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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Combating Bigotry & Hate
March 12, 2018
Scientologists and Freedom of Speech
The person who would forbid you from free expression is the person who hopes to, at some point, have you in chains. As Scientologists,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
March 8, 2018
John Trudell Rising Above Violence, He Stood for Freedom
John Trudell was a friend of humanity. At great personal cost, he stood against discrimination and injustice in all forms,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
March 1, 2018
Remini: Taking Bigotry on the Road
According to recent Hollywood reports, with her show’s viewership numbers doing a nose dive into a parity with “Joanie...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
February 17, 2018
Don’t be an “ic” or an “ist”
I met a very nice Persian man who was Jewish. His family was driven out of Iran because they were Jewish. Then in America...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
February 16, 2018
Scientology Empowerment Versus Psychiatric Destruction
I can see it now—Indonesian and American physicists in a catfight over which direction an apple takes when it falls from...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
February 10, 2018
Why Scientologists Do the Right Thing—And Those Who Don’t Don’t Like Us
Some of the nicest people you know might be Scientologists, but people who weren’t very nice and were kicked out have made...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
February 3, 2018
How Fake News Got Its Start: The Circulation War of 1898
The demise of the newspaper is forcing many to have to figure out how to set up shop themselves; whether through online outlets,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 27, 2018
The Lie that Pits “Us Against Them”
There is a lie that runs throughout the cultures and countries of Earth that pits “us against them.” This is not a recent...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
January 18, 2018
An Open Letter to Dwayne Johnson
You are an actor with some serious clout. You can open a movie, your co-stars cannot. You can force a re-write, a script revision,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 31, 2017
Breaking News: Scientologists Eat Salad!
How well I remember that morning in 1985 when I awoke to see a piece produced by a local Portland, Oregon TV news show marveling...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 19, 2017
About Saving the World and Those Who Discourage It
By the time I was 13 years old, if someone asked me what I wanted to be or do when I grew up, I would’ve told them: “I...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 18, 2017
Was Jewish “Blood Libel” the First Fake News?
Libel means false accusation. For centuries, a particularly vicious libel has been leveled at Jews: that they sacrificed Christian...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 13, 2017
The Single Source of Conflict
Who doesn't love a good fight? I still remember junior-high cries of "Fight! Fight!" as kids rushed to circle two combatants....
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 12, 2017
Guilt by Association: Making Good People and Their Religions Look Bad
The prophets wanted their followers to believe in God and follow His Word. It’s true that some adherents to these religions...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 11, 2017
Why Is Scientology Treated “Unfairly?”
Cultures change slowly. I was born in 1945. When I was growing up in Washington, D.C., discrimination against African Americans,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 5, 2017
Thomas Jefferson and the True Spirit of Scientology
As a 7th grader, I visited the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. The quote in HUGE letters around the inner dome reads:...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
December 4, 2017
“FaithLeaks” and the New Deprogrammers
The supposed purpose of FaithLeaks is to get anonymous tips of wrongdoing within churches and religions, “expose” them...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 30, 2017
Scientology: The Genie is Out of the Bottle
The frustration level of those desperately trying to shove the Scientology “genie” back in the bottle seems to be at an...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 30, 2017
Why Does It Have to Be “Science vs. Religion?”
