Media & Ethics
February 9, 2019
Fake It Till You Make It: How Mass Media Manipulates
Fake News has become a staggering problem. Public trust in media institutions has declined sharply in the wake of numerous...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
February 9, 2019
Tolerance for Intolerance: Burning Down Your Own House
Like setting your neighbor’s apartment on fire, it worked; but as historian Dan Carlin points out in his Blueprint for Armageddon...
READ MORE
Religious Literacy
February 7, 2019
Where Do Americans Find Meaning in Life?
In 2017, the Pew Research Center surveyed Americans to find out what it is that makes their lives meaningful. Not surprisingly,...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
February 7, 2019
The Path to Violence Is Paved With Lies
It is not “normal” for people to hate each other because they look different, come from a different place or have different...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
February 6, 2019
The Bite-The-Hand-That-Feeds-You Syndrome
“If a man’s religion does not make him averse to sin, sin will make him averse to religion.”
READ MORE
Religious Freedom
February 6, 2019
Religious Status Is for Those Who Help
Reading this recent article about a jailed neo-Nazi trying to hide behind “religious freedom” to protect his hate speech...
READ MORE
Religious Literacy
February 5, 2019
Religion Is Man’s Salvation
Though it is up to each of us to choose which religious path to follow, religion, period, is worth it. Beyond individual improvement,...
READ MORE
Religious Freedom
February 4, 2019
The Greatest Tradition
Somewhere, thousands of years before Christ, deep in China, a spark was lit. We don’t know if it was a man or a woman but...
READ MORE
Media & Ethics
February 4, 2019
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Ever seen a news story of how crazy everything is “over there” and then you go “over there” or actually look into...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 30, 2019
Where Propaganda Leads: Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019
I was born April 19, 1945, the same day that, British soldiers in Germany pushed 13,000 decaying bodies into trenches with...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 29, 2019
Fun vs. Hate: The Difference Between Songs & Psychos
1964. For most Americans, vegetables at the dinner table were an afterthought. What vegetables there were, were certainly...
READ MORE
Scientology Religion
January 27, 2019
The Scientology “Mystery” Solved
I have often seen confusion arise in the minds of people who hear snippets of the theatrical, artificial media version of...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 22, 2019
An Open Farewell Letter to the Makers of Family Guy
Your recent mentions of Scientology make Comedy Central’s “Drunk History” look like the World Book Encyclopedia.
READ MORE
Religious Freedom
January 20, 2019
City in Washington Prevents Minister from Helping Homeless
Probably everyone reading this post has personally observed the large and growing problem of homelessness in the United States....
READ MORE
Religious Freedom
January 18, 2019
Religious Freedom–A Dream Worth Fighting For
Somehow religion and government, these two important arenas of human interaction, must come to terms with one another and...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 17, 2019
Defamation Kills:
The True Authors of Religious Violence
Can it be that governments and commercial interests have knowingly used the lunatics who reside at the fringe of our society...
READ MORE
Religious Literacy
January 15, 2019
Communication Is the Key
One Catholic priest known to me only as Father Donovan, whom my parents had befriended, attended many of our family picnics,...
READ MORE
Scientology Religion
January 15, 2019
What’s the Deal With Scientology and Psychiatry?
I thought back to close family members and friends who had spent time taking antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs...
READ MORE
Scientology Religion
January 15, 2019
The Type That Rages Against Scientology
“This is classic,” I thought. This guy was the poster child for the usual type of person who rages against Scientology....
READ MORE
Media & Ethics
January 9, 2019
Media Ethics: Read It and Weep
Left, Right, or Center, the editorial boards all have an agenda. They’re all preaching to their own choir, which also happens...
READ MORE
Religious Freedom
January 8, 2019
Religious Freedom—The History You Don’t Know
Until the mid-1300s, witchcraft and magic had been quietly accepted as part of the mystic melting pot that was Europe. That...
READ MORE
Religious Freedom
January 8, 2019
Church Is a Haven: No Touchy!
Isn’t that one of the key reasons religion exists? Besides recognizing and enhancing the spiritual aspect of humankind,...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 7, 2019
Anti-Semitism 101, Part 1: The Roots of the Movement
The Jews, then, were set apart in the ancient world, a factor that worked both for them—preserving a unique and imperishable...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 7, 2019
The Mystery of Goodness
One diplomat in particular, a Japanese man by the name of Chiune Sugihara, worked day and night, against the wishes of his...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 2, 2019
The Case for Brotherhood
Last October, eleven worshippers at the at Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania were murdered during Shabbat...
READ MORE
Religious Freedom
January 2, 2019
The Price of Freedom
Some people see freedom as dangerous. They see people who cannot be enslaved as dangerous. They are the type who think that...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 1, 2019
Hate, Inc.: The Marketing of Bigotry for Profit
Bricks through windows, swastikas scrawled on synagogues, charred African-American churches, knocked-over tombstones in Jewish...
READ MORE
Religious Literacy
January 1, 2019
We Are Religion
Cultures rise and fall, governments come and go, but religion remains a constant influence. Under all the verbiage of such...
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 31, 2018
Racism & Bigotry: Is World War II Over Yet?
Jews number less than 14 million in the whole world—that’s 1/535th of the world’s population…
READ MORE
Media & Ethics
December 31, 2018
American Media: Stop Sensationalizing Religion
When a reporter takes on the subject of (someone else’s) religion, he or she does not usually understand what he or she...
READ MORE
Scientology Religion
December 30, 2018
Peace on Earth, Protecting Goodwill for All
The day after Thanksgiving 2018, I suffered a heart attack and was rushed through triple bypass surgery. My wife is helping...
READ MORE
Media & Ethics
December 26, 2018
The Menacing Horrorshow of Media and Its “Objectivity”
To say there’s been significant recent debate about the media, its role and its reliability is probably an understatement....
READ MORE
Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 19, 2018
Leah Remini vs. Everyone: Welcome to the Dark Ages
A recent spate of hate-inspired fires in five Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls brings up a pointed question: Is Leah Remini...
READ MORE
Religious Freedom
December 19, 2018
Religious Freedom Roars Back to Life
On September 11, 2001, all that changed. As the nation focused on the War on Terrorism, religious freedom was no longer a...
READ MORE
Religious Freedom
December 13, 2018
Bloggers of the Roundtable
These “Bloggers of the Round Table” are an eclectic bunch: musicians, writers, lawyers, pilots, business owners, clergy…...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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....
READ MORE
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,...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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.
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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.
READ MORE
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.
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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,...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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...
READ MORE
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.
READ MORE
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...
READ MORETake Action
COMBAT HATE SPEECH
& DISINFORMATION
If you have encountered hate speech and disinformation online, in the media, or in any public venue, take action by reporting it here.
PROMOTE
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
Urge adoption of the Charter on Journalistic Ethics in Relation to Respect for Religion or Belief. Make your voice heard.
ABOLISH DISCRIMINATION
OF ANY KIND
The first step in fighting intolerance and discrimination is raising awareness. Report discrimination of any kind to STAND here
