VOLUME 7 |ISSUE 3 |2016 3933
legal move came as the Texas Supreme Court was poised to
review arguments in the case, and months after Monique
Rathbun, the wife of a former high-ranking Scientologist, fired
her attorneys without explanation. Rathbun claimed in a 2013
lawsuit that the church mounted a three-year campaign of
dirty tricks, including surveillance, harassment and ‘ruthlessly
aggressive misconduct’ that drove her from her South Texas
home and into seclusion in the Hill Country, where she was
found again by Scientology operatives. ...In what turned out
to be their last legal maneuver, church attorneys in February
filed a 92-page petition for review to the state supreme court,
asking it to take up the First Amendment arguments that had
been rejected by the lower court. Rathbun waived the filing of
a response, but when the justices requested that she produce
one, she filed a motion to end the legal battle instead. ‘I
do not have the resources, the time, nor the motivation to
litigate in the Supreme Court of Texas against Scientology’s
army of lawyers,’ she said in the motion. ...Rathbun also
blamed her former attorneys for ‘defects’ in her lawsuit that
she says Scientology attorneys used to create further delays.”
(Courthouse News Service, 05/13/16)
Scientology opens state-of-the-art communications
headquart
“Soaring 45 meters above Sunset Boulevard in the center
of Hollywood stands a communications tower adorned
with two triangles and a stylized ‘S.’ The logo belongs to the
controversial Church of Scientology and is being used as
branding for the religion’s new hi-tech media complex known
as Scientology Media Productions (SMP), which has been
created to act as an ‘uncorrupted communication line to the
billions.’ Speaking to more than 10,000 Scientologists at the
unveiling of the complex, church leader David Miscavige
said the global media center would be used to combat biased
media reports and allow for the delivery of ‘unadulterated and
pure’ teachings of the religion. ‘As the saying goes, if you don’t
write your own story, someone else will,’ he said. ‘We’re now
going to be writing our story like no other religion in history.
And it’s all going to happen right here from Scientology Media
Productions.’ Originally built in 1912 and situated on a five-
acre complex near the intersection of Sunset and Hollywood
boulevards, the motion picture and television studio has been
restored for Scientology to create and deliver content across
print, broadcast and online media.” (News.com, 05/30/16)
Russia’s feud with Scientology leads to arrests
“The Russian branch of the Church of Scientology has
denounced the raids carried out by the Russian police in its
Moscow and St. Petersburg locations earlier this week, The
Moscow Times reports. Ten church members were arrested in
St. Petersburg on allegations of ‘illegal business activity.’ And in
Moscow, eyewitnesses said that police officers were not letting
people in or out of the Scientology church. ‘It is a disease
of our society when government agencies charged with
protecting the people and enforcing the law, use the name
of the law to persecute the practice of religion,’ the Church
said in a statement on Wednesday, saying the authorities
had violated the concept of religious freedom enshrined in
Russian law. The arrests were made in the wake of a long-
running conflict between the Russian government and the
Russian Church of Scientology, which the authorities view as
an extremist organization. In November 2015 the Moscow City
Court ruled to dissolve the Moscow church because the term
‘Scientology’ is an American trademark, Kremlin-controlled RT
reported. As a result, the ministry said that the group should
be subjected to consumer protection laws.” (Transitions Online,
06/23/16)
Scientology leader threatens UK publisher with legal
action
“British independent publisher Silvertail Books has been
threatened with legal action by lawyers representing
Scientology leader David Miscavige. Silvertail is due to
publish an account by Miscavige’s father Ron on 3rd May titled
Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me in the UK
and Ireland. However, the publisher has received a letter from
Johnsons law firm, seen by The Bookseller, warning that if the
book is published next week then the company will be sued
for defamation. (The Bookseller, 04/27/16)
Public funding revealed for schools associated with
Church of Scientology
“Schools associated with the Church of Scientology are
receiving more government funding per student than
hundreds of Australian public schools, new data has revealed,
despite benefiting from generous private donations and
hundreds of thousands of dollars in school fees. The Athena
and Yarralinda schools receive a combined amount of up to
$475,000 in recurrent public funding every year to educate
fewer than 60 students. The schools ...maintain they are a
secular part of the tax-exempt Applied Scholastics group
of schools worldwide, which has strong public links to the
church. ...
At the inner-west based Athena school, ...students are
funded through a combination of public funding, fees, and
tax-free donations, ...benefiting from up to $20,000 in
funding [per student] per year. According to MySchool data,
the school ...receives just $2,000 less per student in public
funding than the nearby Newtown Public School, which has
been forced to restrict its enrollment boundaries to stem
overflowing classrooms.
