» Continued from Part 3

16. Church blends quietly in progressive Ann Arbor
17. L. Ron Hubbard
End of Battle Creek Enquirer Special Report

18. Interior Agency issues warning on Scientology recruitment strategy
19. Scientology's dirty trick with Einstein
20. 2001 Leipzig Award

=== Hate Groups
21. AP Corrects Aryan-Motel Suit Story
22. Health show drops anti-Semitic author


16. Church blends quietly in progressive Ann Arbor
Battle Creek Enquirer, Feb. 25, 2001
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
ANN ARBOR - Here in Ann Arbor, the impact of the Church of Scientology is minimal.

Neighbors across the street from the church say they've never heard a peep.

The mayor, a lifelong Ann Arbor resident, say he knows the church is there, but has never heard of any problems. A longtime city councilwoman gives the same response.

A Lutheran pastor in the area says, although he's somewhat surprised, the Church of Scientology doesn't seem to have much of a presence in the diverse, university town.

Many attribute that to the progressive nature of Ann Arbor, a city known in the Midwest for its accepting attitude toward a variety of cultures.

''You could be in Ann Arbor in a religion that required you to walk down the street wearing purple socks and no shirt, and no one would even notice,'' Mayor John Hieftje said. ''Ann Arbor is the kind of place that attracts all sorts of people of diverse backgrounds. It's the kind of place where everybody really fits in.''

Will Battle Creek be the same way?
(...)

Critics of the Church of Scientology say the church often looks to recruit young people who are away from home, such as college students and those in the military.

Yet officials from both groups in Ann Arbor speak to the contrary.
(...)

Much of that could be attributed to the small number of Scientologists that actually call Ann Arbor their home. About 100 people visit the church each week, said Mike Delaware, an executive secretary with the Church of Scientology. Only about 20 members live in Ann Arbor, while the majority commute from places as far as Toledo, Ohio, and northern Indiana, Delaware said.

The Church of Scientology has a representative, Laurie Gailunas, on the Interfaith Round Table of Washtenaw County. The executive director of that organization said Gailunas' participation has been welcomed.

''I think image and stereotypes are counteracted by first-hand engagement, and our first-hand engagement with Laurie has been nothing but positive,'' said George Lambrides, a Protestant chaplain at the University of Michigan Hospital.

He oversees the roundtable that has delegates from 31 churches in the county.

Mark Schulz, minister of worship and community outreach for the Saint Luke Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor, said he is aware of the church and its critics but he says he also has not run across any problems with Scientologists.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

More about Interfaith Activities and Interreligious Dialogue

The publisher of RNR / Apologetics Index recommended interfaith *only* as described in the third approach listed there:

Dialogue and debate
Yet others see interfaith dialogue as a way for adherents of various
religions to learn about and understand each other beliefs - without
accepting conflicting claims to truth. Often, this is seen as a step toward
(more effective) debate and/or evangelism.

I recommend against any cooperation with Scientology on social issues, and there should certainly be no affirmation of is claimed legitimacy/equality (note, for example, the Scientology lies about Christianity, which it misunderstands and misrepresents.

17. L. Ron Hubbard
Battle Creek Enquirer, Feb. 25, 2001
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
He wrote in a variety of genres, delivered thousands of speeches and a handful of films.

Yet L. Rob Hubbard's name and likeness will forever be remembered alongside his signature book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.

That book sparked the beginnings of Scientology, an organization founded in 1954 that now plans to open a church in Battle Creek.

Just as there are vocal critics of the Church of Scientology, there are several of Hubbard. He has been the subject of several books, including the 1987 Bare-Faced Messiah by Russell Miller that chronicles the life of Hubbard through eyes other than those of a Scientologist. Miller's book examines Hubbard's professional and personal life, which includes fathering seven children with three wives.

