SCIENTOLOGY CANBERRA
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NEWS ARCHIVE

A SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL MEDIA RESOURCE COLLECTION by the Church of Scientology of Canberra.

Herein is a small but widespread and growing collection of topical international Scientology media from 2007 to 2009, selected for its unbiased reporting and non-sensationaism. Any editorial comments are at the base of the page.

For our full list of stories, see the Story Archive.

For Immediate Release
10 March 2010

Senate has no role silencing mental illness debate

The Church of Scientology rejects attempts by psychiatrists to use the Senate to try and gag an organisation because of its views on mental health.

“The Church of Scientology is entitled to hold views on particular psychiatric
practices, just as Professor Pat McGorry is, and to warn people of their dangers," Church spokesperson, Mr Cyrus Brooks, said.

“We of course, disagree with the Professor.

“However, it is not the role of the Senate to investigate any organisation because of its views on treating mental illness; in fact it would be an attack on free speech and democracy,” Mr Brooks said.

“The Church of Scientology has had a policy for over 50 years that people asking to be cured of any ailment should be sent to a doctor for a full medical exam where any underlying condition can be found and handled with competent medical assistance.

“Professor McGorry and fellow psychiatrists Louise Newman and Ian Hickie, are attempting to use the Parliament to silence critics of their profession.

“Why are they so fearful of criticism and debate?”

Mr Brooks urged all Senators to consider the precedent that would be set if their motivation for holding an inquiry was that they disagreed with an organisation’s views.

“This could have a chilling effect on free speech and debate in this country,” Mr Brooks said.

The Church of Scientology is not surprised that psychiatrists want to silence the Church and the human rights organisation, Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), due to their success in stopping cruel psychiatric practices. The Church established CCHR with psychiatrist, Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969.

Mr Brooks said both bodies have stood up for the rights of psychiatric patients for decades, including exposing Chelmsford Hospital’s ‘Deep Sleep Therapy’ by Sydney psychiatrist, Dr Harry Bailey, which killed 48 people.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights is a leading watchdog of the psychiatric profession, so it is understandable that psychiatrists would support Independent Senator, Nick Xenophon’s, call for a Senate inquiry into the Church of Scientology.

The Church and the Citizens Commission on Human Rights have supported
psychiatric patients, raised awareness and brought needed reforms to psychiatry and mental health, notably the over-drugging of children, the use of drug induced comas and shock treatment.

“We support parents' rights to be fully informed about adverse reactions to
psychiatric drugs including heart problems and suicidal behaviour, so they can decide for themselves about any treatment proposed for their families,” Mr Brooks said.

“Studies have shown people with underlying physical conditions can exhibit
psychiatric symptoms and that a full searching medical exam will uncover this.

“The Therapeutic Goods Administration has not approved any Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor anti-depressants for children under 18 for depression, yet the CCHR revealed that 30,000 children under 18, including 48 babies are on antidepressants.

“We live in a country where we are free to express our beliefs and promote our opinions on this very important issue. These professors think any organisation not agreeing with them should be criticised despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights’ challenges of the psychiatric industry have earned the respect of governments internationally as well as earning a commendation from the UN's Human Rights Committee for its work bringing about changes to over 30 pieces of mental health legislation to make real human rights possible.

“The work done by the Church and CCHR has actually made our communities safer as far as mental health is concerned and earned a commendation from the UN's Human Rights Committee,” Mr Brooks said.

Contact: Cyrus Brooks
(02) 9638-5200 / (02) 9692 7308: public_affairs@scientology.net.au

From: lasvegas.com

New Church of Scientology Opens in Las Vegas

Posted: Feb 11, 2010 5:11 PM Updated: Feb 11, 2010 8:00 PM

LAS VEGAS - The First Church of Scientology in Las Vegas dedicated a new building on Saturday. The relentless rain didn't stop Saturday's dedication. "We have opened new churches in cultural epicenters before, but talk about center stage, planet earth," exclaimed Ecclesiastical Leader David Miscavige. "This one stands in a town so bright you can even see it glowing from deep space."

Several public officials attended the grand opening, including Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. "As the mayor of the fastest growing city, I look forward to partnering with you as the fastest growing religion," Goodman said.

The 40-thousand square-foot facility includes a prominently-displayed bust of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Practicing Scientologists can take courses at the new church. Counselors are also on-hand to help worshippers study the religion's philosophy. An outside courtyard leads to a purification center which houses treadmills and saunas.

The church also includes an interactive museum with electronic presentations outlining Scientology's tenets. "We believe that an individual has lived before and will live again," Church of Scientology Spokesman Tommy Davis said. "We acknowledge and focus on the individual as a spiritual being. You don't have a soul. You don't have a spirit. You are a spiritual being."

