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New Zealand: Church faces new claims of child sex abuse and neglect By Greg Ansley La scientologie face à de nouvelles accusations d'abus sur des enfants et négligences
CANBERRA - Further allegations against the Church of Scientology, including claims of child sex abuse and neglect, have renewed calls for an inquiry into the organisation and its operations in Australia. The allegations, accusing the church of cover-ups and the mistreatment of children in a toxic environment, follow earlier, alarming investigations and a failed bid for a Senate probe. Among those making the new allegations is the daughter of the president of the church in Australia, and police are investigating a claim a senior official interfered with an investigation into the reported sexual abuse of an 11-year-old girl. The claims have been denied by the church, which supported its rebuttal with statements by members who were raised as children of the elite, praising their upbringing. The allegations, aired on ABC radio's investigative Lateline programme, add to previous reports used to strengthen political efforts to force an official inquiry into the activities of the church in Australia. In March leading anti-Scientology campaigner Senator Nick Xenophon tried to convince the Senate to open an inquiry into the church's tax-free status, backed by an ABC Four Corners report, the complaints of former members, and "hundreds" of letters raising new allegations. Four Corners reported claims of forced abortions, imprisonment in boot camps and families split apart, all of which were denied by the church. But both Labor and the Coalition voted against a Senate inquiry, noting the existence of other tax inquiries and the danger of the Upper House becoming a "de facto criminal investigations bureau" for the disaffected. Yesterday Xenophon said the latest allegations could not be ignored. "The best way of dealing with [them] ultimately is to have a judicial inquiry to get to the truth of what's occurred and to make recommendations so that this sort of thing doesn't happen again," he said. Lateline interviewed Scarlett Hanna, the daughter of Australian Scientology president Vicki Dunstan and former public affairs director Mark Hanna, supported by Sheila Huber, a former executive establishment officer in Los Angeles. Scarlett Hanna's parents are members of the elite circle known as Sea Org. She grew up in a now-disbanded group called Cadet Org, who she said were separated from their parents and lived in overcrowded conditions without adequate food or medical care. "The best way I can describe [the treatment of children] is as cattle," Scarlett Hanna said. "We were property of the organisation [and] although they would like to say that we weren't we were. It was an incredibly lonely childhood." At 13 Scarlett Hanna was sent to live with adult members of Sea Org in inner Sydney, living a largely unsupervised life from 9am to midnight, and dodging classes at what she described as one of the city's roughest schools. "I was being bullied and bashed and so I just stopped attending school," she said. "I started hanging out in parks because I was so socially isolated and this led me to being raped by a convicted murderer and running away." Huber told Lateline that she had worked for Sea Org as a nanny for Cadet Org children. She had no training and had sole care of 30 children under 3 packed into a one-bedroom apartment. "I couldn't believe it," she said. "It was wall-to-wall cribs." In further allegations Carmen Rainer, the daughter of a Scientologist, said she had been abused by her stepfather but had been told by a senior officer, Jan Eastgate, the abuse was her fault and had been coached to lie to the police. Eastgate was at the time head of the church's anti-psychiatry Citizens Commission on Human Rights. She now is the head of the commission's international head, based in Los Angeles. "They told me it was my fault because I'd been bad in a past life," Rainer said. She said she had been told that if she did not lie to police she would be taken from her parents and never see them again. The church has denied the claims. It said Rainer's claims were "false, highly defamatory and vigorously denied". "Not only did church staff help facilitate Carmen and her mother to report the matter to the proper authorities at the time it happened in 1985, it was only through the intervention of the church that the man responsible ultimately turned himself in to the police and was prosecuted," the church said. It declined direct comment on the Hanna allegations because they were a "private family matter between Scarlett and her parents". But it said her remarks were not in accordance with the experiences of others who had grown up as Cadet Org children, who said they had lived rich and fulfilling lives. The statement included six supporting statements, including one from 22-year-old Bindy Bennett, a second-generation Scientologist who said she had lived with Hanna in the Cadet Org for four years. "Scarlett was very close to her mum and I observed that she would spend a lot of time with her at the church ... [and] stay with her after school most days," Bennett's statement said. "She was also close to her dad." By Greg Ansley |
A PLANNED church-based rehabilitation centre in Papaiti Rd for male
alcoholics and drug addicts no longer has resource consent. Its consent was revoked this week after an investigation by a Wanganui
District Council planning officers. Councillor Ray Stevens said that, after a number of complaints from
residents and members of the community, council planning officers had
found that the original resource consent should not have been granted.
