Catholic Online - February 9, 2010
Scientologists in Haiti: Volunteers or Vultures?
By Randy Sly
A mixture of messages is coming out of Haiti regarding the real impact of Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers.
UPDATE: Editor's Note - On Tuesday afternoon I received a phone call from Tommy Davis of the Church of Scientology clarifying that the Press Release on the web attributed to him was a fake. While we make every effort to confirm our sources, we wanted to make our readers aware of this clarification.
In further conversation, Davis indicated that he will be providing information regarding the support actions of the CoS in Haiti. We are awaiting that information and will publish it when it arrives.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) – It has almost been a month since Haiti was rocked with a 7.0 scale earthquake that devastated the capital of Port au Prince and much of the country.
Since that time, support and volunteers have streamed into the Caribbean nation to render rescue and rebuilding support as well as medical assistance. Among the groups arriving to help, Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers came and with them, a great deal of controversy.
Testimonials from personal encounters with Volunteer Ministers at such locations as the World Trade Center after 9-11 and in Israel after terrorist attacks, indicate that the motives behind their work is to establish a strong foot-hold for their unorthodox practices and beliefs among a people who are disoriented and in need to standard care. According to reports, the same thing is happening in Haiti.
Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers are trained to use the techniques of dianetics, which involves ideas and techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer and founder of the Church of Scientology, concerning the metaphysical relationship of body and mind.
According to a Press Release from Tommy Davis, head of the Church of Scientology's Celebrity Centre International in Los Angeles, California, these volunteer ministers played a major part of operations after the earthquake.
“THE SCIENTOLOGY Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response Team has taken the lead role in relief efforts after Haiti's devastating 7.0 earthquake. Flying in from Clearwater, Florida to the hideous rubble of Port au Prince, capital of Haiti, the Response Team hit the ground running and immediately took charge.
“The Volunteer Ministers' big yellow tent has become known as the place to visit for help with handling trauma, getting supplies, or just to find someone to talk to after grueling hours of arduous work in the disaster zone.
“The Volunteer Ministers are working closely in Haiti with the US Military, the United Nations, and many other agencies such as the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF, who are amazed by their calm expertise in the disaster zone. They are intensively training these agencies and organisations [sic] in ‘Touch Assists’. This technology, discovered by humanitarian L Ron Hubbard, provides a gentle massage when someone is in the midst of a crisis.
“In addition to Touch Assists, the Volunteer Ministers have been offering free stress tests to rescue personnel and citizens alike.”
The French news agency Agence France-Presse reported that one Scientologist from Paris who gave her name as Sylvie claimed that the controversial church’s techniques were working:
“We’re trained as volunteer ministers; we use a process called ‘assist’ to follow the nervous system to reconnect the main points, to bring back communication,” she said. “When you get a sudden shock to a part of your body the energy gets stuck, so we re-establish communication within the body by touching people through their clothes, and asking people to feel the touch.”
There are mixed message coming out of Haiti regarding the actual impact and work of these Volunteer Ministers, some good and some bad.
For example, a different account of the arrival is found at www.gawker.com, where a first-hand account provided the following details:
"I arrived at JFK last week, ready to go.I knew we were traveling with doctors and EMTs, but I didn't expect to see 50 scientologists, in their yellow shirts with Volunteer Minister on them.
"I asked another guy what he'd packed and he said he hadn't bothered to bring soap or toilet paper or food, but that he'd just "buy whatever I need at Port-au-Prince airport." I couldn't break it to him.
"They had no place to stay, and no supplies — their idea was to use the ton of money they had to buy food to distribute when they got there. But there was no food and no water. That was the point.
"The doctors and EMTs in our party headed straight downtown to start working. The Scientologists had nowhere to go, and nowhere to put up the big yellow tent they'd brought for touch healing people in. They went to the UN, and managed to get on to their list of approved NGOs somehow. That meant they could set up in the UN grounds.
"They'd leave the tent and come into the general hospital downtown, and try healing people. One of the doctors and one of the nurses told me that the wounded started coming to them to tell them they didn't want to be treated by the people in the yellow shirts.
"One nurse told me that the Scientologists actually caused harm — they gave food to people who were scheduled to go into surgery. That then led to complications in the operating theater."
A different view was found in a blog entry on the Special Forces Association Chapter IX (http://sfachapterix.blogspot.com/2010/02/haiti-humanitarian-relief-covenant.html) by Tommy Buchino, a former Special Forces member and vice-president at Covenant Special Projects, who recalled the work of one such group in Port au Prince.
"As my team and I worked to secure the University of Miami field hospital (in Port of Prince), we were approached by a group (no less than 20) of young people, all donning bright yellow t-shirts. Their shirts displayed their church affiliation. No, not a Baptist church, not a Catholic church, not even a Christian organization but instead they were all members of the Church of Scientology.
"…we had these young believers of a different power cleaning bed-pans, escorting patients between wards, stacking the endless ocean of relief surplus and simply doing some really tough work. With a smile on their faces and a warmth for the suffering, these young people executed each task in a manner all of us as Americans would be proud.