Scientologists like Brent Jones are proud of their new church. "When I bought a book in the parking lot and when I read it, I just went 'bing'," he said.

Leaders welcome the community to the new church. It is located at 2751 Emerson Avenue. It is open every day from 9:00a.m. to 10:00p.m.

DAILY MAIL

'I was like a commander:' John Travolta on leading Scientology aid mission to Haiti

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:11 PM on 03rd February 2010

John Travolta says he was 'like a commander' when he flew in aid to Haiti.

The 55-year-old star showed off pictures of his humanitarian trip to Haiti as he appeared on U.S. TV last night.

Travolta told Late Show host David Letterman how he and his church of Scientology gathered more than 7-tonnes of supplies and then flew them to Port-au-Prince in his Boeing 707.

'I didn't even know I had it in me to be honest - I was like a commander running around,' Travolta said.

'I didn't know I had it in me': John Travolta told David Letterman about his humanitarian trip to Haiti

'I wanted to take him back': John showed a picture of himself with an orphan he met on the trip

Travolta, who's teenage son Jet died after a seizure last year, showed a picture of himself with a small boy orphaned in the disaster who he took on a tour around his plane.

'This little boy was found roaming into the volunteer minister's group,' he said.

'He was wounded and he had lost his family, now he's an orphan. He saw the plane come in and all he wanted to do was get on board and see what the plane was like.

'He came on board and I stuffed his pockets with cookies and bananas and treats.

'He was 7. I wanted to take him back, he was a really sweet boy. But he's being well taken care of in the orphanage right now, as are many people.'

Travolta said his was one of two planes organized with the help of the Church of Scientology to fly relief into the disaster-hit country.

John Travolta flies his private jet into Haiti relief supplies, doctors and Scientologist healers

To the rescue: Travolta, with his wife Kelly Preston, flew supplies into Haiti on his Boeing 707

'I sent two planes down,' he said.

'One I flew down and an earlier one that a friend called and said he was going in that direction and could I find supplies and people to put on it.

'The first one was easy, I contacted my church and they had supplies and people to put on that.

'The second one was a little more difficult because my people had to go shopping for goods and also contact all the hospitals in Florida to donate goods. They all ended up donating about seven-tonnes of goods.

'The church contacted 22 doctors and we put them on the plane along with the supplies.'

Here to help: A Scientologist at the reception of the general hospital in Port-au-Prince

Organised approach: A Scientologist at the reception of the general hospital in Port-au-Prince tries to help staff with patients and visitors last month

Once in Haiti, Travolta said he stayed with the supplies and guarded them.

He said: 'I had to make sure those supplies stayed with the doctors because that was the operative idea and there was a lot of dropping off goods and disappearing goods.

'I stuck around and made sure they were guarded so in the morning when the doctors woke up it was like a store and they could go shopping for surgical supplies, diapers for the orphans and milk, baby formula - whatever they needed to perform operations or feed the kids.

'I got the word today that 90% of the supplies that went with those doctors actually were used and hundreds of lives were saved.

'But there's still a lot to be done, there's a lot of nurses needed and backup. The important thing for people donating supplies is to make sure they go to the places they are needed.'

Travolta is currently promoting his new film, From Paris with Love.

It follows Jonathan Rhys-Meyers' James Reese, a low-ranking intelligence operative working in the office of the U.S. Ambassador in France.

His character is partnered with Travolta's Charlie Wax, a high-ranking U.S. agent who's been sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack.

MORE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7btHuT_tek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap5ANJ42bso

Scientologists 'heal' Haiti quake victims using touch

24 January 2010

By Charles Onians (AFP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Amid the mass of aid agencies piling in to help Haiti quake victims is a batch of Church of Scientology "volunteer ministers", claiming to use the power of touch to reconnect nervous systems.

Clad in yellow T-shirts emblazoned with the logo of the controversial US-based group, smiling volunteers fan out among the injured lying under makeshift shelters in the courtyard of Port-au-Prince's General Hospital.

A wealthy private donor provided his airplane to fly in 80 volunteers from Los Angeles, along with 50 Haitian-American-doctors, in a gesture worth 400,000 dollars, said a Parisian volunteer who gave her name as Sylvie.

"We're trained as volunteer ministers, we use a process called 'assist' to follow the nervous system to reconnect the main points, to bring back communication," she said.

"When you get a sudden shock to a part of your body the energy gets stuck, so we re-establish communication within the body by touching people through their clothes, and asking people to feel the touch."

