An intriguing suit, I know of no "church" based religion that doesn't require tithing or donations of some sort,,,I would have started questioning long before it reached $420,000 and what is scary, I see this same type of development occurring again, especially with end-times/ufo (alien) based belief systems that are becoming prevalent,,,
,,,The couple claims they were duped into giving more than $420,000 for a building campaign, disaster relief efforts and other Scientology causes, only to find the bulk of the money went to inflate the church coffers and line the pockets of its leader, David Miscavige.
"The church, under the leadership of David Miscavige, has strayed from its founding principles," the lawsuit claims, "and morphed into a secular enterprise whose primary purpose is taking people's money."
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,,, He said the Garcias still believe in the precepts of Scientology and that the litigation is not a commentary on whether it is a true religion, a question that has dogged it across the world since it was founded in the 1950s. Babbitt said, ultimately, that question is irrelevant when considering its members' donations.
"Whether you're a church or not a church, you can't defraud people," he said.
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Among the accusations made in the lawsuit is that the Garcias and others were repeatedly approached with urgent requests for funding of Scientology work around the globe, such as disaster relief or campaigns for causes such as ending child pornography. Babbitt said high-ranking former Scientologists would testify that the church knowingly rerouted such collections for other spending, including financing a "lavish lifestyle" for Miscavige, stifling inquiries into church activities and finances, and intimidating members and ex-members.
Calif. couple sues over donations to Scientology - Yahoo! News
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