David Miscavige Hosted Scientology Gathering

East Grinstead has never seen the likes of it.  More than 6,500 Scientologists all gathered together at the same time in the same place in a huge tent outside Saint Hill Manor, to hear David Miscavige tell the story of how the Church overcame all odds to arrive where it is today.

Inspiring!

Scientology Fundamentals

What a dapper fellow! Loved reading his win. He took this course at the Scientology Mission of SOMA in San Francisco, famous as the Scientology Mission opened by Dharma of Dharma and

Greg.M.S., a professional tango dancer, completed Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought Book Course. .
He said, “This has improved my knowledge and understanding of everyday living. And how to work with other people. I would recommend this course to anyone!”

Love it!

David Miscavige released these new books and lectures a little over a year ago. I’m having GREAT wins myself from studying them!  As a matter of fact, I’ve been spending all my spare time with my nose stuck to a book (vs. a blog).  There went my blogging time!

Scientology and Dianetics Saves Marriage

This press release from the Church of Scientology of Chicago about a doctor who couldn’t face marriage even though she had found the “love of her life.”  She didn’t resort to unworkable psychiatric lables and the convenient designer med to fix this.  Rather, she used Dianetics and got the the root of the problem, so it never reared its ugly head again.

Happily married more than 20 years later, she recommends Dianetics and Scientology to anyone wanting better relationships.

I aboslutely agree.  I have seen so many people wreck their lives because of stupid compulsions and repressions that they could fix for real and for good with a couple of hours of Dianetics (or even just reading Scientology and Dianetics books).

A few years ago I saw an event where the leader of the Scientology religion, David Miscavige, was talking about Scientology being a bit too “incredible” because it handles so much in life it can seen impossible.  So I am really happy we now have courses at our churches and missions where people can study the basic books by L. Ron Hubbard— the best way to learn the subject and be able to use it!

 

 Although many Americans still have a firm belief in marriage and “living happily ever after,” the fact that 50% of marriages end in divorce and that violence is the reason stated for divorce in 22% of middle-class marriages shows just how often this dream goes wrong.

Scientology videos

This new Scientology video channel is so cool.  I love the video on what Scientologists say about Scientology, and the human rights and anti-drug PSAs.  And I think my favorites of the Way to Happiness ads.

But the best thing is that they’re all online.  That’s so cool because people ask me about Scientology all the time and now I have someplace to send them, to find out!

LA Times Almost Gets it Right on Scientology

Michael Shermer of the LA Times almost got it right, starting his editorial with these words: 

Imagine reading this news release: “Hello, Jews. We are anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation; suppression of dissent; your litigious nature, all of these things have caught our eye. … Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. For the good of your followers, for the good of mankind – for the laughs – we shall expel you … and systematically dismantle Judaism in its present form. …”

The rantings of crazed neo-Nazis, right? No. Substitute “Jews” and “Judaism” with “Scientologists” and “Church of Scientology” and you are reading from a statement issued by a group of anti-Scientologists calling themselves “Anonymous.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Shermer then indulged in his own brand of religious intolerance, passing judgement on Scientology beliefs as the self-proclaimed authority that he is not.

With the specious argument that other churches don’t “charge” for their services (No. Some tithe 10% of one’s income; some live off the interest of their 2,000-year long investiments and property; some require that one pay for attendance at high holy day services and for the religious training of their sons and daughters to be confirmed in the church or religion; some merely pass the plate), he fell into the same trap that intolerant, narrow-minded men of all ages have relegated themselves to. 

This country was founded on the philosophy of freedom of religion.

This is the country to which the Calvinists, Quakers and Huguenots fled when they found discrimination in Europse intolerable.

This is the country my own grandparents came to at the turn of the last century to escape the Russian pogroms–traveling in cattle boats, earning enough money in New York to bring over the family of eight, two children at a time.

These and so many more came here because they cherished the freedom to believe as they saw fit and the right to practice their beliefs.

Mr. Sherman succumed to the skeptic impulse (read compulsion in this case) of denigration of all belief.  He would have done well to have stuck to his first and accurate premise.

Americans in the 21st Century, and particularly those who profess to be the intellectual leaders of our civilization, would do well to recognize that the strenght of this country comes from its initial philosophical premises, and the very character of America is tainted by bigotry as it weakens the foundation of what made this country great.

Scientologist Speaks Out

Long term Scientologist, Ken Eckersley, wrote a column for the “Faith” column of the New Statesman. 

Ken is an “elder statesman” of Scientology and the column makes some excellent points:

Mahatma Gandhi famously replied, when asked what he thought of western civilisation, “I think that’s a very good idea.”

I subscribe to the aims of Scientology which are: “a civilisation without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights”.

Similar aims have been held by millions of people through the ages, yet still we have insanity, crime and war in abundance – probably more than ever. One’s inclination can be to shrug and say these aims are impossible.

But my experience is that there are two fundamental requirements to being able to make some decent progress towards their achievement:

1. Recognising that each individual person has a spiritual nature and that they are basically good, no matter how “bad” they might be in their current state.

2. Having a workable technology that can assist each individual person to become his or her true, good self. Whilst it has proved impractical to help “the masses,” you can help individuals and they can help themselves and others if they know how. Then it becomes a question of increasing the numbers of individuals helped.

