The "Church of Scientology," a highly profitable form of pseudo-psychoanalysis, has been investigated and exposed by numerous governmental agencies from Australia to England and the U. S. In California, however, this cult, founded by former science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, began last year to acquire a measure of respectabiilty. Somehow, famed San Francisco Forty-niner Quarterback John Brodie was converted. Then the Rev. Vaughn Young, the San Francisco Scientology franchise holder, managed quietly to obtain membership in the Communications Commission of ...

The rev. Lorna Levett, Australian born counsellor, who has faced the wrath of the Church of Scientology by her defection in Calgary, says the resigned because she did not think some students were getting their money's worth. She told the News this week that she had persuaded people to spend over $200,000 in Scientology since she opened her Calgary franchise (later called a mission) in 1968. "Well over $100,000 they sent to the Los Angeles organization," Levett said in a prepared ...

The former head of a Calgary franchise of the Church of Scientology, who collected more than $300,000 in fees since 1968 says local people "didn't get their money's worth." Lorna Levitt, who resigned from the church April 19, said Wednesday Calgarians paid up to $5,000 apiece for spiritual counselling, "seeking absolute and total freedom" at her urging but said "it didn't do for everyone what it was supposed to." The local mission — a franchise — was incorporated in January, 1970, ...

Growth and expansion come close to being an obsession of the Church of Scientology. From street pamphleting to sophisticated media exposure of such Scientology converts as professional football player John Brodie and singer Amanda Ambrose, Scientologists solicit new recruits in a promotional whirlwind more often associated with used car salesmanship than with religion. Local Scientology centers promote services and plan their expansion with the help of high-level directives outlining a variety of methods to bring in "the raw public by the ...

"Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be to start his own religion." - L. Ron Hubbard Founder of the Church of Scientology Lafayette Ronald Hubbard tossed off this remark at a lecture in Newark N.J., in 1949. At the time Hubbard was 38 years old, a prolific science fiction writer advising science fiction buffs on the tricks of his trade. The audience ...

The Church of Scientology of Missouri, a branch of a controversial organization promising total spiritual freedom for all followers, opened in 1969 with a six member staff at a small Brentwood office. Today, the church has a staff of 150 and is in the process of moving from rented, two-story quarters at 4225 Lindell Boulevard to an even larger building of its own at 3730 Lindell. For fees that can total $5700, the staff conducts personal enlightenment and improvement courses for ...

The true measures of the false prophet are an unrelenting certainty and a staggering income. The immediate impression of L. Ron Hubbard, the prophet of Scientology, which emerges from George Malko's "Scientology: The Now Religion," is of a windbag hustler. There is not a single question Hubbard cannot answer easily and definitively. This and the fact that Hubbard personally has been making something around $140,000 a week from Scientology (that is, as Malko tells is, week in and week out) I ...