Scientologists in Hungary have completed the 4th annual “Marathon for a Drug-Free Hungary,” running 2,086 kilometers through 30 cities and villages and giving drug awareness lectures to 6,559 individuals in 102 schools: Scientologists Complete 4th Annual Marathon for a Drug-Free Hungary.
Scientology is a huge subject so when you first come across it you can have a tough time knowing where to start. Well, a good place to start is with a basic course. There are many good beginning courses that I'd recommend and you can find them all here: Scientology Life Improvement Courses.
This reference is very comprehensive and not only describes what Scientology is, but also goes into how it fits into society: Church of Scientology: The Bonafides of the Scientology Religion
Here is another impartial reference about Scientology. It's written by a J. Gordon Melton, a well known religious scholar: The Church of Scientology.
Although L. Ron Hubbard is mainly known as the founder of Scientology, he is also a best selling author of fiction: L Ron Hubbard Bibliography. Many of his stories reflect his belief in the basic goodness of mankind and the fact that any individual can rise above his or her current situation. Books such as "To The Stars", "Final Blackout" and "Battlefield Earth" (my three favorites) are great examples of this.
Whilst not exactly as I would describe them, this article on Beliefnet gives an outsiders view of the basic beliefs of Scientology: What Scientologists Believe
One thing I feel obliged to add is that Scientology is not based on faith or belief but on personal experience as to whether its practices work or not. For example, If a couple where to receive Scientology marriage counseling then they can see for themselves whether it works or not. They don't have to believe anything, they just have to see if they got the result of an improved marriage.
The web site of the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance is a great resource for information on all religions. Their page on Scientology gives some good books and links: Scientology
Here is the web site of a Scientologist at the prestigious University of California, Berkeley. The page covers what the Scientology Anti-Drug Campaign: Scientology Anti-Drug Campaign
I just received this from a friend in Sydney, Australia:
St. Ives Festival on the Green was celebrated with the Drug Free Ambassadors group achieving a milestone in the uphill battle against drug abuse, the scourge of the suburbs and inner cities alike.
The Ambassadors are a drug education initiative of the Church of Scientology and have achieved an amazing of 5,117 sign ups on the drug-free pledge for the year so far.
It's a 7 step pledge that gets youth thinking and acting for a drug-free Australia. And it works.
Sunday they signed up over 300 and the responses were great. The Ethnic Liaison Officer of the local police took fliers in both Chinese and English for her contacts and the Youth Centre in Gordon requested the Ambassadors group come for their barbecue Thursday at the Gordon Student Resource Centre. Rotary was interested in guest speakers and many in the general public and the local teens just wanted to join in the fun and pledge for a drug-free Australia.
The group uses research from humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard that promotes living drug free because "drugs rob life of the joys and sensations that are the only reason for living anyhow" and promotes getting off drugs without the further use of drugs to achieve that.
These events are in celebration of Anti-Drug Day coming up 26th June. For more information on events or anti-drug booklets for info, pledge call the coordinator 9692 7308.
Scientologists are very active in communities all over the world doing their part in making a better world for all. Here is a letter to the editor of the Saint Petersburg Times in Florida regarding the work done by Scientologists in that area: Scientology works to make things better
Amidst the sickening feeding frenzy of the media it is still possible to find some actual news (although you have to really dig): For tsunami survivors, a touch of Scientology
Scientologists all over the world get involved in their local communities. They are interested in giving back to their communities and in helping their fellow man. A couple years ago I got training as an emergency response team member in my local city so I could help if ever a disaster struck, something that is not uncommon in California. The article I'm presenting today is about Scientologists in Clearwater Florida who are part of their local emergency response team: Scientology Volunteers Take Part In Emergency Rescue Drilling.
It's sometimes nice to be proved wrong. While this article from Newsday still contains some to the seven elements I mentioned in an earlier article, they are pretty mild. (See The Press, Scientology and Accuracy. The elements in this case being big names, a tiny bit of harm, money, controversy and a smidgen of two opposing forces.) The reporter even spoke to an unbiased religious expert something the gutter press seems incapable of doing. Therefore I have to say that Kathryn Masterson actually qualifies for the title "journalist" and I feel okay about linking to the article: Scientology the 'it' religion
I am impressed. I've been whining about reporters failing to do any research and instead just spewing out nonsense about Scientology but now I have to acknowledge Saurabh Bhattacharya in the Hindustan Times for an accurate piece about Scientology: Scientology: The Doctrine Of Clarity. Nice work! You can tell he actually did research and studied the subject before he put pen to paper.
In a recent interview with Access Hollywood, Katie Holmes was asked if she'd had some "auditing". Most people will have no idea what that means, so here is where you can find out: What is Scientology Auditing?
Here is the full text of a letter published in the Asian Tribune. The letter was written by Jon von Gunten of the Scientology Parishioners League
"Change No Man’s Religion" is a prime policy of Scientology, written by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. I know Scientologists who are also Catholics, Baptists, Jews, and Muslims. There are Scientology missions in Nepal and India that conflict with no religion there.
" Respect the Religious Beliefs of Others " is another directive about religion. Some religions-not Scientology-demand that one renounce all former religious ideas. Some religions-not Scientology-use the word "converts," meaning "to change a person from one thing to another." We do not "convert" people from any religion. We "disseminate" our knowledge, which means to spread the wisdom that we have learned. We do not change people's religions; we add to their knowledge and abilities to ethically help themselves and others.