(H***, I really have no clue on what they believe in; only what I have read or heard about through media channels) these guy and girls are OK by me. They lived the selfless service motto; never questioning, always doing for others. Day after demanding day.”
This account, along with a positive story by NBC’s Today Show on Scientology volunteers at a Haiti hospital, was posted on pro-Scientology websites. The Today Show story can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap5ANJ42bso.
Robert Mackey, of the New York Times, wrote on the NYT blog "The Lede", “The (NBC Today Show) report, headlined ‘Scientologists Make a Difference in Haiti,’ shows volunteers working in a Port-au-Prince hospital alongside a doctor who pronounces herself ‘very impressed’ and is narrated by a reporter who gives an enthusiastic account of Scientology healing and organizational techniques.
“That assessment is quite different from the one given to the French news agency AFP by a doctor in Port-au-Prince last week, who reportedly laughed when asked about their touch therapy techniques.
“Not surprisingly, this rave review of the church’s efforts in Haiti is now featured on a Scientology Web site documenting the work of its volunteer ministers in the wake of disasters. Another post on the Scientology “Volunteer Minister Disaster Response” Web site shows members of the church helping to distribute food in Port-au-Prince alongside members of the American military.”
When the Today Show piece was aired, Anonymous, the internet-based group that actively opposes Scientology, both publically and on the net, released a letter.
“We wish it it were under more favorable circumstances that we have chosen to address the world. However, after the demonstrably inaccurate interpretation handling of the victims of the Haiti earthquake as per the work of the Scientology 'Volunteer' Ministers, Anonymous could not remain silent.”
The letter, which can be seen on Gawker.com (http://gawker.com/5464902/anonymous-pledge-to-fight-scientologist-efforts-in-haiti), outlined a history of issues involving Volunteer Ministers at disasters then listed a number of concerns regarding their work in Haiti.
Among their objections, they wrote, “An untrained Scientologist was alleged to be assisting a surgeon, using tools that had not been sterilized. This is blatant medical malpractice.
“John Travolta has also left several trained medical professionals behind at an airport, instead making it his priority to bring untrained Scientologists into the country with the sole intent of disseminating L. Ron Hubbard materials to an already vulnerable and suffering population.”
Natasha Ghoneim from NY1, a “24 Hour News Channel on the Web” in New York, filed the following report:
“A plane chartered Saturday by members of the Church of Scientology was supposed to bring a group of volunteers to Haiti via JFK Airport. Yet, due to a chaotic boarding process, about 70 doctors, nurses and translators were left behind.
"’I think they're doing a good thing. But it wasn't done right today and people have died in Haiti because of it,’ said volunteer Jake Bevilacqua.
"’They need to help us get these pain medications and equipment and antibiotics to the people who are dying, literally,’ said volunteer Doreen Evans.
“Doctors and nurses from as far away as Brazil arrived at JFK Saturday morning with thousands of dollars worth of medicine and medical equipment. They say they were confirmed on the Church of Scientology flight, but during the boarding process they say the passenger manifest was misplaced.
“A total of 119 people boarded then the doors of the plane closed, leaving about 70 people behind. The church was worried the plane would miss its landing slot in Haiti, but the volunteers complained the plane sat at the gate for at least another hour.”
On the website, “Ask the Scientologist,” blogger Just Bill noted:
“The Church of Scientology provides no money towards the victims in Haiti. None. Not one penny. The church supplies no food, no water, no medicine, no building materials, no personnel, no expertise, nothing for Haiti.
“But they claim, in their press releases, that their Volunteer Ministers are "a major relief agency" helping in Haiti. If they do nothing, how can they claim this?
“John Travolta supplied an airplane, not the church. Individual Scientologists volunteered to go using their own money. As usual, the Church of Scientology did nothing.
“Along with a few untrained Scientology "Volunteer Ministers," Travolta offered a lift to health-care workers from the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad and from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those other non-Scientology groups were sending trained medical personnel and the Scientologists were completely untrained.”
(http://askthescientologist.blogspot.com/2010/01/church-of-scientology-loves-disasters.html)
Testimonials from personal encounters with Volunteer Ministers at such locations as the World Trade Center after 9-11 and in Israel after terrorist attacks, indicate that the motives behind their work is to establish a strong foot-hold for their unorthodox practices and beliefs among a people who are disoriented and in need to standard care. According to reports, the same thing is happening in Haiti.
-----
Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. His reporting on Scientology has received global recognition.
This article was found at:
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=35377
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The Independent - UK January 27, 2010
Scientology plants its flag in Haiti
John Travolta flies medical supplies – and volunteer ministers – into the earthquake-hit Port-au-Prince
By Kim Sengupta in Port-au-Prince
The "phenomenon" has landed to bring relief to the dispossessed of Haiti. John Travolta was in the pilot's seat of his Boeing 707 flying in doctors, medical supplies, ready-to-eat military rations – and Scientology ministers.
Travolta's visit – which the star called Operation Phenomenon – is not the first Scientologist trip to Haiti since the shattering earthquake a fortnight ago: there are already 150 members in Haiti, as well as 250 medical staff. Soon the group hopes to have 400 of each in place.
