Church Of Scientology

Church of Scientology critics are accusing Riverside County of kowtowing to the religion and infringing on free speech by passing an ordinance that limits protest outside the church's sprawling complex near Hemet. For the last year, a handful of demonstrators who believe Scientology is an abusive cult have picketed Golden Era Productions, the church's main center for the production and dissemination of videos and tapes. The campus is home to 500 church employees.

Mailings of a suspicious white powder to 10 Church of Scientology addresses prompted the evacuation of dozens of people and the closure of a major thoroughfare Wednesday as hazmat teams were called to examine the packages. The letters were sent via the Postal Service to Scientology properties in Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica, Glendale and Tustin.

Anonymous, the loosely bound group of Internet activists who have targeted the Church of Scientology in recent weeks, showed up Sunday morning to protest at the church's largest Los Angeles locations. The rallies were part of a global day of demonstrations against Scientology organized by the group, with picketers in New York, Toronto, Britain, Australia and other locations. The protests were peaceful, with music and chanting.

In Los Angeles' rarefied world of private schools, where tuitions are high, academics are tough and educational philosophy is taken seriously, the newest member of the tribe is getting the kind of breathless attention reserved for a music or film star. That may be because the founders of New Village Academy are themselves such stars: Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star, Tom Cruise, is a Scientologist, the Defense Ministry said on Monday. Cruise, also one of the film's producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology, which the German government does not recognize as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject. The U.S. actor has been cast as Col.

German federal and state interior ministers declared the Church of Scientology in conflict with the constitution, opening the way for a possible ban. Germany does not recognize Scientology as a religion and regards it as a cult masquerading as a church to make money. Scientologists reject this view and said in a statement that more than 50 court decisions in Germany had acknowledged the group as a religious community.

Could a CBS fall pilot be the next flashpoint in Hollywood's growing conflict with Scientology? With Comedy Central's "South Park" in a fracas involving celebrity Scientologists Tom Cruise and Isaac Hayes, CBS is scheduled to wrap shooting late this week on "Orpheus," a drama by writer and executive producer Nicholas Meyer ("Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan") about an organization that bears a striking resemblance to L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology.

The developer who bought up and then rebuilt much of Santa Ana's downtown is negotiating to sell one of his prized historic buildings to the Church of Scientology. Mike Harrah spent $11 million to restore the four-story building, which features three theaters with ornate moldings, painted ceilings and enormous candelabra.

The Church of Scientology is spreading its gospel to NASCAR, starting in Irwindale. The religion that counts actor Tom Cruise and other Hollywood luminaries among its followers now backs a La Verne stock car driver, Kenton Gray, who competes in one of NASCAR's developmental series at the Irwindale Speedway.

AT first glance, this is not an unusual "Nip/Tuck" scene: former porn star Kimber and perpetually troubled Matt, young and fit sitting inside a hot, steamy sauna, ridding their bodies of poisons. But, as Kimber (Kelly Carlson) tells the impressionable Matt (John Hensley) in the episode that airs Tuesday, this is a different kind of sweating and cleansing.