The Church of Scientology is famous for its efforts to silence its critics, but it has not blocked an upcoming HBO film that turns a harsh light on the powerful organization and its leadership. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, directed by Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney, will debut Sunday over the vigorous objection of Scientology officials.

The Church of Scientology is famous for attacking its critics in every way possible. Now, to discredit HBO's upcoming documentary, is it turning to…Google? Trying to learn more about Going Clear, the new HBO documentary premiering March 29 about the Church of Scientology? Maybe you’ve heard about the film and want to Google it out of curiosity. That approach, the one taken by just about everyone with an Internet connection, reveals Scientology’s own attempts to...

The Church of Scientology has started contacting film critics who have reviewed Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. In the film, Gibney outlines the inception and growth of the religion founded by L Ron Hubbard in 1953, which features an exotic mythology and unusual spirituality based around transcending earlier trauma.

I’ll never forget my first experience with Scientology. It was 2006 in San Francisco, with my friend John. Back then, the faith’s devoted followers were a common sight every time you exited the BART station—holding two hollow aluminum tubes, asking passersby if they wanted to be “tested.” They looked like kids who had rolled up toilet-paper tubes with aluminum foil, something cheap and vaguely sci-fi looking to use while playing Flash Gordon or Spaceman Spiff.

China is about to try one of the most notorious murders in recent memory. In late May a group belonging to a banned cult beat a woman to death in a fast food restaurant. Her only crime was to refuse to give them her telephone number. The cult in question is called the Church of the Almighty God and claims to have millions of members.

A woman charged with the murder of a man she and her husband lured to a meeting point after meeting him on Craigslist, has admitted to the murder and claimed she has killed over 20 other people.