LETTER TO EDITOR
http://www.thebulletin.com/archives/2005/july/bullpen0722.htm
Scientology & the Madness of Mr. Cruise
Your article on Scientology/Tom Cruise was devastatingly spot on! All this is very well documented information, and your reporter assembled it very stylishly. You'll undoubtedly get reams of "Scientology helped me, Scientology saved my life" pap from indoctrinated True Believers who can't see the truth due to the wool pulled over their eyes.
Still, in light of the two bombing incidents in London, I would have liked to have seen the "Scientology Volunteer Minister" scam addressed as well. This yellow clad menace swarms in wherever tragedy strikes, grinning their insane Hubbard grins and poking people with magical "touch assists," as well as selling little booklets of homilies by their dead conman god, L. Ron Hubbard.
A week after the first round of bombs went off in the London subways, an official looking van was spotted at one of the sites. The legend on the side of the vehicle said "Scientology Volunteer Ministers Emergency Van," or similar wording. This is the most egregious and disgusting aspect of Scientology. The "Volunteer Ministers" pay for a two week course, in which they're taught the Scientology version of laying on of hands, where they will poke you relentlessly until you say you feel better to make them quit. This validates their belief that they are "helping," and it's a noxious, cynical way to get good PR and recruit vulnerable victims.
This branch off the Scientology tree has been forcibly ejected from many disasters, yet they keep coming. They think that scuttling into a disaster site and handing out water or supplies collected by others demonstrates their good intentions. Meanwhile, they're trying to flog their books in London for 3 pounds apiece.
A recent account of a London reporter writing for the Daily Mirror on 21 July,, who actually went into the Scientology facility there, was sent out into the streets with a pack of VMs with the following instructions, "We are encouraged to offer people assists. Once we get them listening, our aim is to take a name, address and phone number.
We are given booklets to offer for a "suggested donation" of £3. We are not to say they are for sale. We provide assists to about 10 people and hand out several hundred leaflets."
By this and other accounts, they are clearly present to sell Hubbard material and prey on the troubled and vulnerable. I think this is the most repulsive aspect of Scientology, worthy of the same contempt we feel for ambulance chasing lawyers. The VMs have been forcibly removed from quite a few disaster areas, including New York City, Jerusalem and Beslan. This despicable behavior needs to be exposed and reviled for the revolting, cynical act that it is. They offer nothing but Hubbard dreck. Handing out free air would be less disgusting and possibly less damaging to victims of disaster.
--
barb
Chaplain, ARSCC
"Imagine a 'church' so dangerous, you must sign a release form before you can receive its 'spiritual assistance.' This assistance might involve holding you against your will for an indefinite period, isolating you from friends and family, and denying you access to appropriate medical care. You will of course be billed for this treatment - assuming you survive it. If not, the release form absolves your caretakers of all responsibility for your suffering and death. Welcome to the 'Church' of Scientology." -- Dr. Dave Touretzky and Peter Alexander