All of the church's scriptures, including a massive 18-volume research collection, are the work of Hubbard, who died in 1986. The church appears to continue to grow even after his death and the bookstores in Scientology churches are lined with various books, lectures and videos that are his life's work.
While Hubbard, born Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, is not ''worshipped'' by Scientologists, he is clearly honored and highly regarded by them.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

***** End of Battle Creek Enquirer Special Report


18. Interior Agency issues warning on Scientology recruitment strategy
Die Welt (Germany), Feb. 24, 2001
Translation: CISAR
http://cisar.org/010224a.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
The Scientology Organization in Hamburg is apparently trying to lure young people into their sect with a new recruitment strategy. According to statements from the Interior Agency's Task Force on Scientology, many young people have been addressed in the vicinity of the organization's headquarters on Dom Street in past weeks. The recruiters, however, do not do anything that would identify them as members of the Scientology Organization, the Task Force said on Friday in an unmistakable warning about the new sect concept.

Young people were engaged in conversation by asking them if they have ever heard the name Albert Einstein. Afterwards the recruiters asked their targets to follow the Scientology adherents. The Interior Agency requests that children or their parents who encounter this get into contact with the Task Force on Scientology.

At the same time the Hamburg agency warned about a flyer which the sect used to recruit with all across Hamburg, a ''harmful substance test.'' The invitation to take this was was said to be a recruitment measure for the so-called ''Purification Program'' by Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard. It is given at the start of every ''career'' in Scientology, and is administered primarily in the United States.
[...entire item...]

In Holland, the cult also uses the image of Albert Einstein, along with the tag line ''Did you know... that we use only 10% of our mental capacities?''

Interestingly:

''Furthermore, Scientology can ''raise the intelligence quotient of a person about one point per hour of processing'' (A Brief Biography of L. Ron Hubbard, p. 10). At that astounding rate, the cost of producing an Einstein, at $30 per processing hour, would be relatively small. And to think that the ability to accomplish these miracles can be attained in a period of weeks and for only a few hundred dollars!

It is a curious thing that a great many intelligent, well educated, and apparently well-balanced people have flocked to this movement.''
- Scientology: Religion or Racket?
http://www.ami.com.au/~bradw/cos/Theology/Theology/racket-1.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Christianity Today, Nov. 7, 1969

19. Scientology's dirty trick with Einstein
Hamburger Morgenpost (Germany), Feb. 24, 2001
Translation: CISAR
http://cisar.org/010224c.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
''Do you know Albert Einstein?'' Absolutely - the physics genius is an idol for many computer kids. And the Scientology sect is now shamelessly exploiting that fact, says Hamburg's Interior Agency.

Its Task Force on Scientology has issued a warning saying that in their new recruitment strategy, Scientologists use the name of the Nobel Prize winner as bait for young people on the city sidewalks, then lure them into the new sect center on Dom Street. Most deceptive: ''The recruiting people did nothing to identify themselves as members of the organization,'' said the agency.


Besides Caberta, the Downtown District Office is also making life difficult for the sect. It is currently checking to see if the use of the sauna on 30 Dom Street for hours at a time during the so-called ''Purification Rundown'' (in which members sweat out their ''harmful substances'') is permissible under zoning regulations. One possible consideration is that Scientology's sauna program poses a health hazard.

Editorial from Joe Cisar
Scientology's Purification Program
Part of Scientology's Purification Program includes sitting in the sauna for four to five hours a day for days on end. Temperatures in the sauna may range from anywhere from 140 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly 70 - 95 degrees Centigrade). This may be combined with, among other things, a program of high athletic activity, such as jogging. Participants have reported that they visit Scientology doctors who tell them that dizziness and hallucinations are normal under those conditions.
(...)

Read the story of Christiane F., a young heroin addict's interaction with Narconon in Berlin at http://cisar.org/trn0010.htm.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]

Ms. Caberta is a critic of Scientology, and thus is subjected to the cult's hate and harassment actions<

20. 2001 Leipzig Award
European-American Citizens Committee for Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the USA, Feb. 24, 2001 (Press Release)
http://cisar.org/010224b.htm
[Story no longer online? Read this]
(...) This year in Leipzig, the home city of the East German civil rights movement, the European-American Citizens Committee for Human Rights and Religious Freedom will celebrate its second human rights award with Dr. Norbert Bluem. Dr. Norbert Bluem will receive the award for implementing and championing the causes of human rights and religious freedom in the discussion about the totalitarian Scientology Organization. The award this year will once again be crafted by Leipzig artist Ruediger Bartels, and will be presented to Dr. Norbert Bluem at an award ceremony in Leipzig early this summer. (A brief history of Dr. Norbert Bluem is attached.)

