You quote John Kaye's statement to Parliament about the former Scientology leader Marty Rathbun ("Intimidating and violent: defector", December 2). Mr Rathbun was removed from his position related to legal and public relations matters in the US in 1993, after having inexplicably deserted his post. He later returned and worked his way back into legal affairs. By 2002 his malfeasance became apparent and he was removed from any position of executive authority. The internal investigation leading to his removal also ...

ABUSED but not defeated cult victim Helen Pomery has made it her life’s mission to shine a light on the underbelly of shady religious organisations in Australia. The Maleny resident has written a letter to all senators in Canberra asking for an inquiry into religious groups linked to abuse. It is not the first time Ms Pomery has written calling for a senate inquiry, but this time she was spurred on to put pen to paper after independent senator Nick Xenophon ...

ELIZABETH JACKSON: The international vice president of the Church of Scientology has responded to allegations that his church is a criminal organisation. Senator Nick Xenophon used parliamentary privilege last month to declare that Scientology is not a religion but a criminal organisation which covers up offences and abuse by its members. The Church of Scientology's vice president says the allegations have already been investigated. Bronwyn Herbert reports. BRONWYN HERBERT: Its status as a religion is fiercely contested, but the Church of ...

A Newtown School which teaches Scientology beliefs has received $1.4 million in government funding for less than 50 students. Greens MP John Kaye blasted State and Federal governments for providing the Athena School with $751,519 in ongoing funding until 2012, $135,287 for a new library, $114,713 for classroom refits and $50,000 for other works. According to the school’s website it teaches from The Way to Happiness, written by Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Mr Kaye said responses to questions on notice ...

A SENATE inquiry into Scientology will not go ahead after the Rudd Government told the church it believed the Tax Office and police were the most appropriate authorities to investigate any complaints. A staff member for Government Senate leader Chris Evans has emailed Scientologists who wrote to him after independent senator Nick Xenophon made a series of explosive allegations in the Senate last month, saying it would be inappropriate to conduct an inquiry into a private, religious organisation. The email, from ...

A MELBOURNE school linked to the controversial Church of Scientology received $300,000 in funding from the federal stimulus package. Yarralinda, in Mooroolbark, is one of two schools in Australia that uses the teaching methods of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd recently expressed concerns about the Church of Scientology after independent senator Nick Xenophon made serious claims against the organisation under parliamentary privilege. Last week, the State Government told its schools not to distribute materials by a Scientology-funded ...

The Church of Scientology's musical endeavours might be laughable yet the current storm of accusations against them is deadly serious. Edward McBride, 30, electrocuted himself at a substation near Brisbane in February 2007. Calls for Scientology inquiry The Queensland Coroner requested the Church of Scientology hand over its files as Edward had been doing intensive Scientology courses before taking his life. His brother Steve McBride is searching for answers. "I just feel my brother's life has been taken for the ...

Scientology’s relentless hard sell has driven some members to the edge of bankruptcy, wrote one former member who had experienced such tactics. [...]

A former Scientology leader says bullying is widespread in the church, writes investigations reporter Nick O'Malley. Coerced abortion, violence, intimidation and demands for ever greater "donations" have become unofficial Church of Scientology policy, beginning at its Florida head office and leaching around the world, the church's most senior defector has said. Marty Rathbun, who until 2004 was the church's second-most powerful man, answering only to the present leader, David Miscavige, said the church leadership was obsessed with destroying dissent and increasing ...

NSW police are investigating allegations of abuse and bullying in the Church of Scientology made in a series of letters from former members tabled in Federal Parliament by independent senator Nick Xenophon. The most senior executive to defect from the church, US-based Marty Rathbun, has said the allegations, including coercion to have abortions and donate money, were unwritten church policy, dictated from its head office, according to a speech by Greens MP John Kaye in the NSW upper house. "My office ...

