"Scientology: the Cult of Greed"

In stark contrast to the recent light'n'fluffy coverage of Scientology, stands this award-winning and fascinating 1991 story by TIME Magazine: Scientology: the Cult of Greed. Author Richard Behar, now an Associate Editor at TIME, was presented with the Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business and financial journalism, the Worth Bingham Prize, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Conscience-in-Media Award for the story. Paulette Cooper also won the Conscience-in-Media award for her 1971 book The Scandal of Scientology.

About Cooper's book Behar wrote: This led to a Scientology plot (called Operation Freak-Out) whose goal, according to church documents, was "to get P.C. incarcerated in a mental institution or jail." It almost worked: by impersonating Cooper, Scientologists got her indicted in 1973 for threatening to bomb the church. Cooper, who also endured 19 lawsuits by the church, was finally exonerated in 1977 after FBI raids on the church offices in Los Angeles and Washington uncovered documents from the bomb scheme.

Also read these remarks by Behar about "the environment of fear that this litigation happy cult has instilled in the media."

Also see this 1990 series on Scientology by the L.A. Times and the 1980 Pulitzer prize-winning St. Petersburg Times story on the group.

These stories go back 15-25 years. Now, instead of investigative reporting we get fluffy coverage of Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes and their "chic" or "it" religion.