BERLIN (Reuters) - German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble launched a verbal assault against the Church of Scientology on Sunday, accusing it in a newspaper interview of trying to secure political power and influence in Germany. A spokeswoman for Scientology in Germany dismissed Schaeuble's allegations as "insane". Schaeuble and the country's 16 state interior ministers declared Scientology unconstitutional on Friday, opening the way for a possible ban on the organisation. "Scientology is also working in Germany to secure political power and influence," ...

UNIFORMED police distributed Church of Scientology propaganda at Whyalla High School, contrary to guidelines for religious education. A team of police officers visiting the school showed classes a DVD on living a moral life and distributed a booklet entitled "Whyalla High School presents the way to happiness, a common-sense guide for better living", written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. One outraged parent who did not wish to be named said she had explicitly told the school her children were not ...

There are moments in life, coincidences, which have the potential to utterly change the direction and meaning of your existence. Of these I have had several; they have all marked me in various ways, but none more so than that fateful late afternoon in Stuttgart, Germany, when an attractive and rather aggressive young woman blocked my path and accosted me with the interrogative; "Do you have a good memory"? This story aims to serve a dual function: Enlighten those who may ...

The Church of Scientology is running courses for learners on behalf of the KZN premier’s office About 120 hand-picked learners in KwaZulu-Natal have participated in a pilot human rights workshop run by an organisation with direct links to the controversial Church of Scientology — with the backing of the provincial government. A proposal to have the programme rolled out to the rest of KwaZuluNatal’s children is awaiting approval from the provincial legislature and the office of Premier Sbu Ndebele. Last week ...

This week a BBC reporter was shown screaming in fury after being hounded by Scientology fanatics. Here, a Mail writer tells how he, too, was the victim of a vicious cult smear campaign. The voice at the end of the line was trembling. "Is that Mr Bracchi?" "Yes, it is," I replied. The caller could not have been more relieved. I was supposed to be dead. Someone had started a rumour that I had been killed in a fire. The same ...

JOHN Travolta is a halfwit. A statement of the obvious, perhaps, given his adherence to a cult which believes we're all infected with the souls of aliens who were banished to earth 75 million years ago by an evil galactic warlord called Xenu. But if anyone doubted it, the former disco-strutter confirmed his asininity by publicly urging the BBC not to screen John Sweeney's Panorama film about Scientology last night. Not to be outdone, Travolta's fellow- cultists gleefully posted on YouTube ...

A senior policeman has appeared in a video praising the highly-controversial Church of Scientology, the Daily Mail can reveal. Chief Superintendent Ken Stewart, a divisional commander with the City of London police, agreed to be filmed outside Bishopsgate police station for the Scientology film, which is shown to members of the organisation. Although Mr Stewart insisted he was not a Scientologist, the news is the latest evidence of the extent to which the group has managed to forge links with the ...

Scientology has started a new propaganda offensive in Europe, opening new offices in capitals across the continent. German authorities are responding by increasing their efforts to monitor the controversial organization. At first sight, the building in Berlin's Charlottenburg neighborhood looks like a run-of-the-mill office complex: a functional, seven-story construction covered with glass windows. The young receptionist is dressed in black and wears a futuristic-looking headset. But for Scientologists, the building is a chapel, a place for studying their own doctrine and, ...

The controversial Scientology sect was accused of trying to inflitrate British politics last night after it emerged that they paid thousands of pounds to both the Labour and Tory parties. Members of Labour's ruling executive committee, on which Tony Blair sits, approved the payment from a charity which is closely linked to the Church of Scientology, which boasts Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its members. Labour allowed the charity, the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), to ...

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 ...