"Our volunteers are coming from all over," said Frank Suarez, one of dozens of yellow T-shirt-wearing members who have set up a camp at a gym in the capital, Port-au-Prince. "The need is huge."
Whatever the intentions of the volunteers, Travolta's trip has reignited controversy over the management of supplies into the airport, and Scientology's broader aims in Haiti.
Critics point out that while the actor was able to fly in 7,000lb of medical supplies, aid groups have been forced to wait because of congestion. Médecins Sans Frontières say the priorities decided by US military controllers have led to deaths. At least 800 relief planes are currently on the waiting list.
But Travolta was adamant about the trip yesterday. With his actress wife, Kelly Preston, at his side, he said: "We have the ability to actually make a difference in Haiti, and I just can't see not using this plane to help."
On the ground in Port-au-Prince, the situation remained desperate. Hours before Travolta's flying visit, a mini riot broke out in front of the collapsed presidential palace where food was being distributed.
The jostling 4,000-strong crowd took no notice of the 18 Uruguayan UN peacekeepers waving pepper spray under their noses or firing rubber bullets into the air. Asked why they were not trying to calm people by talking to them, one soldier cried: "Whatever we do, it doesn't matter – they are animals."
Medicine was not in much greater supply than food. But a group of Scientologists working in the hospital courtyard shrugged off the shortages, saying they were healing patients through "the power of touch to reconnect nervous systems". Sylvie, a French woman, said: "We are trained as volunteer ministers, we use a process called 'assist' to follow the nervous system to reconnect the main points."
One 22-year-old whose leg had been amputated, Oscar Elweels, received the touch treatment on his remaining damaged leg. What did he know about Scientology? It was, he responded, a French charity.
Doctors were sceptical. "I didn't know touching could heal gangrene," one said. L Ron Hubbard, founder of the group, once wrote about a technique called "casualty contact", which sought to exploit disasters as recruiting opportunities, but warned his followers against portraying them as such to outsiders.
The Scientology spokeswoman Linda Hight said yesterday that such an attitude was unduly cynical. "They're definitely not there to talk about Scientology," she said. "The volunteer ministers have tremendous organisational skills, they haul water, they build latrines."
'Casualty Contact': The Hubbard method
L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, said the following about recruiting followers in times of tragedy:
"Every day in the daily papers one discovers people who have been victimised... [The Scientologist] should enter the presence of the person and give a nominal assist, leave his card which says where church services are held with the statement that a much fuller recovery is possible by coming to free services... Handling the press he should simply say that it is a mission of the church to assist those in need."
February, 1956
"Casualty contact is very old, is almost never tried and is almost always roaringly successful... This is a pretty routine drill really. You get permission to visit. You go in and give patients a cheery smile. You want to know if you can do anything for them, you give them a card and tell them to come around to your group... Your statement, 'the modern scientific church can cure things like that. Come around and see' will work. It's straight recruiting!"
September, 1959
This article was found at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/scientology-plants-its-flag-in-haiti-1879970.html
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Gawker.com February 2, 2010
Scientologists in Haiti: A Firsthand Account
by Ravi Somaiya
We've spoken to someone who traveled to Haiti on a Scientology plane — and witnessed firsthand the ineptitude, quackery and irresponsibility of the church's minions in a disaster zone. Here's his account.
This article was found at:
http://gawker.com/5462117/scientologists-in-haiti-a-firsthand-account?skyline=true&s=i
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gawker.com January 18, 2010
John Travolta to Airlift Desperately Needed E-Meters to People of Haiti
Scientologists have mobilized to seize on the promotional and recruitment opportunities presented by the horror going on in Haiti, and John Travolta has personally arranged to fly "volunteer ministers" to Haiti to inflict his junk science on victims there.
Anywhere people are suffering, Scientology's yellow-shirted "volunteer ministers" can be found lurking near news cameras and claiming to help people with their bullshit technology. They performed "purification rundowns" on recovery workers sifting through the ruins of the World Trade Center after 9/11, administered "touch assists" to victims of the tsunami, distributed literature after the Virginia Tech shooting, and are on the ground in Haiti right now warning the starving, dehydrated populace about the dangers of psychiatry.
John Travolta is using his air miles to help the Haiti relief effort by planning a mercy mission to the earthquake ravaged nation.
The movie star and celebrity member of the Church of Scientology has become the latest big name to dig deep to help the victims of Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude tremor.
He says, "I have arranged for a plane to take down some volunteer ministers and some supplies and some medics.
"I hope that inspires others as well. It's needed."
So precisely what does this desperately needed help consist of? To be fair, Scientology claims to have airlifted some actual medical professionals to Porte-au-Prince, a move that is hard to argue with even if the doctors are cultists and are accompanied by a retinue of recruiters and glorified masseuses who are there not to help but to carry on their "crusade to build a better world," as the web site for the cult's volunteer ministers program puts it, through the application of L. Ron Hubbard's paranoid and power-mad fantasies.