"Scientology " Demands No Belief For Faith And Thus Is Not In Conflict With Faith," Mr. Hubbard wrote in 1959. This is because Scientology is a religion built upon practical knowledge. If you knew a way to shorten a child's fever from two days to a few hours, would you tell others how to help their children? As a good person, when you learn something new that helps you, you of course want to tell people you love and like so your new knowledge can help them. People telling people how Scientology helped them is primarily how Scientology has survived and grown so rapidly to so many countries for 50 years.
That is why a devout Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist can deliver a Scientology "Assist" to speed the recovery of a wounded person, then can immediately and faithfully attend the religious service of their chosen faith. The person remains faithful to his/her own religion, but has opened his mind, without prejudice, to learning proven new ways to help others.
Scientology is a group of discoveries about the human mind and spirit that people of any religion can use to increase their abilities to deal calmly with situations that previously upset them, to accomplish more in their day, and to peacefully communicate ideas to others. Scientology counseling increases one's own spiritual awareness, and coexists with the peaceful beliefs and practices of other religions.
Jon E. von Gunten
Director , Scientology Parishioners League
It is amazing to see the amount of nonsense spewed out by the press these days. In my younger, naive days I actually thought (don't laugh) that reporters cared about accuracy and truth. I had that idea thoroughly squashed in the early 80s when I was traveling in a train seated by a newspaper reporter. I asked him about his job and to my astonishment he openly admitted that he wrote the stories he was told to write and facts, truth and accuracy were not important.
Years later I read an article by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, that talked about the press and the rules they follow to print a story. Here is a quote from the article:
To be printed a story must contain one or more of these things:
- Harm (blood, violence, damage, death, scandal)
- Sex
- Money
- Big Names
- The story must be written to invalidate something
- The story must contain a controversy
- A story must contain two opposing forces
If you take a look at any mainstream news article you will see these elements. As Hubbard observed:
You could be elected Queen of the May and the headline would be "Controversy Rips Queen Election, Sexual Bias Hinted".
As a Scientologist I see this in the definitions the press give for it and their crazy versions of what Scientologists believe. The truth of what Scientology is and what Scientologists believe doesn't contain any of the above elements of a story so they rarely print it.
For a simple and accurate description try: What is Scientology?
I'm proud to say that this blog got mentioned in an article on the "Best Spiritual Blogs" on the BeliefNet website! The article even said "These blogs are all worth checking in with daily or weekly." So follow their advise and come back often :)
Here you can read the entire article: Best Spiritual Blogs/Best Religion Blogs
Hear an interview with Rev. Heber Jentzsch covering the religious recognition of Scientology in Taiwan and more. This page also contains good news about many different religions: Good News: Religion/Spirituality. Or go directly to the interview: Interview with the President of the Church of Scientology International
Denmark has quite a drug problem so one group of youngsters has decided to do something about it by distributing booklets that tell the truth about various popular "recreational" drugs: Determined Youngsters Inform Denmark about the Dangers of Drugs
I've seen some reports in the media about Katie Holmes "converting" to Scientology. Unfortunately the use of the term "converting" demonstrates the lack of true journalism that pervades much of the media. If these people who call themselves journalists actually were interested in accuracy rather than sensationalism they would have put some time into studying Scientology so that they could say sensible things about it.
Let me explain: The word "convert" means "to change religious beliefs" and the implication in the Western world in that you have forsaken the old religion in favor of the new one. That does not apply to Scientology because you can be a Scientologist and a member of any other religion at the same time.
It's a difficult concept to get across in a world with a 2,000 year history of exclusivity in religion. The tradition has been something like "my concept of God is right and yours is wrong." For example, it would be difficult to be both a Christian and a Muslim. Scientology doesn't intrude into the area that most religions concentrate on, it leaves the concept or description of God up to the individual. Because of this it can coexist quite happily with all religions.
Now you are probably wondering "If it leaves the concept of God up to the individual then how can it be a religion?" The answer is quite simple. Scientology is an applied religious philosophy. That means it contains knowledge and techniques that you use to improve your life and the lives of others, It's not something you believe, it's something you use. So how is that different from some other practical subject, such as engineering or auto repair? Well, the knowledge in Scientology is based on the fact that man is a spiritual being and it deals with the spiritual nature of man.
Let me give you an example. Let's say Jim calls Mary using his cell phone. The technology exists and works to do that, so mechanically there is no problem with Jim communicating with Mary. However, Mary tells Jim to go take a hike and Jim is very sad and doesn't know what to do. Why is Mary angry with him? What can he do to handle the upset? The mechanics of speaking into the cell phone, sending the signal, having it picked up at the other end, etc. are all working fine, so we see that the communication problem Jim and Mary are having doesn't lie in the area of the mechanical but in the area of the spiritual. Scientology has knowledge about communication between living beings and methods of improving communication between spiritual beings. Using this knowledge and the techniques based on that knowledge Jim can communicate with Mary and handle the upset so they are once again friends.
Hopefully, this example demonstrates how Scientology can coexist in harmony with other religions. Having a method of improving communication with ones fellows based on the idea that they are spiritual beings is something that a person of any religion can use. So now if I say that my friend is a "Jewish Scientologist" or a "Muslim Scientologist", it should make sense to you and you should now be able to see that the idea of "converting" someone to Scientology is silly.
