from the type of boat Lancaster lives on -- a cattle trawler, the same boat Hubbard sailed on in the 1960s and '70s -- to a speech Lancaster makes in Phoenix about the power of laughter during processing sessions. In 1954, Hubbard gave a lecture on the theory of laughter and auditing in Phoenix.

Lancaster claims his processing sessions can treat diseases that started "trillions of years ago," such as leukemia. Kent said that dovetails with Scientology's weariness of modern medicine. "The assumption that Scientology makes, and it's in writing, is that 70 percent of illnesses are psychosomatic," he said. "A number of Scientologists, when people get sick, the first thing they do is go into auditing. The first instinct is not to go to a medical doctor."

Even Lancaster's appearance and personality bring to mind Hubbard in the 1950s. A robust, well dressed man with blond waves of hair, The Master fancies himself a party thrower and often croons while he carouses.

"Hubbard would, on occasion, have parties," Kent said. "He saw himself as a master entertainer and singer."

When Freddie first asks Lancaster who he is, The Master describes himself as a nuclear physicist, a doctor, and a man of many hats.

"That's straight Hubbard," Kent said. "Hubbard claimed he was a nuclear physicist. He also claimed he could heal people."

And then there's the year the movie takes place, 1950, when Hubbard's first edition of "Dianetics" was published. "1950 is a pivotal year for Scientology," Kent said. "It was the foundation for what became Scientology.

But while Scientology inspired "The Master," it isn't its focus. The rise of "The Cause" serves as a backdrop to the ebb and flow of Lancaster and Freddie's relationship. Whatever similarities exist between the film and Scientology, critics and Anderson have ended up emphasizing the performances of Hoffman and Phoenix, which come awards season, may prove to be "The Master's" legacy beyond the Scientology buzz.

"I look at these guys not like father and son. They're a little more like, not even master and servant," Anderson said in Venice. "I think we were just trying to tell a love story between these guys. And we had a lot of scenes that weren't about that and we just took them out and the narrative, for whatever the narrative ended up being, just ended up being driven by these two guys and their love for each other."

Scientology makes few waves in Israel

By Lauren E. Bohn (AP, November 8, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38538/

Tel Aviv, Israel -- The Church of Scientology has apparently found one place where its presence doesn't set off alarms, protests and demonstrations, and that place is one of the world's most religiously fraught countries - Israel.

In August, Scientology opened a gleaming new headquarters in the ancient port city of Jaffa, part of Tel Aviv. Since then, visitors and the curious have streamed through with no incidents.

And this in a country where Jews and Muslims harbor clashing claims over the same holy sites, sometimes sparking violence, and competing Jewish streams disparage each other openly and often.

Scientology has confronted charges in many countries that it is a dangerous cult that brainwashes its followers and confiscates their assets. Its leaders deny that.

"Like any new religion, people have misconceptions and much doubt, but we simply use logic to think life out for ourselves and are taught to question and debate everything," said Sefi Fischler, the church's spokesmen in Tel Aviv.

According to its website, Scientology believes man is an immortal spiritual being with unlimited capabilities. Its practices include spiritual counseling.

Created by American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in 1954, the Los Angeles-based movement claims millions of members worldwide, including celebrities like actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta. It has been blamed as the catalyst behind the well-documented breakup of Cruise and his ex-wife Katie Holmes.

Germany, France and Russia are among the governments that keep a close eye on Scientology, and court cases have been filed against the church in some places.

In contrast, there hasn't been much public opposition in Israel.

While a 1987 Israeli parliamentary commission declared it a cult, the practice of Scientology in Israel is legal. The new headquarters has some 200 staff and claims to serve thousands.

Eytan Schwartz, a spokesman for Tel Aviv's mayor, said the new center is a testament to Israel's spirit of religious tolerance.

"Within just a few blocks of the center, you'll find numerous synagogues, several mosques and churches, 4,000 years of Abrahamic monotheistic religions expressing themselves," he said. "The Scientology center is simply showing that Tel Aviv is one of the most pluralistic cities in the Middle East."

"When it comes to all we strive for, for freedom, to be included and embraced by one's fellow man, there is no group that better bears these marks than Scientology," Mohammed Kaabia, the prime minister's adviser on Bedouin Arab affairs said in a statement issued by the Scientology center.

Kaabia and another representative attended the August opening, but the prime minister's office has since distanced itself from the event, saying the two officials were not there in an official capacity, attending as individuals invited by an anti-drug organization.

Despite the lack of public protests at its new center, the church has no shortage of detractors. A group of Israeli Scientology defectors, claiming corruption within the church, started a breakaway center in the northern city of Haifa.

Yad L'Achim, an Israeli anti-missionary group, criticized the government for what it said was too warm a welcome.

"Politicians have diplomatically welcomed the center, because politics is all about being nice," says Daniel Asor, a spokesman for the group. "Scientology is a cult, and this is a dangerous development."

Israeli movie director Erez Meshulam said the presence of the new center is disastrous. "Scientology ruined my marriage by convincing my wife, in return for thousands and thousands of dollars, that her soul could be cleansed," he said. "I fear this means more people will be fooled."

Church officials dismiss such criticism as baseless.

Fischler said the center hopes to bridge gaps among religions in the country. He noted its anti-drug and literacy efforts and outreach programs to prison inmates.

"Now with the building open, we can invite everybody in and show them who we are," he said.

Scientology Makes Inroads in India

By Joanna Sugden ("The Wall Street Journal," July 5, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37646/

Delhi, India - The announcement that Hollywood star and prominent Scientologist Tom Cruise is breaking up with his actress wife Katie Holmes has brought the controversial religion back under the media microscope.

But Yatin Bajaj, the head of communications at the Scientology center in New Delhi, unsurprisingly prefers to talk about matters closer to home, and how Scientology, which is based on a belief in Thetans or spirits that control the mind, is attracting people in India.