Here's how they do it:
"Locational Assists": After traumas, people sometime's forget where they are maybe? To remind earthquake victims that they are still stuck in Haiti, volunteer ministers will be performing this vital medical procedure, quoted here verbatim from the Scientology Handbook:
"Nerve Assists": This is basically a back massage, which if performed properly will dislodge the "standing wave" of trauma that is preventing horribly wounded and completely bereft Haitian earthquake victims from leading normal, satisfactory, psych-free lives.
This article was found at:
http://gawker.com/5451086/john-travolta-to-airlift-desperately-needed-e+meters-to-people-of-haiti
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Catholic Online - February 11, 2010
Scientology Responds to Haiti Volunteer Ministers Story
By Randy Sly
Scientology's spokesman, Tommy Davis, responds to a story in Catholic Online regarding their involvement in the Haiti disaster.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - [Editor's Note: On Tuesday I received a phone call from Tommy Davis, the official spokesman for Scientology, regarding the article we had run on the work of Volunteer Ministers in Haiti.
In part, he took issue with section from "Just Bill" in the story that stated, “The Church of Scientology provides no money towards the victims in Haiti. None. Not one penny. The church supplies no food, no water, no medicine, no building materials, no personnel, no expertise, nothing for Haiti.
“But they claim, in their press releases, that their Volunteer Ministers are "a major relief agency" helping in Haiti. If they do nothing, how can they claim this?
In response to that claim, Davis forwarded their report on Scientology's involvement in the recent disaster. That information follows.
Highlights January 16-February 4, 2010
STATS
- Volunteer Ministers who have served or are currently serving in Haiti: 146
- Doctors, nurses and EMTs transported to Haiti since January 16: 394
- Doctors, nurses and EMTs on waiting list for next VM flight: 100
- Approximate individuals directly helped by Volunteer Ministers: 41,000
- Approximate meals served to patients, refugees and medical teams: 6,000
- Tons of food and supplies transported to Haiti since January 16: 20
- Tons of food and supplies distributed with World Food Program: 420
Other Volunteer Minister actions:
Seven MDs and two Volunteer Ministers gave tetanus shots and delivered hygiene supplies to 175 villagers in a remote area cut off from supply lines.
Volunteer Ministers organized four planeloads of medical supplies flown to Jacmel for doctors with no medical supplies and cut off from regular support lines.
Volunteer Ministers delivered hundreds of cases of MREs (meals ready to eat) and other food to a remote community and built kitchens for 1,000 people.
Volunteer Ministers transported a sanitation team to Haiti that took on cleanup around the hospital, including trash disposal and draining of a waste-filled pond near the hospital tents.
Volunteer Ministers were assigned as personal assistants to the hospital director and hospital coordinator at a Port-au-Prince hospital and set up supply and logistics lines in the hospital which greatly increased organization and production soon after the earthquake.
At the University of Miami Hospital, Volunteer Ministers manned the food distribution lines, including to outlying communities and refugee camps.
Volunteer Ministers were assigned to organize and inventory all medical supplies, which greatly increased the ability of the doctors and nurses to deliver medical care. The VMs organized local Haitians to participate in these functions which empowered the local residents.
Volunteer Ministers delivered several tons of food, water and medical supplies to three orphanages destroyed in the earthquake and procured and erected tents for the children to live in.
This article was found at:
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=35405
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Catholic Online - February 12, 2010
Why the spotlight on Scientology?
By Randy Sly | Editorial
Our focus on the Church of Scientology did not come by pulling an arbitrary name out of a hat; they are, frankly, in the news.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) – Regular readers of Catholic Online will have noticed that the Church of Scientology has been in our cross-hairs several times this past year. Personally, I have written a dozen articles on the subject.
Our focus on Scientology did not come by pulling an arbitrary name out of a hat at an editorial meeting, nor did it come because any of us are ex-Scientologists.
They are, frankly, in the news. Whether it’s the renunciation of affiliation by a celebrity member, conviction of fraud by the French courts, harassment of defectors or depositions regarding forced abortions that have shown up on the web, the spotlight has been turned on.
These are not isolated occurrences. The activities of this group, founded by Science Fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, have increasingly been in the headlines in recent years regarding a variety of issues.
Scientology is not new news. Major newspapers and news networks have, from time to time, covered stories regarding problems with organization. Books have been written both for and against dianetics and Scientology. Most of the world had heard about it but few really understood it.
In June 2009, however, the St. Petersburg Times wrote an extensive three-part series on Scientology that brought a number of issues concerning beliefs, practices and the actions of the group with respect to its members or former members.
The spotlight, at that point, grew brighter. The world of Scientology, which before had been primarily the focus of expatriates and groups like Anonymous, were now being brought into the mainstream of attention.
While Catholic Online was one of the few Catholic voices to cover Scientology, a hard-hitting article appeared this week in America Magazine’s online edition, entitled “Scientology at the Dock.”
In this piece, Father John Coleman, S.J., Professor of Social Values at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, took a careful look at the organization and its recent track record. Fr. Coleman’s concerns mirrored those of Catholic Online, when he stated, “Recent allegations about Scientology rely less on the organization’s belief system… The recent attacks on Scientology focus mainly on its behaviors.”
