Film companies in Germany are now making attempts to look behind what they believe is the true nature of Scientology. The movies are primarily aimed at young people, who are most likely to fall for the organization. Young people tend to be the first to fall for Scientology and are therefore much courted by the group's scouts across the nation. This is where a new, 25-minute film by the Matthias Film company comes in. It shows interviews with Scientology leaders, former ...

Washington, USA — With their dark suits, leering masks and signs warning of what they call the "cult" of Scientology, the protest group Anonymous may startle a few visitors to Millennium Park on Saturday. But that's what the participants are hoping for. "Outfits and the outrageous help get people's attention," said Eric Szulczewski of Clarendon Hills, one of a few members of Anonymous willing to give his name. An Internet-based group that claims more than 10,000 members worldwide, Anonymous has assembled ...

CLEARWATER — The Church of Scientology — the largest downtown property owner — expects to begin work on the interior of its world spiritual headquarters almost 10 years after it first began construction of the building. The organization has hired Staubach Co., an international construction management firm founded by former NFL star Roger Staubach, to oversee the $45 million interior design of the six-story Mediterranean Revival building. The church hasn't yet hired a general contractor, but work on the 380,000-square-foot building, ...

Anyone who thinks the police aren't interested in diversity will be amazed by the links they have built with Scientology Once again our great nation has entertained the world, putting on two stunning exhibition matches this week. First was the Champions League final, between the clubs who finished first and second in our very own Premier League. The second - and whether the parties were quite as closely matched as Manchester United and Chelsea will be for you to decide - ...

[ Transcript by Anonymous ] (Based on CNN own videos, but completed using YouTube - CNN: Scientology vs. Anonymous : Tommy Davis Responds) [00:00] John Roberts: It is 27 minutes after the hour. Scientology has prominent followers and very vocal critics. But now some of these critics are anonymous, bringing their campaign on the Internet. Kareen Wynter explains. Attacking scientology (2:21) (Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com) [00:00] Kareen Wynter: The church of scientology has had its share of ...

Masked protesters have begun a campaign against the Auckland headquarters of Scientology New Zealand, as part of a worldwide movement against the church. The protest, called Operation Reconnect, was organised by a global group calling itself Anonymous, which began its internet-based "War on Scientology" in January. It aimed to bring together families it says have been torn apart by the church. The latest protest on Saturday was the third of its kind, held across the road from the church's Panmure headquarters. ...

[Picture / Caption: Science friction ... former high-ranking Scientologist David Graham has gone public with his concerns about the religion and what he considers a denial of human rights Helen Nezdropa Photo: Helen Nezdropa] AN AUSTRALIAN man who was a former high-ranking member of the Church of Scientology is calling for the religion to be "totally dismantled" because of the human rights abuses he says it inflicts on its followers. David Graham has gone public after years of keeping quiet when ...

The belief system of Tom Cruise is coming to the city.Scientology plans its Mumbai chapter MUMBAI: What do Tom Cruise, businesswoman Priya Kumar, model Sheena Chohan, actor Bunty Grewal and John Travolta have in common? They're all Scientologists, and swear by the teachings of Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, the American sci-fi writer who laid down the principals of what came to be called – in 1954 – the Church of Scientology. Over the years, Priya, who owns and runs a leadership training ...

Accountant Andrew Yong was near his office in the Panmure shops in east Auckland when he met a man who would change his life. Andrew Wenborn was from the Church of Scientology, headquartered a few hundred metres away. An Australian on secondment from Sydney, Wenborn persuaded Yong to take a Scientology "stress test", using an electrical device called an "e-meter". Sure enough, Yong was stressed and his health poor, Wenborn told him, and Scientology could help. What's more, said Wenborn, he ...

The homeland of legendary church reformer Martin Luther said over the weekend it will seek to ban the Church of Scientology – an organization considered to be in conflict with Germany’s constitution. High level German officials, including all 16 state interior ministers, agreed to give the nation’s domestic intelligence agency the job of preparing necessary information to ban the organization, which is considered by most Christians a cult, according to The Associated Press. The ministers, including federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, ...

The six-story building that houses the New York headquarters for the Church of Scientology is located on 227 West 46th St., reserving its place amid an ever-bustling, tourist-laden Times Square.Rendering of the new Scientology complex Inside, over 80 staff members work hard on finalizing community service programs for the Church’s most recent real estate purchase: a 50,000-square-foot property on 125th St. in East Harlem. Valued at more than $13 million, the new property is intended to restore Harlem as a center ...

Sure, says Mayor Frank Hibbard. It can be a little unsettling sometimes — throngs of Scientologists wandering Clearwater's streets in their blue or khaki trousers and crisp dress shirts. Sometimes, it makes the neighbors a bit uneasy. "When you come to downtown, no one likes being a minority," Mr. Hibbard said. But mostly, folks in this picturesque Gulf Coast city have come to accept that Clearwater is to Scientologists what Salt Lake City is to Mormons, what Mecca is to Muslims. ...

