December 10: Today we celebrate the 58th anniversary of Human Rights Day.
On this important day for mankind, the Church of Scientology International renews its commitment to strive to make human rights a reality for all, regardless of nationality, social status, race, color or creed.>>continued
On 17 March, 2006, Mr. David Miscavige took the stage before a capacity house at Clearwater’s Performing Arts Center where Scientologists from all over the world had come, joined via telecast by tens of thousands more in every geographic zone to celebrate L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday, mankind’s greatest friend. >>
Check out this posting about architecture in Dubai.
And stay around for a while an enjoy the blog.
Jet blogs a lot about Scientology and has some very interesting things to say on the subject.
| "We are about to drive home the message 'This is Scientology ' like you have never seen," said David Miscavige , chairman of the Church of Scientology (sic.) [David Miscavige is actually the Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center.]
So reports Robert Booth on Saturday in the Sunday Times - a story that got picked up internationally. And Sunday's grand opening was everything Mr. Miscavige promised. The Scientology Press Office announces the news as follows: With thousands of Scientologists, local residents and officials in attendance, the new Church of Scientology of London opened its doors. Mr. David Miscavige , Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center and leader of the Scientology religion , stressed the historical importance of London. "This is the city L. Ron Hubbard himself [founder of the Scientology religion] selected as home to the first Scientology organization. This is also the city wherein he first defined the human spirit as an immortal being possessed of capabilities beyond anything predicted, and so arrived at the axiomatic truths on which the whole of Scientology is founded. Your early London organizations were also the original proving ground for the bulk of Mr. Hubbard’ s social betterment programs which are used to uplift neighborhoods just like this one." |
| |
The Church of Scientology unveiled its new London headquarters today with a grand opening ceremony.
The religion, which counts Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its followers, is expanding its British operation.
It has bought and refurbished the former home of the British and Foreign Bible Society, latterly the offices of BP, for its new HQ.
The five-storey Victorian building in the City of London is a stone's throw from St Paul's Cathedral and stands next door to an Anglican church, from where parishioners emerged after their Sunday service to watch the proceedings with some bemusement.
Several hundred Scientologists, including church dignitaries and assorted VIPs, braved the driving rain for the outdoor ceremony.
They listened to an address by Scientology leader David Miscavige, whose arrival was greeted with whoops and cheers from the crowd.
Mr Miscavige described the occasion as "momentous".
Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard chose London as home to the organisation's first offices.
Mr Miscavige said: "This day will go down in history. Of all the foreign lands where LRH lived and worked, he called England home.
"This is the city wherein he first defined the human spirit as an immortal being possessed of capabilities beyond anything predicted and so arrived at the axiomatic truths on which the whole of Scientology is founded."
Other speakers at the event included United Nations peace envoy Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Ayaz, who praised the faith and told the crowd: "It is my personal belief that this church can restore what this world has lately lost."
Kevin Hurley, divisional commander of the local Snow Hill police station welcomed the church to the City and said its members were "raising the spiritual wealth of society".
The ceremony began with a procession by the London Scottish Regimental Pipe and Drum Band and ended with an explosion of red, white and blue tickertape.
Afterwards the public were invited inside to discover more about the work of the Scientologists.
One room is devoted to the accomplishments of Hubbard - described as an explorer, writer, naval officer, humanitarian, artist and philosopher.
Video screens and exhibitions explain the various Scientology programmes, which include anti-drugs courses and a campaign against the perceived evils of psychiatry.
Among the guests who did attend was Hollywood actress Anne Archer, whose roles include Michael Douglas's wife in Fatal Attraction.
Archer was raised a Christian Scientist but joined the Church of Scientology in 1976 and credits it with turning her life around.
She said: "I met some people who I observed to be very sane and who said some very interesting things. I later found out they were Scientologists.
"At that time I had some problems in my life and I went for my first auditing.
"The change was so remarkable and so quick. I went from feeling utter despair to positivity within two weeks."
Archer conceded that Scientology has received a bad press but said: "All new ideas are criticised but we are doing remarkable things."
"The wrong thing to do is nothing."
That is a quote from L. Ron Hubbard that resonates as a profound truth for me and how I think and how I work.
My two biggest regrets in this life were (and are) that I didn't drive to Berlin the night the Berlin Wall fell and that I didn't go to New York after September 11. In both cases I had a strong urge to go, but something in me said, "be sensible."
We all carry an urge in us to reach out and do something as well as a voice urging us to be sensible and behave as if everything wrong is somebody else's problem.