“I suspect with so much smoke,” Coleman writes, “somewhere there must be a real fire. While the organization hates the term, it is a totalitarian ‘cult.’ It just may also be criminal.”
As Catholics, there is no doubt that we take issue with the system of belief embraced by the Church of Scientology. No amount of good works can offset the fact that the group proposes doctrines that are irreconcilable with Christianity. From a Catholic perspective, they are not a legitimate religion.
Catholics certainly must respect individuals who are involved with scientology because we respect the dignity of every human person. However, the teaching of the Organization is a different matter. In addition, allegations concerning their practices and treatment of members are certainly appropriate to examine if human dignity is allegedly disregarded and human freedom is not respected.
I was recently offered an invitation to visit a Scientology Church in Washington, D.C.. Whatever I might find during such a visit could never alter the fact that the truth claims found within the teaching of Christianity and the claims of Scientology cannot be somehow glossed over. We can never simply “agree to disagree” concerning the claims of our Christian faith and the claims of Scientology.
However, Scientology does now claim to be a religion. They are most certainly not a Christian religion or community so the use of the word ecumenism in reference to any relationship between us is inappropriate. Perhaps, such a dialogue might be viewed as “interreligious dialogue”?
As Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote in “Dominus Iesus” concerning “interreligious dialogue.”
Catholic Online is, by intention, a Catholic news organization. We are compelled to explore and explain the belief systems of such groups as well as underscore the areas where they depart from orthodox Christian faith as revealed in Sacred Scripture and Tradition and taught by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
Scientology states that there is room for Christianity in its world, as faithful followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is no room for Scientology in ours. Should you read the materials on the Scientology website and learn more about their world, it becomes quite clear that each adherent will come to a point where they must answer the question, “Choose this day whom you will serve.”
According to one source, 28 percent of Scientologists, including Tom Cruise, were former Catholics. Somewhere, those who left to become a part of Hubbard’s new reality had lost sight of the grace and power of the Gospel in transforming and rebuilding lives. We don’t want this to continue to happen.
We are called to inform our readers about the actual beliefs of incompatible religions, inspire them to maintain faithfulness to the Truth found in Jesus Christ and His Church, and ignite them to fulfill her mission of evangelization and transformation. Inform, inspire, ignite is more than just a tagline for Catholic Online.
Again, quoting from “Dominus Iesus,”
One person who left Scientology and returned to her Catholic roots is Maria Pia Gardini, who wrote a book about her journey. Alledgedly, threats of a lawsuit were made by the Church of Scientology in Italy against the author and the book’s publisher, the Daughters of St. Paul.
The story was covered by a large number of news organizations, Catholic Online included. When asked about the lawsuit this week, Tommy Davis, spokesman for the Church of Scientology, told us that such a lawsuit never existed.
So, in addition to belief, our concerns about Scientology involve behavior. Some have stated in the comments section that, as Catholics, we should address our own bad behavior as Catholic Christians. We have and we will. Furthermore, that does not preclude us from looking at others.
Scientology’s actions have not been the focus of only one news organization. They have been questioned by many. Again, it isn’t even one issue that has been called into question; there seems to be a growing number of issues on many fronts that keep making the headlines.
We don’t see this stopping. Books are being written by ex-Scientologists describing their experiences during and after, private albeit revealing communications from within Scientology are being published on the net along with YouTube videos that continue to cast a shadow on Scientology’s mettle.
In November 2009, Senator Nick Xenophon, a member of the Australian Parliament, entered a motion calling for a criminal investigation of Scientology in Australia. In December 2009, a young man is murdered and Scientology is a part of the story.
Haiti is just the latest. The Georgia Senate passed a resolution on February 8 singling out the work of Volunteer Ministers in Haiti. Yet others, some of whom were on the ground in Haiti, are painting a very different picture.
Our Haiti story yielded a response from the Church of Scientology. From the comments on the response story as well as postings on other websites, concerns about the work of the Volunteer Ministers continue to exist. They are not disputing that some good hard labor was contributed, but continuing to bring up questions of medical personnel left behind, contributions actually being made, etc.
Each day Google, Bing, or any other search engine you want to use, will dish out new stories, accusations and accounts concerning the actions of Scientology. Some may be untrue or exaggerated. Given the nature of the web, this is almost a given. As Fr. Coleman stated in his piece, however, “I suspect with so much smoke somewhere there must be a real fire.”
We will continue to report on behavior as well as belief. There are legitimate concerns. We will also give opportunity for Scientology to respond, should they so desire. We also know there will be cross-examination, either by us or others.
The final disposition regarding the issue of belief is firm and fixed. The final disposition on behavior matters ultimately rests in the courts and governments of the world. Our call, at Catholic Online, is to remain in the world of inform, inspire, ignite.
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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in 2006. His reporting on the Church of Scientology has received global attention as the group’s activities come under increasing scrutiny.
This article was found at:
http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=35407
I arrived at JFK last week, ready to go.
