COMMUNICATION

Religious Freedom and Religious Tolerance

While training as an Army officer, I was taught not to discuss politics and religion. This seemed eminently practical advice at the time. However, I have come to realize the flaw in this thinking. Communication is the universal solvent.

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, religious or secular events, and outings. He was a likable fellow, and he was intelligent and good-looking. I remember being awestruck by his dedication represented by the white collar around his neck, which offset the black garb he wore in any weather or season.

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 communicating, it makes more sense.

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 a new religion, I have encountered lies, false information and mis-information about what we “do.”

The Food Bigot

I am a food bigot. This was brought to my attention by my wife some years ago when she first served me eggplant. “I hate eggplant,” I said. “I thought you knew that. Any kind of eggplant.” “You,” she declared, “are a food bigot.”

BEEEEP!!!!!

"Prejudice" is actually a hyphenate: "Pre-Judge." Or, to put a further spin on it, “premature judging.” It’s not a new thought, but how in the world can I make a judgement on who you are or whether I approve of you (or people like you) if I don’t know you.

Scientology: What’s in a Name?

Ron was discussing methods of determining sanity. He described sanity in a number of ways but the simplest was noting the individual’s ability to compute—think—accurately. The word that got me was “accurately.”

Hate Speech: Why More Communication—Not Less—Is the Answer

I agree that hate speech has no place in civil discourse, but when people are afraid to communicate at all about entire subjects because they’re afraid of being labeled as something they aren’t, that climate of fear has its own far-reaching consequences on civil discourse that also tear at the fabric of what it means to live in an open, free society.

The Power of Listening

The first course I took in Scientology was called, “The Communication Course.” The first exercise on the course was called “TR-Zero.” The “TR” stood for “Training Routine.