“What Scientology can offer is a technique with which a person can dig himself out of daily problems he has, including job insecurity, relationship problems, problems with kids, not getting success at work or achieving his goals,” he said in an interview at his office in Jangpura, a residential colony in New Delhi.

He says between six and seven thousand people have been helped by courses in communication, relationships, study techniques and marriage guidance since the center was set up in 2002 by Horst Tubbesing, who left London for India when he saw a “need” in the country, according to Mr. Bajaj.

The bookshop at the Scientology center in Delhi carries titles such as “The Science of Survival” and “The Problems of Work.” The only thing to distinguish it from a self-help section of the library is the silver plastic packaging on the books shaped like science fiction time capsules.

Courses in communication, relationships and study techniques at the center cost between 3,000 rupees ($55) and 5,000 rupees ($90), which is considered to be a “donation,” according Mr. Bajaj.

The money is used to pay rent on their large white building in suburban Delhi, the third premises the group have moved to in Delhi. It also covers the cost of promoting Scientology, publishing its texts and paying members of staff who receive between 13,000 and 20,000 rupees a month, Mr. Bajaj said, though he declined to reveal his own salary. Courses are self-taught but there are supervisors who clarify and explain any difficulties, he added.

Opponents condemn Scientology as a cult that controls people in order to make money. But Mr. Bajaj denies this, “The demand for money is a demand for survival – it’s an exchange… If someone pays for our services, that’s the money that we use to make Scientology stay there.”

Astha Singh, a 23-year-old marketing graduate, took a course in Study Technique at the center when she was struggling at college. “They give you tools to help you handle life,” she says while sipping a cappuccino in the center’s café.

Ms. Singh says she has remained a Hindu but also considers herself to be a Scientologist. “Hinduism is gods and festivals but Scientology gives you the tools to handle life.”

“India is a country where in the past certain religions have tried to force conversions and that is what the people fear,” Mr. Bajaj says, pointing out a passage in “The Way to Happiness” by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard that says Scientologists can maintain their original religion.

The official Scientology website claims that Mr. Hubbard, who founded the religion in 1954, spent time in India during his youth learning about Eastern religions. “Yet for all the wonders he witnessed, he could not help but conclude the legendary wisdom of the East did nothing to ease suffering and poverty in these overpopulated and underdeveloped lands,” it says.

Mr. Bajaj said he didn’t know how much time Mr. Hubbard, who died in 1986, spent in India.

Critics of Scientology were out in force over the weekend as the breakup of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes became public. Ms. Holmes cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the breakup of their marriage, which was overseen by a minister of the Church of Scientology five years ago.

Asked to defend Scientology against the many voices against it, Mr. Bajaj said, “There’s no use in saying anything to people who say these things, we just have to continue our work.”

Mahatma Gandhi, he adds, faced similar opposition for the kind of work he was doing to promote freedom.

Scientology numbers going backwards: Census

By Steve Cannane ("ABC News," June 30, 2012)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37609/?&section=occult

Australia - Figures released to Lateline from the Australian Census show that in 2011, just 2,163 Australians called themselves Scientologists, a decrease of 13.7 per cent from the 2006 Census.

In 2009, Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis told ABC's Four Corners program there were "tens, if not hundreds of thousands" of Scientologists in Australia.

The Church of Scientology would not grant an interview to Lateline, but in a statement said: "The Census figures are not an accurate reflection of the growing number of people visiting our churches and actively participating in Scientology both in Australia and internationally."

Paul Schofield, who was a member of the Church for 29 years, before leaving in 2008, says Scientology has a history of fudging their figures.

"Scientology is totally obsessed with statistics. If your statistics are not going up you get punished, and they are probably the world’s most creative people with numbers when it comes to increases.

Jedis on the up

While Scientology is going backwards, other minor religions have registered increases.

The number of Pantheists went up by 35 per cent, while the Rastafarian movement increased by 30 per cent.

Australians who describe themselves as Jedis, now number over 65,000, over 30 times higher than Scientology's figures.

Wiccans, who dabble in witchcraft, have topped 8,000.

The release of the Census figures follows more bad news for the Church of Scientology.

Wendy Honnor, one of the most prominent Scientologists in Australia, has quit the church.

In an email to friends Ms Honnor wrote, "The only way out is out. I am free."

Ms Honnor is a previous winner of the International Association of Scientologists' Freedom Medal.

The Freedom Medal is considered the highest honour a Scientologist can achieve and has previously been awarded to Tom Cruise.

Wendy Honnor is thought to be the only winner of the Freedom Medal to quit and publicly distance herself from the church.

In her email Ms Honnor wrote: "I agree with all the points raised in the New Year 2012 email of Debbie Cook."

Debbie Cook is a former church official in the United States who was critical of the corporate culture of Scientology and the church's leader David Miscavige.

In a statement, the Church of Scientology said "Religion is a matter of personal choice and Ms Honnor has always made her own decisions in her life."

Scientology lawyer calls Vanity Fair 'bigoted' over Tom Cruise article

By Ben Child ("The Guardian," September 19, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38102/

Scientology's legal representative wrote an eight-page letter of complaint to Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter over the magazine's recent Tom Cruise exposé, calling it "shoddy", "bigoted" and potentially libellous.

In the missive, dated 16 August, Jeffrey K Riffer of Elkins, Kalt, Weintraub, Reuben and Gartside LLP also denied suggestions the organisation's leader, David Miscavige, might have interfered in the Top Gun star's love life since the former was far too busy travelling and being "the leader of a dynamic global religion expanding across five continents" to get involved in such minor matters. Vanity Fair's article, written by Maureen Orth and published earlier this month, alleged Scientologist leaders held auditions to find the Top Gun star a new partner in the wake of his split from Nicole Kidman in 2001. Cruise has subsequently denied the claims through a lawyer.

