Featuring news about Scientologists from around the world.
Monday, April 09, 2012
SOLOMON ISLANDS SCHOOLS TEACHING TEACHERS HOW TO TEACH
Scientology Volunteer Ministers bring seminars to Solomon Islands schools
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers have begun delivery of workshops to educators throughout the island of Guadalcanal at the request of the Chief Education Officer of the Guadalcanal Education Authority, following the success of training provided to executives and staff of that agency in Honiara, Capital of the Solomon Islands.
In a March 6 letter to the school principals of Guadalcanal province, the chief education officer urged educators to take full advantage of a series of workshops to help them improve their ability and service to their pupils.
Feedback from teachers attending workshops show the value of this initiative.
Teachers in the Nguvia Primary School appreciated learning a new approach to helping their pupils increase comprehension of what they are studying. Ghaobata Community High School instructors found the training helped isolate weak points and strengthen teaching skills.
“You have highlighted the weak spots and failures of teachers which have contributed to the failure of some students,” says an English teacher from the Nguvia Secondary College.
“As a teacher I've learned how to understand why the kids do not know most of the things I taught in the classroom. It also helps me to prepare my lessons in a better way,” says a teacher from the Visale Primary School.
The Volunteer Ministers began delivery in Honiara and then covered schools in the northern half of Guadalcanal Island. They will be moving on to the southern part of the island in April.
Returning to the Solomon Islands where they provided disaster relief five years ago in the wake of a magnitude 8.1 earthquake and tsunami that struck the island of Giza, the South Pacific Scientology Volunteer Ministers team is one of 10 Volunteer Minister Goodwill Tours dedicated to helping people in remote areas with practical help for everyday life.
The Scientology Volunteer Minister program was initiated by Scientology FounderL. Ron Hubbard in 1976. There are now hundreds of thousands of people across 185 nations trained in the skills of a Volunteer Minister.
Human Rights Day 2011: Church of Scientology Spearheading Human Rights Education
On the 63rd anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Church of Scientology urges mandatory human rights education as the key to its full implementation of the Declaration.
Human rights are the rights that belong to everyone without exception--to people of any color, creed, age, ethnicity or gender. But as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon pointed out in his Human Rights Day message this year, "...unless we know them, unless we demand they be respected, and unless we defend our rights -- and the right of others -- to exercise them, they will be just words in a decades-old document."
To make the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights known to all, the Church of Scientology has undertaken a massive human rights education initiative, reaching more than 180 million people in 2011 with the information on human rights in 17 languages.
The United Nations estimates that 2.45 million people are trafficked each year, nearly a billion live in hunger, and almost half the world’s population subsists on less than $2.50 a day, making it clear any momentum generated this year must continue and that education and insistence on human rights has never been more vital.
In a global demonstration of support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its 30 rights, Scientology Churches and Missions marked Human Rights Day with seminars, rallies, concerts, round tables, forums and festivals, and helped organize more than 80 human rights walks in 26 countries to raise awareness of the Declaration and the need for its full implementation.
In 1969, L. Ron Hubbard wrote, "The United Nations came up with the answer. An absence of human rights stained the hands of governments and threatened their rules. Very few governments have implemented any part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These governments have not grasped that their very survival depends utterly upon adopting such reforms and thus giving their peoples a cause, a civilization worth supporting, worth their patriotism."
For more than four decades, the Church has worked to make the Universal Declaration of Human Rights broadly known. The Declaration appeared in the first edition of Freedom Magazine, the Church’s human rights journal, in 1968.In 1998, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration, the Church carried out the first of five annual cross-European marathons, reaching an estimated 33 million with its message in support of human rights.
Ten years ago, the Church began publishing materials that present the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in terms anyone can understand. These booklets, award-winning public service announcements and human rights documentary videos are available free of charge to any individual or group.
"There are many examples in history of what individuals can accomplish by demanding their rights and insisting on the rights of others," says Rev. Robert Adams, Vice President of the Church of Scientology International. "But a knowledge of these rights comes first. The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, yet in many ways, despite advances, the violations of its articles are as abhorrent today as they were six decades ago. We work with many dedicated groups, organizations, agencies and government bodies to make human rights a reality. To achieve this goal, education in human rights must be mandatory, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be given the force of law."
Since Human Rights Day 2010, through direct action and sponsorship of activities and materials, the Church of Scientology has reached hundreds of millions of people with humans rights information, distributing more than 2 million publications and providing educational materials to more than 45,000 human rights organizations and 4,500 educators and educational institutions.
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The Scientology religion was founded by author and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in the United States in 1954 and has grown to more than 9,000 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups and millions of members in 165 countries.
As you read this page, untold millions on five continents are attempting to scratch out a subsistence living, many unsuccessfully, deprived of their basic human rights.A trip to Africa in 2005 changed Tim Bowles’ life.
"When I arrived in Ghana, it was like coming home," he says. "I knew I had to do something to help."
Bowles, an attorney specializing in constitutional law, was in Africa to assist with the Youth for Human Rights International World Tour. Decades of gruesome civil wars have decimated wide regions of sub-Sahara Africa. Of the worst 20 countries in the 2004 Human Development Index, 19 are in Africa.
