Congratulations to The Times (Nov. 5) for revealing the absurdity of the core beliefs of Scientology. I hope that everyone will now laugh this so-called "religion" off the face of the Earth. "A tyrannical ruler 75 million years ago, overpopulation on Earth and other planets, H-bombs exploded way back then, the tan spirits captured in chemical compounds and contaminated with evil"—Leapin' Lizards, it must be a job for Superman! It is obvious why Scientology doesn't want this nonsense made public: the ...

THE son of a wealthy landowner has been rescued by his family from a cult with whom he spent more than £100,000. Andrew Dobie, 22, was held a virtual prisoner by his family in a remote cottage where the windows had been nailed shut and the keys hidden. There he was rigorously deprogrammed to reverse the teachings of the cult, the Church of Scientology — an organisation branded immoral in a High Court judgment last year. 'It wasn't the money they ...

Los Angeles' chief federal judge, who has been accused of bias by Church of Scientology officials, Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the church against a former member. The ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel Real came after he again ordered a Scientology attorney removed from the courtroom for arguing too much. On Monday, Real sent another church lawyer, Donald C. Randolph of Los Angeles, to jail — also for arguing. Although Randolph was released from custody several hours later, ...

A lawyer for the Church of Scientology was jailed for several hours late Monday after he verbally sparred with Los Angeles' chief U.S. district judge, whom church officials have accused of taking away church-related cases from other judges in order to cover up alleged government misconduct. Attorney Donald C. Randolph was taken into custody by federal marshals after he was found in contempt by Judge Manuel Real for repeatedly raising arguments that Real had rejected and said he no longer wanted ...

BOSTON (AP) — A former Church of Scientology member has dropped her $200 million harassment claim against the organization, and group leaders say she settled for $150,000. Jury selection was scheduled to begin Monday in U.S. District Court when Judge W. Arthur Garrity announced that attorneys for La Venda Van Schaick, 35, asked for a dismissal, which he granted. Garrity then cleared the courtroom, which was filled with Scientologist members, after denying requests from attorney Harvey Silverglate and the group's president, ...

Some extremist religious sects and a number of related self-help therapies employ communication techniques that may over time "alter or impair fundamental information-processing abilities" and may result in severe physical, emotional and mental disorders, a team of University researchers announced at a press conference Tuesday. Authors and research associates Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman released a study titled "Information Disease," presenting findings of a nationwide study on the effects of covert induction and deprogramming. These results are the culmination of four ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Thousands of Scientologists, buoyed by an appearance by church member John Travolta, marched downtown yesterday in the third day of protests over a $39 million fraud judgment against their church and its leader. Police Sgt. Jay Decker estimated "a few thousand" Church of Scientology members participated in the demonstration. "There will be more," he predicted, as the week-long series of rallies progresses. Scientologists had been arriving in Portland from across the United States, Europe and Australia since ...

An estimated 500 members of the Church of Scientology rallied in downtown Portland late into the night Sunday, anticipating the early morning arrival of film star John Travolta. Travolta, flying his private plane from Los Angeles for a quick stop in Portland to show solidarity with other Scientology members, arrived at Portland International Airport shortly after midnight. He was greeted by more than 200 supporters who had been bused to the airport after a day of protest against a $39 million ...

Several thousand members of the Church of Scientology are planning to converge on Portland, Ore., today and Monday to protest a jury's $39-million damage award to a former church member who claimed that she was defrauded out of $3,253 by the group. The Rev. Kathleen Gorgon, president of the Church of Scientology of California, said that several hundred members left Saturday from the church's Hollywood headquarters by car, bus, train and plane to join others from around the world in a ...

The Church of Scientology struck back Wednesday against a former member who testified against the church by playing to a Portland jury videotapes, made surreptitiously, in which the man discussed placing phony documents in church files. Multnomah Circuit Judge Donald H. Londer allowed the 108 minutes of tapes, made in a Los Angeles park last November, to be played to the jury as evidence of bias on the part of Gerald D. Armstrong against the church. "I can create documents with ...

An attempt to discredit a witness testifying against the Church of Scientology in a fraud trial hit a snag Thursday when a Portland judge called surreptitiously made videotapes an "amateurish performance" and refused to let them be shown to the jury. "I think they are devastating, devastating against the church," Multnomah Circuit Judge Donald H. Londer said out of the presence of the jury after viewing 108 minutes of tape recorded in a Los Angeles park last November. The tapes involved ...

A Los Angeles federal judge dismissed Monday a $2-million libel suit by the Church of Scientology of California against a Boston lawyer because of the failure of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to appear at a court-ordered deposition. Lawyers for the Church of Scientology had argued that they had no way of contacting Hubbard, who was last seen in public in 1980 while living in the Hemet area. Hubbard, 74, had been ordered to appear for a deposition in Los Angeles ...

LOS ANGELES — A U.S. District Court judge Monday dismissed a $2 million libel suit by the Church of Scientology, of California against a Boston lawyer because of the failure of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to appear at a court-ordered deposition. Lawyers for the Church of Scientology had argued that they had no way of contacting Hubbard, who was last seen in public in 1980 while living near Hemet, 70 miles east of Los Angeles. Hubbard, 74, had been ordered ...