"Ms Orth's implications are demonstrably false," argued Riffer in his emailed letter. "If she had considered for a minute the respective travel and work demands placed on both Mr Miscavige and Mr Cruise, she would have dismissed outright this "third wheel notion" … Mr Miscavige is the leader of a dynamic global religion expanding across five continents. His duties are herculean and accomplishments monumental. He is not a 'third wheel' to anything or anyone."

Vanity Fair's story further alleged that Miscavige's wife Shelly recruited Iranian-born British actor Nazanin Boniadi to date the Oscar-nominated actor in 2004 following an exhaustive month-long process during which the latter thought she was being "audited", one of Scientology's essential components, via video interview for a training film. The piece suggests Boniadi was later punished for revealing the relationship to a third party.

"These alleged events never occurred – and, no credible person has ever said that they did," countered Riffer. "There are no authentic contemporaneous documents evidencing such events (because such events never occurred). To be absolutely clear, Mr Miscavige never videoed auditing sessions, never saw videos of auditing sessions (since there are no videos), never read session reports aloud (since there are no such reports), let alone ever used such information to 'manipulate' anyone."

Riffer goes on to accuse Carter and Vanity Fair of religious bigotry towards Scientologists and accuses them of ignorance. "Scientology is a new religion and its beliefs not as well known as those of more ancient history," the email continues. "That does not excuse you or Ms Orth for being ignorant. Rather, it demands you be even more sensitive to finding out what the true beliefs are of Scientology – which can only be told by the religion itself. Just because you don't think you are bigoted doesn't mean you aren't. Bigotry and ignorance go hand in hand and you are definitely and wilfully ignorant of the actual beliefs of Scientology and the activities of its churches."

Cruise and Scientology have been in the media spotlight lately due to the former's divorce from actor Katie Holmes and the US box-office success of the Paul Thomas Anderson Oscar contender, The Master, which features a protagonist based on Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard. Anderson has said his film is not about Scientology, but has admitted that Philip Seymour Hoffman's character Lancaster Dodd is partially drawn from Hubbard, as well as other figures.

Riffer's letter appears to have been a shot across the bows, as it was sent prior to the Tom Cruise article's publication in the October issue of Vanity Fair earlier this month. It assumes that the magazine "will not publish anything defamatory" and hopes "we will not need to meet at a deposition or in a court". There is no suggestion that Scientology has in fact taken such legal action in the intermediate period.

Miami chiropractic office must quit making its staff practice Scientology following complaint

Lance Dixon ("Miami Herald," December 19, 2013)

A handful of employees — now ex-employees — of a South Florida chiropractic office say they got more than a paycheck for their labors.

The workers say they were force-fed an indoctrination in the rituals of Scientology, the controversial religion that counts such celebrities as Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its members. Those rituals, the workers complained, included occasionally having to sit perfectly still in a spare room at the office, facing one another for an eight-hour staredown — as well as yelling at ashtrays and talking to the walls.

They also had to devour the books of the late L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology’s founder, including his seminal work, Dianetics, the complaint alleged.

The result of their complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: one of the more unusual employment-discrimination squabbles to come along in South Florida — resolved when the business signed a consent decree agreeing to pay $170,000 and to quit trying to dictate its employees’ religious beliefs.

Dynamic Medical Services, with offices in South Miami and Hialeah, says it never did any such thing, but says it is settling to avoid the hassle.

“We deny all of the allegations brought against Dynamic Medical in the EEOC case. However, given the expense to litigate these types of things, we made a business decision to try and resolve it,” Dynamic said in a statement.

Four former employees of Dynamic — Norma Rodriguez, Maykel Ruz, Rommy Sanchez and Yanileydis Capote — alleged that their employer forced them to participate in activities that involved Scientology, and to study the religion on a daily basis or face consequences.

Beatriz Andre, an attorney with the EEOC, said Dynamic had the First Amendment right to express religious ideas, but not to mandate them for others.

Andre said it is far more common for complaints to involve employees looking to engage in religious activity in the workplace and their employers attempting to curb that.

Sanchez and Rodriguez said their decisions to go against the mandate cost them their jobs.

Sanchez said she was fired in 2010 after enduring years of courses in Scientology from books written by Hubbard, and after participating in various exercises.

The complaint said that Sanchez was required to attend church and read Hubbard’s The Way to Happiness and Dianetics: Original Thesis over the course of several months. She also allegedly went through an Electropsychometer treatment, described on the Scientology website as a “religious artifact” that “measures the spiritual state or change of state of a person.”

Dennis Nobbe, Dynamic’s owner, told Sanchez that he wanted her to be “purified.” When Sanchez expressed concerns, she was told, “Remember you work for Dynamic and Nobbe is paying for this,” according to the complaint.

She went along with the “purification” process, which required her to sit in a sauna for five hours and take 20 “vitamin” pills on a daily basis, the complaint said. Even after a fainting spell, she was required to return to the sauna.

Sanchez said she was fired months later, after she stopped attending the church.

Rodriguez also claimed that she was discharged in 2010 after she refused to go to a church of Scientology. She explained to her supervisor that she was a Jehovah’s Witness.

The EEOC said Rodriguez was made to do exercises like walking up to someone in a shopping mall, stopping them and staring at them without speaking. She also attended courses at a church of Scientology on a weekly basis.

The two other plaintiffs, Ruz and Capote, eventually resigned from the company.

Andre said that initially dozens of other employees were interviewed, but they declined to join the complaint. She added that some of the employees, both management and rank-and-file, were practicing Scientologists and felt that the exercises were business as usual.

If a court approves the consent decree, Dynamic will be subject to further action from the court if employees allege more discrimination. The decree would also establish a policy against discrimination and require all workers to receive anti-discrimination training.

“Any time an employee asks for reasonable accommodation for religious purposes, Dynamic has to report it to the EEOC,” Andre said.

Dynamic is listed as a member of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises. WISE, in its president’s message is described as “a fellowship of thousands of business people across the globe who recognize that the organizational and management principles developed by author L. Ron Hubbard have application to all businesses.”

