Press
Press in the News
Date |
Title |
Blurb |
Tags |
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November 30, 1997 |
Germany vs. Scientology |
To explain the furious hostility between Germany and the Church of Scientology, German officials might point to the story of a young man from Braunschweig named Jurgen Behrndt. In Behrndt's first year of membership, Scientology officials visited his parents with him seeking a DM 75,000 ($50,250) loan toward his activities. By the time he broke from the group in 1995, Behrndt had spent some DM 200,000 ($134,000), was unemployed and emotionally ravaged: "Many days I saw no reason to even get up." |
Germany, Press, Scientology and Society |
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November 23, 1997 |
Fugitive Awaits Fraud Trial |
Unbeknown to Richard Binet, who was in Miami attending courses in the Church of Scientology, a federal grand jury from the Central District of Illinois had indicted him a month earlier. The sealed indictment charged Binet with conspiracy to defraud Credit Union 1, misapplying funds of a federally insured institution, and making false statements to deceive examiners. |
Press |
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November 22, 1997 |
Religion Is 'Where The Money Is' |
Reportedly, John Travolta and a number of his Church of Scientology friends wrote to Channel 4 chief, Michael Jackson, urging him not to broadcast this week's Secret Lives, which focused on Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. "I'd like to start a religion - that's where the money is," Hubbard said in the late 1940s. So he did ... if a hotch-potch of sci-fi and conveniently twisted Freud can reasonably be described as a religion. |
L. Ron Hubbard, Press |
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November 14, 1997 |
Letters To The Editor on Scientology |
How can the U.S. government criticize Germany for regarding Scientology as a business and not a as tax-exempt religion, a legal ruling the United States held for 25 years? Could it really be possible under U.S. immigration law that, by the mere act of not being given tax-exempt status, German Scientologists would be allowed to seek asylum in the United States for religious persecution? Above all, why must Germany subscribe to the same religious definitions as the United States? |
Germany, Press, Scientology and Society |
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November 13, 1997 |
Germany: Scientology Stand To Be Explained |
The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology is - in Germany, at least - more of a business concern than a religion, and accuses it of exploiting the insecurities of its members for economic gain. |
Germany, Press, Scientology and Society |
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November 8, 1997 |
U.S. Immigration Court Grants Asylum to German Scientologist |
A Federal immigration court judge has granted asylum to a German member of the Church of Scientology who claimed that she would be subjected to religious persecution had she been required to return to her homeland, the woman's lawyer and a Scientology official said today. While few details of the case were available, it is believed to be the first time the United States has given asylum protection to a Scientologist. |
Germany, Press, Scientology and Society |
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November 5, 1997 |
Scientologists on the Alert |
Producers of the 20th Century Fox TV series "Millennium" have been fielding calls from people in and around the Church of Scientology over an upcoming episode of the Fox drama series. |
Press |
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October 31, 1997 |
In Her Final Years, Scientologist Spent $175,000 |
From 1991 until she died in December 1995, McPherson spent more than $175,000 on Scientology courses, counseling and causes, according to financial records. In three of those years, her donations to the church ranged from 29 percent to 55 percent of her income. |
Lisa McPherson, Press |
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October 28, 1997 |
Scientology Rally in Germany Sparsely Attended |
The Scientology movement, which the authorities here call mercenary and undemocratic, staged a demonstration through the heart of Berlin today intended to depict modern Germany as being just as intolerant toward Scientology as Hitler was toward Jews. But while the organizers had forecast a turnout of 10,000, fewer than 2,000 people gathered to march. |
Berlin, Press, Scientology and Society |
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September 4, 1997 |
St. Petersburg Times: Scientologist's Death Differs in Two Tellings |
The Church of Scientology's original portrayal of how a 36-year-old woman died under its care bears little resemblance to the sobering tale unfolding this summer with the release of the church's own internal records. |
Lisa McPherson, Press |
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