I knew we were traveling with doctors and EMTs, but I didn't expect to see 50 scientologists, in their yellow shirts with Volunteer Minister on them. They were completely unprepared for going to a third world country, let alone a disaster zone. One girl was in designer cowboy boots. I asked her if she'd brought any sturdier footwear.
"Oh no, these'll be fine."
I asked another guy what he'd packed and he said he hadn't bothered to bring soap or toilet paper or food, but that he'd just "buy whatever I need at Port-au-Prince airport." I couldn't break it to him.
They had no place to stay, and no supplies — their idea was to use the ton of money they had to buy food to distribute when they got there. But there was no food and no water. That was the point.
By the time we arrived in Haiti, after a stopover in Miami, we had missed three landing slots at the airport. Aid agencies — genuine aid agencies — from other countries were being turned away, refused permission to land. But we still got a slot straight away. The guy who ran our charter seemed to think that the Scientologists had some real influence with the US Government, who were assigning the slots.
The doctors and EMTs in our party headed straight downtown to start working. The Scientologists had nowhere to go, and nowhere to put up the big yellow tent they'd brought for touch healing people in. They went to the UN, and managed to get on to their list of approved NGOs somehow. That meant they could set up in the UN grounds.
But they had no-one who spoke Creole, and they brought the weirdness of touch healing into a very superstitious society. They'd leave the tent and come into the general hospital downtown, and try healing people. One of the doctors and one of the nurses told me that the wounded started coming to them to tell them they didn't want to be treated by the people in the yellow shirts.
One nurse told me that the Scientologists actually caused harm — they gave food to people who were scheduled to go into surgery. That then led to complications in the operating theater.
On the way back, the plane stopped in Miami and did not go on to New York, stranding all the doctors and EMTs and journalists who expected to get back. After much fighting, the Scientologist representative agreed to fly any of the EMTs that "absolutely couldn't afford the ticket" on Jet Blue from Fort Lauderdale. I heard there were complications but had bought my own ticket because I was fed up with their weirdness.
This article was found at:
http://gawker.com/5462117/scientologists-in-haiti-a-firsthand-account?skyline=true&s=i
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gawker.com January 18, 2010
John Travolta to Airlift Desperately Needed E-Meters to People of Haiti
Scientologists have mobilized to seize on the promotional and recruitment opportunities presented by the horror going on in Haiti, and John Travolta has personally arranged to fly "volunteer ministers" to Haiti to inflict his junk science on victims there.
Anywhere people are suffering, Scientology's yellow-shirted "volunteer ministers" can be found lurking near news cameras and claiming to help people with their bullshit technology. They performed "purification rundowns" on recovery workers sifting through the ruins of the World Trade Center after 9/11, administered "touch assists" to victims of the tsunami, distributed literature after the Virginia Tech shooting, and are on the ground in Haiti right now warning the starving, dehydrated populace about the dangers of psychiatry.
John Travolta is using his air miles to help the Haiti relief effort by planning a mercy mission to the earthquake ravaged nation.
The movie star and celebrity member of the Church of Scientology has become the latest big name to dig deep to help the victims of Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude tremor.
He says, "I have arranged for a plane to take down some volunteer ministers and some supplies and some medics.
"I hope that inspires others as well. It's needed."
So precisely what does this desperately needed help consist of? To be fair, Scientology claims to have airlifted some actual medical professionals to Porte-au-Prince, a move that is hard to argue with even if the doctors are cultists and are accompanied by a retinue of recruiters and glorified masseuses who are there not to help but to carry on their "crusade to build a better world," as the web site for the cult's volunteer ministers program puts it, through the application of L. Ron Hubbard's paranoid and power-mad fantasies.
Here's how they do it:
The "Purification Rundown": After 9/11, Scientology set up a clinic in downtown Manhattan where firefighters sat in saunas, worked out, and took niacin and other vitamins, a regime that toxicologists have derided as "quackery."
"Touch Assists": Scientologists descended on India in the wake of the Tsunami to save lives with "touch assists," which, according to this Washington Post story, consisted of a mechanic from Michigan touching people and saying "feel my finger" over and over and over again.
"Locational Assists": After traumas, people sometime's forget where they are maybe? To remind earthquake victims that they are still stuck in Haiti, volunteer ministers will be performing this vital medical procedure, quoted here verbatim from the Scientology Handbook:
5. Continue giving the command, directing the person's attention to different objects in the environment. Be sure to acknowledge the person each time after he has complied.
For instance, you say, "Look at that tree." "Thank you." "Look at that building." "Good." "Look at that street." "All right." "Look at that lawn." "Very good." You point each time to the object.
6. Keep this up until the person has good indicators and a cognition. You can end the assist at this point. Tell the person, "End of assist."
"Nerve Assists": This is basically a back massage, which if performed properly will dislodge the "standing wave" of trauma that is preventing horribly wounded and completely bereft Haitian earthquake victims from leading normal, satisfactory, psych-free lives.