The wars dismantled the infrastructure, displaced entire villages, and destroyed livelihoods. The result: Widespread poverty and disease.
Bowles was so taken with the youth he met in Africa, and so moved by what they had been through, that he decided to take on the challenge personally.
Dedicated to making a real difference, Bowles returned to the continent the following year to launch a unique initiative. In coordination with a corps of young human rights activists he met there in 2005, each eager to bring about reform in his or her country, he developed the African Human Rights Leadership Campaign, under the banner of Youth for Human Rights. The Campaign has grown to provide young African men and women the training and experience they need to play key roles in creating and sustaining just and prosperous societies over the coming crucial decades.
In friendly competition with each other, teams of high school students generate and conduct public awareness campaigns on human rights abuses they select, based on the articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including human trafficking, access to justice and government corruption. They first learn leadership, organizational and communication skills-including public speaking and videography-to present their points of view effectively. In the course of conducting their campaigns through contact with media, a broad range of public and private sector leaders and the general public, the program enables students to become meaningful participants in their respective nation’s social, political and cultural advancement.
"The many remarkably bright young people with whom I have worked since 2005 are determined not to fall into the patterns of hatred to which many of their elders succumbed," says Bowles.
Over the past six years, Bowles and his team of Youth for Human Rights program directors in Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone-and more recently Togo and Ethiopia-have trained nearly 700 youth in more than 150 schools, formed over 300 local human rights groups, and educated some 15,000 high school and junior high school students on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and their own responsibility in seeing that these rights are honored.
Bowles’ original decision to enter law followed a trip to India in 1973 where he first confronted the plight of the millions who live in poverty, deprived of human rights. He studied and practiced constitutional law to ensure the rights of others, including his church, were protected.
"I saw law as a helping profession," says Bowles, "one that would provide knowledge and skills to help improve social conditions and advance worthy causes."
The African Human Rights Leadership Campaign brings him full circle with this original purpose, as it is a means to improve the lives of millions. By empowering this and future generations with an understanding of their rights and responsibilities, the Campaign seeks to bring peace and prosperity in regions torn by hatred.
In the video From the Ruins: African Human Rights Leadership, Boersen Hinneh, Youth for Human Rights program director for Liberia, expresses the core concept of the program: "It’s about teaching young people about their basic human rights and responsibilities. And that is the key issue-responsibility. When young people have been exposed to so much violence I think there is a need that they learn their basic rights and responsibilities so that when they get older they will know how to treat their fellow citizens, their fellow man, equally."
A Scientologist since 1975, Bowles says Scientology has enabled him to envision and pursue this purpose.
"I have gained the ability and willingness to confront and deal effectively with enormous challenges," he says. "It has helped me conceive of doing seemingly impossible things and actually do them. Scientology, by its philosophical foundations, its tools, and the examples it sets through members’ actions, is an inspiration, a support and a means to my achieving my role in civilization’s advance."
To learn more about what Scientologists are doing to create a better world, watch "Meet a Scientologist" videos at www.Scientology.org.
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The popular "Meet a Scientologist" profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total more than 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.
A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own YouTube Video Channel. The Official Scientology YouTube Channel has now been viewed by millions of visitors.
Kim Payne volunteers at the annual St. Petersburg Human Rights Walkathon to raise awareness of human rights abuses. Her video isone of 200 "Meet a Scientologist" videos available on the Scientology website at www.Scientology.org.
For the fifth consecutive year, the 2011 Human Rights Walkathon in St. Petersburg, Florida, came off without a hitch, and part of the team responsible for its success was Kim Payne, Scientologist, mother of five and human rights activist.
"The purpose of the Walkathon is to raise awareness of human rights issues," she says, "and encourage people to demand human rights education and the full implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the document endorsed by United Nations member nations in 1948 to provide a common understanding of the rights every individual inherently possesses. Groups throughout the Tampa Bay area participate and it’s a great way to coordinate and build cooperation."
Just minutes before the Walkathon began this year, Payne, 45, always on the solution side of any problem, was climbing trees, with characteristic energy and cheerfulness, to get the last of the signs in place before the crowds arrived.
"As the Walkathon site manager, I make sure it is all ready to go when people arrive to register at 9 am—whatever it takes," she says.
Payne has been a Scientologist since 1987 when her husband introduced her to the subject. Having spent her teen years using and abusing a wide variety of drugs, she had some issues to handle.
Raised on a farm near a small town in Michigan, Payne got involved in drugs at age 12 and partied her way through high school. "Don’t ask me how I graduated," she laughs. "I have no idea." She married at 19 and had her first child within a year.
Two years later, her husband read Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. On finishing the book, he simplysaid, "This is it," and packed the family into the car for the three-hour drive to the nearest Church of Scientology.
"I was really just going along with him because he was so enthusiastic about it, but I’m sure glad I did," she says. "I received Dianetics counseling. There were things I had been upset about for a long time but I’d never been able to communicate. After the counseling they were gone and the relief was incredible."
