I’ve always admired Tom Cruise. Even the infamous couch-jumping episode made me think, “Wow – to be that excited about falling in love — I remember that feeling!”, and “More power to him!” In every photo of Katie Holmes that I have seen, she looks radiantly happy and in love. So now there’s a new […]
Archive | Scientology
Scientology gains tax-exempt status in South Africa
After nearly three decades of being refused due to what can only be described as religious prejudice, the Church of Scientology has last week obtained tax-exempt status from South Africa, a fitting recognition for a religion that has done much to promote peace, education and morality in South Africa. Here’s an article about Scientology in […]
Germans & Scientology
some people just can’t have help. Especially, it seems, the German government.
What is Scientology?
I get asked this question quite a bit: “What is Scientology?” For many years I would reply with the response I learned in the Scientology catechism over 30 years ago, when I became a minister of the Church of Scientology of California. (And yes, we do have a catechism). I would say, “Scientology is an […]
What Scientologists believe
No, it’s not some kooky mind-control cult. Any one of the tens of thousands of practicing Scientologists in the United States will give you his or her own viewpoint about it. If they were all mind controlled, wouldn’t they give you the same story? It’s always different, from one person to another, how they got […]
LRH House on Camelback
The house where L. Ron Hubbard lived in Phoenix, Arizona in 1952 has been restored to the way it looked then, including many of the original decorations, furniture, carpets, drapes and so on. It is (from what I’ve heard from people who visited it) like stepping into a time machine to the early 1950s. 1952 […]
L. Ron Hubbard, the “science fiction writer”
L. Ron Hubbard wrote a lot of books. I have several bookshelves groaning under the weight of his books, and I re-read them at least once a decade, as I do C.J. Cherryh, Iain M. Banks, Robert Silverberg, and Vernor Vinge. From time to time I’ve seen blog postings from people who should know better, […]
Optimism is under-rated
I get a weekly email from “Cecile”, called the Optimism Newsletter. It is unfailingly optimistic and I find myself looking forward to it every Friday after the weekly barrage of bad news from regular news sources. That and Randy Casingham’s “This is True” newsletter (in which Randy re-phrases news stories, adding his own hysterically funny […]
Volunteer Ministers Tent in Portland
For the last week or so, the Church of Scientology of Portland has been sponsoring a Volunteer Ministers‘ Cavalcade in Pioneer Square in Portland. They put up a huge yellow tent and spoke with anyone who wanted to talk. In one week they had about 4500 people go through the tent, looking at the exhibits, […]
History Channel
May 9th of this year marks the 57th anniversary of the publication of the book Dianetics. The History Channel noted it with this silly clip: Dianetics Anniversary. They camp it up a bit, but it IS true that Dianetics was published 57 years ago. Old as I am, that’s before I was born. They make […]