| October 1, 2005 | District Scrambles to Ensure Human Rights Event Is Religion-Free | Los Angeles city school officials were caught off guard this week by the Church of Scientology's role in an upcoming event at a South Los Angeles high school, which, while not illegal, is considered unusual. The event was organized by Youth for Human Rights International - a group with close ties to the Church of Scientology. | |
| March 24, 2005 | Tom Cruise Makes Opportunities To Tout Scientology | Lately, doing business with Tom Cruise, one of Hollywood's most bankable actors, means a bow in the direction of his religion, the Church of Scientology. Increasingly public about his long association with Scientology, Cruise invited film executives on a four-hour tour of three different Scientology facilities in Los Angeles. | |
| October 10, 2004 | Astray in the Manger - A Very Merry Unauthorized Scientology Pageant | An off-Broadway sleeper, "Scientology Pageant" was called the "the gutsiest gimmick in New York theater for 2003" by the New York Times. After an extended run, the hourlong musical capped off its surprising success by winning an Obie Award. How this satiric celebration of Hubbard's life and writing - from his Navy days to his success as a science fiction writer to the founding of his church in 1953 - will be received in a city of such devout Hubbard followers as John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and Tom Cruise (all of whom appear as characters in the piece) is anyone's guess. One thing is certain: "Scientology Pageant" will have a more fervid audience, pro and con, when it makes its West Coast premiere at the Powerhouse Theatre. | |
| September 27, 2001 | Sympathy For The Devil: The Tory Bezazian Story | Tory Bezazian was a veteran Scientologist who loved going after church critics - until she met the darkest detractor of all. More than a year after her very public defection - the first in memory to occur on the Internet - Bezazian is still adapting to her transformation. She has quickly become a highly visible foe of the church she served for three decades. | |
| April 9, 2000 | Religion No Act for Tom Cruise | Lately, doing business with Tom Cruise, one of Hollywood's most bankable actors, means a bow in the direction of his religion, the Church of Scientology. Increasingly public about his long association with Scientology, Cruise a few weeks ago invited film executives involved in distributing his summer movie, War of the Worlds, on a four-hour tour of three different Scientology facilities in Los Angeles. | |
| September 18, 1997 | Hubbard Adherent's School Bid on Hold | A proposal for a charter school featuring the teaching methods of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard has been withdrawn by its primary sponsor for personal reasons, according to her supporters. | |
| December 1, 1996 | Los Angeles Times: Lawyer Buys Rights to Anti-Cult Organization | For 20 years, the Cult Awareness Network ran the nation's best-known hotline for parents who grew distraught when unconventional religious groups they neither trusted nor understood suddenly won the allegiance of their children. Now its name, logo, post office box and telephone number have been sold to the highest bidder: a Los Angeles lawyer named Steven L. Hayes, who is a Scientologist. | |
| June 29, 1996 | Los Angeles Times: Cult Fighters' Future in Doubt | Plagued by numerous lawsuits from religious groups and fighting a $1.1-million judgment against it, the Cult Awareness Network filed for bankruptcy. | |
| March 31, 1994 | Los Angeles Times: Scientology Loses Bid to Void $2.5-Million Award | A judge threw out Scientology's lawsuit seeking to reverse Larry Wollersheim's $2.5-million emotional distress award. | |
| October 13, 1993 | Los Angeles Times: Tax-Free Status OKd for Church of Scientology | After decades of feuding, the Internal Revenue Service reversed itself and granted the Church of Scientology and more than 150 of its corporate entities tax-exempt status, ruling that they are charitable, religious organizations entitled to be free from federal income taxes. | |
| October 31, 1992 | Los Angeles Times: Scientologists Win a Battle in Long War | Founded in 1978, the nonprofit Cult Awareness Network provides callers and media representatives with information about Scientology and other groups, and it suggests ways of evaluating any organization to determine if it is a destructive cult. Eight Scientologists won the right to attend a CAN conference. | |
| June 29, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: On the Offensive Against an Array of Suspected Foes | The Church of Scientology does not turn the other cheek. Ministers mingle with private detectives. "Sacred scriptures" counsel the virtues of combativeness. Parishioners double as paralegals for litigious church attorneys. | |