Debates that pit science versus religion don’t usually end well. They can devolve into name-calling, sometimes on a national...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 21, 2017
Seeing Hamilton—And Why We Just Won’t Shut Up
When I was visiting New York last month, I got to see the Broadway phenomenon that has everyone talking: Hamilton. And I have...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 20, 2017
How Eric Idle Dropped Me as His Biggest Fan Because I’m a Scientologist
I’d like to share what it’s like to have a celebrity—someone you have admired and been a fan of your whole life—suddenly...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 17, 2017
Groping for Clarity in This High-Speed, High-Stakes World
With trending, “hashtaggy” topics now an easy way to measure public mood, product sponsors, employers and others hyper-sensitive...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 16, 2017
Bullying By Any Other Name… Is Still Bullying
So November is right around the corner and with it… one of my least favorites days… the annual Kick a Ginger Day. Now,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 15, 2017
Scientology, “Critics” and Critical Mass
Just start pounding an idea enough times into enough people until, hypnotically, they begin to believe it. Critical mass is...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 13, 2017
No, Laura Loomer: Jews Aren’t Bigots
It seems like religion is always at the forefront of so many unnecessary upsets, especially on social media. Recently, New...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 3, 2017
What Cops and Scientologists Have in Common
A very good friend of mine is a police officer. She and I recently took a lovely vacation to Scotland and Ireland. Man, did...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
November 2, 2017
It’s Easy to Knock Religion
I recently came across this piece and found it to be a beautiful, uplifting and timely response by Rabbi Marc Gellman to a...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 31, 2017
Taking Action Against Discrimination: Harry Truman
“For these compelling reasons, we can no longer afford the luxury of a leisurely attack upon prejudice and discrimination.”
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 31, 2017
When “the Victim” is the Bully
I’m “a big kid.” That is to say, I’m an adult. I’m well-educated, reasonably affluent, and able to hold my own in...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 30, 2017
To Those Working to Eradicate Religion: What About Helping People Instead?
When I look at the state of the world today—what with some 25 million individuals being human trafficked, two people dying...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 26, 2017
Smart Companies Don’t Pay for Hate
Why on earth would any company support, with add dollars, any program deliberately created to alienate a particular group...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 25, 2017
Backsliding into Bigotry: America’s Addiction to Intolerance
Religion, once a cornerstone of society in virtually every culture, is being eroded in modern times. Attacks on religious...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 25, 2017
The Difference Between Haters and Heroes
How many years has it been since a madman, under the guise of ridding the world of “undesirables” created a war that destroyed...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 20, 2017
Where Is God in Our Violent, Unpredictable World?
The question of how an all-loving and all-powerful God could allow things like this shooting to happen is one of the fundamental...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 18, 2017
If You’re Trying to Get Rid of Religion, It’s Gonna’ Be a Long Haul
When the “ Freedom From Religion Foundation” and other atheist crusaders put on their big-boy pants and go after religious...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 18, 2017
Where God & Religion Have Gone
I think it was at that point that church attendance started to drop and MTV took over for parents and my generation began...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 16, 2017
Who’s Next in the Crosshairs of Discrimination?
Understand, that if one innocent person or group is not safe among us—if one person or group is denied the freedoms that...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 15, 2017
What “Everybody Knows” Actually Isn’t True
If even I, a young child, could tell that these things that “everybody knew” were simple and obvious lies, how could grown-ups...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 14, 2017
A&E Attacks Religions. Yours Could Be Next.
Where does A&E CEO Nancy Dubuc draw the line for hate-based propaganda on their network? Apparently nowhere. The financial...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 11, 2017
Have the Trolls Really Won the Internet?—A Story of Good vs. Evil
A handful of people covertly create an illusion of “millions.” Their aim is to create a snowball of negativity that takes...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 10, 2017
Of Bigots and Bullies
It’s bad enough when adults turn a blind eye to bullying, it’s disgraceful when they encourage it, and it’s criminal...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 8, 2017
Who You Callin’ a Spigot?