In the instance of the tsunami in South East Asia my urge to reach out and help conquered all my fears of strange diseases, pictures in my mind of dead bodies floating in a sea of chaos and a generally low knowledge about Asia and the people living there.
496 Scientologists from all over the world as well had that strong urge to reach out and help their fellow men. Strong enough to have them arrive in Asia. To them the After The Tsunami project is dedicated.
As a volunteer from Los Angeles said "Home in LA they [asians] were just somebody living on the other side of the highway. I never talked to any, nor knew their problems in life. Now I know many people here with whom I have personal relations. People I have helped and who will be my friends for the rest of my life."
If you think about it for a while, isn't it strange that a person from LA travels to Asia to help? When in the middle of it, the answer to the question "What are we doing here?" is quite obvious. When in Asia, being able to help people in a crisis like this - there is no more important thing to do in life.
As Herbert, a real estate agent from Germany said after he had been in Sri Lanka for two months: "I left my real estate business just after New Year and came here. Both my wife and my partner in the real estate business understood and support me. My partner takes care of business while I'm here. He has to. As long as there is somebody here I can help, I'm staying."
Part of the story is that every single person on the Scientology Tsunami Relief Team have not only uprooted their life, income and whatever projects they were in the middle of at home. They have also paid the cost of their flight ticket themselves. And they continue to pay the costs of their daily expenses; approximately $26.00 per day that goes to a bed, some food, transportation and telephone cards necessary for internal communication between teams. >> continued
A Wikipedia with ethics? It's About Time
Wikipedia founder plans better version
Better controlsBy Nick Farrell: Wednesday 18 October 2006, 08:51
LARRY SANGER, One of the co-founders of Wikipedia, has spelt out his plans for a more reliable version of the online encyclopaedia.
Speaking to ZD Net, Sanger said that the rival site called Citizendium will user registration and editorial controls to govern user-submitted articles.
He said that while Wikipedia had grown and the articles are remarkably good given the system that is in place, there are a number of problems that needed to be resolved.
Sanger said that Citizendium will weed out trolls from posting obscenities or biased information. It is not clear if the Everywhere Girl will be allowed to exist in this new patch of cyber space or whether she will be killed off by some kid with a pseudo-penis fetish.
Citizendium will be a "fork" of the open-source code of Wikipedia. It will replicate the existing database of articles and then evolve.
Sanger said that the move will not kill off Wikipedia, but will try and create something better.
When the Church of Scientology of Johannesburg moved to its new church a few years ago it was the start of a new era for southern Africa.
L. Ron Hubbard is quoted as saying "“From Southern Africa will spring the next great civilization on this planet....”
The Church of Scientology of Johannesburg is dedicated to accomplishing a better life for the people of Africa and accomplishing this dream, stated by LRH.
In his speech, David Miscavige said:
"It is my honor to address you, to walk in a land where L. Ron Hubbard laid so many milestones and on this, your milestone day. And for the greater meaning of just why this is a milestone day, in fact, an historic one, it follows from the history of Scientology in Africa."
He went on to explain the special significance South Africa held for L. Ron Hubbard during the very turbulent years of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
"It's a history extending back more than 40 years, but an era not so very different than our own. Instead of hot wars in the Middle East, it was cold war across the US, Europe and Asia. Instead of impending terrorist strikes, it was saber-rattling with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
"So quite in addition to all other reasons to form a new church and bring the help Scientology brings everywhere, LRH envisioned a special role for this nation as a point of safety to yet salvage man no matter the potential devastation at the hands of a madman.
That's why he descended on Johannesburg, in 1960, to take the helm of a fledgling Church. But if those were his reasons for embarking to South Africa, it took on a whole new meaning when he arrived. For what he found was a land representing both all that is good in this world, and all that is bad.
In terms of the bad, a single word said it all, apartheid and the suppression of virtually every indigenous people, perpetrated by the same psychiatric ideologies that laid 6 million to rest under the banner of eugenics during the second World War. But beneath that surface, that obvious suppression he found something far more significant: An unbroken tradition of spiritualism extending back to the very dawn of man.""And it's all with no desire or wish for anything in return — other than the satisfaction of an indiscriminate act of kindness and compassion.
"That's how, and why, just since 9/11, our Ministers brought personal aid, one-on-one, to over 1.7-million people.
"So when it comes to helping those in most desperate need, we not only know we can help, we are doing something about it."
I loved this article on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Fiji.
What beautiful children. I found their photo on the Scientology Press Office web site.
I learned something I never knew from reading the Human Rights Watch web site tonight.
