Scientology Not a Once-on-Sunday Religion

The Battle Creek Enquirer did a nice piece on a Scientologist from the Church of Scientology of Battle Creek a couple of weeks ago.

Michael Delaware talks about his beliefs and the activities of the Church.

Name: Michael Delaware, 39.

Residence: Battle Creek resident for about five years

Family: Wife, Margarita; two children.

Profession: Full-time minister in the Church of Scientology. "And my wife is the executive director of the church. That is a full-time job, too. In my youth I was an agnostic. My parents were Catholic, and I went to church with them, but I never considered myself a Catholic."

Q: How long have you been a part of the Church of Scientology? "Since the late '80s. I read some books and took a look for myself. I pursued it further and joined within a few months."

Q: In what ways do you prefer to express your faith? "We try to live by it every day. We're not a once-on-Sunday religion. We work on communication with our spouses and friends and family. We apply principles of how to have good relationships with people that we meet. There's a great deal of study that I do every day; Scientology teaches us how to study properly. I took courses through the church, and then I finally took the ministerial training within the church. This took place over several months."

Q: Have you been inspired by any particular books, movies, music or works of art? "The first book I ever read on the subject of Scientology was a book called 'Dianetics' by L. Ron Hubbard. As for the arts, any appreciation for the arts is encouraged in the church. The principles of Scientology are applied to daily life, so you take it and learn about aesthetics so that what you really want to communicate is understood at the other end. It's therefore not surprising that artists find that very useful. There are a lot of talented artists, actors, producers, directors, painters, illustrators and musicians of all kinds who are in the church. We also have a lot of professional businessmen, doctors, people from all walks of life."

Q: What are the origins of Scientology? "We have truths which come from all religions. We bring together the three things that Christ intended for man: wisdom, good health and immortality, but really we are in a whole new classification of our own. It's a new religion of the 20th century and the 21st century."

Q: If people are interested in learning about Scientology, what should they do? "If anybody is interested, they should come by our church and talk with us. We have free films and we're friendly people. There are small missions in Holly and Grand Rapids, but Battle Creek is really a headquarters. Altogether we have about 10,000 members."