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The Fitzroy Street site of Hubbard’s offices |
Scientologists beam back to Fitzroy Street
Hubbard’s home to be a museum
THE fastest-growing religious movement in the world has returned to its spiritual home 50 years after its controversial doctrine was conceived there.
The Church of Scientology has bought the former home of the American science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard in Fitzroy Street.
Mr Hubbard mapped out his theory of Dianetics, Scientology’s founding principle, in the Fitzroy Street mansion in 1957.
The Scientologists plan to use the four-floor Georgian mansion to launch publicity campaigns and store a private archive.
Church of Scientology spokesman Graeme Wilson said: “37 Fitzroy Street housed L Ron Hubbard’s offices from 1957-1966. This is where the first Church of Scientology London was formed. It is now being re-opened as a museum and gallery of his works and achievements over the last 50 years. This will be open to visitors by appointment only.”
Scientology hit the headlines this week when Daily Mail reporter John Sweeney, who was making a documentary for BBC’s Panorama, “exploded like a tomato” after being shadowed for weeks by a Scientology private investigator.
Footage of the rant was posted on uTube.
Mr Sweeney told the BBC: “While making our Panorama film, ‘Scientology and Me’, I have been shouted at, spied on, had my hotel invaded at midnight, denounced as a ‘bigot’ by star Scientologists and been chased round the streets of Los Angeles by sinister strangers.”
Scientologists describe their ‘applied religion’ as an exact science but critics have compared it to a personality cult based on the obscure beliefs of a man who said humans evolved from aliens implanted in volcanoes trillions of years ago.
The Church of Scientology has also been criticised for using high profile celebrities to boost membership at £240 a year.
Hollywood celebrity actors including John Travolta, Tom Cruise and wife Katie Holmes are among the ten million members worldwide.
Mr Hubbard this year was declared the most published and translated author in the world, according to the 2006 Guinness World Records.
But his teachings have been shrouded in controversy since his wife and ten executives of the Church were convicted and imprisoned for infiltration, wiretapping, and theft of documents from the US government. |
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