Dutch Scientologists Tell the Truth about Drugs

This summer, volunteers from the Church of Scientology are taking aim against drugs in the Waterland and Zaan region of the Netherlands, where teen drug abuse runs well above national averages. In this area, one in five youths ages 13 – 17 have used drugs—one in 11 in the past month alone.

“Simply telling teenagers not to use drugs doesn’t work,” says Merel Remmerswaal, Director of Public Affairs of the Church of Scientology Amsterdam and coordinator of the Church’s drug education initiative in the Netherlands. “We distribute Truth About Drugs booklets. The title says it all. These booklets let kids know the consequences of taking drugs—the effect of drugs on the mind and body. We also give drug education lectures in schools. We bring along former drug users who share their personal stories—they create quite an impact by telling the students what it’s really like.”

In an interview with the Zaanstreek op Zondag newspaper, Remmerswaal described the extremes to which addicts will go to support their habits. She spoke of one young man who admitted he stole and sold his mother's wedding ring to buy the drugs he craved.

Remmerswaal explains why she and the other volunteers concentrate on reaching children and teens with their drug education initiative.

“Research shows that if youth do not use drugs by the time they are 21 they are not likely to begin using drugs at all,” she says.

For more information on the drug education and prevention initiative sponsored by the Church of Scientology, visit www.scientology.org.

CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY OF MOSCOW DRUG EDUCATION AND PREVENTION—A YEAR-ROUND ACTIVITY

No matter the weather, Moscow Scientologists carry out drug education and prevention to help counter drug abuse trends in their city.

Despite frigid conditions, volunteers from the Church of Scientology took their drug education and prevention activities to the streets of Moscow this week, distributing 2,600 fliers and collecting 2,000 signatures on drug-free pledges. And for good reason.

According to a 2010 United Nations study, Russia has the world's highest per capita heroin use, resulting in 30,000 to 40,000 drug-related deaths in the country each year.

The Russian Federal Service for the Control of Narcotics reported a 15-fold rise in the number of drug-related crimes and a tenfold increase in the number of Russian drug users from 1996 to 2006. As reported in The New York Times this week, an estimated 1.8 million users inject drugs in that country—the highest of any nation in the world. To worsen matters, addiction is hitting young people the hardest—the majority of drug addicts are 16-30, and over the last decade, the age of first use dropped from 17 to 14.

Volunteers from the Church of Scientology of Moscow, determined to reverse this trend, carry out drug education and prevention activities throughout the year. They distribute drug education and prevention booklets and flyers and collect signatures on their drug-free pledge every week. They organize a wide variety of activities, including street events and concerts. In June 2011 they carried out a marathon that traveled through 12 nearby cities.

To learn more about the drug prevention initiative sponsored by the Church of Scientology or to participate,visit the Scientology website.

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The Church of Scientology of Moscow celebrated its grand opening at its new home on Taganskaya Street February 26, 2011. The new Church is designed to serve as a home for the entire community and a meeting ground of cooperative efforts to uplift citizens of all denominations.

Church of Scientology Community Center in South L.A. welcomed by City Officials at Inaugural Open House

City, State and Federal officials joined community leaders, residents and guests in celebrating the Church of Scientology Community Center’s inaugural open house Saturday November 12.

The 28,000-square-foot Community Center is located on 81st and Vermont Blvd. in South Los Angeles. L.A. City Council Member Bernard Parks welcomed the Center to his district, presenting a commendation in celebration of the inaugural Open House. The Community Center officially opened last weekend in a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by 5,000 people at the Church of Scientology Inglewood just a few minutes away on Market Street.

Captain Kato of the 77th precinct urged those present to use the resources available at the Center. United States Congresswoman Maxine Waters presented the Church with a certificate of special recognition on behalf of Congress. Congresswoman Karen Bass wrote a message acknowledging the Church for “its many humanitarian initiatives and social betterment programs for the benefit of South Los Angeles.” Live Entertainment was provided by local talent including the Community Center’s own staff.

Los Angeles City Council Member Bernard Parks presented the Church of Scientology Community Center Executives with a special commendation welcoming them to his district: “The contributions you have made to the community are truly valuable and will be long cherished by many.”

The Church of Scientology Community Center features a 380-seat event hall, the L. Ron Hubbard Community Auditorium, designed for community events and as a meeting ground for residents of all denominations. The Center includes numerous classrooms and seminar facilities for a full range of civic programs, including a complete literacy and tutoring center. It is open 10:00am to 9:30pm Monday through Friday and 10:00am to 6:00pm Saturday and Sunday.

VOLUNTEER MINISTERS--Scientology in Society

In 1973, Founder of Dianetics and Scientology L. Ron Hubbard conducted a sociological study in New York City and discovered a society that had dramatically worsened from the city he remembered years before. From this study he predicted where the culture was headed: rampant immorality, violence as sport, and ultimately, politics by terrorism.

Needed was a way to help others live their lives and build their futures. In answer, Mr. Hubbard drew the plans for a grassroots movement, one that would instill these values back into society and so halt the decline: the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Program.

SCIENTOLOGY IN SOCIETY

Scientologists learn the principles of Scientology in Scientology churches and through Scientology books and materials and apply those principles out in society. The practice of Scientology involves the application of those principles to create better conditions in society. It is a maxim of Scientology that one is as valuable as one is able to help others. All Scientology services are aimed at improving the ability to help. Thus Scientology not only seeks to improve society through instilling a moral and ethical compass into people, but also by getting them to do something positive to help others in society as a practical expression of their religious beliefs.

