Donations to Scientology Churches

Jim asked:
Hi,I have for a long time wondered why the money which is paid to the cos for training(is it for books and auditing too?) is called a donation. Could you explain why that is?

The way I understand the word is that it is a contribution which is made by the giver on his own initiative. Looking at the meriamwebster dictionary it says: : the act or an instance of donating: as a: the making of a gift especially to a charity or public institution b: a free contribution : gift

This would seem to indicate that someone could choose to take a course without being required to give anything in return. I'm not suggesting that that is the way it should work - just that that is how I have so far understood the word donate.
Jim

Thanks for your question Jim. The best answer to this that I have seen is this article: How are Churches of Scientology supported financially? Please take a look at it and tell me if it answers your questions.

I have answered other question about the cost of Scientology services here, Cost of Scientology, you may find those articles of interest too.

Successes in Scientology

I just saw a couple of nice success stories from the Scientology Mission of SoMa in San Francisco. Both are from people who studied the new Basic Scientology Books. A couple of definitions are necessary so you will understand what the people are saying:

The word Postulate as a verb means: to conclude, decide or resolve a problem or to set a pattern for the future or to nullify a pattern of the past.
The word Postulate as a noun means: a conclusion, decision or resolution made by the individual himself to resolve a problem or to set a pattern for the future or to nullify a pattern of the past. For example, a person says, “I like Model T Fords. I am never going to drive another car.” Years later, no longer consciously aware of this postulate, he will wonder why he is having so much trouble with his BMW; it’s because he has made an earlier promise to himself. In order to change he has to change that postulate.

Here are the two success stories:
- Book Course Success
- Beginning Scientology Book

Scientology Thriving in Southern Africa

Several new Scientology Churches are on the way for Southern Africa. They include new buildings in South Africa (Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg) and in Zimbabwe (Bulawayo, Harare). You can see artists' renderings of them here: Scientology Churches for Southern Africa

Expansion is occurring in other parts of Africa too and Volunteer Minister tours are ongoing in Ghana and Zambia. The African people are very interested in Scientology, so the Church is doing its utmost to provide the services they want.

Scientology Assist helps get rid of brain tumor

Two weeks before going in for surgery to have a brain tumor removed, the woman with the tumor and her husband attended a lecture on Scientology Assists. After the lecture they applied what they had learned and when it came time for the operation, the pre-op X-ray showed that the tumor had gone. An amazing success story!

Assists are not a substitute for medical treatment. The fact is, after any necessary medical treatment, the individual himself has an enormous capacity to influence the body and its well-being or lack of it. Assists help the individual to influence the body to recover.

Here is the full story of this remarkable success: Scientology Assists Get Rid Of Brain Tumor!!

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Africa

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour in Africa is helping hundreds of teachers and students in Ghana by teaching them Study Technology. The VMs use the Scientology Handbook to teach people all sorts of skills that they will need to succeed in life and to handle the many catastrophes, large and small, that people hit in life.

Here is the full story: Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour in Ashaiman, Ghana

Interdependence

My fellow blogger, Julia, has a great article on her blog: A Quote about Life

I recommend you all read it and tell Julia your own experiences with this. We are all interdependent and realizing it is important for the survival of all.

Flee, Flee, The Hurricane!

As readers of this blog will know, I am not a big fan of the main stream news media.  They are obsessed with sensationalism rather than reporting facts.  I hate to generalize but I think that applies to 99% of them.

Tropical Storm Fay is a perfect example of this.  The media has been announcing how we are all going to die because of the horrible hurricane that is on its way.  The frenzy was so ridiculous that one of the guys I work with who is new to Florida wasn't going to come in today because of the hurricane.  The storm isn't going to hit till tomorrow night or even Wednesday morning, so why stay home today?  People in the apartment building where he lives were actually preparing to evacuate and that was on Sunday.  That is hysteria created by the news media.

The truth about Fay is that there is a 5% chance it will become a hurricane and it's not even going to hit us - it's going to reach land over a hundred miles away.  I don't think that warrants evacuation.

Anyway, it's just another example of the media and their obsession with sensationalism.  The problem with this "news as entertainment" mindset is that it is "crying wolf".  People could become desensitized to real important news and therefore ignore a real crisis.  Next time we get a "killer hurricane" maybe it really will be another Katrina and people will pay no attention to the news because they are so used to the sensationalism.

I just wish the people who put out this crap that passes for news would realize their true responsibilities to accurately inform people so they can make sane choices.  But as long as the news media is governed by how many eyeballs they can attract for their advertisers, that is just not going to happen.

More Rules for Comments and Questions

I welcome honestly interested questions and civilized comments.

I will reject any comments from someone called "Anonymous" or who uses "Anon" in their user name.

I prefer comments and questions from people with actual profiles. I won't reject a comment or question from someone just because they have a hidden profile, but if the question or comment is in the gray area of my rules then it is more likely to be rejected.