FEWER than 100 children will benefit from more than $1.6 million in Federal Government subsidies over four years to two schools strongly linked to the Scientology movement. The Athena School in Newtown will receive $751,519 in recurrent funding from the Federal Government for the 2009 to 2012 funding period. It has also been allocated $135,287 for a new library, $114,713 for primary classroom refurbishments and $50,000 for other refurbishments under the Rudd Government's Building the Education Revolution program. The Athena School ...

Paul David Schofield described how Scientology was complicit in the cover-up of child sexual abuse – and how he helped them hide the truth about the deaths of his own daughters. [...]

[Picture / Caption: Carly Crutchfield, CEO of Ccorp at the 'Massive Results Bootcamp' the Gold Coast.] Scientologists are using a get-rich-quick seminar at the Gold Coast this weekend to groom potential new members for the controversial church, say former members. Carly Crutchfield, the key speaker at a 'Massive Results Bootcamp seminar' at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Sanctuary Cove confirmed that she and two other main speakers are Church of Scientology members. She said the others speakers were Gareth Jekel, a business ...

THE PRIME MINISTER, Kevin Rudd, has expressed concern about the Church of Scientology but will provide subsidies worth more than $1 million to a Sydney school that promotes the teaching of the church's founder, L.Ron Hubbard. Mr Rudd said he shared some of the concerns of the independent senator Nick Xenophon, who used parliamentary privilege last week to level allegations of torture, perjury and financial coercion against the church. Newtown's Athena School is licensed by Applied Scholastics International, which is strongly ...

A man who blames the Church of Scientology for his brother's suicide added his voice Monday to calls for an Australia Senate inquiry into the religion. Belfast-born Stephen McBride, 35, flew from the west coast city of Perth to Canberra on Monday to support a senator's call for an inquiry into the church. The Senate could vote as early as Tuesday on Sen Nick Xenophon's motion to hold a wide-reaching inquiry into the church that was founded in 1953 by the ...

A man whose Scientologist brother committed suicide has urged Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to allow a parliamentary inquiry into the controversial church. Thirty-year-old Edward McBride killed himself in the Brisbane suburb of Everton Park in February 2007. Mr McBride had been a member of the Church of Scientology for about two years and had paid $25,000 for various courses. A coroner's inquiry into his death heard evidence that members of the church had contacted him 19 times in the days before ...

For the three days leading up to soldier Edward McBride's suicide, his family say he was bombarded by telephone calls and texts from Church of Scientology members. The family believe the church played a major role in his death, but have spent the past two years without answers or recourse. Now they've urged the federal government to initiate an inquiry into the controversial religious group, under fire following recent allegations of blackmail, sanctioned beatings, forced abortions and financial fraud. Independent senator ...

An international group sponsored by the Church of Scientology says it has been targeting children in schools across Australia for at least three years. The Youth For Human Rights group has been distributing DVDs and brochures that spread its message about rights and name Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard as a leader on the issue alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. The New South Wales education minister confirmed yesterday that primary schools had been ordered not to hand out the ...

Hollywood figures quit 'rip-off' church as Australian prime minister threatens parliamentary inquiry into its activities The security at the red-brick and glass-walled horseshoe of the John Joseph Moakley courthouse on Boston's waterfront was unusually tight. Anybody who was not a member of the city's bar association was swept with a search wand. Photo IDs were checked. Mobile phones were taken from guests, who included the Hollywood star Tom Cruise. The occasion was a memorial service for Scientology's top legal adviser for ...

A former member threatens to disclose the inner workings of the organisation to which he was 'persuaded to give substantial sums' By Adam Luck Sunday, 22 November 2009 A businessman is suing the Church of Scientology for hundreds of thousands of pounds, claiming that he lost his girlfriend and business after she became indoctrinated by the controversial self-styled church. David Craig, who at one time joined the Scientologists, claims that he was persuaded to pay out more than £170,000 to the ...

The New South Wales Government says the Church of Scientology is targeting Year 6 students using "marketing" material that claims to promote human rights. Education Minister Verity Firth has ordered principals not to distribute DVDs and booklets funded by the church and sent to schools by a group called Youth For Human Rights. The material outlines the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and quotes Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard on a list of "famous human rights leaders". Ms Firth only ...