outside Celebrity Centre; newspaper article titled “Scientology–A Long Trail of Controversy”; another shot of Celebrity Centre; part of newspaper article title “struggle for credibility” VO: Over its rocky 45- year history, Scientology has driven for mainstream acceptance. DAVID MISCAVIGE (interview): People have been searching for thousands of years for spiritual release and freedom, and what we have in Scientology is the answer. How to achieve that. JOHN TRAVOLTA (on movie set in Army camouflage outfit): Ultimately, the whole purpose is to ...

Crowd of people outside Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles; picture of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman VO: The high profile role of Scientology’s celebrities– which include America’s most popular actor, Tom Cruise– adds to Scientology’s mystique. footage of Travolta being presented with a “1998 Celebrity with glamour of the year” (?) award from somebody (glass trophy with red and blue hand prints painted on it) JOHN TRAVOLTA (on movie set in Army camouflage outfit) (voice of and on camera): I’m part ...

CLARIFICATION is required regarding the article on Scientology (June 21), as no German court decision exists which states that Scientology is not a religion, while 36 local and regional courts there have held that it is a bona fide religious community. It appears that the German courts have had to shoulder the whole burden of being objective and just. The Government inquiry on new religions was roundly condemned by parliamentarians and scholars and solidly lampooned in Spiegel magazine as "a kindergarten ...

The Church of Scientology has launched a countrywide personal attack against a University of Alberta professor who has publicly criticized some of their practices. Sociology professor Stephen Kent was the subject of a scathing article in a 16-page Church of Scientology supplement entitled Freedom that was distributed with the Globe and Mail newspaper Friday. In the two-page article, Kent is compared to well-known neo-Nazi hatemongerer Ernst Zundel and is referred to "as the academic point man for the voices of hate ...

The United Nations special rapporteur on religion has asked Germany to make clear why it has placed the Church of Scientology under surveillance. The rapporteur rejected allegations by the Scientologists that Germany's attitude towards them is reminiscent of the Nazis. But he warned that the emotional debate about new religious movements may lead to prejudice, and asked Germany to begin a campaign against religious intolerance. The German authorities say surveillance of Scientologists is necessary because of what they call the movement's ...

WASHINGTON – After years of holding the U.S. government in contempt, the Church of Scientology is enlisting members of Congress, the U.S. State Department and even President Clinton to advance its agenda in foreign lands. Prodded by the Scientologists' paid lobbyists and its cadre of sympathetic entertainers, several lawmakers and the Clinton administration have criticized the German government for allegedly discriminating against Scientology practitioners. They even got their argument against Germany to the floor of the House of Representatives last November. ...

Germany has apologized to Switzerland following the arrest of a German official who's suspected of spying on the Church of Scientology there. The official who works for a government security agency in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg has now been released on bail, but Swiss prosecutors say he remains under investigation. He faces charges of carrying out illegal business for a foreign state, working for a political information service and falsifying identity documents. Germany does not recognize Scientology as a religion ...

There are some Germans out there who don't trust John Travolta. Not only that, at least one of these Germans - actually a member of Germany's parliament - doesn't at all like the idea of Travolta talking with the president of the United States or his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, about the state of U.S.-German relations. The reason this German lawmaker worries about the popular movie actor getting to see the president and his advisers is that Travolta is a ...