Payne, who completely overcame the effects of her teenage drug use, describes herself as "a real product of Scientology."
"I learned how to study," she says, "something I definitely did not learn to do in school. My IQ went up more than 50 points. Some of my behavior in the past was not exactly ‘good.’ Through Scientology, I have come way up the line as far as responsibility goes."
In addition to the personal gains from Scientology, Payne says she is very grateful to have had Scientology technology when it came to raising five children.
"All our kids are doing great. They all have a lot of friends, they think for themselves and they are creative and smart," she says. "I am very proud of them. But I am sure I would not have had the success I had as a parent without Scientology—it makes it so much easier to be a mom."
The popular "Meet a Scientologist" profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.
A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, which has now been viewed by millions of visitors.
The Volunteer Minister (VM) program was launched more than thirty years ago, in response to an appeal by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Noting a tremendous downturn in the level of ethics and morality in society, and a consequent increase in drugs and crime, Mr. Hubbard wrote, "If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a VOLUNTEER MINISTER and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance."
Accordingly, in addition to traveling to wherever disaster strikes, Volunteer Ministers work with public servants in their own communities, helping to improve conditions right at home. Their information and training centers are bright yellow tents open to the public at weekend events and fairs, where anyone may enroll on a course or seminar that is delivered right in the tent.
Extensive information displays present the full array of tools for resolving any situation—from rescuing failing students or getting addicts off drugs, to alleviating emotional trauma of physical injuries, salvaging troubled relationships or solving human conflicts.
Volunteer Ministers also deliver seminars to police, firemen and disaster relief organizations with local community programs as well as through Goodwill Tours traveling from city to city with their tents.
So whether manning a tent at home or in a village 10,000 miles away, Scientology Volunteer Ministers all live by the same motto: "Something Can Be Done About It."
Because of their courage, compassion and training, they have become indispensable in times of greatest human need-traveling halfway around the world to help people who have lost everything in an earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, flood or the like.
This includes a corps hundreds strong at Ground Zero within hours of the 9/11 tragedy. It also includes more than 500 volunteers from 11 nations in Southeast Asia in the wake of the tsunami and over 900 Volunteer Ministers attending to victims in Louisiana and Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Likewise, during the Haiti earthquake disaster, the Church of Scientology and its parishioners flew in planeloads of much-needed medical and food supplies. In addition, they have brought in hundreds of medical professionals and Volunteer Ministers to help Haitians cope with their losses and rebuild their lives.
Volunteer Ministers have also trained and partnered with over 500 different groups, organizations and agencies around the world, including the Red Cross, FEMA, National Guard, Army Cadets, Salvation Army, Boy Scouts, Rotary Clubs, civil defense and disaster management agencies, YMCAs, police and fire departments of dozens of cities and towns and hundreds more national and regional groups and organizations.
Church of Scientology Recognizes Five Groups for National Volunteer Week at Historic Ft. Harrison
Tampa Bay, Florida - April 21, 2010 - In keeping with this year’s theme for National Volunteer Week of "Celebrating People in Action," on Friday, April 23rd at the historic Fort Harrison in downtown Clearwater, the Church of Scientology will recognize five groups in Florida who collectively have provided millions of hours in volunteer time since the beginning of 2010--a period of time which has seen major natural disaster as well as economic upheaval affecting the lives of millions of people just in this region of the world alone. The groups which will be recognized are: Project Medishare of the University of Miami Hospital, Feeding America Tampa Bay, Disaster Management of United Way Tampa Bay, the United Relief Work Foundation and the Willa Carson Health Resource Center. The Church of Scientology recognizes the dedicated actions of the volunteers from these groups who have committed themselves to senseless acts of kindness resulting in over 1,000,000 hours of donated time in the first 4 months of 2010 alone, millions of dollars in donations and hundreds of thousands of people helped in Haiti, Florida, Tampa Bay and Clearwater.
Scientology-sponsored Ship Brings More Than 100 Tons of Supplies to Haiti for the Relief Effort
HAITI—A Scientology-sponsored “Lifeboat to Haiti” arrived in Port-au-Prince April 8, carrying more than 100 tons of urgently needed supplies including medicine, medical equipment, an ambulance, food, cooking stoves and tents.
In the first weeks following the earthquake, the Church of Scientology sponsored five chartered flights, bringing more than 440 doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians and 280 Scientology Volunteer Ministers to the island, helping more than 200,000 people through their combined efforts in the first two and a half months.
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers are in Haiti for the long haul, not only providing disaster relief but also working with local government and civic groups and community leaders who are determined to improve the quality of life for all Haitians.
Scientology Volunteer Ministers work in the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps providing food, water, and other supplies and training people in Scientology Assists—techniques developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that help the individual overcome the emotional and spiritual aspects of trauma and stress.
The Volunteers Ministers are also establishing a base in Petionville to provide free training to individuals and groups including teachers, students, disaster relief groups and government agencies.This training addresses the underlying social issues and skills needed to bring about lasting improvement. Seminars and courses include subjects such as communication skills, the basics of organizing and study technology.So far, they have provided seminars and classes to over 8,000 local residents.
