New Scientology church signals expansionist thrust
Ruth Gledhill weblog

Actress Anne Archer is among the celebrities due to attend the opening of London's new Church of Scientology headquarters on Sunday. The Church of England has welcomed the new church, which is opening its doors to the public in a building that was once the headquarters of the Bible Society.

The five-storey Italian palazzo building in Queen Victoria Street was originally designed and built in 1866 by architect Edward l’Anson after he won a competition to design the new headquarters for the British and Foreign Bible Society. On completion the building was called Bible House. In 1985 the building was taken over by BP and named D’Arcy House, after William Knox D‘Arcy, the founder of BP. The Scientologists bought it in 2004.

Virtually in the precincts of St Paul's, the teams of Scientologists out on the streets around Tottenham Court Road, where the old London headquarters is still functioning as a centre of the church, are about to become a familiar sight in and around the City of London. Given the many criticisms levelled at Scientology, not least from its own former acolytes, I was slightly surprised to learn how warmly the Church has been welcomed by the clergy at the cathedral.

Canon Peter Delaney, Archdeacon of London and a Canon of St Paul's, hosted a welcome "tea party" for the Scientologists at his home close by the cathedral. Senior clergy from churches in the City of London were also invited to get to know their new neighbours. the rest