Religious Literacy
December 6, 2018
Lessons I Learned Growing Up Mormon
I grew up in the south, where hair is big and religion is bigger: mega-church big. Mormons were different. Not the wearing-black-and-avoiding-ornament...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 6, 2018
Never Let the Fox Guard the Chicken Coop
Why else would someone go so far down the road of attacking groups that have clearly demonstrated over and over again that...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 5, 2018
“Not in Our Town”—The Miracle of Magic City
That night, six more homes with menorahs, along with a Methodist church donning the same, were vandalized. But more menorahs...
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Religious Literacy
December 4, 2018
How Science Helped Me Find More Religion
“How can genetic testing tell you your religion, anyway?” you might ask. 23andMe can’t tell that I’m a Scientologist....
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Religious Freedom
December 3, 2018
A New Years’ Ode to Religious Freedom
One of my personal goals in 2018 has been to speak out, loudly and as often as necessary, to protect my religion, Scientology,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 26, 2018
What You Can Do About Ignorance and Hate
We do not have to hate each other, we do not have to fight, we do not have to natter and criticize and we do not have to be...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 19, 2018
My Friend, the Jehovah’s Witness
He started bringing new people by and introducing them. I joked with him that he was training new people and I must be an...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 15, 2018
Big Bigotry Goes Mainstream: Remini & Disney Attack Jehovah’s Witnesses
How exactly do you ask, in politically correct terms: “What religious group can we profit from the most by misrepresenting...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 28, 2018
The High Tech of Hate
The mind can absorb 20 images per second. Video runs at about 25 images per second. That means that for every second of TV...
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Media & Ethics
October 26, 2018
The Smear
Through this book, one comes to realize that mainstream news is simply what someone has paid to get placed in front of you.
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 25, 2018
Hang Together or we Shall All Hang Separately
We find that religion in general is under increased attack by the media, but mainstream religion still enjoys a certain level...
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Religious Literacy
October 21, 2018
The Unity That Disaster Handling Brings
I don’t think that there could have been a more appropriate song for us to sing that morning, for truly, it was amazing...
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Media & Ethics
October 17, 2018
The Media: “We Have Met The Enemy And It Is Us”
Every time you share a meme or a column or a podcast or a video that you like or agree with, YOU become media.
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Media & Ethics
October 17, 2018
Walt Disney Would be Appalled that the Company he Founded is Inciting Religious Hate
If Walt were alive today there’s no question Remini’s show would never exist on one of his networks.
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 16, 2018
The Cult of Anti-Cult Cultists
Back in the 80s and 90s, people who used Macintosh computers—myself included—were considered odd, as were the computers...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 10, 2018
How to Fight Fake News in the Post-Journalism Era
There are still plenty of problems to fix in the world, but stupefying viewers with incessant catastrophes on a 24-hour news...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 10, 2018
Leah Remini—the TV Personality Who Makes Disney’s Biggest Villains Look Like Tinkerbell!
Just like in any Disney movie, the villain always loses in the end, winding up with egg on his or her face. Visibly, this...
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Media & Ethics
October 10, 2018
The Not-So-Magical Magic Kingdom
Why “family friendly” Disney would risk its reputation by sponsoring a hate show against a religious group begins to make...
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Religious Literacy
October 6, 2018
In God We May Still Trust
The venerable phrase “In God We Trust” has survived yet another legal attack and will continue to appear on the bills...
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Religious Literacy
October 6, 2018
Learning About the Religions of the World
On the first day of a four-part Open House on Religions of the World, I fulfilled my duty as a Jew. Are you surprised? Well,...
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Media & Ethics
October 2, 2018
Fake News Isn’t News and It Isn’t New
Some years ago, my local Church of Scientology was in a legal battle with an individual who was violating the law. We took...
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Religious Literacy
October 2, 2018
Surprised by My Own Prejudice
I surprised myself the other day when I recognized that I was actually prejudiced against another religion. That was a real...
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Media & Ethics
September 30, 2018
Disney Has a Problem
As a sad testimony to the bloodthirstiness of a portion of America’s viewing public, Remini’s show had a few people watching...
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Religious Literacy
September 30, 2018
Why Religion Matters
As a child growing up in the Sixties, I heard plenty of chants that “God is dead.” I watched as people around me, wanting...
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Media & Ethics
September 28, 2018
If Even Saints are Smeared by the Media, Can We Believe What We Read?
Surely Mother Teresa, who received the Nobel Prize in 1979 and was made a saint in 2016 would be a perfect candidate. To my...
