Scientology

L. Ron Hubbard is no crazier than the average prophet, and Scientology is better than a lot of religions--at least it preaches self-improvement in this life through self-analysis rather than rewards in an afterlife through prayer. But Scientology makes one huge mistake: it promises improved intelligence rather than the attainment of eternal bliss. And intelligence can be measured whereas no one has ever come back from the grave to prove that a religion was a fraud. Putting it another way, what Scientology must learn is that it's much safer to insult the intelligence than to improve it. JAMES IRONS Los Angeles

Inside Scientology The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion Janet Reitman Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 464 pp., $28

Inside Scientology The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion Janet Reitman Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 464 pp., $28

Small wonder that L. Ron Hubbard had the creative chops to parlay his 1950s self-help system, Dianetics, into a worldwide religion — and a very lucrative one at that. Hubbard was, after all, a science-fiction writer, a dreamer, a charming teller of tales and the inventor of much of his own history: He fabricated or embellished aspects of his military service, education and personal adventures, not least of them his purported run-in with a polar bear in the Aleutians. His most famous invention, of course, was Scientology, a controversial religion-without-a-deity that has its own "technology," galactic story line and quirky vocabulary.

Small wonder that L. Ron Hubbard had the creative chops to parlay his 1950s self-help system, Dianetics, into a worldwide religion — and a very lucrative one at that. Hubbard was, after all, a science-fiction writer, a dreamer, a charming teller of tales and the inventor of much of his own history: He fabricated or embellished aspects of his military service, education and personal adventures, not least of them his purported run-in with a polar bear in the Aleutians. His most famous invention, of course, was Scientology, a controversial religion-without-a-deity that has its own "technology," galactic story line and quirky vocabulary.

I was appalled that The Times would stoop to print a puff piece on the soi-disant "religion" of Scientology in the guise of a legitimate article on Chick Corea ("Playing in His Key," by Don Heckman, Aug. 18). Is Heckman a journalist, or an apologist for a cult that believes we're all infected with countless "space cooties" that require hundreds of thousands of dollars to exorcise? I realize the comics pages are combined with the Saturday Calendar section, but giving most of Page 1 to this story, which was mostly about the shameful scam of Hubbard's rather than about music, is too lowbrow an antic even for the funny pages.

Re "A leap beyond faith," Opinion, Feb. 18 When I was 17, I left the Church of Scientology. When I was 22, my parents and all members of my immediate family were pressured by the church to "disconnect" from me. When I heard of the protests by Anonymous on behalf of all those who have lost their families, homes and savings accounts to Scientology, I thanked God that someone was finally willing to listen. Reading Michael Shermer's Op-Ed article, I was surprised to find myself frustrated and misty-eyed.

I read the Column Left by Alexander Cockburn (March 13) and his account of the Church of Scientology's troubles with the German government. I have seldom read a piece in which the writer attacked his adversaries with such abandon, meanwhile having such little insight into his own prejudices. At the end I was not sure whether, as he said, he was "try(ing) to put some perspective" into the debate or was trying to demonize the churches (especially Catholic), Boeing Corp., the German government and several others.

Financially strapped KCET-TV is in talks to sell its landmark Sunset Boulevard studio to the Church of Scientology, according to people who know about the pending deal. The Los Angeles television station, which is struggling to rebuild viewership after its recent split from PBS, plans to move its operations to a smaller location, real estate brokers said. Station officials have been touring potential sites, brokers said. Terms of the potential deal were unavailable, but the 4.5-acre property at 4401 W. Sunset Blvd.

Independent television station KCET-TV will move next year from its longtime Sunset Boulevard home to a new building on Studio Row in Burbank. KCET will create a new studio at the Pointe, a 14-story office tower completed in 2009 on an Alameda Avenue site that used to be part of the NBC campus. Station officials told employees Monday that KCET has agreed to the move. The former public television station sold its historic Sunset Boulevard studio to the Church of Scientology in April.

At the place I lunch every day in an effort to cut down on life choices, I've been reading a Tolstoy-sized article in the New Yorker about Scientology. Nearly every day, some patron raids my airspace, saying something like, "I read that article. " Eye roll, then, "What whack jobs. " L.A. finds Scientology so endlessly fascinating that weeks after publication, people are still talking about the article all over town. Why? Here's a theory: There is no city on Earth that makes rationalization more difficult than Los Angeles.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Thursday. Richard Blais is the new "Top Chef" All Star. ( Los Angeles Times ) The Church of Scientology is reportedly interested in buying KCET's studios. Will it become K-LRON? ( Los Angeles Times ) HBO viewers have had enough of other people's problems -- the channel has canceled "In Treatment. " ( Los Angeles Times ) Craving your "Mad Men" fix? Jon Hamm is filling part of his downtime with an L.A. stage performance.

Financially strapped KCET-TV is in talks to sell its landmark Sunset Boulevard studio to the Church of Scientology, according to people who know about the pending deal. The Los Angeles television station, which is struggling to rebuild viewership after its recent split from PBS, plans to move its operations to a smaller location, real estate brokers said. Station officials have been touring potential sites, brokers said. Terms of the potential deal were unavailable, but the 4.5-acre property at 4401 W. Sunset Blvd.

After all the hype, money and bodily injury, it turns out "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" is kind of lame. ( Los Angeles Times ) Ladies and gentlemen, here's your Oscars class of 2011. ( Los Angeles Times ) Sunday's Super Bowl was the most-watched TV event in U.S. history. ( Los Angeles Times ) Some dinner guests bring a bottle of wine; according to Josh Brolin, John Travolta brings his magical Scientology healing ability. ( Wall Street Journal ) Prince pulls Kim Kardashian on stage during his Madison Square Garden show, realizes she has no talent, boots her off the stage.

God's Lunatics Lost Souls, False Prophets, Martyred Saints, Murderous Cults, Demonic Nuns, and Other Victims of Man's Eternal Search for the Divine Michael Largo HarperCollins: 480 pp., $16.99 paper Sometimes the best place to hide something is out in the open. Michael Largo chose to veil his wry polemic against the excesses of religious dogma and superstition in the form of an alphabetized reference book. In this deceptively benign format, even something with a title like "God's Lunatics" — hardly a coy understatement — can come across more measured and nuanced, than, say, one of Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens' slash-and-burn screeds against faith, which can strike even nonbelievers as unnecessarily offensive to those who do believe.

A French court on Tuesday convicted the Church of Scientology here of fraud, fining the branch $888,000 for swindling former members, but stopped short of shutting down the group. French Scientology leader Alain Rosenberg was also convicted of fraud and received a two-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of $44,000. With its judgment, the court warned, "Be careful . . . next time, justice won't let you go if you continue using the same methods," said Olivier Morice, a lawyer for civil parties in the case.

"Crash" director Paul Haggis has severed his ties with the Church of Scientology, in part because of what he alleged is the organization's stance against gay marriage. Haggis wrote a letter addressed to Tommy Davis, the head of Scientology's Celebrity Centre. In it, Haggis said he was disappointed by the church's tacit denial of gay rights in the debate over California's gay marriage ban. The 56-year-old Haggis, who won an Oscar in 2005 for co-writing "Crash," said he was quitting the church after 35 years.