Another PR Crisis for Scientology

By Dan Harris ("ABC News," March 29, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36969/

USA - The Church of Scientology, known for celebrity and controversy, is now in the middle of another public relations crisis as a former high-ranking official has created a firestorm, first with an email to church members and then testimony in a Texas state court alleging she saw the church's leader punch another executive in the face, and that at his direction she herself was slapped.

For 17 years Debbie Cook ran the church's spiritual mecca, the so-called Flag Base in Clearwater, Florida, where she ultimately rose to the title of captain. But Cook testified this month that beginning in 2005 she saw behavior exhibited by church leader David Miscavige that disturbed her deeply.

"I witnessed Mr. Miscavige physically punching in the face and wrestling to the ground another very senior executive at Scientology International level," Cook testified in court.

A few weeks later in an interview with ABC News, Cook repeated that assertion. She also said -- as she had testified -- that Miscavige never hit her, but that he ordered his assistant to slap her, and that slap was so hard that Cook was knocked down.

In numerous letters to ABC News, Scientology officials have denied that David Miscavige ordered Debbie Cook to be slapped, or that he punched a fellow executive. In addition, the church sent ABC News a letter signed by that executive in which he wrote, "This alleged incident did not occur and I would remember it if it had."

Cook also testified that in 2007, while doing work at the Scientology International Base in Southern California, she was taken to a pair of double-wide trailers she called "the hole." She testified that she was held in the "hole" for seven weeks, that there were bars on the windows and security guards posted at the door, and that the food was "was like leftovers, slop, bits of meat, soupy kind of leftovers thrown into a pot and cooked and barely edible."

She also testified that the trailer was infested with ants, that they slept in sleeping bags on the floor, and that on several occasions, the electricity was cut and the temperature reached 106 in the trailers.

During this time, Cook testified, she and other executives were repeatedly pressured to confess their alleged misdeeds. As she had said in court, Cook told ABC News that she was made to stand in a trash can and water was poured over her as people screamed at her to admit "bad things."

In a letter to ABC News, a lawyer for the Church of Scientology flat out denies that the "hole" exists, or that there was ever a place known as "the hole."

The letter states that Ms. Cook and certain other Scientology executives and staff members "did participate in religious discipline, a program of ethics and correction entered into voluntarily as part of their religious observances," but insists, "the idea that the church held her or anyone else against their will [is] denied."

The letter goes on to call Cook's account of her disciplinary experience "inaccurate, misleading, and intended to create sensationalized media attention."

When Cook and her husband decided to leave the Church of Scientology in October 2007, they signed lengthy contracts agreeing not to publicly criticize Scientology or its leaders, and in return received checks for $50,000 apiece.

This past New Year's Eve, however, Cook sent an email to Scientologists criticizing Miscavige's leadership of the church. The email gained press coverage, and the church responded by suing Cook and her husband Wayne Baumgarten in Texas state court for allegedly breaching their confidentiality agreement.

Cook and her husband claimed in court that the agreement was invalid because it was signed under duress. The church adamantly denies that, and played in court a video of the signing. In the video, a church lawyer asks Cook if she is signing voluntarily, and she says "yes." The lawyer also asks if Cook has been threatened or "forced to do anything," and Cook says "not at all, whatsoever."

In the ABC News interview, Cook was asked about the church's claim that she and her husband are bitter "defrocked apostates" who are spreading lies and fictions about the church.

"I have never lost my passion or love for the church and all that it stands for, and all that it does to help others," Cook said. "That is my life and I loved doing it, so I'm not bitter. It's really out of that passion and love and care that I am doing this to rid it of a situation that has grown out of control … it needs to get confronted and it needs to get handled. It can't go on. You know, I know that L. Ron Hubbard would never approve of it."

Niece of Scientology leader plans tell-all book

By (AP, September 24, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38144/

New York, USA - A niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige (mihs-CAYV'-ij) is planning a tell-all memoir about the church.

Jenna Miscavige Hill has been a frequent critic of the Church of Scientology since publicly breaking with it in 2005. She has a deal with HarperCollins Publishers imprint William Morrow for "Beyond Belief: My Secret Life inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape."

Morrow announced Monday the book will come out in January. It says the 28-year-old Hill will reveal "strange and disturbing" details about growing up in the church and will provide a firsthand account of Scientology's "upper ranks."

David Miscavige chairs the board that oversees the church, founded in the 1950s by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

Scientology teaches followers they're immortal spiritual beings who live on after death. Church members include Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

French court upholds Scientology fraud conviction

By (AP, February 3, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36856/

Paris, France - A French appeals court on Thursday upheld the Church of Scientology's 2009 fraud conviction on charges it pressured members into paying large sums for questionable remedies.

The case began with a legal complaint by a young woman who said she took out loans and spent the equivalent of 21,000 euros ($28,000) on books, courses and "purification packages" after being recruited in 1998. When she sought reimbursement and to leave the group, its leadership refused to allow either. She was among three eventual plaintiffs.

"It's a severe defeat for the Church of Scientology, which is hit at the very heart of its organization in France," Olivier Morice, a lawyer for the National Union of Associations Defending Family and Individual Victims of Sects, told reporters after the decision.

Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the church in Los Angeles, denounced Thursday's decision, calling it a "miscarriage of justice."

She said the group would appeal the decision to the Court of Cassation and plans to bring a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. Another complaint is pending with a U.N. special rapporteur.

About 50 Scientologists - holding signs saying "No to a heresy trial" and "No to justice under pressure" - protested outside the Paris court hours after the decision.

During the appeals process, the prosecution had asked for the church to be fined at least 1 million euros ($1.3 million) and its bookstore 500,000 euros. But the appeals court on Thursday instead ordered the same fines as the trial court, 400,000 euros ($530,000) for the church and 200,000 euros for its bookstore.

Five members of the church who were convicted in the first trial were ordered to pay fines ranging from 10,000 euros to 30,000 euros. Four of them were also given suspended sentences between 18 months and two years.

