The media is just beginning to address the fact that people are terrified of Scientology, though.
That has taken a long time, because the media itself has been terrified to print one negative word about the crimes of this cult.
One story that really brought home the outrageous harassment, behaviour and terror the cult creates is Dr. Stephen Kent's experiences.
Here is this incredibly warm, compassionate man, doing everything he can to help others heal who were crippled by traumas in their lives, one of which happened to be Scientology, and by speaking and writing honestly about what he has observed and seen and publishing his works that help others recover, the Church of Scienology went after him like a deranged bulldog, tearing into his life, his career, his family, his friends, his co-workers, spreading slanderous statements and gossip.
A church did this. A church. Supported by tax dollars as a non-profit charity.
To hear Doctor Kent's descriptions just turned my stomach. I imagine him, one of so many friendly, open Canadians, helping his community, his students. Loved and known for years and years.
Then a church comes into his life, uninvited, and does all it can to wreck it.
In early June 1998, 3,000 home-delivered copies of the Edmonton Examiner contained a sixteen-page insert. The insert was printed on fairly high quality newsprint, and was entitled Freedom. This same insert also appeared in Canada’s national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, on June 12, 1998, in some delivered copies of the newspaper. Previously, the Globe and Mail had circulated the insert in newspapers distributed in Toronto.
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The insert compared me to the neo-Nazi hate-monger Ernst Zundel, as did the first leaflet that Scientologists distributed against me on campus. The insert also says that my “support of discrimination and intolerance which has led to human rights violations and even violence—in Germany as well as in Canada—should disqualify Kent totally from government funding and support.”
Dr. Stephen Kent goes on to write:
Among the reasons that I continue to research, write, and speak about Scientology is because I fear it, and I also fear its implications for civil society and for the lives of many of its members.
http://thewalrus.ca/scientology-attacks/
Who has not been bullied and terrified by this cult? Terror normally breeds silence.
But some stand up to bullies. Stephen Kent did, Alex Gibney did, many, many others did. Hopefully, many more will do so now. I am grateful. Everyone has the right to feel safe.