For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Haiti Response Team, visit their web site at blog.volunteerministers.org.
Scientology Volunteer Ministers Training the People of Haiti
With the immediate medical emergency over, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers have expanded their delivery of other services. They are concentrating on training the people of Haiti in simple tools to improve conditions in life.
Over the past few weeks Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti have trained more than 8,000 Haitians.
In founding the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program, L. Ron Hubbard published an article called “Religious Influence in Society,” in which he wrote:
“Of course, if one is going to find fault with something, it implies that he wishes to do something about it and would if he could. If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a Volunteer Minister and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance.”
Scientology Volunteer Ministers are providing training in communication skills to Haitian police, Scientology Assists--sometimes known as “spiritual first-aid”--to people in the IDP (internally displaced persons) camps and study technology in schools. While they continue their disaster relief, including bringing food and supplies to camps and orphanages, and with anything else that is needed, by training others in these skills they are giving them tools that will last and help the Haitian people rebuild their country and their lives.
Find out how to start your free training as Volunteer Minister:
Scientology Commended by Haitian Ambassador to the United States
In a letter presented to the President of the Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, DC, on March 2, Haitian Ambassador Raymond A. Joseph expressed “deep appreciation” for the work of the Volunteer Ministers of the Churches of Scientology Disaster Response.
In a letter presented to the President of the Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, DC, on March 2, Haitian Ambassador Raymond A. Joseph expressed “deep appreciation” for the work of the Volunteer Ministers of the Churches of Scientology Disaster Response.
“You all have remained with us daily here at the Embassy, working with our staff and with the members and volunteers of the Greater Washington DC Haiti Relief Committee, giving us support in our time of great grief and confusion, using the Assists developed by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Scientology religion,” the Ambassador wrote in his letter. “All that you have done and your plans for helping in the longer term will most certainly help us and our people to regain and improve our standing in the world.”
For two months, since the 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti, the Church has continued to provide assistance to the Haitian community while more than 200 Scientologists from the United States, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, Russia, Japan and other countries have served as Volunteer Ministers in Port-au-Prince. Many Volunteer Ministers who served from one to three weeks in Haiti are returning for longer periods--several months or more--to help in longer-range programs vital to the full recovery of the country.
The first responders provided support in hospitals and clinics to medical teams and delivered food and water to IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps and orphanages. Now, with medical personnel having dealt with the most serious injuries, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers are concentrating on construction, setting up sanitation facilities and water purification systems, training disaster response specialists, and providing the local population with Scientology Assists, procedures developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that help the individual overcome stress and trauma.
Having sponsored four charter flights that brought medical personnel, Volunteer Ministers and medical supplies to Port-au-Prince, the Church is now sending a ship with more than 160 tons of supplies to Haiti. The Hornbeam, a 896-ton former US Coast Guard ship and icebreaker, with fuel and other costs provided by the Church of Scientology and its members, will carry four pallets of wood stoves and 60 tons of wood pellets donated by the Children and Families Global Development Fund, Inc., a charity founded by Ms. Lola Poisson Joseph, wife of Haitian Ambassador Joseph. It will also be carrying an ambulance for the Port-au-Prince General Hospital and 110 more tons medical and other supplies to go to non-profit aid groups in Haiti. The Hornbeam is scheduled to sail to Haiti in the next days.
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response Coordinator has put out a call for Volunteer Ministers to travel to Haiti, in response to the January 12, 2010, magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimates the death toll from the earthquake, which destroyed most of the Capital City of Port-au-Prince, could reach hundreds of thousands. Lack of resources and decimated infrastructure in Haiti, the least-developed country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world according to the US State Department, is severely hampering the search and rescue operation and care for the survivors.
For information on how to join the Volunteer Ministers team in Haiti or to sponsor a volunteer to go contact the Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response Coordinator at vm@volunteerministers.org
Scientology starts renovation work on Braley Building, vacant since 2006
PASADENA - Renovation has finally started on the historic Braley Building in the heart of Old Pasadena, where it sat empty since being bought by the Church of Scientology in 2006.
Church officials say it will be ready to open this summer.
"They are taking out the insides, ready for renovation," church spokeswoman Linda Peters said. "We're just gearing up for the new year, ready to rock and roll, and it's going to go pretty fast."
Almost immediately after the church bought the imposing 50,800-square-foot building at 35 S. Raymond Ave. officials bought out or evicted 22 small business tenants, including an antiques mall and a popular restaurant.
Since then, city officials and preservationists have sounded the alarm over the building's vacant and deteriorating condition, tattered awnings and possible safety issues.
Now, although putting a church in the heart of the city's prime retail and dining district wasn't universally popular, Old Pasadena Management District President Steve Mulheim said everyone is "thrilled" to see progress on the building.
"We're happy to see it moving along," Mulheim said. "Certainly the activity will help generate some traffic for other businesses as well. For any sort of dining and retail destination, foot traffic is a big key, and we're happy to have more activity than less."