In the original trial, prosecutors had tried to get the group disbanded in France, but the court declined even to take the lesser step of shutting down its operations, saying that French Scientologists would have continued their activities anyway.

Pouw said Thursday that the church was continuing its missions without any restrictions.

"The environment in the court was so prejudicial that defense attorneys walked out of the proceedings in protest, refusing as a matter of conscience to participate in proceedings that had degenerated into a charade," she said by phone.

While Scientology is recognized as a religion in the U.S., Sweden and Spain, it is not considered one under French law.

Founded in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the church teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems. It claims 10 million members around the world, including celebrity devotees Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Belgium and Germany have been criticized by the U.S. State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations. France also considers Scientology a sect.

Most Americans doubt Scientology is true religion: poll

By (Reuters, October 1, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38201/

Most Americans do not think Scientology is a true religion, more people would prefer to win an Olympic gold medal than a Pulitzer prize and celebrity endorsements do not carry much weight, according to a new poll released on Monday.

Seventy percent of respondents to the 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll said the controversial Church of Scientology, which is popular with Hollywood stars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, was not a real religion, but 13 percent said that it was.

Religious surveys have estimated that less than 100,000 Americans practice Scientology, which is often branded a cult by its critics.

"It's a tribute to America's tradition of religious tolerance that Scientology is accepted throughout the country," the survey noted in its analysis of the results.

The poll also showed that brawn trumped brains with 40 percent of Americans saying they wanted an Olympic gold medal gracing their mantel, while 36 percent would prefer a Pulitzer prize and seven percent wanted an Oscar.

On the home front, the Obamas were the clear choice when it came to which family children might marry into, with 19 percent choosing the presidential family compared with 18 percent for the Kennedys and the 16 percent for the British royal family.

On the weightier subject of illegal immigration, 18 percent of people questioned said that, if they saw a family trying to cross the border from Mexico illegally, they would try to help them, but 41 percent said they would report them. Thirty percent said they would look the other way.

The poll also revealed that celebrity endorsements are irrelevant, with 89 percent saying they made no difference. And despite all the focus on personal technology, 70 percent of people said they would rather lose their smart phone than their wallet.

When asked about giving up chicken or beef, 32 percent of Americans said they would have the hardest time dropping beef, while 26 percent chose chicken. Pork and lamb were far behind, but nearly a third said they could easily give up all of them.

The telephone poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,027 adults nationwide in August and had a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Couple loses forced labor suit against Scientology

By (AP, July 24, 2012)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37821/

Los Angeles, USA - A couple who claimed they were victims of forced unpaid labor by the Church of Scientology lost the latest round in their lawsuit against the church Tuesday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Marc and Claire Headley, long time Scientology members, voluntarily worked at menial tasks without payment because of their commitment to the religion.

The three-judge panel, which upheld a ruling by a lower court, said the couple voluntarily abided by rules of Sea Organization, a division of Scientology with a gated campus 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles that operates as a nerve center for the church's most important business.

In a synopsis of the program, the judges acknowledged that members were forbidden to have children and Claire Headley said she had two abortions rather than risk banishment. They also had their mail censored, Internet access restricted and were required to make a symbolic one-billion-year commitment to serve the church.

The judges said members were told during training that they would be required to work long hours without compensation, to live communally and adhere to strict ethical standards.

"This demanding, ascetic life is not for everyone," said the ruling, and noted some members do decide to leave through a rigid process called "routing out" which can take weeks or months. The judges said the Headleys could have left many times.

Calls requesting comments from the couple's attorney were not immediately returned.

The judges suggested the Headleys sued under the wrong law and said other legal avenues are open to them. They sued under a statute designed to combat "transnational crime" of "trafficking in persons."

"Whatever bad acts the defendants (or others) may have committed the record does not allow the conclusion that the Church...violated the Trafficking Victims Protection act," the ruling said.

The judges said the Headleys might have fared better under other legal theories such as assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or "any of a number of other theories that might have better fit the evidence."

They also said that the lower court properly rested its rulings on the ministerial exception which says courts may not scrutinize many aspects of the minister-church relationship.

Scientologists step up campaign against The Master

By Ben Child ("The Guardian," September 11, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38049/

Scientologists have stepped up their campaign against Paul Thomas Anderson's controversial new film The Master in the wake of the film's critically acclaimed debuts at the Venice and Toronto film festivals, a US newspaper is alleging. The New York Post says the Oscar-winning producer Harvey Weinstein, who runs the film's distributor The Weinstein Company with his brother Bob, has increased his personal security.

The Master, which has long been billed as Paul Thomas Anderson's "new film about Scientology" has been the talking point of the autumn festival season so far. The film-maker himself has admitted Phillip Seymour Hoffman's snake-like charmer, the nascent cult leader Lancaster Dodd, is partly based on Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard, but has also argued that his film does not deal with the organisation at a wider level. The film, which also stars Joaquin Phoenix as a drifter sailor who becomes one of Dodd's first followers, won the Silver Lion award for best direction and the Volpi Cup prize for best acting (split between Hoffman and Phoenix) at Venice on Saturday. It would reportedly have also taken the top Golden Lion prize for best film but for a technicality.

The Post's Page Six column also says that Scientologist leaders are planning a publicity drive to undermine the film when it is released in the US on Friday. It reports the words of "behind-the-scenes sources" but does not name or quote them directly. Other members of The Master's crew have also added extra security, the newspaper says.

During a press conference at Venice prior to The Master's screening, Anderson said: "This is a character that I created based on L Ron Hubbard, there's a lot of similarities to the early days of Dianetics … I don't know a hell of a lot about Scientology today but I know about the beginnings of that movement and it inspired me to use it as a backdrop for these characters. I can't be any more unambiguous than that.

"I think we were just trying to tell a love story between these two guys. We had a lot of scenes that weren't about that and we took them out."

