Read a June 15, 2009, Associated Press story (posted by FoxNews.com) about a French trial in which the prosecutor is seeking to have the Church of Scientology banned in that country.

The Tampa Bay Times published a three-part series on the Church of Scientology in June 2009. Read the third installment, published June 23, 2009.

The Tampa Bay Times published a three-part series on the Church of Scientology in June 2009. Read the second installment, published June 22, 2009.

Read a Feb. 21, 2009, Tampa Bay Times story about two wrongful-death lawsuits dealing with Scientology’s stance on psychiatry. One has been settled; the other was just recently filed.

Read a Jan. 30, 2005, Buffalo News article (posted by RickRoss.com) about the Cult Awareness Network. According to the article, the network was sued numerous times by Scientologists. Later, individual Scientologists bought the network after it was driven into bankruptcy; the network no longer considers Scientology a cult, the story says.

Read a March 3, 2009, Los Angeles Times article (posted by RickRoss.com) about a new Riverside County, Calif., law limiting protests outside the Church of Scientology’s Golden Era studio complex. Some say the law violates the First Amendment.

Read a May 11, 2009, Los Angeles Times article about the hacker behind the 2008 cyber-attack on Church of Scientology websites.

The West Coast Poverty Center is based at the University of Washington. Jennifer Romich is director as well as professor of social work and public affairs.

Russell Powell is associate professor of law at Seattle University. His expertise includes comparative religious jurisprudence, with particular interests in Catholic social thought and Islamic legal theory.