I propose a word that would serve to make a distinction between common, garden-variety bigots and those who are prejudiced...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 7, 2017
Scientology and Conspiracy: The Real Story
Perhaps you’ve come across “the real story” about Scientology on your Facebook feed, television screen or on some tabloid...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
October 6, 2017
We Scientologists Aren’t Biting the Hate-Bait
How does a person communicate with others? What are his actions, attitudes, and accomplishments? These are what a Scientologist...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 29, 2017
The Truth About Islam, and Why What Your Book of Worship Is Doesn’t Matter to Me
When one has traveled and mingled with the peoples of Earth, one quickly realizes that just about anyone—no matter his or...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 28, 2017
An Open Letter from a Scientologist & Black Man to Tampa Bay Times Bigots
You see, I understand I am just another “nigger,” and you know what is best for me. You deem yourself my Master. You are...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 26, 2017
Something’s Being Done About Hate Speech on Reddit
In an experiment designed to combat hate, Reddit shut down some of their more hateful “subreddits,” or forums dedicated...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 26, 2017
What Little Old You Can Do About Bigotry & Evil
“I’m just one person. What could I possibly do?” You’ve heard it, you’ve probably thought it and you’ve very possibly...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 25, 2017
Leah Remini’s Love of Hate
Leah found something that she could do really well (hate) AND make a lot of money at the same time.
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 24, 2017
Media Bias—This is Journalism?
An actress wins not one, but two Emmys: one for her performance as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and one as a...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 19, 2017
Ex-Members, Bigotry and Lazy Journalism
I have no doubt that in some cases the alleged negative experiences of ex-members are at least partially true. But what about...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 13, 2017
Never Again—For Anyone
When I was a kid in the 70’s, I went to Sunday school at my synagogue. We did arts, crafts, sang songs and learned about...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 13, 2017
Scientology and the War of Two Worlds
It was 1938. Adolph Hitler (Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year”) had begun dropping in on his neighbors without an invitation....
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
September 13, 2017
The Rise of Hate in America
We as Scientologists have worked hard to demonstrate our values to the world. We help. We are first responders to world disasters....
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 31, 2017
Hate Merchant Tony Ortega Tries—and Fails—to Curtail STAND’s First Amendment Rights
Ortega was the chief editor of the Village Voice when it harbored Backpage.com, which, according to numerous media reports,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 29, 2017
My Ph.D. in Hate: A Scientologist STANDs Against Bigotry
I know a lot about hate. Unfortunately, I’ve had way too much experience with intolerance and bigotry. I’m an expert in...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
August 16, 2017
Apostates: My Personal Encounters
Using apostates to spread religious intolerance is not a new tactic, but in the age of the internet and life-as-entertainment,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
July 28, 2017
How to Kill a Culture—A Satire
My mission is very simple: I want to kill a culture. I have been thinking about this for a long time and I believe I now have...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
July 25, 2017
What I’ve Learned About Bigotry as an Arab-American Scientologist
As an Arab-American Scientologist, I’m familiar with bigotry. My family emigrated to the United States from Palestine when...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
July 24, 2017
The Liability of Religion Labels
Labels can be great. You can look at can labels and find out whether what you’re getting ready to eat is good for you. You...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
July 23, 2017
Does Walgreens Want People to Hate?
Walgreens is a sponsor of an A&E show featuring previously unemployed actress Leah Remini and other former members of the...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
July 18, 2017
Psychiatrists Say “Journalism” is a Mental Illness
So there I was minding my own business, having a little fun scrolling through what passes for “the news” when I spy this...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
July 5, 2017
The Power of a Well-Told Story
The other day, I read an online article that spoke of how an animation studio’s approach to storytelling was repurposed...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 28, 2017
Tim Tebow’s Religion, America’s Favorite Pastime
What’s the saying? “It’s as American as baseball and apple pie?” Football gets a lot of the love these days but whenever...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 28, 2017
A Wolf in Wolf’s Clothing
I don’t know Leah. I didn’t know Leah. I have no interest in ever knowing Leah. But we share many connections, and friends,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 27, 2017
Et tu, Stacey Carosi?
In one of my favorite seasons of Saved by the Bell, Zack Morris developed a summer relationship with Stacey Carosi, a tough,...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 17, 2017
I Met a Scorpion Today
There are two versions of a well-known fable you might have heard. In the first one, a scorpion asks a frog to carry it across...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 14, 2017
Has Social Media Become Antisocial?
Okay, I finally did it: I divorced Facebook. I let my friends know that I am done and won’t be visiting that space any more....