Next to her lay 22-year-old student Oscar Elweels, whose father rescued him from the basement of his school where he lay with a pillar on his leg for a day after the deadly January 12 quake.

His right leg was amputated below the knee and his left leg was severely bruised and swollen.

More than half of his fellow students died in the rubble of his school, although the rest of his family was unscathed, he said, thanking God.

"One hour ago he had no sensation in his left leg, so I explained the method to him, I touched him and after a while he said 'now I feel everything'," said Sylvie.

"Otherwise they might have had to amputate his other leg. Now his sister knows the method and she can do it."

Asked about the method being used on him, a smiling Elweels described it as "a sort of harmony between the nerves, a kind of exercise. I couldn't feel at all, but then I could."

Does he know Scientology? "Yes, it's a French organization," he said.

"All the patients are happy with the technique," said Sylvie. "But some doctors don't like the yellow T-shirts. It's a color thing," she insisted.

Another group of Scientologists distributed antibiotic pills. "The doctors said give everyone with wounds antibiotics," said Italian volunteer Marina.

Some doctors at the hospital are skeptical. One US doctor, who asked not to be named, snorted: "I didn't know touching could heal gangrene."

When asked what the Scientologists are doing here, another doctor said: "I don't know."

Do you care? "Not really," she said, wheeling an unconscious patient out of the operating room to join hundreds of others in the hospital's sunny courtyard.

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Expatica.com
3 Oct 2009

Scientology wins Europe rights case against Russia

Russian authorities had rejected the registration of two Scientology churches on the basis of legislation that demands that a religious group must exist for at least 15 years in a Russian region and prove that it is affiliated to a central religious organisation.

Strasbourg -- The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday condemned Russia for the second time in two
years for refusing to register two Scientology churches as religious organization.

The Church of Scientology was awarded 5,000 euros (7,250 dollars) in moral damages.The court ruled that the action of the authorities in Surgut in eastern Siberia and Nizhnekamsk in Tatarstan had violated articles nine and 11 of the Human Rights convention on freedom of religion and freedom of association.Russian authorities rejected the registration of the churches in 1994 and 1998 on the basis of legislation which demands that a religious group has to have existed for at least 15 years in a Russian region and prove that it is affiliated to a central religious organisation.

"The Court noted that the question of whether Scientology could be described as a 'religion' was a matter of controversy among the member states," said the ruling.

In the absence of any European consensus on the religious nature of Scientology, the court said it had "to rely on the position of the domestic authorities."

It added: "At no point in the proceedings had it been shown that the applicants -- either as individuals or as a religious group -- had engaged or intended to engage in any unlawful activities or pursued any aims other than worship, teaching, practice and observance of their beliefs. The ground for refusing registration had therefore been purely formal and unconnected with their actual functioning."

In April 2007, the court found against Russia over the refusal of authorities to register the Moscow branch of the Scientologists between 1998 and 2005.

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Second US man admits DDoS attack on Scientology

Not so Anonymous after all

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco

27th January 2010

A Nebraska man has admitted he participated in a mass attack last year that briefly brought the Church of Scientology's website to its knees.

In a plea agreement signed Friday, Brian Thomas Mettenbrink, 20, said he downloaded custom software from a message board controlled by the anti-Scientology group known as Anonymous with the intent of inflicting damage to the COS, or Church of Scientology

"Defendant used that software to, without authorization, access the COS websites at such a high rate that it impaired the integrity and availability of the COS websites and the computer system where they were hosted," the agreement stated.

Mettenbrink was scheduled to stand trial next month on charges that in late January of 2008, he took part in attacks that left websites associated with the COS intermittently unavailable. A group calling itself Anonymous took credit for the crippling denial-of-service attacks and said it was part of an ongoing war it had declared against the highly secretive group.

He is scheduled to formally enter his guilty plea in court next week, according to a release issued by the US Attorney's office in Los Angeles.

Mettenbrink will become the second individual to plead guilty in the attacks. In October 2008, Dmitriy Guzner, then an 18-year-old from Verona, New Jersey, admitted he also helped carry out the attacks. In November, he was sentenced to more than a year in federal prison.

Anonymous launched the campaign against the COS after the organization demanded websites pull a video of Tom Cruise that was shot at an church awards event. Tactics used in the campaign included nuisance phone calls to COS premises, denial-of-service attacks, and monthly protests outside COS facilities. Members of the loosely-affiliated group are known for wearing Guy Fawkes-style masks during protests.

The plea agreement said Mettenbrink and prosecutors agreed that 12 months of incarceration was an appropriate sentence, but the judge will have the final say. ®

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