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw handed Anderson's film a five-star review at Venice, calling it "an arresting and utterly absorbing psychological drama of marginal lives, an emotional history of charlatanism and gimcrack philosophy, a world of snakeoil truth salesmen offering self-medication of the spirit, all set in a postwar America realised with superb flair and confidence, utterly without cliche".

Xan Brooks, writing for the Observer, also gave the film five stars and described it as a "ravishing, unashamedly old-school American classic".

Scientologists plan Hollywood TV studio

By Ronald Grover and Lisa Baertlein (Reuters, July 11, 2012)


Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37715/?place=united-states

The Church of Scientology, the religion whose followers include actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, plans to start a religious broadcasting center to promote its teachings over TV, radio and the Internet.

The center, located near the church's West Coast headquarters in Hollywood, would occupy the nearly five-acre studio property the church bought last year from Los Angeles public TV station KCET for $42 million. The station would elevate the public profile of a religion that has mostly relied on pamphlets and books by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, to proselytize for new members.

"The church plans to establish a central media hub for our growing world network of churches and to move into the production of religious television and radio broadcasting," said Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for Church of Scientology International, in an email.

She said there is no timetable for when operations would begin.

Scientology TV could be similar to Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network or the Trinity Broadcast Network. Trinity creates Christian programming at a production center in Irving, Texas, and airs it on TV stations and cable channels, said Rick Ross, whose non-profit Rick A. Ross Institute in Trenton, New Jersey, maintains an online archive of data on cults and controversial movements.

"Hollywood is a major hub for creative talent and some of them are Scientologists," said Ross. "They'd have a lot of talented folks who could produce shows and stars like Tom Cruise who would appear on them."

Elayne Rapping, a pop-culture expert and professor of American studies at the University of Buffalo, told Reuters she is not surprised by the church's move.

"Having their own TV is a good idea since they can spin things their way," she said. "They are after good PR which they can control to offset the bad publicity surrounding them in other media."

Former members of the 60-year-old church accuse it of being a cult and have alleged that it abuses members and separates parents from children, among other things. The church denies such accusations.

The celebrity of controversial members like Cruise and Travolta is a double-edged sword for the church, Rapping said.

Cruise is one of the world's biggest movie stars, but his divorce from actress Katie Holmes has fueled speculation that the couple disagreed on raising their 6-year-old daughter, Suri, as a Scientologist and sparked a flurry of news coverage about the church.

John Travolta was recently sued for libel by a Los Angeles man who wrote a book about his alleged homosexual encounters with the "Saturday Night Fever" and "Pulp Fiction" star.

The Hollywood studio would complement the church's existing production facility, Golden Era Productions, near Hemet, California, which produces DVDs and "other audiovisual materials that comprise a large part of the Church's religious and educational materials," Pouw said.

Scientologists are likely to buy time on local TV stations to air shows as other religions do, said Bill Carroll, vice-president of Katz Television Group, which advises TV stations on programming.

They could create their own cable channel, he said, but could also get a license from the Federal Communications Commission to operate a broadcast channel by adhering to FCC rules on children's programming, news and other regulations.

The church took physical control of the broadcast center, located on Sunset Boulevard near Hollywood, in April when KCET employees moved TV station operations to a rented facility.

Tom Cruise, Scientology: Actor Reaffirms Faith At Exclusive Event

By ("Huffington Post," October 29, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38452/

On Saturday night in England, Tom Cruise put to bed rumors that he is abandoning Scientology when he was the guest of honor at the 28th anniversary Patrons Ball for the International Association of Scientologists.

“Over 2,500 people paid as much as $3,000 to attend the event with Tom at the church’s U.K. headquarters at Saint Hill Manor near Gatwick,” one insider tells me. “Tom was seated in the VIP area, but his security allowed guests to come over and shake his hand.”

Tom, who looked relaxed and happy and was wearing his Freedom Medal of Valor, a gift from leader David Miscavige, even stood to sing the Scientology anthem before leaving the event, says the source.

“Any rumors that he was turning his back on his faith couldn’t be further from the truth,” a source inside the event says. “Like most religions, in times of need faith can help. This appears to be what was happening last night.”

Did the Moonies really brainwash millions? Time to dispel a myth

By Eileen Barker ("The Guardian," September 4, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/38000/

The death of Sun Myung Moon has brought back to mind the panic that swept through the west in the 1970s and 80s. Moon was just about the last surviving charismatic leader of the "cults" that, it was widely declared, threatened to undermine our civilisation by brainwashing our youth and turning them into zombies prepared to do anything – including mass suicide and murder.

Apart from Moon and his Unification Church, there was David Berg and his Children of God, who became renowned for their practice of "flirty fishing"; Prabhupada and his International Society for Krishna Consciousness devotees, who could be seen dancing and chanting on the streets; Bhagwan Rajneesh, later called Osho, and his sannyasins; and L Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology – and literally hundreds of other men and women selling their spiritual wares in San Francisco, New York, Montreal, Paris, Tokyo and London.

Exactly what it was that was on offer varied enormously. But the general public was largely unaware of the differences, informed as it was by sensationalist media themselves fanned by a burgeoning number of so-called "anti-cult groups", which had started as gatherings of concerned relatives but developed into powerful lobbying groups that accumulated all the worrying stories about any one movement (and there were undoubtedly several to gather), and then generalised these into a conventional wisdom about "what all cults do" – forgetting that all these activities could just as easily be found in the traditional religions. Not, of course, that this would make deceptive practices, sexual exploitation or child abuse any less culpable.

But why were intelligent, well-educated young people joining the movements in droves? One answer was heard more than any other. Our youth had not chosen to convert to a new religion; they had been brainwashed into leaving their universities, abandoning promising careers, and severing ties with their families in order to live in secluded communities, working long hours for their "puppet masters" and, in the case of those who came to be called "Moonies", getting married by a Korean messiah in a mass wedding along with thousands of other couples to someone they had never met before and might not even speak English. Clearly, it was claimed, these were the victims of well nigh irresistible and irreversible mind-control techniques.

