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Unfortunately, the church continues to be challenged with it. And the ironic thing is that the individuals being faced with it are the individuals who wiped it out. And to the church, that's a really aggravating thing. According to a 1990 Los Angeles Times post, in the 1980s the Los Angeles branch mainly switched from utilizing church members in harassment campaigns to using personal investigators, including previous and existing Los Angeles police officers.


The Scientology organization has actually continued to strongly target people it deems suppressive. In 1998, concerning its statement that it had employed a private detective to look into the background of an author who had actually composed a series on the church, Robert W. Thornburg, dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, said, "Nobody I understand presumes as to employ outsiders to bug or try to get intimidating information on critics.


In 2007 when BBC journalist John Sweeney was making, an investigative report about the Church and was the subject of harassment: In LA, the minute our hire vehicle left the airport we understood we were being followed by two vehicles. In our hotel an odd complete stranger spent every breakfast listening to us.


Some crucial activities of the Church of Scientology carry dangers for members, and the deaths of some Scientologists have actually accentuated the Church both due to the circumstances of their demises and their relationship with Scientology potentially being an aspect. In 1995, Lisa McPherson was associated with a minor car mishap while driving on a Clearwater, Florida street.

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Health center staff chose that she had not been hurt in the accident, however recommended keeping her over night for observation. Following intervention by fellow Scientologists, McPherson refused psychiatric observation or admission at the health center and checked herself out versus medical suggestions after a short assessment. She was taken to the Fort Harrison Hotel, a Scientology retreat, to get a Church sanctioned treatment called Self-questioning Rundown.


She was locked in a space for 17 days, where she died. Her appearance after death was that of somebody who had actually been rejected water and food for rather some time, being both underweight and seriously dehydrated. Furthermore, her skin was covered with over one hundred insect bites, probably from cockroaches.


The Church has actually repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and now makes members sign a waiver before Self-questioning Rundown particularly mentioning that they (or anybody on their behalf) will not bring any legal action versus the company over injury or death. These charges brought in press protection and sparked claims. 8 years later on, Elli Perkins, another adherent to Scientology's beliefs regarding psychiatry, was stabbed to death by her mentally disturbed son.


The death of Elli Perkins at the hands of a disturbed relative, one whose disease could have been treated by approaches and medications banned by Scientology, once again raised questions in the media about the Church's methods. In addition, the Church has been linked in kidnapping members who have actually just recently left the church.

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She was found on January 22, 2008, clothed only in a t-shirt. The room she was locked up in contained refuse and an insect plagued mattress. On Friday March 28, 2008, Kaja Bordevich Ballo, daughter of Olav Gunnar Ballo, Norwegian parliament member and vice president of the Norwegian Odelsting, took a Church of Scientology character test while studying in Nice.




A few hours later she devoted suicide by jumping from her veranda at her dormitory leaving a note telling her family she was sorry for not "being good for anything". Perth Scientology. The occurrence has advanced heavy criticism versus the Church of Scientology from pals, household and prominent Norwegian political leaders.


Members of the general public entering a Scientology center visit this site right here or objective are provided a "totally free character test" called the Oxford Capacity Analysis by Scientology literature. The test, in spite of its name and the claims of Scientology literature, has no connection to Oxford University or any other research go to this site study body. Scientific research into three test results concerned the conclusion that "we are required to a position of uncertainty about the test's status as a trustworthy psychometric gadget" and called its scientific value "negligible".


Current legal actions including Scientology's relationship with its members (see Scientology controversy) have caused the organization to release substantial legal documents that cover the rights granted to followers. It has become standard practice within the organization for members to sign lengthy legal agreements and waivers prior to taking part in Scientology services, a practice that contrasts greatly with almost every mainstream religious organization.

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I do not think in or register for psychiatric labels for people. It is my strongly held religion that all psychological issues are spiritual in nature and that there is no such thing as a mentally inexperienced persononly those suffering from spiritual upset of one kind or another dramatized by a person.


Under no situations, at any time, do I wish to be rejected my right to care from members of my religious beliefs to the exclusion of psychiatric care or psychiatric directed care, no matter what any psychiatrist, medical person, designated member of the state or household member may assert supposedly on my behalf.


The International Association of Scientologists (IAS), the main Church membership system since 1984, has actually never launched figures. Church representatives either give numbers for their nations or a worldwide figure. Some nationwide censuses have actually recently consisted of questions about spiritual affiliations, though the article source United States Census Bureau states that it is not the source for details on religious beliefs. Perth Scientology.


In 1993, a representative of Scientology Frankfurt had pointed out somewhat more than 30,000 members across the country. The organization has stated that it has anywhere from eight million to fifteen million members worldwide. Derek Davis mentioned in 2004 that the Church company has around 15 million members worldwide. Religious scholar J. Gordon Melton has actually said that the church's quotes of its membership numbers are overemphasized: "You're talking about anybody who ever bought a Scientology book or took a standard course.