Church of Scientology, Freedom Magazine, 6331 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 1200, Los Angeles CA 90028-6329, Tel: 213-960-3500. $22.50/year (12 issues).

The Church of Scientology is a controversial organization based on the teachings of autocrat L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986). By 1977, Hubbard and his Church had made enemies of several governments around the world, so the FBI took advantage of a legal opportunity and raided their offices. This led to evidence that the Church had infiltrated the IRS and even the FBI itself. Eleven of Hubbard's top aides were sent to prison, while Hubbard himself couldn't be found.

Today the Church is more tame, although still willing to sue anyone who gets in their way. One of their main enemies is the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), which specializes in kidnappings and reprogrammings. Although once we might have suggested that CAN and the Church deserve each other, since the late 1970s many Church members have been consistent and reasonable in their efforts to oppose government secrecy and abuse. The Cult Awareness Network, on the other hand, helped set the stage for the raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. The Church's campaign against CAN, and in favor of religious liberty, now has the support of many mainstream religious scholars. Most of the citations in NameBase from Freedom magazine are from their 35-page January 1995 issue, which was a special report on the Cult Awareness Network and the individuals associated with them.

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