People in Pasadena "are going to be delighted" with the result, church spokeswoman Wendy Beccaccini said. "We have several other historic buildings opened, and we really work hard at preserving their integrity as buildings."
The church is expected to serve about 10,000 Scientologists from the entire San Gabriel Valley and from Sunland/Tujunga to the Inland Empire and San Bernardino.
And it it won't attract them only on Sundays, Beccaccini said.
"It's not like an ordinary Christian church. It's actually quite a lot different. It will be a seven-days-a-week place," Beccaccini said.
Plans for the main floor include an information center, to include displays on Scientology's religion and social programs, plus film and conference rooms, seminar spaces and a chapel/auditorium available to the community. There are also plans for a bookstore and cafe. The upper floors will have counselling rooms, offices and a sauna used in the Scientology "detoxification" program, Beccaccini said.
"Having a building like this, it will be marvellous to make spaces available to the community, share it with other nonprofits...and the community," she said. "We always have intended to make this a place where people want to come."
The Braley Building, built as a bicycle store in 1906, was bought with contributions from "1,400 or 1,500" local Scientologists, who have now given title to the church, officials said. The $6.5 million to $7 million needed for the interior conversion and exterior restoration also will be covered by member donations.
Pasadena's Planning Manager John Poindexter said all the permits were in place for the interior demolition and only permits for "minor" exterior changes remain to be issued.
The new church was difficult to classify for planning purposes but needed a "change of use" permit from office building, Poindexter said.
"It isn't only a Sunday church. It's more of a counselling center, in terms of how it functions," he said. "And the parking requirements had different impacts on neighbors."
Poindexter said at the moment the church is leasing off-site parking at Parsons.
The church plans to provide introductory and parishioner services at the new church daily, until 9:30 p.m. weekdays and weekends until 6 p.m.
"Our new beautiful church is a whole new expansion for us and it is going to be a wonderful community asset," said Eden Stein, president of the Pasadena Church of Scientology, established in 1980. "We are greatly looking forward to sharing it."
What happens when a newspaper fails to serve the community? After Freedom published its in-depth report on the St. Petersburg Times last summer, a number of journalists formerly associated with the Times came forward. They related incidents at the Times which revealed serious violations of journalism ethics.
Find out more about: - Steal, Bribe and Spy, a background report about the St. Petersburg Times - Scientology in Clearwater - What happens when an independent journalist takes an objective look at St. Petersburg Times coverage of the Church of Scientology? - and more...at FreedomMag.org
Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International Holds 17th annual fundraiser benefiting the Hollywood Police Activities League.
Jenna Elfman with PAL Marshal Arts students who gave a demonstration of their skills at the 17th annual “Christmas Stories” celebrity performance at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International in Hollywood.
HOLLYWOOD - Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International members Anne Archer, Erika Christensen, Jason Dohring, Jenna Elfman, MC Lyte, Priscilla Presley, Beth Riesgraf and Edgar Winter and film composer Mark Isham performed in the annual Christmas Stories show over the weekend to an audience of over 500. Created in the theme of a 1930s holiday variety radio show, guests were treated to traditional and original renditions of music, dance, skits and stories. Since 1993 the Christmas Stories performances have raised more than $245,000 for community youth programs.
This year’s production benefits the Hollywood Police Activities League annual Christmas party and at-risk youth programs and will provide meals, games and toys for children who would otherwise have no Christmas.
LAPD Hollywood Division Captain Bea Girmala presented a city of Los Angeles Certificate of Commendation to the Church for its 17 year-old charity event, which was accepted on behalf of the Church and its volunteer performers by the President of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International, Maria Ferrara. "We are honored to support our police in their efforts to help children in need and give them a better future," said Ferrara.
The Police Activities League (PAL) is a nationwide youth development program operated by police officers who provide positive role models for youth. The program includes educational and recreational activities for at-risk youth as an alternative to gang violence, drug use and criminal activities. Hollywood PAL is staffed by full-time police officers dedicated to programs that serve Hollywood youth, including swimming, street hockey, basketball, martial arts, soccer, computer activities, arts, crafts and educational tutoring.
Scientology is in the news. Stories about the Church of Scientology and its members appear in newspapers, magazines and on radio and television around the world, today more than ever.
It is important, then, for media to have the most up-to-date and accurate information available on the Scientology religion. To make this readily available, this website is provided as a source for information about the Church and the religion.
Scientology is the only major new religion to emerge in the 20th century. Since its founding in 1954, it has grown to span the globe. Today there are more than 8,000 Scientology churches, missions and groups in 165 countries around the world .
The rapid emergence of Scientology within the world’s religious community has led many to ask what kind of religion it is, how it compares with other faiths and in what ways it is unique. What is its understanding of a Supreme Being and the spiritual aspects of life which transcend the temporal world? What are the fundamental practices of the religion? What social and community work do Scientologists do?
These and many other questions about the Scientology religion and its members are answered in this site.
Scientologists come from all walks of life. They are concerned about social problems and support numerous social betterment programs which provide successful drug-abuse rehabilitation, improve educational standards and help reduce crime and moral decay. There are more than 196,000 Scientologists who are Scientology Volunteer Ministers.
