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Church of the New Faith was a name used by the Church of Scientology in Australia from 1969 until 1983 to avoid laws that restricted or banned the practice of Scientology.
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Church of the New Faith was a name used by the Church of Scientology in Australia from 1969 until 1983 to avoid laws that restricted or banned the practice of Scientology.
In 1965 the State of Victoria passed a law, the Psychological Practices Act, 1965, banning the use of the E-meter and teaching Scientology for money. Considering Scientology to be a form of psychology, it required anyone practising psychology to be registered with a newly established Victorian Psychological Council. However, since the Act's definition of psychology was broad enough to include the pastoral counselling traditionally done by priests and ministers of religion, any religious denomination recognised by the Australian government under the federal Marriage Act was exempted from its provisions.[ citation needed ] The Scientology organisation in Spring Street, Melbourne, closed in response to this law.
Similar laws were later passed in Western Australia in 1968 (the Scientology Act) and South Australia (the Psychological Practices Act) in 1973. The Church changed its name to "Church of the New Faith" and remained active in these two States.
In November 1968, two Australian Scientologists who had been working at Saint Hill, Ian and Judith Tampion, set up a mission of the Church of the New Faith in an inner suburb of Melbourne. They held meetings and sold books, but Scientologists in Melbourne would travel to Adelaide, South Australia for training.
The Church of the New Faith was incorporated in Adelaide on 18 June 1969. [1]
In 1972, Western Australia repealed its Scientology Act. In January 1973, the newly elected federal Labor government recognised Scientology as a religious denomination under the Marriage Act, allowing Scientology ministers to conduct marriages and making them effectively exempt from the provisions of Victoria's Psychological Practices Act. The mission in Melbourne now became a fully functional Church offering training and counselling to the public. However, Victoria's law remained active, though the Victorian Scientology organisation was incorporated in South Australia.
In 1980, the Victorian branch of the Church of the New Faith applied for exemption from payroll tax. (The Church had exemption already in all other states where it operated). The Commissioner of Pay-Roll Tax rejected the application. The Church appealed against the decision, and lost on 18 December 1980. The Church lodged a Victorian Supreme Court appeal against this on 24 February 1981, which the full Supreme Court rejected on 5 May 1982.
Around this time, the Victorian Psychological Practices Act was becoming controversial, and was seen by many to be counter-productive. On 25 February 1981, officials of major religions urged repeal of the Act. Later, leading Churchmen including heads of Theological Colleges had signed a petition: "to remove all prohibitive sections aimed at members of the Church of Scientology purely on religious grounds. It further asks 'that in future no legislation be passed which discriminates against any minority because of its beliefs'". [2]
The Victorian Minister for Health, Tom Roper, explained to the Legislative Assembly that the Act was not being enforced in much of Australia. The Church of Scientology was flourishing in spite of the legislation banning its practice. Roper urged the lawmakers that in the future they shouldn't single out a minority group for legislation "in the way the Psychological Practices Act discriminates against Scientology." [3]
The Liberal and National Parties did not oppose the Labor Government's action to repeal the Psychological Practices Act. [4] The Act was amended by the Psychologists Registration (Scientology) Act, 1982 to remove all references to Scientology on 24 June 1982 and was repealed in 1987.
This did not, however, give the Church tax exempt status in Victoria. The Church appealed against the payroll decision to the High Court on 9 November 1982 and the case was accepted. They won the case (Church of the New Faith v. Commissioner of Pay-Roll Tax (Victoria)) in late 1983 and immediately started operating as the Church of Scientology once more, with confirmed status as a tax-exempt religion. [5] Subsequently in 2013, the UK Supreme Court affirmed the religious status of Scientology in that country, and credited the Australian High Court case judgment of Wilson and Deane as the "most helpful" of various international cases in defining the characteristics of religion. [6]
Victoria's Psychological Practices Act was finally repealed by the Psychologists Registration Act, 1987. [7] The South Australian Psychological Practices Act has remained in force and regulates the activities of hypnotists and psychologists in that State. However, neither this Act itself [8] nor the current regulations [9] now contain any reference to Scientology. The Western Australian Scientology Act, 1968 has been replaced by a Psychologists Registration Act, 1976 [10] with similar provisions.
The Church of Scientology has been involved in numerous court disputes across the world. In some cases, when the Church has initiated the dispute, questions have been raised as to its motives. The Church of Scientology says that its use of the legal system is necessary to protect its intellectual property and its right to freedom of religion. Critics say that most of the organization's legal claims are designed to harass those who criticize it and its manipulative business practices.
Since its inception in 1954, the Church of Scientology has been involved in a number of controversies, including its stance on psychiatry, Scientology's legitimacy as a religion, the Church's aggressive attitude in dealing with its perceived enemies and critics, allegations of mistreatment of members, and predatory financial practices; for example, the high cost of religious training:191 and perceived exploitative practices. When mainstream media outlets have reported alleged abuses, representatives of the church have tended to deny such allegations.
The E-Meter is an electronic device used in Scientology that allegedly "registers emotional reactions". After claims by L. Ron Hubbard that the procedures of auditing, which used the E-Meter, could help heal diseases, the E-Meter became the subject of litigation. Since then, the Church of Scientology publishes disclaimers declaring that the E-Meter "by itself does nothing", is incapable of improving health, and is used solely for spiritual purposes.
The Anderson Report is the colloquial name of the report of the Board of Inquiry into Scientology, an official inquiry into the Church of Scientology conducted for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was written by Kevin Victor Anderson QC and published in 1965. The report led to legislation attempting to ban Scientology in Victoria and similar legislation in several other States of Australia. No convictions were made under the legislation and Scientologists continued to practice their beliefs, although the headquarters was moved to South Australia. The legislation has been repealed in all States and subsequently Scientology was found to be a religion by the High Court of Australia.