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 14, 2017
How Far Is Too Far in Punishing Hate Speech?
In a recent Scottish YouTube video, the creator orchestrates his dog giving a Hitler salute to the camera. Whether you think...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 14, 2017
The Only “Story” That Matters About the Portland Stabbing
I’ve been reading about the train stabbing incident in Portland with a heavy heart. Like so many others, I’ve been trying...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 10, 2017
In Spite of Everything
The defacing of a public monument is a despicable crime in and of itself. But when the target is a beloved figure like Anne...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 6, 2017
The Big Lie
I was watching the game show Jeopardy the other night when the host, Alex Trebek, presented the clue, “The most secretive...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
June 4, 2017
When Belief is a Crime
In a May meeting with the Turkish prime minister, President Trump made a special appeal for the release of Andrew Brunson....
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 29, 2017
How to Make a Monster
I came across an article the other day that was so outrageous my mind locked up on it for some time. Here’s what it said:...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 25, 2017
A Story about Rocks, Inspired by Rolling Stone
“The pen is mightier than the sword,” as the saying goes. If you give an idiot a sword he’ll end up hurting innocent...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 24, 2017
Raising Our Voices—What it Means to be a STAND Member
Scientologists are, almost without exception, really nice people. That’s something you could say of most people and groups...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 23, 2017
A Different Perspective on “Cults”
All new religions before being “established” are or were considered “cults” (definition 3). That would include Christianity...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 22, 2017
Where Do You Stand on Taking a Stand?
People are social creatures, and this is one of our greatest strengths and one of our greatest weaknesses, all at the same...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 21, 2017
The Accidental Bigot
A bigot’s a bad thing to be. But, theoretically, it could happen to any one of us. For many years (and in what feels like...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 21, 2017
Freedom of Thought: Infinitely Valuable and Incessantly Attacked
In the wake of the 1960’s, my father and mother began studying Dianetics and Scientology in New York and San Francisco....
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 16, 2017
Today’s “Journalism”—Now That’s Entertainment
Who cares if Brian Williams is a stone cold liar? Do we really care about honest journalism? It’s boring to watch all these...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 14, 2017
How it Felt to Be Treated Like a Nazi
When I was in third grade, I had a teacher who despised me. It wasn't because of anything I'd done to her, and it wasn't that...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 12, 2017
Haters Gonna Hate
Overly tall, olive-skinned, with full lips and unmanageable curly hair I looked odd among both the children of German refugees...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 10, 2017
Impulse to Attack the Unknown
I recall an incident from many years ago where a couple of misguided radio personalities in my city decided it would be a...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 9, 2017
The Urban Redneck
There is no other way to put this: If you believe and repeat the corporate-owned media narrative on Scientology (and pretty...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 9, 2017
The “Cult” Label
I'm a Scientologist who has studied Scientology for years. Decades actually. I know a lot of other Scientologists and, while...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
May 6, 2017
Why Scientology Jokes Fall Flat
The comedian is a rare and powerful breed. He can point out what's wrong with the world through the use of humor and be poignant...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
April 28, 2017
Sympathy for the Devil
If I were the devil I would strike up the band and throw a party. I’d be scrubbing my hands in glee right now as I watched...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
April 26, 2017
Leah Remini and a Friender Bender
I was always looking for “my” religion. Since I was a little girl. My parents didn’t follow any one faith and allowed...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
April 24, 2017
Why Religions Aren’t Like Football Teams
Is it too far-fetched to conceive that “football” could be a religion? Well, if you are ever in Knoxville during football...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
April 23, 2017
Stale Bread: The Aftermath
I am not prone to drama. However, having lived in Los Angeles for 30 years, I am very familiar with it. I try to keep myself...
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Combating Bigotry & Hate
April 20, 2017
What is “discrimination” anyway?
I was born in Mexico and began my formal education there. Naturally, I studied in Spanish and, because I attended a Catholic...
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