[This is a reprint of an article published on December 23, 1988 in the St. Petersburg Times.]

[This is a reprint of an article published on Dec. 22, 1988 in the St. Petersburg Times.]

After years of sparring with the townsfolk and veiling itself in secrecy, the Church of Scientology has succeeded in turning Clearwater into its spiritual mecca. Scientologists quietly run teen nightclubs, schools, day-care centers, management consulting firms and other businesses, records and interviews show. Now the strategy of the organization, longtime observers say, is to confront controversy, gain converts and make money - lots of it. Scientology's Clearwater operation brings in $1.5-million to $2-million a week, say church watchers who include Clearwater ...

Operating under auspices of the Church of Scientology are dozens of groups, many of them separate legal entities. Untangling Scientology's lines of organizations can be difficult; even the sect's own charts that have been used in court cases are complex. Here are some of Scientology's organizations. Flag Service Organization — The legal name of Scientology's Clearwater operation, which serves as the sect's spiritual headquarters. Before 1981 the organization was part of the Church of Scientology of California, and Pinellas County officials ...

THE church of Scientology has been ruled a profit making organisation. In the Supreme Court, Washington DC, last Monday, the cult was refused leave to appeal against a 1984 tax exempt ruling and must now pay $1.2 million back taxes for 1970 to 1972 and $287,614 in penalties for late filing. This will come as a severe blow to the church which has been fighting the Internal Revenue Service since the late 1960's to keep its tax exemption status. The United ...

AS the Church of Scientology hits hack at last week's report outlining its "hard sell" techniques, we can reveal that some people were so desperate to raise money for courses that they used the services of a fellow Scientologist who loaned them money at exhorbitant rates of interest. Dozens of people rang to confirm the details of last week's story and some provided documents showing how one wealthy Scientologist loaned his own money to help people pay for the cult's expensive ...

As a campaign by members of the church of Scientology to make Britain the first Scientology country gains momentum, we can reveal the cost of the "hard sell" 'religion' which has split families and which last week led one Ashurst Wood couple to the Bankruptcy Court. Our investigations suggest the cult uses high pitch American style sales techniques to trap their hapless "believers" in a never ending web of lengthy courses. Scientology is the religious philosophy which grew out of Dianetics, ...

A MATHEMATICS graduate who founded his own computer company, went bankrupt after he "recklessly and cynically exploited" easy credit from banks, finance and credit card companies to give more than £71,000 in 17 months to the Church of Scientology. Mr Adrian Thomas Hayman, 38, paid £175,000 to the "corrupt, sinister and dangerous" church over 14 years. But he began increasing his average annual payments of £8,000 by borrowing. At a public examination at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, yesterday, he denied a suggestion ...

"Our connection with the church is that it is the religion of the majority of our staff," says David Riggin, [David] Singer's marketing director. "Scientology is a completely separate thing from Singer Consultants. Someone's decision to take a course from the Church of Scientology is their own affair, and our role is simply to allow the Scientology organizations to come to the seminars." Chiropractors make ideal subjects for Scientology because "they're in a line of work that is not well accepted, ...

Scientology grew out of the ashes of L Ron Hubbard's 'new science' of Dianetics, which enjoyed a brief vogue in the America of the 1950s then faded to bring its founder close to bankruptcy. In this second extract from the book the Church of Scientology tried to ban, RUSSELL MILLER describes the bizarre, science-fiction basis of the new, highly profitable religion and Hubbard's self-appointed mission to 'save the world' —– L RON HUBBARD had often said: "If a man really wanted ...

Concluding that L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology of California, had "unfettered control" over millions of dollars in church assets, a federal appeals court Tuesday upheld the revocation of the church's tax-exempt status. In a ruling that rejected nearly every argument the church had raised, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said there is evidence that the late church founder held millions of dollars of church funds in private trust funds, Swiss bank accounts and in a ...

Description of video is in italics. VO=VOICEOVER shot of Church of Scientology, Los Angeles; apparently group of ex-members VOICEOVER: The Church of Scientology, one of the largest and richest new religious movements, is being sued for a billion dollars by former members for fraud and breach of trust. They regard Scientology as a dangerous cult. group of Scientologists VO: Yet the church goes on expanding, making converts and claiming it is "The Road to Total Freedom". ''"Panorama" opening credits; while music ...

SUPPORTERS of the Church of Scientology have unleashed a campaign of harassment and intimidation against the author and publishers of a book which is highly critical of the cult. The author, Stewart Lamont, has been inundated with threatening letters and telephone calls from members of the sect, both before and since the publication of his book "Religion Inc" this summer. On one occasion Mr Lamont's neighbours were questioned about his private life by callers posing as future employers. Although it was ...

Kima Douglas was very much a typical Scientologist during her years in the Church, from 1968 to 1980: she was young, English-speaking, well-educated and totally committed. She was well-qualified to join L. Ron Hubbard's naval élite, the Sea Org, which had been founded in 1967. Her past nursing experience in her home country of Rhodesia was discovered at a time when Hubbard's health was rapidly deteriorating and for seven years, from 1973 to 1980, she became a unique combination of nurse, ...

A History of Controversy As anyone who follows the news knows, Scientology has been involved in a series of controversial cases, many of them involving vengeful church actions against its critics. (More on this below.) Although the church always paints itself as the victim, its critics suggest that Scientology hasn't been persecuted from the outside, but rather is the victim of warped and misplaced priorities inside the church. The critics — and there are more than the church is willing to ...

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, ...

Why a Portland jury awarded $39 million in damages against one of the world's most profitable cults. ONE SUNNY AFTERNOON last week, an elderly man, who looked as though he had probably spent the past few nights sleeping under the stars, stood in the southeast corner of Lownsdale Square in downtown Portland gazing in bewilderment at the scene before him. Several hundred people, many wearing T-shirts proclaiming something about a crusade for religious freedom, gathered around a large stage in the ...