This article was found at:
http://gawker.com/5451086/john-travolta-to-airlift-desperately-needed-e+meters-to-people-of-haiti
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Catholic Online - February 11, 2010
Scientology Responds to Haiti Volunteer Ministers Story
By Randy Sly
Scientology's spokesman, Tommy Davis, responds to a story in Catholic Online regarding their involvement in the Haiti disaster.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - [Editor's Note: On Tuesday I received a phone call from Tommy Davis, the official spokesman for Scientology, regarding the article we had run on the work of Volunteer Ministers in Haiti.
In part, he took issue with section from "Just Bill" in the story that stated, “The Church of Scientology provides no money towards the victims in Haiti. None. Not one penny. The church supplies no food, no water, no medicine, no building materials, no personnel, no expertise, nothing for Haiti.
“But they claim, in their press releases, that their Volunteer Ministers are "a major relief agency" helping in Haiti. If they do nothing, how can they claim this?
In response to that claim, Davis forwarded their report on Scientology's involvement in the recent disaster. That information follows.
Highlights January 16-February 4, 2010
STATS
- Volunteer Ministers who have served or are currently serving in Haiti: 146
- Doctors, nurses and EMTs transported to Haiti since January 16: 394
- Doctors, nurses and EMTs on waiting list for next VM flight: 100
- Approximate individuals directly helped by Volunteer Ministers: 41,000
- Approximate meals served to patients, refugees and medical teams: 6,000
- Tons of food and supplies transported to Haiti since January 16: 20
- Tons of food and supplies distributed with World Food Program: 420
Other Volunteer Minister actions:
Seven MDs and two Volunteer Ministers gave tetanus shots and delivered hygiene supplies to 175 villagers in a remote area cut off from supply lines.
Volunteer Ministers organized four planeloads of medical supplies flown to Jacmel for doctors with no medical supplies and cut off from regular support lines.
Volunteer Ministers delivered hundreds of cases of MREs (meals ready to eat) and other food to a remote community and built kitchens for 1,000 people.
Volunteer Ministers transported a sanitation team to Haiti that took on cleanup around the hospital, including trash disposal and draining of a waste-filled pond near the hospital tents.
Volunteer Ministers were assigned as personal assistants to the hospital director and hospital coordinator at a Port-au-Prince hospital and set up supply and logistics lines in the hospital which greatly increased organization and production soon after the earthquake.
At the University of Miami Hospital, Volunteer Ministers manned the food distribution lines, including to outlying communities and refugee camps.
Volunteer Ministers were assigned to organize and inventory all medical supplies, which greatly increased the ability of the doctors and nurses to deliver medical care. The VMs organized local Haitians to participate in these functions which empowered the local residents.
Volunteer Ministers delivered several tons of food, water and medical supplies to three orphanages destroyed in the earthquake and procured and erected tents for the children to live in.
This article was found at:
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=35405
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Catholic Online - February 12, 2010
Why the spotlight on Scientology?
By Randy Sly | Editorial
Our focus on the Church of Scientology did not come by pulling an arbitrary name out of a hat; they are, frankly, in the news.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) – Regular readers of Catholic Online will have noticed that the Church of Scientology has been in our cross-hairs several times this past year. Personally, I have written a dozen articles on the subject.
Our focus on Scientology did not come by pulling an arbitrary name out of a hat at an editorial meeting, nor did it come because any of us are ex-Scientologists.
They are, frankly, in the news. Whether it’s the renunciation of affiliation by a celebrity member, conviction of fraud by the French courts, harassment of defectors or depositions regarding forced abortions that have shown up on the web, the spotlight has been turned on.
These are not isolated occurrences. The activities of this group, founded by Science Fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, have increasingly been in the headlines in recent years regarding a variety of issues.
Scientology is not new news. Major newspapers and news networks have, from time to time, covered stories regarding problems with organization. Books have been written both for and against dianetics and Scientology. Most of the world had heard about it but few really understood it.
In June 2009, however, the St. Petersburg Times wrote an extensive three-part series on Scientology that brought a number of issues concerning beliefs, practices and the actions of the group with respect to its members or former members.
The spotlight, at that point, grew brighter. The world of Scientology, which before had been primarily the focus of expatriates and groups like Anonymous, were now being brought into the mainstream of attention.
While Catholic Online was one of the few Catholic voices to cover Scientology, a hard-hitting article appeared this week in America Magazine’s online edition, entitled “Scientology at the Dock.”
In this piece, Father John Coleman, S.J., Professor of Social Values at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, took a careful look at the organization and its recent track record. Fr. Coleman’s concerns mirrored those of Catholic Online, when he stated, “Recent allegations about Scientology rely less on the organization’s belief system… The recent attacks on Scientology focus mainly on its behaviors.”
“I suspect with so much smoke,” Coleman writes, “somewhere there must be a real fire. While the organization hates the term, it is a totalitarian ‘cult.’ It just may also be criminal.”
As Catholics, there is no doubt that we take issue with the system of belief embraced by the Church of Scientology. No amount of good works can offset the fact that the group proposes doctrines that are irreconcilable with Christianity. From a Catholic perspective, they are not a legitimate religion.