Scientologists have always been a relentless voice in search of social reform and justice. We have brought to light such issues as the enforced drugging of school children, the dangers of psychiatric brutalities such as electric shock treatment and lobotomy; and the chemical and biological warfare experiments secretly undertaken against unwitting American citizens. Churches of Scientology also have championed the principle of open government and pioneered the use of the Freedom of Information Act to eradicate abuses.
It is because churches of Scientology and their members are so active, and because Scientology is a large and growing international religion, that Scientology continues to be a subject of significant public and media interest.
New Study Technology headquarters generates a world of learning &emdash; Applied Scholastics International
HELPING TO OPEN THE DOORS OF THE NEW APPLIED SCHOLASTICS INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS in Spanish Lake, Missouri (above), was actor-producer Tom Cruise (below, left), who told the audience that Applied Scholastics holds the key to understanding and applying what one reads and studies. His goal as international ambassador for L. Ron Hubbard’s Study Technology: make it available to all who reach for it.
When he was a young boy, Tom Cruise had a dream &emdash; he wanted to fly planes. "What better time to learn how to be a pilot than in preparation for ‘Top Gun,’ he told more than 2,500 educators and guests gathered at the opening of a new international teacher training facility. "So one day I went to have a lesson and after one day I gave it up &emdash; I couldn’t do it.
There was just one problem, he admitted: he could not understand what he was reading in his training manual &emdash; and to make matters worse, a decade earlier he had been convinced of a label he found impossible to shake at the time. "I had been diagnosed with a false label, dyslexia, he said. "With that I had been told I had a ‘learning disorder.’
Thus, his immediate reaction to failure as a pilot student was, "’I’m dyslexic &emdash; damn!’ I’ve got to figure this out.
He tried everything to unsnarl his study troubles &emdash; "different tutor groups, different speed reading courses, I hired people to come in and read with me.
Then, the breakthrough:
"Study Technology works. It can turn around anyone’s education difficulties and change one’s life. It’s applicable to people at every level of society, every nationality, every age. &emdash; Tom Cruise
"Shortly after that I discovered ‘the Study Technology,’ he said, referring to discoveries by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard that teach people, young or old, how to learn anything.
Today, the producer and star of The Last Samurai says he hasn’t seen his learning difficulties since he began using Mr. Hubbard’s revolutionary Study Technology.
"Now, I am a licensed pilot, twin engine, instrument rated, which means I can fly through any weather by flight instrument alone; commercial rated, which means I can carry passengers as a profession if I so desire; and just for fun, I’m a highly trained aerobatic pilot.
"I am a film producer, I have my own film company, I own and run three companies and I continue to act in movies in addition to all that. And I learn every single day, he stressed. "I use this technology each and every day in my life, at my work, with my children, in every area of life. Because of what Study Technology did for me, I started helping others.
Cruise has done so as a founding board member of the Hollywood Education and Literacy Project (H.E.L.P.), a highly effective community-based learning program utilizing the Study Technology to open the doors of learning to students of all ages. He has assisted in H.E.L.P.’s expansion to 26 chapters across the world. In 2003, he was recognized by the National Mentoring Partnership with their Excellence in Mentoring Award.
As ambassador for Applied Scholastics International, Cruise says that this highly practical brand of help is the missing step in education. It certainly enabled him to come to grips with the real reasons for any "learning disability he had, and it has also made successful learners of millions more around the world.
World Study Technology Headquarters
Expanding those numbers to millions more was what drew him and more than 2,500 educators, government officials, corporate executives and area residents to America’s heartland on July 26, 2003. There, they participated in the opening of the new Applied Scholastics International headquarters in Spanish Lake, near Saint Louis, Missouri.
Applied Scholastics is an educational organization that licenses private schools, community literacy centers and tutors utilizing Mr. Hubbard’s teaching and learning methods. The organization has trained more than 64,000 teachers and educators internationally since 1972.
And the need has never been greater. Today there are hundreds of millions globally who are functionally illiterate, unable to compete in the workplace and only partially capable of leading productive lives.
Under the direction of Chief Executive Officer Bennetta Slaughter, Applied Scholastics’ new facility will train teachers, corporate trainers, mentors, tutors and education consultants from around the world, supplementing their existing education with Mr. Hubbard’s precise system for learning any subject. The campus’ curriculum includes workshops and courses ranging from educational basics all the way to advanced teaching strategies and methodologies, as well as several continuing education courses and postgraduate credits.
"It is not that educators are unwilling or unable to teach, Slaughter told her grand opening audience. "It is a matter of a missing link between their teaching and the comprehension of their students. And it is not that students are unwilling or unable to learn. It is a matter of the gap in their education &emdash; the subject of study itself, their very ability to learn.
"And that is what we provide as a solution &emdash; the remedy of the crucial gap in learning....
"There has never been a central training center. It was all happening one-on-one &emdash; the technology being passed from one person to the next. So this center is a first, and it is exclusively dedicated to training educators at every level: tutors, mentors and teachers &emdash; those who deal with these problems on a day-to-day basis.
