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Police in Australia place evidence bags into a car at the scene of a double stabbing at the Church of Scientology headquarters in Chatswood, Sydney on January 3. Photo: EPA

A man in Australia was stabbed at Sydney’s Scientology church, and its leaders believe Leah Remini’s ‘poisonous’ TV show is to blame

  • A 24-year-old Scientologist was stabbed in the neck with a large kitchen knife on January 3 by a teenager he was escorting off the church premises in Sydney
  • Church leaders say former Scientologist Leah Remini’s documentary on the church has influenced ‘the hate that caused his murder’
Religion

Two weeks after a member of the Church of Scientology in Australia was killed in a stabbing, the religious organisation is claiming the attack is tied directly to the church’s critics.

On the driveway snaking into the sprawling 145,000-square-feet building in Sydney’s Chatswood neighbourhood, church member Chih-Jen Yeh, 24, was stabbed in the neck with a large kitchen knife by a 16-year-old boy that Yeh was escorting off the property, said New South Wales Police.

A 30-year-old man was also injured in the attack, which occurred at around 12.30pm on January 3. Both the victim and alleged attacker were Taiwanese nationals, police said.

The 16-year-old suspect has been charged with murder. He is currently in custody.

New South Wales police stand guard at the scene of a double stabbing at the Church of Scientology headquarters in Chatswood, Sydney on January 3. Photo: EPA

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the teenager – who has not been publicly identified – was at the centre because his mother was going through a “purification ceremony”. But little else has been released about a possible motive, wrapping the vicious crime in mystery.

Scientology’s leadership is pinning the blame on a TV show it says has “poisoned the airwaves” and contributed to creating “hatred against the Scientology religion and Scientologists”.

Anti-Scientology blog The Underground Bunker recently posted a letter, dated January 11, from Scientology church spokesperson Karin Pouw to Paul Buccieri, the president of broadcasting company A+E Networks Group.

The text, which has a subject line, “Re: Blood on your hands”, blames a documentary programme, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, by former Scientologist and actress Leah Remini, for the attack. The Emmy award-winning show was aired by A+E.

“Week after week, month after month, and now year after year, this series has poisoned the airwaves in an avowed effort to create hatred against the Scientology religion and Scientologists,” the letter states. “Now, somebody is dead. You paid for the hate that caused his murder.”

On Monday, 7 News Sydney published a follow-up letter that it received from the church, which said, “A&E’s program stirs up religious intolerance, hatred and violence against innocent people.”

A Scientology spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment and to confirm the contents of the letter.

Remini – who is famous for her role on the sitcom The King of Queens – has become one of the church’s most vocal antagonists since leaving the church in 2013, after being a Scientologist since age 9.

“My mother got involved when we were very young, so it’s all we ever really knew,” she told Ellen DeGeneres that year. “But over time, my eyes opened and I could no longer be affiliated with the organisation and my family felt the same, so we left.”

She later penned a memoir about her time in the church, and in 2016 she teamed with former Scientologist executive Mike Rinder for A&E’s Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. The two former church members rip the protective covering off the shadowy organisation, interviewing other former members about allegations of abuse and mistreatment.

“The show is really about standing up for what is right and not letting bullies have their way,” Remini explained when the show was picked up for a second season. “I feel it is important for people to know that you can take action to bring about change, both for yourself and for others.”

The church has consistently pushed back against the series, calling the programme false.

Although Australian authorities have not officially detailed any motive for the 16-year-old’s alleged murder, Scientologist spokesperson Pouw’s letter to A+E claims the accused killer was influenced by Remini’s programme.

“The attacker was inspired by an anti-Scientology website that featured your people and included a link to Remini’s show,” the letter states, without citing a source. “Hatred and propaganda always find their mark, especially among those weak and vulnerable to their appeals. And now it has born strange and bitter fruit.”

A police officer stands guard at the scene of a double stabbing at the Church of Scientology headquarters in Chatswood, Sydney on January 3. Photo: EPA

A spokesman for A+E told the Hollywood Reporter that the network would not be commenting on the letter. But Rinder, Remini’s co-host, blasted back at the church in a Sunday interview with 7 News Sydney.

“They basically seek to shift the blame to our show for their abuses,” Rinder said. “Their statement that this is all caused by A&E and our show because someone apparently looked at a website that mentioned our show – that’s absurd.”

The church’s “purification” ceremony, also known as a “purification rundown” is one aspect of Scientology that remains murky to outsiders.

Created by church founder L Ron Hubbard, Scientology defines the protocol as a “detoxification programme which enables an individual to rid himself of the harmful effects of drugs, toxins and other chemicals that lodge in the body and create a biochemical barrier to spiritual well-being”. It reportedly involves spending long periods of time in hot saunas, as well as taking large doses of supplements and vitamins.

But the practice has also been labelled “a scam”, based on “half-truths and pseudo-science” by some scientists.

According to the then-St Petersburg Times in 1999, after a 25-year-old man in Oregon, died of liver failure after taking the course in 1991, his parents sued the church. The case was settled out of court.

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