Scientology: 'If you want to make millions, start a religion'

Sitting on a red velvet chair in the middle of a majestic, oak-panelled hall, I have rarely felt more fearful for my sanity.

On the wall in front of me, a creepy, larger-than-life-sized portrait of an old man seems to be staring straight at me. In front of the portrait, Laura, a middle-aged woman wearing a high-necked blouse and ostentatious gold cross, stands behind a lectern reading aloud from a huge leather-bound tome.

None of the worshippers take their eyes off Laura as they repeat her words back to her - phrases such as: "All men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others".

I am at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, West Sussex - the UK's Church of Scientology headquarters.