Church of Scientology the "United Churches of Florida" the citizens and City Council of Clearwater did not realize that the building's owners were actually the Church of Scientology until after the building's purchase. Clearwater citizens' groups, headed by Mayor Gabriel Cazares, rallied strongly against Scientology establishing a base in the city (repeatedly referring to the organization as a cult), but Flag Base was established nonetheless. In the years since its foundation, the Flag Land Base has expanded as the Church of Scientology has gradually purchased large amounts of additional property in the downtown and waterfront Clearwater area. Scientology's largest project in Clearwater has
Former Cathedral Church of Christ the King Former Cathedral Church of Christ the King Cathedral Church of Christ the King was formerly the mother church of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan in Portage, Michigan. In 1965, at the urging of Bishop Charles E. Bennison, a Diocesan Convention approved building the new Cathedral, and the next year Chicago-based architect Irving W. Colburn was hired. In 1967 a congregation was organized and ground broken for the Cathedral of Christ the King. The Cathedral was completed in two years, at a cost of $1,653,729.81, though the building was not consecrated as a cathedral until 1977. The cathedral organ