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

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 ...

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 ...

Scientology defines itself as the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life. Members of the church believe man is an immortal, spiritual being whose experiences extend beyond a single lifetime. Man cannot only solve his own problems and reach his own goals, but he can gain a higher status of awareness and ability through Scientology. Karin Pouw, public affairs director for the Church of Scientology International, said the religion has more than 7,500 ...

As the fight for the presidency heats up, Hollywood's celebrities will be speaking their minds about the candidates and the issues – and studio chieftains already are cringing. Politics breeds controversy, and there are many who feel that stars should be seen and not heard. The campaign will be shrill enough, they reason, without celebrity input. There's more than a little hypocrisy to this position. The corporate Brahmins wield their wealth and power to support favored candidates, one could argue, so ...

The German Protestant Church compared the Hollywood film star Tom Cruise to the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels yesterday and claimed the actor was using his celebrity status to publicise the controversial Church of Scientology, of which he is a prominent member. The criticism of Mr Cruise, who is in Germany to make a film about an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, was the most vitriolic in a series of attacks on the actor over his membership of Scientology - regarded ...

RESPECTED Panorama journalist John Sweeney was this week seen on TV exploding in a fury during an interview with a leader of the Church of Scientology. Here he apologises but also reveals the other side of the movement ? what one one judge called “corrupt, sinister and dangerous” ? not to mention the stranger hiding in the bushes outside his recent wedding. THE Archbishop of Canterbury, MPs, Lords, top coppers and, for all I know, Wayne Rooney and the Beckhams: Anyone ...

The battleground is YouTube and Scientology's weapon is a clip of me losing it in the "Mind Control" section of a gruesome exhibition. Scientology has fought many battles to keep its secrets off the web, now they are using it to attack my investigation into them. Scientology has prepared an attack video, and they have shown the Scientology v Sweeney shouting match to anyone who would watch it. There is talk of 100,000 copies being released. Family 'disconnects' Scientology works. That ...

The controversial church, whose founder called shrinks "terrorists" and which labels mental illness a fraud, is closer than you think to implanting its extreme beliefs in the nation's laws and schools. It may be easy to dismiss Tom Cruise's recent outbursts against psychiatry as the ravings of an egomaniacal celebrity. Comedians have certainly had a field day with Cruise, a fervent disciple of the Church of Scientology, ever since he scolded Brooke Shields for taking prescribed medication to treat her postpartum ...

Tom Cruise has become a top proselytizer for Scientology. Is it because of a new private conviction, or a new public role for the church itself? In the course of just a few months, Tom Cruise has made an astounding public leap: He has transformed himself from one of the world's biggest movie stars into one of the oddest. It's not just his sudden romance with and engagement to actress Katie Holmes, which has not yet managed to shake the air ...