With hindsight, some of our views of these cults need correcting. Although the colourful devotees and sannyasins and the persistent Unificationists were highly visible in public places, people were not joining in anything like the numbers that were being alleged. While estimates of the number of Unificationists in Britain topped a million, there were in fact fewer than 150 in 1976.

It is true that thousands attended one or other of the residential weekends where the "brainwashing" was said to occur, but 90% did not join as a result. Of those who did, the majority left within a couple of years. Much as the movements tried to persuade people to join their ranks, and much as they would have like to have had greater persuasive powers, they demonstrably did not have access to the irresistible or irreversible techniques they were reputedly wielding.

But things have changed. It is not that there are not still thousands of new religious movements to be found around the world – there are. Inform, the government-funded organisation that provides information on minority religions, has on its files over a thousand new religions that are currently active in the UK. But most people would be hard pushed to name more than a handful of these. Why?

First, since 9/11, the public is now more concerned about Islamic terrorism than about cults. Second, although young (and older) people are still wanting answers to all sorts of questions about God, spirituality, the state of the world and their relations with others, they are less likely to turn to a new religion for their answers.

Next, the movements themselves have changed quite radically. Those that caught the public's attention during the latter half of the past century (and are now well into a second- or even third-generation membership that is no longer so concerned with recruitment but, more frequently, with getting on in the outside world).

Then the new ones that have since emerged tend to be more spiritual and far less institutionalised than the earlier movements. The Children of God no longer "flirty fish"; the vast majority of Krishna devotees are people of Asian origin who have found a place to carry out their traditional worship. Most Unificationists now live with their families and work independently of the movement. Those second-generation members that have stayed in the movement (although the majority have left) are likely to be married to someone their parents suggested, often with quite a bit of input from their children.

Scientology is, perhaps, one of the few "bogey cults" that remains in the public eye, due partly to the number of high-level members who have recently left, and, no doubt, to the high-profile antics of Tom Cruise. Perhaps The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson's acclaimed new film on the origins of Scientology, will provide us with some further understanding of "the cult experience".

Scientologists fight back over latest Vanity Fair drama

By ("San Francisco Gate," September 4, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37997/

Church of Scientology officials have released a statement dismissing a new Vanity Fair article that suggests an Iranian actress was vetted as a potential partner for Tom Cruise and punished when she told friends about the failed romance.

The magazine’s editors released an excerpt of Maureen Orth’s expose, in which the investigative journalist names Iranian actress Nazanin Boniadi as the former Church member who was “audited” as the movie star’s potential mate.

Scientology leaders quickly dismissed the report and now they’re calling the piece “hogwash” in an official statement.

In the statement obtained by WENN, a Church spokesperson writes, “The entire story is hogwash. There was no project, secret or otherwise, ever conducted by the Church to find a bride (audition or otherwise) for any member of the church.

“The allegation and entire premise of the Vanity Fair article is totally false. … We have been denying this ridiculous tale now since it first appeared in print four years ago.”

The representative also took aim at writer and filmmaker Paul Haggis, an outspoken former Scientologist, who backed up Orth’s Vanity Fair article and defended his friend Boniadi in an email to website Showbiz411.com on Sunday.

Haggis stated: “Naz was embarrassed by her unwitting involvement in the incident and never wanted it to come out, so I kept silent. However I was deeply disturbed by how the highest ranking members of a church could so easily justify using one of their members; how they so callously punished her and then so effectively silenced her when it was done.”

But, according to the spokesperson, Haggis is simply “attempting to grab headlines and falsely slander his former religion”.

The rep adds, “No Church members were ‘used,’ nor were they punished, nor silenced. This is totally false.”

Orth’s article suggests Boniadi was ordered to scrub lavatories with a toothbrush after allegedly breaching confidentiality agreements when she turned to friends for support following her reported dalliance with Cruise.

Economic climate a breeding ground for cults

By Leesha McKenny ("Sydney Morning Herald," November 2, 2011)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/36453/?&section=other-nrms

Sydney, Australia - Global fears of economic or environmental upheaval feed the growth of gurus and damaging cults that prey on the weak, a visiting French government expert has warned.

Georges Fenech, president of France's Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances, said it was working for greater international co-operation in dealing with sectarian abuses – with one in five French, or 12million people, affected in some way by a cult.

"We're going through an age where there are numerous crisis, whether it's financial, climatic, pandemic, and these create favourable basis where the gurus can work for their own benefit," he said.

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The politician and former judge cited one instance where an Australian cult, the Order of St Charbel founded by the now-jailed "Little Pebble" William Kamm on the NSW South Coast, spread to France where members have since been imprisoned.

"So that proves there are no borders for that kind of group and that's why it's so important to have this kind of exchange and common vision between countries," he said.

The French government has a history of taking a strict line on monitoring what it considers negative "cultlike movements".

It has previously released a list of more than 170 groups deemed cults - including some groups considered religions in Australia - on the basis they met one or more of 10 characteristics.

"Some of these organisations anyway are huge organisations, like the Church of Scientology and Jehovah's Witnesses, and of course these people are here [in Australia] as well."

Mr Fenech said the French branch of the Church of Scientology will return to court this week to appeal against its 2009 conviction on charges related to illegal pharmacology and organised fraud.

But the French approach to minority faiths, itself the subject of some criticism, has not always been vindicated by the courts.

This year the European Court of Human Rights ruled its government interfered with the the religious freedom of Jehovah's Witnesses when it attempted to impose a retroactive tax worth millions on the donations received by the church.

Mr Fenech said Australia was part of the Anglo Saxon world that had a more "a laissez faire attitude of tolerance towards all religion", but he defended his country's record of religious tolerance.

"In France we do respect all religions but at the same time we do not tolerate that under the aegis of some kind of church some types of behaviour take place, and we confront these."

Mr Fenech said all religions had the potential to foster cultic deviances. His organisation had examined sub-cults established within the Catholic church.