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Media & Ethics
September 21, 2018
LAist Breakfast: Journalism With a Side of the Same Old Diatribe
If Sofia Kercher had decided to be honest with Scientology Celebrity Center International about her intentions during her...
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Religious Freedom
September 20, 2018
How Religion Improves Lives and Why Bigots Oppose It
Growing up as an agnostic, John did not give religious matters too much thought. Nor did he assess his actions against any...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 20, 2018
A Word of Advice From Someone Who Used to Love Disney
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen of Disney, I am sure you have seen the stats in Hollywood. People are tuning out in droves. Hollywood...
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Media & Ethics
September 20, 2018
“We Are All in the Gutter, but Some of Us Are Looking at the Stars.”
More and more, these days, I see an ugly few building roofs between us and the stars, while insisting we’ll forever stay...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 14, 2018
Disney’s Latest Family Value: Hate
How Disney feels comfortable coming down on that side of the fence is beyond me. Apparently, their real values are not family...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 14, 2018
Disney & Remini: You Picked a Bad Time to Be Haters
Out of touch. That’s how haters like Leah Remini can be described. Like all bigots and bullies, she is even proud of being...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 13, 2018
One Thing You (Few) Haters Don’t Know About Us
Hey haters! I know you tend to think you’re pretty sharp. That you know everything we’ll say and do before we say and...
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Religious Freedom
September 12, 2018
Cyrus the Great and the Roots of Religious Freedom
You’ve probably never heard of Cyrus the Great, but if you admire and enjoy freedom of religion, freedom from slavery, and...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 5, 2018
An Open Letter to the Executives of Disney and A&E
I have been a structural and specialty contractor for almost half a century and have helped build several of the very Disney...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 5, 2018
Why I Know Walt Disney Would Be Ashamed
I remember two things about Walt: one was that he was really tall and the other was that he was the kindest man I had ever...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 3, 2018
Disney: Oh, the Hypocrisy!
It’s almost like Disney wants to attack my religion. I mean, it claims to uphold “values of inclusion, tolerance, and...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 3, 2018
Remini: Methinks Thou Doth Protest Too Much
Think for yourself. And trust your “thou-dost-protest-too-much” alarm when it goes off.
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 2, 2018
A&E and the Clickbaiting of Information
Readers began jumping from sensational headline to sensational headline calculated to attract a response and rank high on...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 2, 2018
The Freedom From Religion Foundation: Attacking Those Who Help
Why attack or defame that level of commitment? Why would the FFRF see this as a threat to their organization? To humanity?...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 1, 2018
To Remini, Rinder, et al: Don’t Be a Leech
Why would anyone devote their life to tearing someone else down? In the last 45 years I’ve seen such people pop up occasionally,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 1, 2018
Disney: How Do I Explain Bigotry to My Granddaughter?
Perhaps I could tell her that the movie characters she admires—those who stand up for their beliefs, who overcome obstacles...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 1, 2018
Disney & Remini: A “Tangled” Story of Lies and Doublespeak
Even the cynical staff at Disney and A&E would recognize that they had gone too far if Remini attacked their church, their...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 26, 2018
Disney and A&E: It’s a Small (-Minded) World
I find it difficult to envision Walt Disney trying to make a buck by inciting anti-religious witch hunts. However, if current...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 26, 2018
The Fragility of Hate
From the perspective of this planet and possibly the whole universe, then, Hate has existed for less time than it takes to...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 26, 2018
“Cult” Defined: Any Religion Practiced by Others
The effort to make these religious groups seem dangerous, threatening or just plain weird was prodigious. And didn’t really...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 25, 2018
From Bambi to Bigotry: Disney’s Steep Fall
My sons were raised on Disney. We watched movies like Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Toy Story, over and over and...
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Religious Literacy
August 25, 2018
Humanity’s Continuing Belief in God and the Soul
A recently released report by the Pew Research Center showed that Americans are much more likely to be actively religious...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 21, 2018
What Is It That Bigots Hate? That You Communicate.
When you look at bigotry (or more succinctly “hate”) as one person’s desire to ensure the target of the bigotry stops...
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Religious Literacy
August 15, 2018
In the World of Crisis Headlines, Is Philosophy a Waste of Time?
Philosophy is one of those topics that seems to belong in some ivy-covered building being discussed by men in vests who punctuate...
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Religious Literacy
August 13, 2018
Is Religious Intolerance the First Step Toward the Decline of a Civilization?
The Roman Empire was the largest and most powerful empire this planet had ever seen… And all through the remains of this...
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Religious Literacy
August 13, 2018
The Thai Cave Rescue—A Buddhist “Miracle?”
Millions of people across the world, including myself, followed this saga as it unfolded with bated breath.