For me, L Ron Hubbard and Scientology have provided both of these requirements.  >>

Scientology founder, anti-drug crusader

The Philippines have awarded L. Ron Hubbard for his work in the field of drug education and drug rehabilitation.

There is a very serious drug problem in the Philippines. Drugs not only destroy lives, they take lives, and what LRH discovered makes it possible for people to get off drugs without having to take some other drug as a substitute.

Anonymous and Me Too: Scientologist’s Story

I ran across this one on Digg.com.

I don’t know who wrote this, but I feel that way too. I’ll let him/her speak for me:

Scientologists are real people.

Wearing a Guy Fawkes mask is fun. Even in Toronto and Minnesota where they froze in sub-zero temperatures it was a lark. In fact “epic” is the description I read most.

But when you are standing outside my church, who are you really attacking?

Because it’s a who, not a what.

My church is real people, like me.

I’m a Scientologist. I’m a real person.

Not only that, I love my church and the people who work there. They are the hardest working people I know and they do it because they want to help, and are helping people all the time.

I’m a Volunteer Minister. And that’s something I’m really proud of.

A good friend who’s a Volunteer Minister (VM) went to Katrina two years ago. He told me he’ll never forget the two weeks he was there. He closed down his office and just took off for Louisiana, and spent two weeks just helping people in the shelters. He was one of about 900 VMs who went to help.

I have friends from Florida who drove out as soon as they heard the storm was coming. They thought they knew what to expect cuz they manned shelters and ran food and water out to victims of Florida hurricanes for a few years. But, like the rest of us, they were completely shocked by how brutal Katrina was and how unprepared everyone was to cope with it.

There was a Scientologist from some other part of Louisiana who’s a doctor. He and another doctor got into the quarantined part of New Orleans and brought VMs with him to help the police and rescue workers. The doctors gave them tetanus shots. The VMs helped them keep their sanity despite all the wreckage and dead bodies.

The whole Scientology Mission in Baton Rouge was turned into a relief center. Scientologists manned shelters in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans and Vermilion Parish. And the Scientology church in Houston, TX manned shelters there.

I know two of the Scientologists who went to Jakarta last year when it was hit by an earthquake and they ended up working in the makeshift extension to the hospital that had to put people on mattresses on the floor of the parking structure to cope with the overload. They trained the nurses on how to do Scientology procedures that help people recover from trauma and the nurses were amazed at how fast patients were recovering. They also trained family members because the hospital was so short-handed they were having the parents or husbands or wives take care of the victims – they just couldn’t get to them all themselves.

I could probably go on for an hour. But I think you get the point—we are decent caring people and I am proud to be part of a movement that puts out to help people who need help.

And it makes me sick to hear the lies people spread about us.

Anonymous says it isn’t attacking Scientologists.

In the same breath they say they intend to destroy my church.

If you were Catholic and someone was planning on destroy the Catholic Church how do you think you’d feel?

If you saw Anonymous videos on YouTube tracking people down and publishing their addresses and phone numbers because they criticized what Anonymous was doing, and then you saw them threatening to destroy your community, how would you feel?

This has gotten completely out of hand. And it’s NOT fun. It’s criminal and it’s nuts.

So here’s my message to Anonymous—or at least to those of you who came to our churches last Sunday. Next time you come to my church, leave your mask at home and come talk to me, or to another Scientologist and find out who (not what) you are “protesting.”

Whoever wrote this, this is right. It is personal. Don’t hide behind a mask. If you have a problem with a Scientologist, talk to someone. You would expect the same if someone was coming after what was important to you.

Scientology Church Plans Move to the South End of Boston

With the announcement that the Church of Scientology of Boston has bought the former Alexandra Hotel at Washington Street and Massachusetts Avenue, Scientologists are eagerly planning to relocate their headquarters from Back Bay to the South End.

The move won’t be happening any time soon.  As with new Scientology churches opened in other major international cities over the past few years, such as New York, London and Berlin, the Boston Church will undergo extensive renovations before moving to its new home.

The new property is the former Alexandra hotel, a luxurious establishment when it opened its doors in 1875, it faded in prominence when the elevated transit line was built along Washington Street in 1900, closed in the 1960s and was finally gutted by a fire in 1993.  It has been vacant ever since.

Advised by Staubach Co. of New England LLC, the church bought the former 50-room hotel, at 1759-1769 Washington St., and an adjacent building on Washington. The church already has a storefront presence a few doors down on Washington.  Staubach has done other work for the church around the country and will be project manager on the design and redevelopment.

“This is a very prominent building,” said Brian Smallman, vice president of Staubach of New England “It could be an absolutely gorgeous building by the time they’re done with it, and they do everything first rate.”

“The city’s been tortured with this eyesore for so long,” said Gerard Renna, public affairs director for the Boston church.  Renna, who has been with the Church of Scientology of Boston since before it opened its current headquarters on Beacon Street in 1974, did not disclose the sale price, but pledged that the Church will  “transform the hotel to its original grace and elegance.”

The Scientology religion was founded by L. Ron Hubbard.  The first Scientology church was established in Los Angeles in 1954.