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.

Scientologists know what it means to take responsibility for improving conditions around them. The humanitarian programs supported by the Church of Scientology and its parishioners are expanding at an unprecedented rate. Those programs include:

• The largest non-governmental anti-drug campaign on Earth—a campaign that reaches tens of millions of youth each year;
• The sponsorship of an international drug rehabilitation and training center in answer to the worldwide drug crisis;
• The largest non-governmental Human Rights public information campaign on Earth, broadly promoting all 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to educate the public on everyone’s fundamental rights;
• The support of an international training campus to assist educators with Study Technology;
• A Scientology Volunteer Ministers program that has initiated volunteer disaster relief efforts and other assistance on a global scale and whose corps of 203,000 active members who are on call at any time and any place in the world for any situation. During 2008, the Volunteer Ministers passed the milestone of 11 million people helped;
• The sponsorship of an international foundation to help restore morality and the brotherhood of Man.

The Church continues to be a relentless voice in the fields of social reform and justice. Scientologists 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 in the 1960s and 1970s. The Church also has championed the principle of open government and pioneered the use of the Freedom of Information Act and other access laws around the world to protect the public interest and eradicate government waste and human rights abuses.

The goal of the Church of Scientology is to improve society through our programs and activities and the active role we are taking in the world today.

The aims of the Scientology religion, as stated by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard are:

“A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is free to rise to greater heights.”

The Church welcomes inquiries from people who want to know about Scientology.

Joplin Tornado Volunteers Share a Perspective —Help is the Bottom Line

Sometimes, it’s the simple things that make the biggest difference.

A Scientology Volunteer Minister who helped in the wake of the Joplin, Missouri tornado in May 2011 described how much people appreciated his willingness to do some hard work.

For several hours, he and some other volunteers helped a woman dig through the wreckage of her home. She was so grateful about the dishes and glasses they salvage—these were cherished possessions that had belonged to her mother.

One family was thrilled when they recovered the children’s toys. And one of her neighbors was relieved to have them help clear her driveway so she could drive to work.

After helping a woman and her grandson load a trailer with their possessions, they asked if she needed anything else. She said her wedding ring was missing—her late husband had it made for her and she really treasured it. Locating what used to be the master bedroom they began to search. Digging through the debris, first they found her diamond earrings, then more jewelry. When they finally found the wedding ring in a clump of insulation, the 80-year-old grandmother literally jumped for joy.

Two women were laboring unsuccessfully to load their great-grandfather’s table saws and 100-pound drills into a truck. When the Volunteer Ministers got the tools onto the bed of the truck, their helped was rewarded with hugs.

It was physically taxing, but it made a difference to people who really needed a hand after a disaster. The Joplin experience once again confirmed for them that the Volunteer Ministers motto—“Something can be done about it” —is not simply words, it is a way of life.

A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.

How does a Volunteer Minister accomplish these miracles? Basically, he uses the technology of Scientology to change conditions for the better — for himself, his family, his groups, friends, associates and for mankind." -- L. Ron Hubbard

What is Scientology?

Scientology is a twentieth-century religion. It comprises a vast body of knowledge extending from certain fundamental truths, and prime among those truths: Man is a spiritual being endowed with abilities well beyond those which he normally envisages. He is not only able to solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also to achieve new states of awareness he may never have dreamed possible.

In one form or another, all great religions have held the hope of spiritual freedom-a condition free of material limitations and misery. The question has always been, however, how does one reach such a state, particularly while still living amidst a frantic and often overwhelming society? Although modern life seems to pose an infinitely complex array of problems, Scientology maintains that the solutions to those problems are basically simple and within every man's reach. Difficulties with communication and interpersonal relationships, nagging insecurities, self-doubt and despair-each man innately possesses the potential to be free of these and many other concerns.

Scientology offers a pathway to greater freedom. (Read on)

Here's a video that tells what Scientology has to offer parents, kids and families.

^{I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard}

David Miscavige

David Miscavige is the ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion. From his position as Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center (RTC), Mr. Miscavige bears the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the standard and pure application of L. Ron Hubbard’s technologies of Dianetics and Scientology and for Keeping Scientology Working.

In that capacity, Mr. Miscavige has redefined the term “religious leader” to fit the tasks necessary to direct a truly unique, contemporary religion—a religion born in the twentieth century, which has achieved an unprecedented level of expansion in the twenty-first century, including some 8,500 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups across 165 nations."



A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists. — Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard

Applied Scholastics Education Programs

Applied Scholastics Education Programs

L. Ron Hubbard & Study Technology

Nearly half of all American adults—90 million people—are functionally illiterate. Eight million students have been labeled as “learning disabled,” with schools’ answer to the situation not being the three “Rs,” but prescription drugs. While the cost of this crisis to governments, businesses and taxpayers runs in the trillions of dollars, the cost in human terms is incalculable.

Recognizing the failings of the system as far back as the 1950s, L. Ron Hubbard developed an actual “technology” of learning with which to master any subject. These educational breakthroughs are collectively known as Study Technology and provide students at every age and educational level with the ingredient missing from modern education—namely, learning how to learn."

^{"Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe."}

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology Religion.