RELIGIOUS FREEDOM | FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Taking a Stand Amid Escalating Religious Hatred

Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination (STAND) at www.standleague.org went online on February 25, 2017. The new STAND website is a resource center for dispelling false and defamatory information on religion, vital in an era where hate crimes are on the rise.

Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination (known as STAND) has launched a new website as a platform for Scientologists to raise their voice against religious bigotry and get their message across that “enough is enough.”

The STAND website aims:

To expose anti-religious hate and bigotry toward the Church of Scientology, its parishioners, Church leadership and Founder L. Ron Hubbard, and
To take aim against all forms of religious bigotry and violence, the individuals behind it and those who incite hate and violence through social and traditional media channels.

History proves that to encroach upon the religious liberty of one is to threaten the religious freedom of all.

Every new religion through the centuries has faced biased and bigoted assaults from anti-religious forces determined to destroy them. And every religion is a religious minority somewhere on Earth. That is the history of the struggle for religious freedom throughout the world. Great religions have survived such attacks.

The Scientology religion is no exception.

During the more than 60 years of its growth, the Scientology religion and its members have overcome continual assaults from individuals and groups bent on spreading misinformation and inciting hatred.

Some of the most vitriolic of these attacks have come from individuals in the media who abandon established standards of professional journalism which govern accurate reporting.

While STAND has been active against bigotry for decades, the STAND website now provides a resource center to dispel such false information, vital during an era where hate crime is on the rise.

STAND endorses and makes available the Charter on Journalistic Ethics in Relation to Respect for Religion or Belief, a code of conduct that holds journalists accountable for the social and political consequences of their actions and emphasizes their duty to maintain the highest ethical and professional standards.

STAND urges people to use the Facebook and Twitter reporting systems for hateful or violent posts or tweets, and to follow guidelines laid out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

If you have encountered hate speech and disinformation online, in the media, or in any public venue, take action by reporting it here.

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