Scientology insider’s nightmare childhood

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:38:09 -0600

A former Scientologist who says she was a "child slave" and alleges she saw a six-year-old boy chained up in a ship's hold is disappointed the Senate has blocked a full inquiry into the religious organisation.

Keryn's decision to speak openly about her experiences comes after ABC1's Four Corners program, The Ex-Files, in which former members told of forced abortions, pressure to work extreme hours and being forced to hand over large sums of money.

Senator Xenophon vows to pursue ‘cults’

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:16:50 -0600

Addressing a conference of cult survivors in Brisbane today, Senator Nick Xenophon said a new motion for a new parliamentary inquiry might include a push for police to take criminal action against cults.

He was also attracted to using the Trade Practices Act to prosecute groups for false and misleading conduct if they wrongly claimed to provide therapeutic benefits to their devotees.

The conference has heard a number of heart-rending stories from different religion-based and therapeutic cults.

Senator to speak at Brisbane anti-cult conference

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:23:14 -0600

Independent South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon will address a conference in Brisbane which claims to be the first specifically organised to help people who have left cults.

Senator Xenophon has been campaigning for an inquiry into the Church of Scientology and its tax exempt status.

Scientologists try to block ‘intolerant’ German feature film

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:01:36 -0600

Germany's state broadcaster is locked in a row with the Church of Scientology which wants to block an upcoming feature film that depicts the controversial organisation as totalitarian and unethical.

According to the makers of Until Nothing Remains, the €2.5m (£2.3 m) drama, which is due to air in a prime-time slot at the end of March, is based on the true story of Heiner von Rönns, who left Scientology and suffered the subsequent break-up of his family.

Chief exorcist says Devil is in Vatican

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:52:08 -0600

He added that the assault on Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas Eve by a mentally unstable woman and the sex abuse scandals which have engulfed the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, were proof that the Anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See.

Aum Shinrikyo victim count rises

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:08:49 -0600

The number of victims of the 1995 sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway by the AUM Shinrikyo cult is almost 6,300 in a nationwide police survey -- far more than the earlier estimate of over 5,000.

Meanwhile one more fatality has been identified.

Australia: Scientology inquiry defeated in Senate; New call for inquiry to be introduced

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:37:18 -0600

Labor and the Coalition have been accused of choosing to look away from claims of abuse in the Church of Scientology, by blocking a Senate investigation into the tax-free status of religious groups.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon will next week introduce another motion for an inquiry into specific allegations against Scientology.

Feds: ‘JihadJane’ Female American convert to Islam led death plot

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:32:36 -0600

A Department of Justice spokesman wouldn't confirm that the case was related to a group of people arrested in Ireland earlier yesterday on suspicion of plotting against a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

But a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said LaRose had targeted the Swedish cartoonist and had online discussions about her plans with at least one of the suspects in Ireland.

Scientology putting lives at risk, says mental health expert Pat McGorry

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:19:18 -0600

Scientology's quackery is highlighted once again, this time by renowned mental health expert Pat McGorry who has joined psychiatry boss Louise Newman and the Brain and Mind Institute's Ian Hickie in urging senators to vote for an inquiry.

"They are the deniers of the realities of mental illness, which I find incredibly irresponsible and dangerous," he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

After murder plot: Swedish papers publish cartoon depicting Muhammad as a dog

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:58:22 -0600

At least three Swedish newspapers published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog after an alleged plot to murder the artist who created it was uncovered in Ireland.

Dagens Nyheter said in an editorial that "Vilks doesn't stand alone in this conflict. A threat against him is, in the long term, also a threat against all Swedes."