| June 29, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Suits, Protests Fuel a Campaign Against Psychiatry | The Ritalin controversy seemed to emerge out of nowhere. It frightened parents, put doctors on the defensive and suddenly called into question the judgment of school administrators who authorize the drug's use to calm disruptive, hyperactive children. The uproar over Ritalin was triggered almost single-handedly by the Scientology movement. | |
| June 29, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: A Lawyer Learns What It's Like to Fight the Church | Attorney Joseph Yanny says his Century City law firm was burglarized four times and that Scientology-related documents turned up missing; that he has been spied upon by a church "plant" working as a secretary in his office; and that private investigators have camped outside his Hermosa Beach residence and shadowed him when he left. | |
| June 29, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The Battle with the I.R.S. | Among its many adversaries, the Church of Scientology's longest-running feud has been with the Internal Revenue Service. So far, neither combatant has blinked. The IRS has revoked the tax-exempt status of various Scientology organizations, accusing them of operating in a commercial manner and of financially benefiting private individuals. From the late 1960s through mid-1970s, IRS agents classified Scientology as a "tax resister" and "subversive," a characterization later deemed improper by a judge. | |
| June 29, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The Battle with the "Squirrels" | Hubbard contended that only church members are qualified to administer his self-improvement-type courses. Outsiders, he said, inevitably misapply the teachings, wreaking spiritual harm on their subjects. But those who have launched "independent" Scientology-style centers say Hubbard concocted this as an excuse to eliminate competition so he could charge exorbitant prices for his courses. | |
| June 28, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Costly Strategy Continues to Turn Out Bestsellers | In some cases, sales of Hubbard's books apparently got an extra boost from Scientology followers and employees of the publishing firm. Showing up at major book outlets like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, they purchased armloads of Hubbard's works, according to former employees. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Reaching into Society | Scientologists are disseminating Hubbard's writings in public and private school classrooms across the U.S., businesses and business groups, and detox programs, using front groups that seldom publicize their Scientology connections. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Scientology and the Schools | The Scientology movement has launched a concerted campaign to gain a foothold in the nation's schools by distributing to children millions of copies of a booklet Hubbard wrote on basic moral values. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Converting the Business World | Scientology is using a network of private consulting firms to gain a foothold in the U.S. business community. The firms promise businessmen higher earnings but appear to be mainly interested in recruiting new members for the church. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Scientology and Science | Scientologists are trying to win recognition for Hubbard's detox/purification program in scientific and medical circles. Physicians affiliated with the regimen have touted it as a major breakthrough, and a number of patients who have undergone the treatment say their health improved. But some health authorities dismiss Hubbard's program as a medical fraud that preys upon public fear of toxins. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Courting the Power Brokers | From politicians to the leaders of business, the courts and the media, Scientology works to win allies to smooth the way for expansion. To create a favorable environment for Scientology's expansion, church executives are working to win allies among society's power brokers and opinion leaders. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: The "Org Board" | A key element of the management techniques Scientologists sell to businessmen is L. Ron Hubbard's "organizational board". Used also by the Church of Scientology, the "Org Board" divides an organization into seven divisions — executive, personnel, sales, finance, training, marketing and qualifications. | |
| June 27, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Foundation Funds Provide Assist to Celebrated Teacher Escalante | The Scientology movement's Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education has befriended one of America's most celebrated teachers, Jaime Escalante of Garfield High School. | |
| June 26, 1990 | Los Angeles Times: Defectors Recount Lives of Hard Work, Punishment | Over the years, defecting Scientologists have come forward with similar accounts of how their lives and personalities were upended after they joined the church's huge staff. They say the organization promised spiritual liberation but delivered subjugation. | |
