Director Paul Haggis quits the Church of Scientology

It's been a bad few days for the Church of Scientology. On Saturday, the religious cult's spokesman Tommy Davis walked out of an interview with Martin Bashir because of an "offensive" line of questioning. Then, it emerged that one of its most high-profile members, the Oscar-winning film director Paul Haggis, had quit the church. Today, a French court has handed the cult a hefty fine for fraud.

Scientology was founded by sci-fi writer L Ron Hubbard in 1954. It is officially recognised as a religion in the United States and boasts 12m members - many of them A-list Hollywood stars, such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Haggis, director of Crash, quit after 35 years as a member because he was unhappy with the church aligning itself with the Christian Right on the controversial issue of civil partnerships for homosexuals.

He accused Tommy Davis Davis of failing to publicly denounce San Diego's Scientology chapter for supporting Proposition 8, a controversial law which bans gay marriage in California.

In a letter to Davis, he wrote: "I reached a point several weeks ago where I no longer knew what to think. You had allowed our name to be allied with the worst elements of the Christian Right.

"The church's refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent."

The letter was dated August 19, but has only now come to light. Its existence may go some way to explain Davis's short fuse when he walked out of an interview at the weekend with Martin Bashir on ABC's Nightline.

Bashir asked Davis about one of L Ron Hubbard's dictums about the origins of the human race "described through Xenu and the intergalactic emperor". Davis, who had already weathered Bashir's questions about allegations of physical abuse levelled at the church's leader David Miscavige, walked out at this point, saying the line of questioning was "offensive".

While the American arm of Scientology suffers allegations of physical abuse and homophobia, in France the church has just been issued with a hefty fine for defrauding its members - and narrowly escaped being banned.

The case was brought by two women: one, who said she was manipulated into paying €20,000 for useless products, and another who was fired by her Scientologist employer when she refused to undergo testing and enrol in courses.

The court ordered the church, which is classified as a 'cult' in France, to pay a €600,000 fine. Its leader, Alain Rosenberg, was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence and a €30,000 fine for preying financially on its followers.

Scientologists can take some comfort from the ruling, which stopped short of dissolving the church - a penalty allowed under French law against organisations found guilty of fraud.