Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 6, 2006, Page 57
attended a ―girls-only‖ party held by In Style magazine in August. According to a woman
who was there, ―Kate‘s minder kept a watchful eye and a close distance at all times. It was
so creepy! You really couldn‘t talk to her openly and honestly. Katie looked dead in the
eyes. She was not the same person she was before she met Tom.‖ ...Scientology‘s
conversion of a 107-unit apartment building in Clearwater, FL, to serve as housing for
church staff is moving forward. The plan is to add 500 additional staffers to the 1,400
currently residing in Clearwater, mostly members of Scientology‘s elite Sea Org, who
dedicate their lives to the organization, working long hours each day for a stipend of $75 a
week, with a day off every two weeks.
The British Value Added Tax (VAT) Tribunal has ruled, following a recent test case involving
a car dealership, that the government Revenue and Customs department must pay £4.1
million to Scientology, money the group has overpaid since 1973. Scientology has fought
for the last decade to gain charitable status, and therefore certain tax exemptions. The
Charities Commission has always refused to recognize Scientology as a religion — it said it
saw ―no public benefit arising out of the practice of Scientology‖ — but tax authorities
declared in 2000 that the church is a not-for-profit organization that does not have to pay
the VAT. ..Scientology says that a pre-Katrina membership of 25 in its Lafayette, LA,
church has more than doubled in the storm‘s wake. Members, wearing trademark yellow T-
shirts, helped victims with shelter, food, supplies, and counseling. ..A Scientologist
accused of assaulting a church critic who was videotaping Scientologists on a sidewalk in
Clearwater, FL, will not be prosecuted. The State Attorney says the evidence shows ―pretty
much mutual aggression.‖
A federal judge in Nebraska has ruled constitutional the state‘s law mandating newborn
blood screening, thus denying a suit brought by a couple saying the test would violate their
Scientology religious beliefs. Nebraska, Montana, Michigan, and South Dakota are the only
states that do not allow a religious belief exemption. Nebraska says the test is needed to
prevent several diseases that can cause severe mental retardation or death if undetected —
and because treatment of the diseases would impose a great burden of care on taxpayers.
Scientologists believe that babies should simply have seven days of silence following birth. .
.Scientology's Narconon drug treatment program, operating in Nepal, says that 70 percent
of drug addicts in the country are school children and that the drug sharing involved in
teenage romance is central to the spread of addiction. ..Shawn Lonsdale continues to
videotape the entrance to the church‘s Clearwater headquarters, sometimes for ten hours a
day, as he makes what he calls a ―pseudo-documentary‖ about Scientology and its effect on
downtown Clearwater for a local cable access program. Lonsdale, who once wanted to make
a coffee table book on homeless people in the downtown area, first came into conflict with
Scientology at a City Council meeting discussing redevelopment issues. When Scientologists
followed him home and staked out his house, he became an implacable foe. Among other
public displays, he has taped to the side of his nearby car, for all passersby, and entering
Scientologists, to see, a sign reading, ―OT I-VIII for free at xenu.net,‖ referring to paid
Scientology study courses. Lonsdale logs daily onto anti-Scientology websites — where he is
thought to be a hero — to share his daily experiences with the church ...A study to
determine whether Scientology‘s Criminon program helps reform prisoners in the
Oklahoma prison system claims that two-thirds of inmates at Mack Alford Prison who
completed the program were not arrested for any crime within five years of release. ..
Georgia State Senator Nancy Schaeffer, longtime opponent of mental health screening in
schools, joined Scientology‘s Citizens Commission on Human Rights at the ribbon
cutting for an exhibition in Atlanta denouncing psychiatry as ―an industry of death.‖
Setsuri (JMS)
Police in Tokyo are considering criminal complaints against Jung Myung Suk, the founder
of the South Korean group JMS and head of its Japanese arm, Setsuri, alleging that he and
attended a ―girls-only‖ party held by In Style magazine in August. According to a woman
who was there, ―Kate‘s minder kept a watchful eye and a close distance at all times. It was
so creepy! You really couldn‘t talk to her openly and honestly. Katie looked dead in the
eyes. She was not the same person she was before she met Tom.‖ ...Scientology‘s
conversion of a 107-unit apartment building in Clearwater, FL, to serve as housing for
church staff is moving forward. The plan is to add 500 additional staffers to the 1,400
currently residing in Clearwater, mostly members of Scientology‘s elite Sea Org, who
dedicate their lives to the organization, working long hours each day for a stipend of $75 a
week, with a day off every two weeks.
The British Value Added Tax (VAT) Tribunal has ruled, following a recent test case involving
a car dealership, that the government Revenue and Customs department must pay £4.1
million to Scientology, money the group has overpaid since 1973. Scientology has fought
for the last decade to gain charitable status, and therefore certain tax exemptions. The
Charities Commission has always refused to recognize Scientology as a religion — it said it
saw ―no public benefit arising out of the practice of Scientology‖ — but tax authorities
declared in 2000 that the church is a not-for-profit organization that does not have to pay
the VAT. ..Scientology says that a pre-Katrina membership of 25 in its Lafayette, LA,
church has more than doubled in the storm‘s wake. Members, wearing trademark yellow T-
shirts, helped victims with shelter, food, supplies, and counseling. ..A Scientologist
accused of assaulting a church critic who was videotaping Scientologists on a sidewalk in
Clearwater, FL, will not be prosecuted. The State Attorney says the evidence shows ―pretty
much mutual aggression.‖
A federal judge in Nebraska has ruled constitutional the state‘s law mandating newborn
blood screening, thus denying a suit brought by a couple saying the test would violate their
Scientology religious beliefs. Nebraska, Montana, Michigan, and South Dakota are the only
states that do not allow a religious belief exemption. Nebraska says the test is needed to
prevent several diseases that can cause severe mental retardation or death if undetected —
and because treatment of the diseases would impose a great burden of care on taxpayers.
Scientologists believe that babies should simply have seven days of silence following birth. .
.Scientology's Narconon drug treatment program, operating in Nepal, says that 70 percent
of drug addicts in the country are school children and that the drug sharing involved in
teenage romance is central to the spread of addiction. ..Shawn Lonsdale continues to
videotape the entrance to the church‘s Clearwater headquarters, sometimes for ten hours a
day, as he makes what he calls a ―pseudo-documentary‖ about Scientology and its effect on
downtown Clearwater for a local cable access program. Lonsdale, who once wanted to make
a coffee table book on homeless people in the downtown area, first came into conflict with
Scientology at a City Council meeting discussing redevelopment issues. When Scientologists
followed him home and staked out his house, he became an implacable foe. Among other
public displays, he has taped to the side of his nearby car, for all passersby, and entering
Scientologists, to see, a sign reading, ―OT I-VIII for free at xenu.net,‖ referring to paid
Scientology study courses. Lonsdale logs daily onto anti-Scientology websites — where he is
thought to be a hero — to share his daily experiences with the church ...A study to
determine whether Scientology‘s Criminon program helps reform prisoners in the
Oklahoma prison system claims that two-thirds of inmates at Mack Alford Prison who
completed the program were not arrested for any crime within five years of release. ..
Georgia State Senator Nancy Schaeffer, longtime opponent of mental health screening in
schools, joined Scientology‘s Citizens Commission on Human Rights at the ribbon
cutting for an exhibition in Atlanta denouncing psychiatry as ―an industry of death.‖
Setsuri (JMS)
Police in Tokyo are considering criminal complaints against Jung Myung Suk, the founder
of the South Korean group JMS and head of its Japanese arm, Setsuri, alleging that he and