"The United States is one of only two countries in the world that have not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Somalia –a country without an internationally-recognized government–is the other. The Children’s Rights Division has focused its efforts on U.S. practice in three areas that fall measurably short of standards included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child — conditions for children in the justice system, detention of children by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and the use of children as soldiers."
Here is the most shocking fact in this article — there are 2,225 youth offenders currently serving life without parole in the United States.
“Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.”
I was REALLY not doing well in life at the time, and my best friend's brother, who was a Scientologist, gave me his copy of the Dianetics book.
He told me a bit about it, and I almost didn't read the book. I knew life was so much more complicated than he was telling me.
But I liked the guy, and he was so sure, I figured what harm would it do to read the book. I didn't really expect much from it.
Boy was I wrong.
This one simple book - even just the first 100 pages or so -- answered SO many questions for me!
And, amazing as it may sound, the more I study it the more simple life gets.
And the more fun, too.
It reminded me how much I gained from reading the Dianetics book the first time!
Cruz praises Scientology for anti-drugs work
Here's a terrific article on Penelope Cruz views of Scientology
"Have you had a career setback? Do you have a worsening relationship with someone? Have you been stopped from achieving your goal? A worsening condition in any area of your life can bring you down and send your whole life sliding toward failure.
"There is an exact technology for improving conditions in life — any condition. The How to Improve Conditions in Life Course reveals the secrets of spotting accurately the true condition of anything or any relationship, and guides you through exact, proven steps to improve it.
"Exactly followed, the precise formulas on this course bring results not otherwise possible. Don’t let failures and setbacks ruin your life. Start today towards a better life. Begin this course now!"
This is such a simple course, but it is also really effective.
Improving conditions is a basic concept in the Scientology religion.
"The upsets at home that are so common it's considered a routine part of life? Or what about raising a child today? If it's not the drugs, then it's the all too common worry that they'll actually get an education.
"The answer to this planet's problems will not be found in the material. Of this there can be no question.
"For if those solutions can't prevent war, nation to nation, how then can it be expected to answer questions like love, happiness or compassion?"
There are effective Scientology solutions to each of these problems.
Anyone wanting help is welcome to come to the Church of Scientology of New York. We're open all day, 7 days a week.
Other speeches by Mr. David Miscavige at church Grand Openings:
Church of Scientology of San FranciscoBut while this is enforced or negotiated, there will be no permanent improvement until the underlying causes are addressed.
To begin with, these actions on both sides are a clear violation of the human rights of all civilians in the area.
Without respect for human rights there is no restraint an external body can enforce.
But the real source of the conflict is described in an article by L. Ron Hubbard, printed in Freedom Magazine. This article called The Cause of Conflict" bears repeating here.
The article states:
"Violence and conflict amongst individuals and nations have been with us for ages and their causes have remained a complete mystery, a mystery finally solved in Scientology. "If Chaldea could vanish, if Babylon turn to dust, if Egypt could become a badlands, if Sicily could have 160 prosperous cities and be a looted ruin before the year zero and a near desert ever since—and all this in spite of all the work and wisdom and good wishes and intent of human beings, then it must follow as the dark follows sunset that something must be unknown to man concerning all his works and ways. And that this something must be so deadly and so pervasive as to destroy all his ambitions and his chances long before their time. "Such a thing would have to be some natural law unguessed at by himself. "And there is such a law, apparently, that answers these conditions of being deadly, unknown and embracing all activities. I don't want to reprint the entire article here, but any one serious about handling this conflict should read it here.
One-time scrawny kid muscles his way into county sports Hall of Fame
By John Horgan, STAFF WRITER
Bob Adams is living proof that first impressions are not always accurate. Far from it. Adams, a slight, skinny kid as a youngster at El Camino High School back in the early 1960s, gave up on football prior to his senior year.
He was too small and slight. The sport didn't appear to be a good fit for him. That all changed when Adams matriculated to the College of San Mateo. A coach, Stu Carter, saw Adams lifting impressively in the CSM weight room and noticed how he had filled out.
Carter urged Adams to give football another try. He did and the rest, as they say, is history. Adams played for CSM for one season, went on to what is now the University of the Pacific and wound up with a solid and productive seven-year career in the National Football League.
Adams, who lives now in Southern California, will be inducted into the San Mateo County Sports Hall of Fame June 22 at the San Mateo Elks Lodge.
The 18th annual event is presented by The Times and sponsored by the First National Bank of Northern California.
That fateful spring 1966 conversation with Carter is still embedded in Adams' memory 40 years later.
"It was like I had broken through," he recalled recently. "I realized that football was what I wanted all along. It was all about purpose. I actually had a pent-up energy to play. I was so excited I was walking on air."