The international ''European-American Citizens Committee for Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the USA'' (http://www.alt-charlemagne-award.de) which selected the the award winner is concerned from a trans-Atlantic perspective about violations of human rights and of religious freedom by the Scientology Organization. The headquarters of the Scientology Organization (SO) is located in the USA. In recent years the totalitarian SO has been able to conduct its activities from there with ostensible government support, including tax exemption and diplomatically-sponsored activities.

In its approach to new totalitarian organizations, the Award Committee is led by the same spirit in which 17 million Americans, in the 1950 dedication of the Berlin Liberty Bell, signed their names to the words: ''I believe in the inviolability and dignity of every individual person. I believe that God gave each human being the same right of freedom. I promise that I will combat tyranny and every attack on freedom, wherever on earth they appear.''

SO violates human dignity
A statement by the Award Committee reads, ''As Europeans and as U.S. citizens, we are concerned about the Scientology Organization's (SO) attacks on the human dignity and lives not only of its members, but also of its critics.

The SO, which is responsible for the last agonizing 17 days of Lisa McPherson's life (USA), for the financial ruin of the Aigner family (Germany) and for the tragic death of Patrick Vic (France), has been making an effort to damage the European-American friendship for which so many have worked so hard in recent decades. There are also many people in the USA who resist Scientology's claims to power.''

In continuation of the ''Alternate Charlemagne Award''
In 2000 US citizen Robert S. Minton, the founder of the Lisa McPherson Trust, was presented in Leipzig with this human rights award, formerly called the ''Alternate Charlemagne Award 2000.'' Millionaire and philanthropist Minton was distinguished by the Award Committee for his deeds in the struggle for human rights and religious freedom in the USA, particularly for his financial aid to those stricken by Scientology in the courts (http://www.alt-charlemagne-award.de).
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]


=== Hate Groups

21. AP Corrects Aryan-Motel Suit Story
http://news.excite.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - In a Feb. 22 story, The Associated Press erroneously described an organization called the 11th Hour Remnant Messenger as a neo-Nazi group.

According to leader R. Vincent Bertollini, the group does not consider itself neo-Nazi, although it does express anti-Semitic ideas and supports separation of the races.
[...entire item...]

Incidentally, Mr. Bertollini also claims to be an ''evangelist'' (lit. bringer of good news), and says that his organization is a ''legitimate Christian organization[s] teaching Christian principles and values.'' The record shows both claims to be incorrect

22. Health show drops anti-Semitic author
National Post (Canada), Feb. 23, 2001
http://www.nationalpost.com/
[Story no longer online? Read this]
Organizers of the Total Health show have cancelled an appearance by an anti-Semitic writer after protests from activists, politicians and sponsors.

Eustace Mullins, a Virginia author, was due to lecture on medical and financial monopolies.

Last night, the Consumer Health Organization of Canada (CHOC), the group staging the conference, revoked Mr. Mullins' invitation. They were ''unaware of Mr. Mullins' early writings in which he challenged the authenticity of Holocaust reports and made several unfounded anti-Semitic slurs'' when they booked him, a CHOC press release said.

Libby Gardon, CHOC president, had no comment on the decision.

The decision to drop Mr. Mullins came after intense lobbying from the Canadian Jewish Congress and others.
(...)

As of last night, the CHOC's Web site featured seven of Mr. Mullins' books for sale, including the Curse of Canaan, which details bizarre conspiracies involving blacks and Jews.
(...)

Several businesses, including Noah's Natural Foods and the Big Carrot food store had threatened to pull out of the conference if Mr. Mullins was not cut from the speaker's list. Lawrence Titcher, owner of Noah's, still intends to withdraw from Total Health and cut all ties with the CHOC. The decision to drop Mr. Mullins was ''too little, too late,'' he said.
[...more...]   [Need the full story? Read this]