"It became clear to us that what had been written in the proposal and
what the owners had been saying were two different things," Mr Stevens
said. "At this stage, I can't say whether, once the new proposal is looked at,
the resource consent will be publicly notified. Unfortunately, if it is
notified, it will cost the owners more to have it heard," he said. Mr Vermuelen has been asked to submit a second application. Earlier, Mr
Vermuelen had told the Wanganui Chronicle and his neighbours that the centre
had been granted resource consent and it was all go. His immediate neighbours on either side of the Papaiti Rd property,
Leanne and Terry Cox and Roger and Charlene Miller, were all furious and
horrified. The two couples had said they were angry and upset because they had not
been consulted and that they did not think it was safe to have an addiction
centre in a area where there are so many young families. Both couples said
they were worried about the safety of their young children. But they were further incensed about the granting of the consent, because
they had made it clear to Mr Vermuelen that they didn t agree with the
centre and would not sign giving their support for the consent application.
"It's hard to believe that the council would go ahead and grant consent
without asking us, the nearest neighbours. Our rights were completely
ignored," they said. Mrs Cox said yesterday that they were relieved the
consent decision had now been overturned. "I feel better now, knowing that we will probably get to have our say at
a proper public hearing." Narconon, the Scientology Church rehabilitation programme, had been
chosen for the centre because it focused on healthy living and lifestyle
choices, working on the premise of a clean mind and a clean body. Those on the programme would be treated with vitamins and minerals and
have saunas to flush the toxins from the fat cells of their bodies,
along with regular exercise and counselling. Specialist people selected to run the programme at the centre would need to be trained for between four and six weeks at the Narconon addiction centre in Melbourne. |
| Christians march in Samoa against scientology
Hundreds
of Christian believers in Samoa from Pentecostal churches and
ministries have marched in protest against the government’s
support of the Scientology religion.
They marched to the front of the government building in Apia where Scientology tents have been put up as the main venue for its disaster training and seminars over the next two weeks. The protesters have called on the government to reconsider its stance to allow the Scientology members into the country as they would try to persuade many Christian believers to join the scientologists. Early this week, the chairman of the main council of churches, the Reverend Oka Fau’olo, denied the council was supporting the goodwill visit by Scientology ministers. The chairman has warned the country to be very cautious of the organisation’s teachings |
Scientologists snap up heritage home
The Church of Scientology is stepping up its image and presence here, spending $10 million to buy a prominent Auckland building. The church, which is popular with Hollywood stars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, will move around 100 staff into the building perched above the Southern Motorway at Grafton and run courses from there. It will soon leave Panmure's industrial strip for the building now occupied by the Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, which has two other campus sites. The college fitted the building out with art studios, a library, darkrooms, seminar rooms and a lecture hall but it is looking for new premises. Soon, the church will be preaching the teachings of L Ron Hubbard and the dianetics spiritual healing technology from the property. Real estate consultants DTZ handled the sale and spokesman Kevin Richards said the church paid $10 million for the building at 136 Grafton Rd and his firm would manage the property. The building was owned by a private partnership which had owned it for just a few years. "The building was not on the market and they had to pay a premium to get it," Richards said. The art school is looking to lease new premises. The property is listed on the Historic Places Trust's register as a category two building. It is also listed on Auckland City's historic schedule as a category B building. Church spokesman Mike Ferriss said yesterday his organisation operated from a building at 532-534 Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and the church had about 5000 members nationally. "We have been searching for a suitable property for a number of years with an emphasis on heritage properties. Our interest in 136 Grafton Rd started when one of our founding members suggested that it would be the ideal building for us. That was almost a year ago." Ferriss said the church would fully renovate and restore the building over two years and expected to move in once the work was completed. "The New Zealand Scientology Church was formally established in January 1955, making it the first outside of the United States and the second oldest in the world. People from all over the country come to the church in Auckland for services. The new facility should be able to cater for 200 or so students and about 100 staff." DTZ said the building was opened as Trinity College in March 1929 and was used as a training facility for ministers of the Methodist Church. This stopped in 1972 when the college was leased to the Education Department and, since 1984, the building had served as premises for Whitecliffe, a private education institution. Ferriss said the building was a comfortable fit with his organisation's international property portfolio. |
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Exposing Scientology through streaming video
Ces reportages vidéo dénoncent les dangers de la thérapie de scientologie. La scientologie est une nébuleuse sur laquelle ont enquêté de nombreux journalistes. Il suffit de répondre une fois à un questionnaire pour recevoir des prospectus et des invitations. Au départ elle peut même paraître séduisante mais très rapidement les premières dérives apparaissent. |
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