Adams had been on the CSM track-and-field team and played basketball as well. But he was searching for something else to satisfy his competitive juices. It also helped greatly that Adams, whose father had died when he was 16, had grown from a 5-foot-7, 149-pound high school junior to a strapping 6-foot-2, 205-pound collegian in the short span of three years.
At the local two-year college during the 1966 football season, Adams played tight end. Following that campaign he got a call from a former CSM coach, Doug Scovil, who was then running the College of the Pacific football program in Stockton.
"I was intending to go to UC-Santa Barbara to play football and try out for the track team," Adams said. "There was no scholarship. Then Coach Scovil called." He had a full scholarship for Adams. It was a perfect fit.
One of his close friends, Walt Harris, another El Camino/CSM football player (and a member of the County Sports Hall of Fame), was already playing for Scovil. And the financial inducement was too good to pass up.
Adams played two seasons there. In his senior year, 1968, he was captain of the COP offense. By that time, he was 6-2 and 218, and still growing. He wasn't drafted by the NFL. He signed a free agent contract with Pittsburgh for the princely sum of $15,000. He got a $1,000 signing bonus as well.
His first pro coach was also a rookie, Chuck Noll. Adams didn't remain with the Steelers, who would become a dominant NFL entity under Noll's guidance in the 1970s. In his final season with Atlanta, Adams earned $54,000.
He has had a number of careers since then. He has been a teacher, an author, a consultant in the high-tech industry and the owner of a Redwood City fitness center. Now, he is a communications executive with the Church of Scientology in Hollywood.
His advice for young people is pretty simple: "If you have a dream and it gets re-kindled, the fire can still be there. Don't give it up. I had lost sight of my dream. But I found it again."
According to E-Online:Dianetics Books and the Church of Scientology of New York
New York is the greatest city in earth.
As Mr. David Miscavige said at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology of New York, "New York is the hub of everything from American Publishing, to fashion, the nation’s financial capital and epicenter of global trends, not to mention the international center for entertainment and media. And all in addition to the most diverse culture on earth, which sets the trends across every generation and spectrum of life."
But it is also the city where the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program took on a new dimension, with the help rendered to the emergency teams at Ground Zero.
And New York Scientologists have inspired the world in the way they have made the Dianetics book available to everyone in the city, by providing free stress tests and book booths all over town.
Here’s more on the Volunteer Ministers at Ground Zero from the Scientology.org newsroom and more about Mr. David Miscavige from the Religious Technology Center web site
With Chick Corea in Canada on a tour promoting his newest album, Canada.com ran an article on him featuring his ideas about his career and those who influenced him most.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
"It's not often you hear the names Miles Davis and L. Ron Hubbard in the same sentence.
'"Freedom to communicate, and freedom to think how you want to think -- to me that's the area where artists operate," says Corea. "I got that from Miles, and I learned it from Scientology."'
'"Scientology has enabled me to understand and develop my own strengths and to write music more quickly," he says. "It also helped me to become freer to create as I want to, not how others think I should."'
"In the 40 years since his first recording as leader, Corea, 64, has turned out almost 100 albums, picking up 45 Grammy nominations and playing with the top names in jazz along the way."
"Looking back, Corea says that when he first heard about Scientology from another musician in 1968, he was unsure where to go next with his music, or how to make the most of his talents.
"I began to use L. Ron Hubbard's ideas about artistic expression and communication to enhance my own abilities," he says. "That was when I really began to compose and do my own thing."
"'Taking your idea of Scientology from newspapers is like learning about jazz from newspapers,' he says impatiently. "If you want to learn about jazz, you buy some Duke Ellington and John Coltrane records and you go to see some music played live. You go to the source.
'If you want to learn about Scientology, you read a book by L. Ron Hubbard, you go to a Scientology bookstore and talk to the people there. You observe with your own eyes and make up your own mind.'"
Although Chick lives in Clearwater, Florida now, he used to live in Los Angeles where he regularly attended services at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre. It is more usual now to see him at the Scientology spiritual headquarters in Clearwater or the Church of Scientology of Tampa.
For Chick's Canadian fans, I recommend a visit to the Church of Scientology of Toronto.
Chick is also a supporter of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program.
I was surprised to find this article tonight on www.medicalnewstoday.com
Main Category: Pregnancy News
Article Date: 20 Apr 2006 - 0:00am (PDT)
Los Angeles - Church of Scientology International responds to inquiries concerning the application of Dianetics and Scientology principles to child birth.
What is a silent birth?
Having a silent birth is all about providing the best possible environment for the birthing mother and her new baby.