A woman accused of killing her father and sister and injuring her mother was denied psychiatric treatment by her parents who were Scientologists, a court heard yesterday. They declined the treatment after the 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named, was diagnosed with a psychotic illness last year and instead gave her medication they got from America. Dr Mark Cross, consultant psychiatrist and clinical director of the Liverpool and Fairfield Mental Health Services, said it was not "psychiatric in nature". The woman, ...

VICTORIA'S Scientology population has almost doubled in a decade, figures reveal. There are 629 Scientologists in Victoria, compared with 324 in 1996. Census data prepared for the Herald Sun shows that Melbourne's Yarra Ranges and Whitehorse areas are the state's Scientology capitals. Australia-wide, there were 2507 Scientologists in 2006, up from 1489 a decade ago. Experts say the religion's popularity is in line with the growth of other alternative religions and has been boosted significantly by Scientology's celebrity links. High-profile Scientologists ...

It has purchased more spacious quarters on Chestnut Street and plans to expand. Retailers, restaurants and other businesses are flocking to Center City. Now comes another flock. The Church of Scientology last month paid just under $8 million for a vacant 15-story office building and an adjoining one-story former toy store in the heart of downtown: the 1300 block of Chestnut Street — across the street from Macy's and next door to the furniture store Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. The ...

The former home of the Science Museum of Minnesota in downtown St. Paul will undergo a $7 million makeover and be unveiled next year as among the largest Church of Scientology centers in the world. Only the spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Fla., and Los Angeles are bigger than the 80,000-square-foot building at Seventh and Exchange streets, said the Rev. Brian Fesler, the church's director of special affairs in the Twin Cities. "We didn't plan it that way, but I'm happy about ...

Tessa Mayes is the first reporter to have gone undercover in the London Celebrity Centre of the Church of Scientology. It is, she finds, like a pious version of Pop Idol. The adherents want to be celebrities at least as much as Scientologists ‘A culture is only as great as its dreams and its dreams are dreamed by artists,’ wrote L. Ron Hubbard, who founded the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in 1969, 15 years after he formed the church itself. ...

SCIENTOLOGY, the religion of stars such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kate Ceberano, is growing so fast the church wants to add four floors to its Sydney headquarters. The Church of Scientology has lodged a development application with City of Sydney Council for a glass-fronted tower on the roof of its heritage building on Castlereagh Street. A giant Scientology cross will top the building, dwarfing the rather run-down, historic sandstone 1859 St George's Presbyterian Church next door. "We have been ...

The Church of Scientology is moving its offices and worship center to downtown Kansas City and has purchased a historic former bank building at 1801 Grand Blvd. The church plans to occupy the former City Bank Building later this year and then sell its current facility at 39th and Main streets. The global religious organization was founded in the early 1950s by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and includes among its members Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta. The ...

Scientology Moves On Languishing Flagship Posted Feb 1, 2007 by Vidisha Priyanka Updated Feb 1, 2007 at 03:37 PM By BAIRD HELGESON The Tampa Tribune CLEARWATER - The Church of Scientology’s mammoth new spiritual shrine has stood vacant and unfinished for years, its dusty Mediterranean-style shell surrounded by patches of scrubby grass and “no trespassing” signs. Now church officials say they are ready to resume work on the building as it has racked up more than $55,000 in fines for not ...

The Labour Party received thousands of pounds from an offshoot of Scientology, it has been revealed. The decision to accept money from a charity linked to the controversial cult was taken at the highest level by members of the National Executive Committee. • 'Senior Blair aides to be interviewed as potential suspects in cash-for-honours probe' • Sign up for our daily interactive homepage email They allowed the charity, the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), to take a stall at ...

Should media mogul James Packer and fiancee, model Erica Baxter, ever face the strains that occasionally crop up in marriage, their key marital aid may be a device with steel cylinders held in each hand, attached by wires to a screen with dials and meters. It's the electropsychometer, or E-meter, and it's one element of a church with which Packer and Baxter are flirting: Scientology. While he hasn't talked about it much, the man who is inheriting a $7 billion fortune ...

The controversial Church of Scientology has been granted a subsidy of more than £270,000 a year in public money, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Scientology's lawyers used European rulings and Government equality regulations to force the City of London corporation to grant an 80 per cent rates discount for its new centre near St Paul's Cathedral. The "church", it is believed, is now pressing to pay nothing at all. The corporation confirmed that this discount was on the basis that Scientology ...

Scientology is perhaps best-known for its most famous practitioner, Tom Cruise. But in this beachy Tampa suburb, Scientologists are neighbors... CLEARWATER, Fla. — Scientology is perhaps best-known for its most famous practitioner, Tom Cruise. But in this beachy Tampa suburb, Scientologists are neighbors, business owners, real-estate investors — and a growing force that makes some uncomfortable. The Church of Scientology, despite its official status as a tax-exempt religious organization, is nonetheless the largest taxpayer in downtown Clearwater, home to its worldwide ...