"We can't leave this problem to private initiative because the problem is too serious and too difficult. It's just too much for associations to deal with it," he said.

Mr Fenech, who said he will address the federal Senate today, was invited to deliver the keynote presentation at a conference entitled "Cults in Australia: Facing the Realities" co-hosted by Liberal senator Sue Boyce and independent senator Nick Xenophon.

Speakers also include 2010 Australian of the Year, Professor Patrick McGorry, and Tom Sackville, president of the European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sects or Cults.

Mr Xenophon said it was vital that Australia look at laws similar to those of France that provide protection for victims of mental manipulation.

“Right now some cults and groups here in Australia are getting away with unacceptable conduct and this is partly because our laws have failed to recognise the way people are controlled and coerced," he said.

There were about 3000 cults operating in Australia, Cult Information and Family Support NSW president Ros Hodgins said.

"We are asking that parliamentarians support measures to address the abusive groups we know as cults that have no accountability and cause psychological harm," she said.

"Australia has not yet taken these issues as seriously as other countries, especially Europe."

Church of Scientology drops Bexar suit against ex-member

By Craig Kapitan ("The Houston Chronicle," April 25, 2012)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/37180/

Houston, USA - A breach-of-contract suit in which the Church of Scientology used Bexar County courts to target a high-ranking former member quietly ended this week with a settlement.

The case was dropped Monday, according to court records.

Debbie Cook, who received $50,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement when she left the Florida-based organization in 2007, violated that agreement with a mass email on New Year's Eve that disparaged church practices, the lawsuit contended.

But the suit became almost a textbook example of how litigation can sometimes backfire after Cook was called to the witness stand for a pre-trial injunction hearing in February and, with a courtroom full of reporters, outlined under oath a history of alleged oddities and abuses by the church.

The allegations included seven weeks of captivity in “The Hole,” where Cook said she slept on the floor, was fed “slop,” was coerced into giving false confessions and was beaten, according to previous Express-News reports. She was also forced to stand in a garbage can for 12 hours as water was poured over her head and watched as another man was ordered to lick a bathroom floor clean, she said during four hours of testimony.

While she did sign a nondisclosure agreement, she was under “extreme duress” at the time, her attorney argued.

Church officials opted to prematurely end the hearing the next day, but the case was still scheduled to go to trial.

According to court filings, neither side will collect damages as a result of the litigation. Cook and husband Wayne Baumgarten agreed to a permanent injunction that bans them from “disclosing any non-public information, data or knowledge they have learned or will learn about the organization.” In addition, they are barred from testifying at further hearings unless subpoenaed to do so.

The injunction “speaks for itself,” San Antonio-based attorney George Spencer Jr., who represented the church, said in an email Wednesday.

Bulverde attorney Ray Jeffrey, who represented Cook, did not return a call seeking comment.

At the time of the injunction hearing, a church spokeswoman called Cook's testimony “false claims and wild tales” — a “bitter hate campaign” intended to distract from a cut-and-dried breach-of-contract case.

UCSB research of 'new religions' returns surprises

By Rhonda Parks Manwille ("News-Press," July 30, 2004)

Extracted from http://wwrn.org/articles/4833/?&place=united-states&section=other-nrms

Six weeks ago, 11 UCSB students set out to map the "new religious movements" in Santa Barbara and Ojai.

To be truthful, they were a little afraid of what they might find.

"I would have thought that they all had shaved heads and chanted, but it wasn't like that at all," said Sara Penrod, who will be a senior in the fall. "And now I know these groups can look like you and me, that they are all around and that they aren't scary at all."

During five weeks of research, the students visited Theosophy lodges and Buddhist temples, storefronts for Scientology and psychic boutiques. A number of yoga studios are included, because yoga is a way for some Hindu and Buddhist groups to engage in religious practice and raise money.

The students, under UCSB researcher and cult expert J. Gordon Melton, discovered 90 groups in the area (including spirituality hub Ojai) that qualify roughly as "new religions."

Those are typically small and culturally and socially alienated from mainstream religions -- but not necessarily "new," as the listing of several Buddhist and Hindu sects demonstrates.

With their survey results, the class created a directory of the groups that includes pictures, addresses and contact information. The list includes movements such as Eckankar, the Church of Inner Light, Yogaversity Equilibrium Healing, the Spiritualist Church of the Comforter and legendary Santa Barbara palm reader and psychic Madame Sonia Rosinka.

Some of the groups -- such as the Mormons, Christian Scientists, and some Pentecostal and evangelical churches -- might be shocked to find themselves on the list, because they place themselves in the Christian tradition. The Islamic Society of Santa Barbara is also on the list, as are the Jehovah's Witnesses. They all qualify as "new religions" because they remain outside the mainstream in many respects, Mr. Melton said.

"It's a fluid analysis, and some are moving out of the 'new religions' group while others are on the edge," he said. "Some might be considered more sectarian -- offshoots of mainstream religions."

Most of the students visited at least one group on the list and attended its worship services. They generally found the practitioners friendly, open and willing to share information about their faith.

Only a few of the students said they felt "pressured" by their subjects, one being an evangelical college ministry, the other a Scientology practitioner.

That's not what most of these young students were expecting.

Several students said they excitedly told their friends and families about their "cult class," which instantly raised concerns among some parents. But the students soon learned the term "cult," so often used to describe destructive and violent groups like the People's Temple and Synanon, is no longer preferred by scholars.

"When someone uses the word 'cult,' it usually says more about them than the group," said Mr. Melton, the founder and director of The Institute for the Study of American Religion, and the author and editor of more than 30 books. He noted that nearly every religious group and denomination in America -- save for the Methodists -- has been accused of being cultlike at one point, and the evidence lies in the anti-cult literature aimed at each of them.

"In the beginning, everything looked like a cult to me," said Andrea Holland. "Now I'm thinking of these groups as new religions and making a distinction."