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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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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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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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
“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 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 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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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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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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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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Religious Literacy
May 14, 2018
Scientologists and Individual Purpose
The composition of a society is rooted in the purposes of its individuals. Intertwined, those purposes fuel the dynamic evolution...
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Scientology Religion
May 2, 2018
The Best Thing In The World
Life is the essential raw material of artists—be they sculptors, performers, painters, writers, directors, or whichever—they...
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Religious Literacy
May 2, 2018
Religion or Science
And the war between universes—the spiritual and the physical—continues. So many people are looking for the answer. Well,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 1, 2018
Confessions of a Bigot
On the final approach to New York’s La Guardia airport at 8:40 a.m. we flew over the World Trade Center. I was marveling...
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Religious Literacy
May 1, 2018
Isn’t there more to life than this, a Scientologist Asks?
“Life is short—live it up.” This seems to be the mantra I hear more and more every day. Now, I’m all about fun. I...
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Media & Ethics
April 27, 2018
Is Mainstream Media Guilty of Stirring Bigotry and Discrimination Against the Innocent?
Mainstream media is paid quite handsomely to manipulate public opinion. I’d like to tell you about a dirty little trick...
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Scientology Religion
April 27, 2018
Why I Love Being a Scientologist
If you enter a Scientology Organization you will find diversity there second to none. Every race, creed, ethnicity, nationality,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
April 26, 2018
Don’t Take It Personally Or, What I Learned From My Cat
My point is she didn’t take it personally. She actually didn’t take it at all. She stayed calm and reasoned and level-headed.
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Media & Ethics
April 26, 2018
Facebook—Corporate Versus Personal Responsibility
I’ve been following with interest the story of how Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg are responding to the recent public and...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
April 23, 2018
In Their Own Image: Psychiatry's Attack on Religion
A decade ago, the Royal Society of Medicine posited that psychiatry had become “the new religion,” replacing priests with...
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Religious Literacy
April 22, 2018
Rock Me, Holy Spirit
I say: bring on more of these spiritual/religious messages. If it is difficult to get young people to come into church then...
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Media & Ethics
April 21, 2018
They Didn’t Add the “R”
I realized that I could not always believe what I read, just because it appeared in a “respected” media source, by a “respected”...
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Religious Freedom
April 19, 2018
A Scientologist Asks, Is Religion Necessary for a Society to Thrive?
Just as scientists don’t rely on the blessings of priests to practice their disciplines, priests do not need the approval...
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Religious Literacy
April 18, 2018
Living With the Dead
The dead were also removed from view, literally, when Reformation iconoclasts whitewashed hundreds of colorful religious murals...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
April 18, 2018
Is religion being hacked? Ask the Muslims
A religion is bad because of the horrible things done in its name. Right? That’s like saying that the institution of marriage...
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Religious Literacy
April 16, 2018
The Maryland Peace Cross and Establishment of Religion
A U.S. Appeals Court has recently ruled that a 40-foot high cross located at a busy intersection in Bladensburg, Maryland...
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Media & Ethics
April 15, 2018
Information Cancer
Incorrect news and information starts in one location and then metastasizes like cancer, spreading out and lodging in secondary...
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Religious Literacy
April 14, 2018
Does the Decline of Religion Foretell a rise in Mental Illness?
Falling away from church, moral codes and belonging has created depression and anxiety. It has created a sense that one is...
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Scientology Religion
April 13, 2018
The Self-Evident Truth of Scientology
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as...
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Scientology Religion
April 12, 2018
The Brilliance of Scientology
For most of us, our cell phone is a thing of wonder and mystery. We don’t know how it works, we only know it does. Well,...
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Religious Literacy
April 1, 2018
Are We Losing Religion?
The loss of faith, of religion, of church membership - and this goes for all faiths, all religions, all churches - is a loss...
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Religious Freedom
April 1, 2018
The Ultimate Act of Defiance
Too often, man has seen rebellion as simply the opportunity to “do unto others as you believe they have done unto you.”...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
March 28, 2018
Bring It On
Scientology was the only thing I found that gave me practical, concrete answers to any and every question I could ask, from...
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Religious Literacy
March 20, 2018
Scientology Secrets
L. Ron Hubbard wrote “Look. See what you see, not what someone tells you that you see.”
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
March 20, 2018
Tear Down That Wall!
I had a very interesting thing happen to me recently. My church was sponsoring a Human Rights Symposium and I got a true look...
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Scientology Religion
March 16, 2018
Pot Head vs. Clear Mind
Then, one day, my world changed. I mean CHANGED. I suddenly found myself in present time, in touch with everything and everyone...
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Religious Literacy
March 15, 2018
Sacrifice
We are all human. That was not a choice. We all have human rights. That is not a choice either.
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Scientology Religion
March 14, 2018
A Scientology Tool Called “Admiration”
So many relationships fall into an “I am right—you are wrong” argument-and-struggle level of communication.
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Religious Literacy
March 14, 2018
Is Man Just Another Animal? (A Scientologist’s Perspective)
I grew up in the 1950s and ‘60s with the science versus religion debate in full swing. It was and is, the major philosophical...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
March 13, 2018
A Truly Unoriginal Vanity Fair Con Job a/k/a Running Away from the Truth
A Truly Unoriginal Vanity Fair Con Job a/k/a Running Away from the Truth. Investigation Discovery is tabloid television at...
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