"Here, now, is a place where they can get the tools, not only to handle their students, but to go out and further teach others to apply the technology to their own students. That is why this campus represents a watershed and why we are so honored to open these doors, Slaughter said.
World Literacy: Born in Conflict, Bearing Peace
THE APPLIED SCHOLASTICS INTERNATIONAL CAMPUS AT SPANISH LAKE near St. Louis, Missouri (above) trains teachers, corporate trainers, mentors, tutors and education consultants; there they learn Study Technology that puts their students firmly on the road to learning.
Among honored guests at the grand opening event was Rev. Alfreddie Johnson, who in the wake of the 1992 LA riots, launched the World Literacy Crusade and has nurtured it into a network of 30 Study Technology centers from the U.S. and Canada to Central and South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.
After joining educators and Applied Scholastics supporters from all over the world to cut the ribbon for the new Spanish Lake facility, Rev. Johnson told Freedom of his epiphany with Mr. L. Ron Hubbard Study Technology.
"In 1992, I found the technology of study, developed by L. Ron Hubbard. Very profound.
"I was at a meeting held in the city of Compton, where a gentleman from Applied Scholastics was giving a lecture on ‘the misunderstood word.’ He said that Mr. Hubbard had discovered in his studies that there were three barriers to learning and the most important barrier was the misunderstood word.
"A lot of times people don’t do anything because they don’t understand. And they’re not able to make happen in their lives what they want to make happen because they have not been able to understand or ‘duplicate’ the knowledge, the ideas, the concepts that the conveyor of the message &emdash; God, if you will, or the spirit of God within them, or some author &emdash; delivers. They’re not able to assimilate the technology or the technique of a message.
"So this was very profound to me: the misunderstood word. Immediately that was it for me. I raised my hand, and I said, ‘Give me this stuff.’
"This is what I was looking for because I knew I was called, if you will, and I had chosen to answer, but in the back of my head I felt totally unequipped because I didn’t have a technology or a technique in order to arm the people I was trying to help.
Unprecedented Results
In The Gambia, Study Technology has been implemented on a national level under the leadership of another honored guest at the Spanish Lake facilities’ opening, Dr. Ndong Jatta, Secretary of State for Education. So far, more than 6,000 Gambian schoolteachers have participated in Applied Scholastics’ four-week national training program on Study Technology.
Dr. Jatta emphasized what this means in a country once rife with education problems. "For most people, teaching is not an attractive field. In Africa in particular, where you have large class sizes of 40, 45 and up to 50, and are dealing also with some characteristics of the indifferent students, if you have a technique in reaching each student and helping the student to discover what the difficulties are, half of the work is done, and the teacher and student both enjoy it.
"I feel the technology is a godsend for teachers and for students alike....
"Every child has a goal. Every child has an aspiration, and in most cases, it is never tried out. But if you now know that anything and everything is possible, there is nothing that can stop you. You can reach out for the skies. And this is what education is about. Education is not about helping a child get a job. Education is about helping the child create a job.
Literacy to Millions the World Over
Today, an estimated 3.5 million students and thousands of teachers in universities and school systems use Mr. Hubbard’s advanced technology of study internationally.
The new Applied Scholastics International campus in Spanish Lake is there to make these methods broadly known to the hundreds of thousands of educators in schools and universities around the world who are so desperate for a solution to today’s educational crisis.
"Study Technology works, said Tom Cruise before helping to cut the ribbon on the new facility. "It can turn around anyone’s education difficulties and change one’s life. It’s applicable to people at every level of society, every nationality, every age.
Scientology Volunteers Help Victims of Sumatra Earthquake
Australian Scientology Volunteer Ministers bring spiritual first-aide to survivors of devastation in southern Sumatra.
Scientology Volunteer Ministers arrived in Indonesia the day after the September 30 earthquake left more than 1,000 dead and half a million homeless.
The Australian Scientology Volunteer Ministers who traveled to Padang, 28 miles from the epicenter of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake, are no strangers to disaster. They are veterans of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2007 Yogyakarta tornado and the 2007 Java quake. But even they were challenged by the enormity of the devastation they encountered.
Here is an account of their first day:
In Padang, 28 miles from the epicenter of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake, they started in Chinatown, left in shambles by the disaster. There, in a medical tent, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers showed the doctors and nurses how to provide Scientology Assists and gave them copies of an instruction booklet. Assists are procedures developed by L. Ron Hubbard that provide relief by addressing the emotional and spiritual factors in stress, trauma, illness and injuries.
A nurse said “So, you can give relief using no drugs and no medicine? This is really needed. We all need to know this!”
On to a Chinese temple serving as a shelter for those whose homes were destroyed. The volunteers met the head of the medical clinic who had relocated his operation to the temple’s basketball court when the earthquake destroyed his offices. He could not keep up with the flood of people who had come to the temple for help so the Volunteer Ministers went to work. They set up tables to provide Scientology Assists and chairs where others could sit while they waited their turns.