At the same time, the Yarralinda school outside Melbourne
receives up to $11,000 in public funding for each [student,]
...more than the amount received by up to 800 NSW and
Victorian public schools, and $2,700 more per student
than the nearby Rolling Hills school in Mooroolbark. ...A
spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology said the church
does not manage the schools, nor are they a front group for
the church.
legal move came as the Texas Supreme Court was poised to
review arguments in the case, and months after Monique
Rathbun, the wife of a former high-ranking Scientologist, fired
her attorneys without explanation. Rathbun claimed in a 2013
lawsuit that the church mounted a three-year campaign of
dirty tricks, including surveillance, harassment and ‘ruthlessly
aggressive misconduct’ that drove her from her South Texas
home and into seclusion in the Hill Country, where she was
found again by Scientology operatives. ...In what turned out
to be their last legal maneuver, church attorneys in February
filed a 92-page petition for review to the state supreme court,
asking it to take up the First Amendment arguments that had
been rejected by the lower court. Rathbun waived the filing of
a response, but when the justices requested that she produce
one, she filed a motion to end the legal battle instead. ‘I
do not have the resources, the time, nor the motivation to
litigate in the Supreme Court of Texas against Scientology’s
army of lawyers,’ she said in the motion. ...Rathbun also
blamed her former attorneys for ‘defects’ in her lawsuit that
she says Scientology attorneys used to create further delays.”
(Courthouse News Service, 05/13/16)
Scientology opens state-of-the-art communications
headquart
“Soaring 45 meters above Sunset Boulevard in the center
of Hollywood stands a communications tower adorned
with two triangles and a stylized ‘S.’ The logo belongs to the
controversial Church of Scientology and is being used as
branding for the religion’s new hi-tech media complex known
as Scientology Media Productions (SMP), which has been
created to act as an ‘uncorrupted communication line to the
billions.’ Speaking to more than 10,000 Scientologists at the
unveiling of the complex, church leader David Miscavige
said the global media center would be used to combat biased
media reports and allow for the delivery of ‘unadulterated and
pure’ teachings of the religion. ‘As the saying goes, if you don’t
write your own story, someone else will,’ he said. ‘We’re now
going to be writing our story like no other religion in history.
And it’s all going to happen right here from Scientology Media
Productions.’ Originally built in 1912 and situated on a five-
acre complex near the intersection of Sunset and Hollywood
boulevards, the motion picture and television studio has been
restored for Scientology to create and deliver content across
print, broadcast and online media.” (News.com, 05/30/16)
Russia’s feud with Scientology leads to arrests
“The Russian branch of the Church of Scientology has
denounced the raids carried out by the Russian police in its
Moscow and St. Petersburg locations earlier this week, The
Moscow Times reports. Ten church members were arrested in
St. Petersburg on allegations of ‘illegal business activity.’ And in
Moscow, eyewitnesses said that police officers were not letting
people in or out of the Scientology church. ‘It is a disease
of our society when government agencies charged with
protecting the people and enforcing the law, use the name
of the law to persecute the practice of religion,’ the Church
said in a statement on Wednesday, saying the authorities
had violated the concept of religious freedom enshrined in
Russian law. The arrests were made in the wake of a long-
running conflict between the Russian government and the
Russian Church of Scientology, which the authorities view as
an extremist organization. In November 2015 the Moscow City
Court ruled to dissolve the Moscow church because the term
‘Scientology’ is an American trademark, Kremlin-controlled RT
reported. As a result, the ministry said that the group should
be subjected to consumer protection laws.” (Transitions Online,
06/23/16)
Scientology leader threatens UK publisher with legal
action
“British independent publisher Silvertail Books has been
threatened with legal action by lawyers representing
Scientology leader David Miscavige. Silvertail is due to
publish an account by Miscavige’s father Ron on 3rd May titled
Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me in the UK
and Ireland. However, the publisher has received a letter from
Johnsons law firm, seen by The Bookseller, warning that if the
book is published next week then the company will be sued
for defamation. (The Bookseller, 04/27/16)
Public funding revealed for schools associated with
Church of Scientology
“Schools associated with the Church of Scientology are
receiving more government funding per student than
hundreds of Australian public schools, new data has revealed,
despite benefiting from generous private donations and
hundreds of thousands of dollars in school fees. The Athena
and Yarralinda schools receive a combined amount of up to
$475,000 in recurrent public funding every year to educate
fewer than 60 students. The schools ...maintain they are a
secular part of the tax-exempt Applied Scholastics group
of schools worldwide, which has strong public links to the
church. ...
At the inner-west based Athena school, ...students are
funded through a combination of public funding, fees, and
tax-free donations, ...benefiting from up to $20,000 in
funding [per student] per year. According to MySchool data,
the school ...receives just $2,000 less per student in public
funding than the nearby Newtown Public School, which has
been forced to restrict its enrollment boundaries to stem
overflowing classrooms.
At the same time, the Yarralinda school outside Melbourne
receives up to $11,000 in public funding for each [student,]
...more than the amount received by up to 800 NSW and
Victorian public schools, and $2,700 more per student
than the nearby Rolling Hills school in Mooroolbark. ...A
spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology said the church
does not manage the schools, nor are they a front group for
the church.