It is labor and delivery done in a calm and loving environment and with no spoken words by everyone attending as much as possible. Chatty doctors and nurses, shouts to “PUSH, PUSH” and loud or laughing remarks to “encourage” are the types of things that are meant to be avoided.
As L. Ron Hubbard, Founder of Dianetics and Scientology, wrote, “Everyone must learn to say nothing within the expectant mother's hearing during labor and delivery.” And, “A woman who wants her child to have the best possible chance will find a doctor who will agree to keep quiet especially during the delivery, and who will insist upon silence being maintained in the hospital delivery room as far as it is humanly possible.”
Does this mean that a mother cannot scream or moan at all?
Of course they can make noises - the point of silent birth is NO WORDS. This is a principle of Dianetics and to fully understand why, one should read the book Dianetics the Modern Science of Mental Health, by L. Ron Hubbard. It is words that are the culprit. Outside of not speaking, the objective is generally to have as peaceful and relaxing an environment as possible for the mother and child. It is doubtful that any woman could give birth without making any noise at all.
Mothers naturally want to give their baby the best possible start in life and thus keep the birth as quiet and peaceful as possible.
Is it a Church rule that members must adhere to this practice and is there a specific routine?
A woman's choice of for her delivery is completely up to her and her doctor. There is no requirement to adhere to any specific routine. Just like care is taken in all other aspects of labor and birth, a woman and her doctor or midwife and any others present work out how to communicate without words. Different women have done different things.
Does the application of these principles preclude a mother from using medicines?
The Church has no policy against the use of medicines. This, too, is up to the mother and her doctor.
These principles do not preclude a mother from receiving any medical procedure needed to safely deliver the baby, including c-section. These are medical decisions.
Does the “no word” dictate still applies after the baby is born?
It only applies if a child is in pain or traumatized. Of course parents will keep the newborn in a safe and peaceful environment. From birth forward, a child needs all of the love and affection it can possibly get.
How are doctors reacting to the method?
Doctors respect the right of a mother to choose her own birthing experience.
Quiet birth is not a medical model but is a religious and philosophical approach based on L. Ron Hubbard's research into the mind and spirit which he published in 1950 in Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.
L. Ron Hubbard discovered the single source of stress, worry, self-doubt and psychosomatic illness, which is the reactive mind. This part of the mind records all perceptions in times of pain and unconsciousness and in particular, words spoken during these moments can have very adverse effects on people later in life.
Who else is advocating silent birth?
A decade after the publication of Dianetics, a number of popular natural childbirth methods evolved from the principles of a calm, quiet and relaxed birthing environment and little or no anesthesia.
Two of the most well-known and followed were the Bradley Method developed by Dr. Robert A. Bradley and the Leboyer Method developed by the French obstetrician Dr. Frederick Leboyer.
The Leboyer Method includes dim lights and gentle handling without sudden movement that may jar or startle the baby.
Bradley urges darkness and solitude, quiet, physical comfort and relaxation. He also teaches exercises and muscle relaxation for labor with slow, deep breathing, take-your-time approach in a quiet, unlit, pillow-laden environment. In a 1965 he made the statement that: “We warn husbands to be quiet and not disruptive, to rub the back between contractions.”
Additionally, a study done in Sweden and released in 1998 found that “minimizing pain and discomfort to the infant during birth seems to be of importance in reducing the risk of committing suicide by violent means as an adult.”
Does the Church have a dictate concerning the raising of children?
There is a lot written in Scientology about children. Scientology helps people understand their basic nature and this alone helps parents tremendously.
Scientologists consider children to be spiritual beings, like all people are, but they need to be taken care of as children. They need respect, love, help, and education. They want to help others from a very early age and it is important that adults allow them to do so, within the realms of safety. A child has to know they have a place in life, that they are important and that their contributions are meaningful in a real way.
Education is an important part of this, as a child needs understanding of the workings of his family and society to be able to contribute to them in meaningful ways and in this he can be greatly assisted by his parents and other family members.
Some of the basic principles Scientologists apply to parenting are summed up in the following quotes from L. Ron Hubbard:
"Today's children will become tomorrow's civilization. Try to be the child's friend. It is certainly true that a child needs friends. Try to find out what a child's problem really is and without crushing their own solutions, try to help solve them. A child factually does not do well without love. Most children have an abundance of it to return."
"The spoiled child is the child whose decisions have been interrupted continuously and who is robbed of his independence."
"Affection could no more spoil a child than the sun could be put out by a bucket of gasoline."
“A good, stable adult with love and tolerance in his heart is about the best therapy a child can have.”
