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 ...

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 ...

Senator Nick Xenophon is a lawyer. So he understands the difference between allegations and facts. Yet when he spoke in the Senate on Tuesday night he presented unsubstantiated allegations as if they were factual evidence of what he labelled "criminal" behaviour. He spoke under Parliamentary privilege, so as to avoid the risk of defamation. But in the sense that he presented spurious allegations as if it were evidence, he abused the privilege that Parliament offered him. Advertisement: Story continues below This ...

EVEN for a religion started by a science fiction writer, the allegations levelled against the Church of Scientology in federal parliament this week sound stranger than fiction. Blackmail, cover-ups of child abuse, labour camps, embezzlement and coerced abortions are spelled out among the 53 pages of allegations by seven former Scientologists - some of whom had climbed high in the church hierarchy - tabled in the Senate. In what the church has decried as "an outrageous abuse of parliamentary privilege", independent ...

DANGEROUS dismissal of psychiatry and mental health problems must be part of a Senate inquiry into the Church of Scientology, a Melbourne cult counsellor said yesterday. Cult Counselling Australia director Raphael Aron said Scientologists put vulnerable people at risk by taking them off psychiatric drugs and treatment, instead treating them with vitamins and E-meter readings. Mr Aron supported Senator Nick Xenophon's call in Federal Parliament on Tuesday for a Senate inquiry into the Scientologists. The senator tabled letters citing forced abortions, ...

FORMER members of the Church of Scientology have made explosive allegations about forced abortions, child abuse and financial extortion, prompting calls for a parliamentary inquiry. Letters tabled by independent senator Nick Xenophon reveal claims of vulnerable people preyed on by a coercive and ruthless organisation that punished and shamed dissenters by physical incarceration, withholding food or intimidation. But the Church of Scientology hit back, arguing the claims came from seven ''disgruntled former members who use hate speech and distorted accounts of ...

KEVIN Rudd raised concerns about the Church of Scientology yesterday, as NSW police began investigating complaints from seven former Scientologists. The Prime Minister said he intended to examine allegations against the church before deciding whether to back independent senator Nick Xenophon's demand for a Senate inquiry. Senator Xenophon told parliament on Tuesday that Scientology was a "criminal organisation" hiding behind religion. In response to that statement, Mr Rudd said the senator was making "grave allegations". "Many people in Australia have real ...

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has concerns about Scientology but says the government will exercise caution in examining allegations of abuse levelled against the church. Mr Rudd says the government will consider the need for a formal inquiry into the church - and its tax-free status. South Australian senator Nick Xenophon used parliamentary privilege on Tuesday to castigate the church, labelling it a criminal organisation hiding behind so-called religious beliefs. Advertisement: Story continues below Tabling letters from eight former followers, he said ...

The Church of Scientology has rejected claims by Senator Nick Xenophon that it's involved in widespread criminal behaviour and abuse. John & Sandy reveal recent accusations with spokesperson Cyrus Brooks. [Embedded audio.]

A FEW months ago, Sydney Council approved a development application for the Church Of Scientology’s Castlereagh St headquarters with little incident. It was somewhat of an anticlimax after the bitter opposition by residents and anti-Scientology activists, who argued the group would increase recruitment drives which “harass, and badger people to join” if the proposal was approved. Residents said they feared the church would use “menacing activity” to target people on Castlereagh and Bathurst streets for recruitment. The $12-million expansion involved adding ...

THE Sydney woman accused of murdering her father and sister last week was discharged from a hospital psychiatric unit after a magistrate refused a request from medical staff that she receive further treatment. The 25-year-old woman from the southwest suburb of Revesby was admitted to Bankstown Hospital for involuntary psychiatric treatment late last year. The Australian can reveal that when the hospital sought an order to continue that treatment in the community, the visiting magistrate refused to grant this. The reasons ...

THE Church of Scientology was labelled "flat-earthers" yesterday as it defended its controversial stance on mental health. A psychiatric report tendered to Bankstown Local Court on Monday revealed a 25-year-old woman accused of killing her sister and father and seriously injuring her mother had been denied access to drugs because of her family's Scientology views. Australian Church of Scientology vice-president Cyrus Brooks described the organisation's link to the killings as a "red herring". "The woman was actually under the drugs, she ...

THE medical community has condemned the Church of Scientology for its "harmful" views on the treatment of mental illnesses following an alleged double murder by a woman who claims she was denied psychological drugs because of religious beliefs. The woman, who is charged with murdering her father and young sister, was allegedly denied the treatment by her parents because of their Scientology beliefs, a Sydney court heard on Monday. Scientology rejects psychiatry and psychology as means for treating mental illness. The ...

SCIENTOLOGISTS were condemned yesterday as "flat-earthers", following statements in court that an alleged murderer was denied psychiatric treatment because of her family's Scientologist beliefs. The vice-president of the Australian Church of Scientology, Cyrus Brooks, told ABC radio the Scientology link to the killings was "a bit of a red herring". "The woman was actually under the drugs; she was on drugs at the time of the incident. She was also under the care of a psychiatrist … since January," Mr Brooks ...

ARTHUR and Lawana Beals knew their son Gary was in trouble. He had been tormented for years by voices in his head but he had always shunned their advice to seek psychiatric care. On March 15, 1989, the 32-year-old broke. Grabbing a butcher knife, he stabbed Lawana before turning the knife on Arthur. Bleeding from her injuries, Mrs Beals tried to defend her husband before fleeing the house and calling police. Arthur Beals was dead by the time authorities arrived. Three ...

Scientologists were condemned today as "flat earthers", following revelations in court that an alleged murderer was denied psychiatric treatment due to her family's Scientologist beliefs. Speaking on ABC Radio, Australian Church of Scientology vice-president Cyrus Brooks said the Scientology link to the killings was "a bit of a red herring". "The woman was actually under the drugs, she was on drugs at the time of the incident. She was also under the care of a psychiatrist ... since January," he said. ...