Source: Scopical.com

The negative coverage given to the Church of Scientology in the last two months is actually helping the organisation in its recruitment and contact with others the Church says.

Scientology has taken a battering in the early month's of 2008, with a video of prominent Scientologist Tom Cruise appearing on YouTube showing the actor ranting about the power of the Church and its vast reach.

During the video, Cruise appears to rant uncontrollably in "Scientology-speak", including an outburst about the damage Psychiatrists are doing to mental health patients.

The Cruise video was watched millions of times before being pulled from the site, amid accusations the Church had pressured Google (the owners of YouTube) to delete the video.

An online hacker group known as Anonymous has also pledged to take down the Church of Scientology, including the removal of their websites and online infrastructure.

Despite this the Church said overnight that the negative coverage had been contributing to high levels of user interest in the organisation, and had assisted in its recruiment drive.

"These selective and out-of-context excerpts with the intent of creating both controversy and ridicule nevertheless resulted in people searching for and visiting Church of Scientology websites," British Scientology spokesman Janet Laveau told the Guardian newspaper.

"Those wishing to find out the Church of Scientology's views and to gain context of the video have the right to search official Church websites," she said.

Large worldwide protests against the Church of Scientology are planned for this Sunday, with groups expected to congregate in London, Los Angeles and Toronto.

Australian based protests are also planned for Sydney and Melbourne.

Activists against the Church claim Scientology is nothing more than a for-profit Corporation, with groups saying it should have its tax exemption status stripped away.

Voice artist Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Simpson's character Bart, last week donated $10 Million to the Church of Scientology, said to be almost double that of actor Tom Cruise.

The Church also commands a large real estate portfolio, business interests and a cruise ship, the 'Freewinds'.