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 ...

Over the last several months, The St. Petersburg Times published a series of scathing articles on the Church of Scientology under the rubric “The Truth Rundown.” In 1980, the newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for an investigation of the church’s inner workings. Coverage of Scientology has long been an important story for The St. Petersburg Times, given that the church’s spiritual headquarters is located in nearby Clearwater, Fla. So it came as a bit of a shock when, on Friday, the ...

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 ...

Senator Nick Xenophon's stunning attack on the Church of Scientology this week has shone a light on a worldwide group many former members accuse of ruining their lives through fear and abuse. SCIENTOLOGISTS lured Dean Detheridge off the street using their tried and tested technique of offering a personality test. He wasn't much interested, but they were extremely skilled and persistent persuaders, and he found he couldn't say no. Seven days later he was on staff in what turned out to ...

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, ...

The Times Publishing Co., parent company of the St. Petersburg Times, has agreed to sell Governing magazine to a California media company. Governing has operated out of Washington, D.C., since its beginnings in 1987. It covers local and state government. The buyer is e.Republic, based in Sacramento. The purchase will close the week after Thanksgiving for a price neither side would disclose. E.Republic was chosen from among six bidders for the magazine, said Andrew Corty, corporate vice president of Times Publishing. ...

The Church of Scientology says independent senator Nick Xenophon ignored an invitation to meet with church officials before he used parliamentary privilege to attack the organisation. Church of Scientology Australia president Reverend Vicki Dunstan said Senator Xenophon "made no effort to ascertain the truth or falsity of the allegations he made in the Senate on Tuesday night". Senator Xenophon used parliamentary privilege to raise allegations of criminal misconduct on behalf of ex-members of the church, and called for an inquiry into ...

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 ...

Scientology offers refunds to people who leave the group, a spokesperson told Sunrise this morning. Scientologist Virginia Stewart appeared on Sunrise today to further defend the Church of Scientology against the allegations made in parliament by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon. "It's very shocking to me to hear what they're saying," Stewart said of the allegations aired on Today Tonight on Wednesday evening. "The points that they raise, we are going to individually take up." "We will be addressing these in full," ...

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 ...

Since writing about the public connection between Scientology and Polaris Media Group a lot of accusations and claims have been thrown around as the discussion ran hot. There’s been a lot of claims made and from what I gather the revelation of the link, which up until only recently hasn’t been publicised with any concrete proof, has made a lot of people uncomfortable. Up until now I’ve been written off by Polaris EMC as spreading rumours, despite the fact that I ...

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.]

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is to investigate claims that Scientology is a criminal organisation that sanctioned beatings, imprisonments, forced abortions, sexual abuse and fraud. The sensational claims about the church, whose members include many high-profile celebrities, were made by a South Australian senator, Nick Xenophon, who shares a surname with an ancient Greek warrior. But unlike the mercenary of history who fought armies in central Asia in about 400BC, Mr Xenophon has gone into battle with Scientologists after receiving letters ...

Hollywood heavy Tom Cruise looked like just another member of The Firm the other night when he turned up at attorney Earle Cooley’s jam-packed memorial service at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse . The “Knight & Day” leading man, wearing a dark suit and his trademark Tinseltown smile, joined rarely seen Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige at the service for Cooley, who was the religious group’s legal Top Gun for more than 25 years. Talk about Risky Business . . ...

NEWARK — A 19-year-old Verona man today was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for participating in a cyber attack against the Church of Scientology’s websites almost two years ago. Dmitriy Guzner, who pleaded guilty in May to one count of unauthorized impairment of a protected computer, appeared in U.S. District Court in Newark this morning before Judge Joseph A. Greenaway. [Embedded video: Video from Scientology raid in New York by the group Anonymous.] Greenaway said he ...

This is a speech Senator Nick Xenophon gave in the Senate on November 17, 2009 I rise to speak tonight on an issue of utmost seriousness that I believe deserves a great deal of scrutiny by law enforcement agencies and by this parliament. In the past few weeks, I have been contacted by former members of the Church of Scientology after I questioned the tax exemption status the organisation has under our tax laws during an interview on the Seven Network’s ...