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
The Scandal of Scientology started collecting everything I could get my eager hands on — magazine articles, newspaper clippings, government files, anything." Later, when "A Piece of Blue Sky" was dropped from Amazon.com listings in a controversial move, this was compared to court actions that initially limited distribution of "The Scandal of Scientology". J. Gordon Melton recommended reading both Cooper's book and the church's refutation, "False Report Correction/The Scandal of Scientology by Paulette Cooper", for "insight" into the Scientology controversy in his 1978 work, "The Encyclopedia of American Religions". The Scandal of Scientology The Scandal of Scientology is a critical exposé book about the