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 13, 2018
This Year’s Heroes Against Hate—The Real All-Stars
He sustained five severe wounds, lost one third of his lung, but miraculously survived. “I’m no hero,” he said, thus...
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Religious Freedom
August 13, 2018
Unanswered Questions About Jonestown—Witnesses Report
Was Jonestown one of the worst massacres of innocent American men, women and children in history? What purpose could the deaths...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 7, 2018
The “C”-Word
I’m telling you to stop using the word “cult.” The “C” word. Just stop it. Why? I challenge you—if you can show...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 1, 2018
Disney: It Was Dopey All Along
Things looked rosy at the Disney Studio in 1938. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs was boffo at the box office, and a new star...
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Scientology Religion
July 31, 2018
Forty Years a Scientologist: A Comment on Friendship
A few months ago I reconnected with an old, incredibly close friend of mine from my long-gone youth, a friend who had a major...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
July 26, 2018
The Rabbi and the Bigot—A Story of Redemption
A few days later, the Rabbi found a package on his front walk containing anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi pamphlets and a card reading:...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
July 24, 2018
Leah Remini Dies and Goes to… ?
“Wait!!” Remini shouted. “Not THAT! Anything but THAT!! I’ll take fire and brimstone instead! Please! Mercy!”
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Scientology Religion
July 17, 2018
How I Answer Questions About Scientology: “Do the Math.”
So my solution to this is, when someone asks me about a few upset ex-Scientologists out there complaining, I just “do the...
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Religious Freedom
July 16, 2018
Unanswered Questions About Jonestown
Dr. Mootoo did not waver in his assessment of what had happened: the vast majority of Jonestown residents were victims of...
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Media & Ethics
July 13, 2018
Scientology: If You Don’t Know, Don’t Pretend to Know
We eventually won that particular battle—and many others. But we didn’t win it by waiting for newspapers to say nice things...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
July 12, 2018
White Supremacy: Alive and Well in Hollywood
You’ll find modern versions of these supremacists in the audiences of the likes of Jerry Springer, Tosh.0, South Park, Samantha...
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Religious Freedom
July 11, 2018
Canadian Supreme Court Finds For the Jehovah’s Witnesses
The decision is a victory for the rights of religious groups to uphold standards for membership based on their own religious...
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Religious Freedom
July 1, 2018
Unanswered Questions About Jonestown—First in a Series—Who Silenced Joe Holsinger?
In November 1988, the Chicago Tribune featured his comments in an article by Bruce Buursma. Holsinger, Buursma wrote, “has...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 30, 2018
Interview with an Asterisk
Please, just call me “*”—that’s what my friends all call me.
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 27, 2018
Religion in Comedy—Where Do We Draw the Line?
When you want to bring up a faith that’s not your own, you better know what you’re talking about. You better be accurate,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 17, 2018
Paul Haggis: From Crash to Burn
My purpose here isn’t to examine and comment on #MeToo per se—social media and the press are doing a good job of that....
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Media & Ethics
June 13, 2018
The Honest View of Scientology
What’s more, the high IQ free-thinker is much more likely to become curious about the effort by vested interests to drag...
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Religious Literacy
June 1, 2018
Look, Don’t Listen
Everyone knows the heart pumps blood in the human body, circulating it throughout the system over and over. Right? In the...
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Scientology Religion
May 24, 2018
What Scientologists Are REALLY Up To
While I have been Jewish all my life, for the last 12 years I have added Scientology to my religious resumé. In practicing...
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Scientology Religion
May 21, 2018
Is Man Just Another Animal? Part 2: Loss of Spirituality and Increase of Dementia
The immortality of the soul is certainly a crucial and integral part of the belief systems of most if not all religions. And...
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Media & Ethics
May 19, 2018
The Boogeyman Factory
War is sold by a handful of madmen on the basis that every citizen of the enemy country spends every waking minute slobbering...
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Religious Literacy
May 15, 2018
Indonesia Takes a Step Forward For Religious Freedom
I’ll end with my hope that the people of Indonesia will find an inclusive and fair way to treat all of its rich religious...
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Religious Freedom
May 15, 2018
Why is Religion Under Attack?
Religion has been attacked and even its symbols are being aggressively removed from our society. School prayer, the Ten Commandments,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 15, 2018
Weeds—A Parable
And sometimes a whole culture realizes belatedly that it has weeds–bad, bad weeds—and endeavors to pull them out, through...
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Scientology Religion
May 15, 2018
The Real Story of Scientology
Imagine living in a world where you have something in your life that you find incredibly helpful and rewarding, something...
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