As lines of people received Assists and word of the physical and emotional relief spread, and the lines grew longer, the volunteers decided to train those waiting how to give Assists to each other. Their mission accomplished at that location, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers took their leave and moved on to a hospital where they could give assistance.
As they drove on through the city, they saw the eerie capriciousness of the earthquake. A three-story building leaned precariously over its neighbor’s home. Another building looked untouched until they saw that one wall was missing entirely. One house stood with every room exposed to view, a snapshot of a family no longer there.
The first hospital they found was completely destroyed. The next, a private hospital, was still operating despite damage. There, on the steps, a woman holding a baby was crying uncontrollably—her brother was inside dying because she didn’t have the 125,000 rupiah to buy what he needed from the blood bank. The Volunteer Ministers paid for the blood—$15 to save a life.
The volunteers moved into the wards and started giving Scientology Assists to injured patients while others explained the procedure to the nurses and taught them how to give Assists.
One man whose leg was completely numb received an Assist. When it was over, not only was the feeling in his leg restored, but his huge smile attested to the fact that the pain that had wracked the rest of his body was gone as well.
Concrete had crushed another man’s leg, breaking it in dozens of places from knee down to foot. The doctors had inserted metal rods into his leg. Blood was seeping out into the freshly bandaged wounds and he was writhing in pain. By the time his Assist was done he was calm and relaxed, and he smiled when he said, “I feel good… I feel good!” Another man, whose entire body had been injured, was traumatized to the point of complete unresponsiveness—it appeared he could not hear or speak at all. The Scientology Volunteer Minister explained what she was doing with impromptu sign language and began the Assist. At first he didn’t appear to notice anything, but gradually he began to respond and in the end he was smiling.
As Day One in Padang drew to a close, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers met a team from the Indonesian Red Cross who had booked an extra hotel room where a bucket served as shower at the end of a long, hot and dirty day they will never forget.
David Miscavige Dedicates Newly Renovated Fort Harrison Hotel
These were the words David Miscavige spoke in March at the dedication of the newly renovated Fort Harrison Hotel:
"This Fort Harrison is and will always remain a landmark and home of all of Clearwater." - Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board, Religious Technology Center
Clearwater, Florida. June 30, 2007—Mr. David Miscavige stood before Scientologists gathered from around the world for the much-heralded occasion. He announced that what he was about to describe was nothing less than "the recovery of Dianetics and Scientology" that would "change the world of Scientology forever." Over the next several hours, he unfolded the complete story to an audience of thousands gathered in Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall.
Mr. Miscavige first described the five-year, 2-million-man-hour research project to ensure the purity of all Scientology Scriptures, found in the writings and recorded lectures of L. Ron Hubbard. The task had been to locate the original manuscripts and dictation tapes of Mr. Hubbard's books, verify existing texts against those originals, correct any errors or deviations and return them to their original unadulterated form.
Deviations from the original manuscripts were immediately discovered to be far more extensive than imagined: transcription and punctuation errors of every variety, chapters bound in wrong sequence or even in the middle of another chapter, and the handiwork of a publisher who removed paragraph breaks to reduce page count. "Now let's add the 'editor,'" Mr. Miscavige explained, "who, instead of now correcting it, decides to add his own 'clarifying' footnotes to explain what LRH really meant."
Mr. Miscavige recounted a notable instance of the project to recover the technology. When the page count of a book did not match up to the number of dictation recordings to hand, researchers again searched through the archives and found three long-ignored wax dictation disks marked "UNK" for "Unknown." Locating equally long-obsolete replay equipment, they found the recordings were nothing less than two additional chapters of Mr. Hubbard's 1948 manuscript for Dianetics: The Original Thesis. The dictation also showed that other chapters had been printed in the wrong sequence since first published. The entire manuscript was then corrected and completed, and today the first and most basic statement on the actual nature and function of the mind is accessible and available for all to read.
In the ensuing years, every word and line in every L. Ron Hubbard book was researched, verified, removed or corrected to ensure absolute purity. The standard set by Mr. Miscavige was perfection, the only standard suitable for the works of Mr. Hubbard.
Following that prodigious editorial undertaking, each book was meticulously designed, typeset, printed and bound to achieve the highest level of readability, comprehension, quality and durability—not to mention sheer aesthetic beauty. Thus came into existence only the pure and perfect Scientology Scriptures as authored by Mr. Hubbard.
Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour in Gujarat
Scientology Volunteer Ministers India Goodwill Tour has moved on to Ahmedabad in the State of Gujarat
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers India Goodwill Tour has moved on to the city of Ahmedabad in the State of Gujarat.
As in other cities in India where the volunteers have toured, their seminars have been very popular in colleges and universities.
One such seminar, in the technology of study, was held to great results at the Gujarat University Law School. Law students need to learn, retain and use a great deal of information, and the students at the law school found their seminar extremely useful.
Scientology volunteer ministers provide seminars and workshops on practical tools and skills developed by L. Ron Hubbard, as covered in the Scientology Handbook. These include communication skills, conflict resolution and the basics of organization. Any group wishing to arrange a seminar can request one online through the Scientology Volunteer Ministers web site.