In the 1950s and 1960s, a HASI was an organization where people would go for Scientology training, auditing, books, tapes, and e-meters. There were HASI organizations across the western world. The use of the word "HASI", pronounced "hah-zee" or "ha-zee", could refer to either a local organization or the international management corporation.
[L. Ron Hubbard] is governing director of Hubbard Association of Scientologists International, the operative company of the HASI, over which he exercises complete and autocratic control.
This is a Timeline of Scientology and its forerunner Dianetics, particularly its foundation and development by author L. Ron Hubbard as well as general publications, articles, books and other milestones.
Sir Kevin Victor Anderson was an Australian lawyer and judge who served on the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1969 to 1984.
The Church of Scientology Moscow v Russia [2007] ECHR 258 is a European Court of Human Rights case, concerning Article 11 of the convention. In the case the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg condemned Moscow City Government's refusal to consider the Church of Scientology of Moscow for registration as a religious organisation, and as a result found that Russia had violated the rights of the Church of Scientology under Articles 11 when "read in the light of Article 9". Specifically, the Court determined that, in denying consideration of registration to the Church of Scientology of Moscow, the Moscow authorities "did not act in good faith and neglected their duty of neutrality and impartiality vis-à-vis the applicant's religious community". The Court also awarded the Church €10,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and €15,000 for costs and expenses.
Scientology has existed in Australia since the early 1950s. The number of Scientology adherents varies depending upon the source; according to the Australian Census, it has a declining population: 1,655 members in 2021, down from 1,681 in 2016 and 2,163 in 2011, while Scientology itself has claimed 150,000 members in Australia. It has headquarters in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, and Canberra, along with a mission in Tasmania and Brisbane. Church of Scientology Sydney is the regional headquarters for the entire Asian and Pacific area.
Recognition of Scientology and the Church of Scientology varies from country to country with respect to state recognition for religious status, charitable status, or tax exempt status. Decisions are contingent upon the legal constructs of each individual country, and results are not uniform worldwide. For example, the absence of a clear definition for 'religion' or 'religious worship' has resulted in unresolved and uncertain status for Scientology in some countries.
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a cult, a business, a religion, a scam, or a new religious movement. Hubbard initially developed a set of ideas that he called Dianetics, which he represented as a form of therapy. An organization that he established in 1950 to promote it went bankrupt, and Hubbard lost the rights to his book Dianetics in 1952. He then recharacterized his ideas as a religion, likely for tax purposes, and renamed them Scientology. By 1954, he had regained the rights to Dianetics and founded the Church of Scientology, which remains the largest organization promoting Scientology. There are practitioners independent of the Church, in what is referred to as the Free Zone. Estimates put the number of Scientologists at under 40,000 worldwide.
Scientology in the United Kingdom is practised mainly within the Church of Scientology and its related groups which go under names including "Hubbard Academy of Personal Independence" and "Dianetics and Scientology Life Improvement Centre". The national headquarters, and former global headquarters, is Saint Hill Manor at East Grinstead, which for seven years was the home of L. Ron Hubbard, the pulp fiction author who created Scientology. In the 2021 census, there were 1,844 individuals in England and Wales who listed themselves as Scientologists in their census returns, almost half of which lived in the area around East Grinstead in West Sussex, which hosts the British Scientology Headquarters at Saint Hill Manor. This is a decline of just under a quarter since census day, 2011.
The Church of Scientology has operated in Germany since 1970. German authorities estimate that there are 3,500 active Scientologists in Germany as of 2019. The Church of Scientology gives a membership figure of around 12,000. The Church of Scientology has encountered particular antagonism from the German press and government and occupies a precarious legal, social and cultural position in Germany.
The Church of Scientology of France is organized as a group of secular nonprofit organizations. France is a secular state, which protects the rights of citizens to practice their religion. Although citizens can form religious associations based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, which grants certain benefits, the Church of Scientology of France is instead organized into secular associations based on a 1901 law regarding nonprofit groups.
Scientology was founded in the United States by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and is now practiced in many other countries.
R v Registrar General ex parte Segerdal and another was a court case heard by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, which was instrumental in determining whether the Church of Scientology was to be considered a bona fide religion in England and Wales, and by extension what defines a religion in English law. The case, heard in 1969–70, focused on the question of whether a chapel at the Scientologists' UK headquarters should be registered as a meeting place for religious worship under an 1855 law. The Church's initial application was refused and it appealed the case to the courts, arguing that Scientology was a genuine religion and that it used the chapel for religious purposes. In dismissing the appeal, the Court of Appeal found that Scientology's practices "did not reveal any form whatever of worship". Ten years later, the Segerdal ruling was drawn upon to define a religion for the purposes of English common law as requiring "faith in a god and worship of that god". The Segerdal ruling was later overturned by the Supreme Court in 2013 who redefined the term "religion" in a modern context and ruled that Scientology is to be recognised as a religion in the UK.
Ian Kenneth Tampion was an Australian scientologist and sportsman. He played Australian rules football with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The tax status of the Church of Scientology in the United States has been the subject of decades of controversy and litigation. Although the Church of Scientology was initially partially exempted by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from paying federal income tax, its two principal entities in the United States lost this exemption in 1957 and 1968. This action was taken because of concerns that church funds were being used for the private gain of its founder L. Ron Hubbard or due to an international psychiatric conspiracy against Scientology.
Freedom of religion in Australia is allowed in practice and protected to varying degrees through the constitution and legislation at the Federal, state and territory level. Australia is a pluralist country with legislated principle of state neutrality and with no state religion. The nation has over 13.5 million people who identify as religious and 7.1 million who identify as irreligious.
From 1953 to 1967, L. Ron Hubbard was the official leader of the Church of Scientology.