Church to sue magazine

Press, 8 May 1980, Page 6

Church to sue magazine

The Church of Scientolog, [intends to sue the “Readeq [Digest" for defamation whei the magazine publishes aj article which was the sub, ject of recent court actior in Australia. The Supreme Couit at Syd. ney last month rejected th? church's bid to have publj. cation of the article. “Scienti o’ogy — anatomy of a fright, ening cult,” blocked. According to the New Zea, land general manager o[ “Readers Digest” (Mr R. Mon ley), the article will be pub lished in the June edition oj the magazine. He said thaj an unsuccessful bid had also been made to ban the articl, in South Africa. However, the church’s pub. lie affairs officer in Auck< land, iMiss Liesa Collins, saitj yesterday that the Australian judge who rejected the church's application had said that the article was defamatory, and that the church could best take action through a defamation suit. “That’s what we will dq here,” Miss Collins said. She asserted that the article was almost entirely false, The church would not seek ai) injunction to prevent "Read! ers Digest” from publishing the article, which had already appeared in the May edition in the. United States.