Scientology Lies

December 13, 1997: Rod Keller insists he is not opposed to Scientology because of their beliefs, but "because of their medical quackery and the ways they abuse their people." His Web newsletter can be found by searching for Alt.Religion.Scientology Week in Review. It is one of many sites accusing the church of charging high fees to anyone wishing to learn its cosmology or therapeutic techniques. Keller also alleges the church makes a practice of confining and treating against their will members who show signs of mental imbalance.

December 13, 1988: The Church of Scientology can't hide behind the statement that it is a religion when it faces an aggrieved consumer in court, the Quebec Consumer Protection Bureau said yesterday. A Quebec Court judge in Quebec City last week fined the church $500 for failing to reimburse Jacques Dion of Quebec City within 10 days of his demand for a refund of money he paid for personal-growth courses.

December 12, 1987: This highly unauthorized biography of the founder of Scientology creates a weirder-than-fiction chill that doesn't go away. Dozens of people who once adored L. Ron Hubbard testify in the book that he attacked with cruel vengeance those who threatened him. Hubbard had a policy that Scientology's critics "may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist ... May be tricked, sued, lied to or destroyed," the book says. (Hubbard publicly rescinded the policy in 1968, but the book says it remained in force and was carried out covertly.)

December 11, 2006: Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise is trying his best to change his image but most Americans still consider him too strange and have voted him the least favourite star in a recent poll. They were "creeped out" by his passion for Scientology, reports pagesix.com.

December 11, 1992: Concerns that the Church of Scientology had made its Toronto incorporation judgment-proof to dodge a record libel award against it have been relieved by an out-of-court settlement approved by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Scientology's Toronto organization must give government lawyer S. Casey Hill $29,350 toward legal costs he incurred to fight its appeal of a $1.6-million Ontario Court award for libelling him. The Toronto Scientologists must also pay another $300,000 into court as security against Mr. Hill's legal bills in fighting the appeal.

December 10, 1999: The Church of Scientology failed in its attempt to become a registered charity because the organisation was not of "public benefit". The Charity Commission rejected the application for charity status after detailed consideration and despite taking a "broad and flexible" view of the law. "The commissioners concluded that the core activities of scientologists - auditing and training - were private in nature and in the benefit they delivered."

December 10, 2006: The controversial Church of Scientology has been granted a subsidy of more than pounds 270,000 a year in public money, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Scientology's lawyers used European rulings and Government equality regulations to force the City of London corporation to grant an 80 per cent rates discount for its new centre near St Paul's Cathedral. The "church", it is believed, is now pressing to pay nothing at all. The corporation confirmed that this discount was on the basis that Scientology is a "charity", despite the fact that the Charity Commission has refused to register it. The discount, referred to as a "mandatory rate relief", has been granted even though the Church of Scientology has estimated global assets of $398 million (pounds 203 million).

December 9, 2001: A civil wrongful-death lawsuit, itself now almost 5 years old, alleges church workers let McPherson die Dec. 5, 1995, in the Fort Harrison Hotel, where she spent the last 17 days of her life being cared for by fellow Scientologists. The lawsuit contends that church staffers allowed McPherson, 36, to become so dehydrated she was too weak even to stop cockroaches from biting her. Paperwork alone has swelled to near epic proportions. The case now sports 194 volumes - stacked up, they're as tall as a two-story building.

December 9, 1997: City leaders Monday said the Church of Scientology's angry protests of the Police Department over the weekend badly damaged Scientology's image in Clearwater and set back the church's efforts to become part of the city's mainstream. The church continued to blast police Chief Sid Klein on Monday with another in a series of public letters accusing him of "orchestrating harassment" against the church and its members. City officials responded in strong terms to the church's allegations. "You can't attack the chief of police without some repercussions," Roberto said.