Catholics certainly must respect individuals who are involved with scientology because we respect the dignity of every human person. However, the teaching of the Organization is a different matter. In addition, allegations concerning their practices and treatment of members are certainly appropriate to examine if human dignity is allegedly disregarded and human freedom is not respected.
I was recently offered an invitation to visit a Scientology Church in Washington, D.C.. Whatever I might find during such a visit could never alter the fact that the truth claims found within the teaching of Christianity and the claims of Scientology cannot be somehow glossed over. We can never simply “agree to disagree” concerning the claims of our Christian faith and the claims of Scientology.
However, Scientology does now claim to be a religion. They are most certainly not a Christian religion or community so the use of the word ecumenism in reference to any relationship between us is inappropriate. Perhaps, such a dialogue might be viewed as “interreligious dialogue”?
As Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote in “Dominus Iesus” concerning “interreligious dialogue.”
Inter-religious dialogue, therefore, as part of her evangelizing mission, is just one of the actions of the Church in her mission ad gentes. (“to the nations”) Equality, which is a presupposition of inter-religious dialogue, refers to the equal personal dignity of the parties in dialogue, not to doctrinal content, nor even less to the position of Jesus Christ — who is God himself made man — in relation to the founders of the other religions.
Catholic Online is, by intention, a Catholic news organization. We are compelled to explore and explain the belief systems of such groups as well as underscore the areas where they depart from orthodox Christian faith as revealed in Sacred Scripture and Tradition and taught by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
Scientology states that there is room for Christianity in its world, as faithful followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is no room for Scientology in ours. Should you read the materials on the Scientology website and learn more about their world, it becomes quite clear that each adherent will come to a point where they must answer the question, “Choose this day whom you will serve.”
According to one source, 28 percent of Scientologists, including Tom Cruise, were former Catholics. Somewhere, those who left to become a part of Hubbard’s new reality had lost sight of the grace and power of the Gospel in transforming and rebuilding lives. We don’t want this to continue to happen.
We are called to inform our readers about the actual beliefs of incompatible religions, inspire them to maintain faithfulness to the Truth found in Jesus Christ and His Church, and ignite them to fulfill her mission of evangelization and transformation. Inform, inspire, ignite is more than just a tagline for Catholic Online.
Again, quoting from “Dominus Iesus,”
It must therefore be firmly believed as a truth of Catholic faith that the universal salvific will of the One and Triune God is offered and accomplished once for all in the mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.
Above all else, it must be firmly believed that “the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church.
One person who left Scientology and returned to her Catholic roots is Maria Pia Gardini, who wrote a book about her journey. Alledgedly, threats of a lawsuit were made by the Church of Scientology in Italy against the author and the book’s publisher, the Daughters of St. Paul.
The story was covered by a large number of news organizations, Catholic Online included. When asked about the lawsuit this week, Tommy Davis, spokesman for the Church of Scientology, told us that such a lawsuit never existed.
So, in addition to belief, our concerns about Scientology involve behavior. Some have stated in the comments section that, as Catholics, we should address our own bad behavior as Catholic Christians. We have and we will. Furthermore, that does not preclude us from looking at others.
Scientology’s actions have not been the focus of only one news organization. They have been questioned by many. Again, it isn’t even one issue that has been called into question; there seems to be a growing number of issues on many fronts that keep making the headlines.
We don’t see this stopping. Books are being written by ex-Scientologists describing their experiences during and after, private albeit revealing communications from within Scientology are being published on the net along with YouTube videos that continue to cast a shadow on Scientology’s mettle.
In November 2009, Senator Nick Xenophon, a member of the Australian Parliament, entered a motion calling for a criminal investigation of Scientology in Australia. In December 2009, a young man is murdered and Scientology is a part of the story.
Haiti is just the latest. The Georgia Senate passed a resolution on February 8 singling out the work of Volunteer Ministers in Haiti. Yet others, some of whom were on the ground in Haiti, are painting a very different picture.
Our Haiti story yielded a response from the Church of Scientology. From the comments on the response story as well as postings on other websites, concerns about the work of the Volunteer Ministers continue to exist. They are not disputing that some good hard labor was contributed, but continuing to bring up questions of medical personnel left behind, contributions actually being made, etc.
Each day Google, Bing, or any other search engine you want to use, will dish out new stories, accusations and accounts concerning the actions of Scientology. Some may be untrue or exaggerated. Given the nature of the web, this is almost a given. As Fr. Coleman stated in his piece, however, “I suspect with so much smoke somewhere there must be a real fire.”
We will continue to report on behavior as well as belief. There are legitimate concerns. We will also give opportunity for Scientology to respond, should they so desire. We also know there will be cross-examination, either by us or others.
The final disposition regarding the issue of belief is firm and fixed. The final disposition on behavior matters ultimately rests in the courts and governments of the world. Our call, at Catholic Online, is to remain in the world of inform, inspire, ignite.
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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in 2006. His reporting on the Church of Scientology has received global attention as the group’s activities come under increasing scrutiny.
This article was found at:
http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=35407
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