I do not discuss what is or is not on the Advanced Courses (also known as OT levels). So if you bring up anything that is actually on those courses or that is rumored to be on those courses (whether it is correct or not) I will reject your comment.

Other rules

The Secrets of Scientology

I really get bored with "know-best" comments from people who are not Scientologists, have never studied it, have only read twisted and inaccurate descriptions of it or the supposed "secrets" of Scientology and yet think they know more about it than me.

After all, I've only been a Scientologist for over thirty years, studied millions of words on the subject and listened to hours and hours of lectures. I've only had thousands of hours of auditing. I've only done most of the available auditing in Scientology, so of course I would know almost nothing about it.

What really bores me the most is people who don't understand the words used in the subject telling me that I'm lying about what Scientologists believe. Yet when they explain what I'm "lying" about they expose their lack of understanding and the fact that they haven't bothered to find out the facts before spouting off.

What brought me to this tirade? It was a comment from Gigazz in response to my article "Why Aliens?". He (or she) said "Therefore, 'thetans' ARE alien ghosts. And, as we all know by now, dealing with these thetans are the key to happiness. That is the spirituality of Scientology". Thanks so much Gigazz for telling me what the spirituality of my religion is.

One slight flaw in your reasoning is that the term "thetan" means "the person himself-not his body or his name, the physical universe, his mind, or anything else; that which is aware of being aware; the identity which is the individual."

Due to this basic misunderstanding of the word "thetan", Gigazz also said, "You've got somebody else in your body, mucking up your head, and you've got to fix that in order to become 'clear'. That's the whole point of Scientology. Fix yourself. Get better - Get rid of your thetans."

If you put the correct definition of "thetan" into what Gigazz said you'll see that what he is proposing is ridiculous. How can you get rid of yourself? He has some weird idea that you "have a thetan" whereas the correct definition of the word shows that you "are a thetan."

He also has the term "Clear" totally screwed up. Clear means: "the name of a state achieved through auditing or an individual who has achieved this state. A Clear is a being who no longer has his own reactive mind. " Simply put, a Clear has gotten rid of past traumas that were causing him to act irrationally.

I was going to just delete Gigazz' comment and forget about it, but I realized there are probably others out there with the same misunderstandings.

I want to stress that I welcome genuine questions. If you've read something weird about Scientology and you want to clear it up then go ahead and ask. I have some rules for comments, so please follow them.

But if you want to tell me I'm lying about my beliefs because you read some nonsense on a web site written by someone who didn't understand basic Scientology terms, then forget about it. You will either get no reply or you'll suffer a tirade about your lazy stupidity like Gigazz just got.

The Man Who Defined "Cool"

Isaac Hayes was the epitome of cool. It wasn't just his deep sexy baritone, his brilliant musical compositions, the magnificent "Shaft", the fact that he was the first African American Composer to win an Oscar for Best Musical Score or even the fact that he was a King in Ghana. It was more than all that.

Some people are tall, some are small, some are happy, some sad, but Isaac was cool. I saw him perform a few years ago with a large band. There were guitarists, drummers, horn players, saxophonists and more. They were all great musicians. They had played several numbers with other performers and the audience had enjoyed the performances, but when Isaac stepped onto the stage they all became cool.

The horn players stood differently, more relaxed, more laid-back, more ... cool. It was the same with all the rest: the way the guitarist strummed, the rythm that suddenly began to come out of the drums, the way the backing vocalists swayed as they sang into their microphones - they were all just so darn cool.

And when they played "Shaft" and Isaac conducted, we in the audience began to feel cool too. It was infectious!

So, to summarize, Isaac Hayes was cool incarnate.

He left his body yesterday and to those of us who believe in the existence of the human spirit, we know that although his body has stopped funtioning, Isaac is not gone. So we wait in eager anticipation for the cool to return.

Lots of Scientology News

The Scientology Today news site has tons of new stories about Scientology from all over the world.

There are several new stories there about everything from a drug education event in New York to volunteers helping people in disaster areas.

The site also has an "About Scientology" section that answers a huge pile of questions. It's a great site to browse.

Civil Rights Erosion

Some articles showing that slowly but surely our civil rights are being eaten away:

• US Border Agency Says It Can Seize Laptops
• Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border
• Death Cab's Chris Walla: Threat to Homeland Security?

If this bothers you then tell your congressman or woman to support the The Engel/Paul “Securing Our Borders and Our Data Act”.

If this doesn't bother you then wake up.

New Videos

There are a couple of new videos out about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. You can find them on the Scientology Video Channel:

• L. Ron Hubbard Founder
• Inside a Church of Scientology

Or you can see them on YouTube:

• L. Ron Hubbard: Founder
• Inside a Church of Scientology

They are pretty cool. You might learn some things you didn't know before about the religion and the guy who started it.