From: milne@crl.com (Andrew Milne)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,alt.religion.christian
Subject: Re: more anti-Christian material in Scientology
Followup-To: alt.religion.scientology,alt.religion.christian
Date: 14 Oct 1995 12:02:24 -0700
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R Agent (rogue@ccs.neu.edu) wrote:
: This is being cross-posted from alt.religion.scientology to
: alt.religion.christian, since it is clearly on-topic to both newsgroups.  
: Christians, please let me know if I'm offbase, or if you find the 
: references from Hubbard's writings offensive to you as Christians.

     The above poster has made several malicious attempts to create
division between Christians and Scientologists. The Church of Scientology
has many Christian friends and has worked with Christian ministers on
numerous occasions, including the actions taken a few years ago to get the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed into law. 

     Scientology is a vast subject.  The written materials of Dianetics
and Scientology comprise more than 5,000 writings, including 18 volumes
of technical writings and 12 volumes of administrative works.  In
addition, Mr.  Hubbard gave more than 3,000 lectures which are recorded
on tape.

     Not surprisingly, throughout that enormous reservoir of information
are scattered references to the great religious leaders of the past,
including Jesus Christ. In the Phoenix Lectures, given in the early 1950s,
he discussed the religious tradition behind Scientology. And in the June
3, 1955 lecture, "The Hope of Man", he said of the religious leaders of
the past: 

     "I would like to honor the great spiritual leaders of the past --
not of modern times, but of the past -- since these people handed along
enough tradition to make us aware of the fact that there was a spiritual
side to man.  These great spiritual leaders have been hanged, reviled,
misinterpreted, badly quoted, have not been at all comprehended.  But,
nevertheless, they are the hands through which a torch has been handed
forward through the centuries so that we could culminate with a greater
ability for man and some hope for his future...."

     "And one of the people who handed it on was a man named Moses.  And
again it was handed on to a man named Christ.  And he handed it on, and
even the Arab nations benefited from this through their own prophet,
Mohammed.

     "And these men I consider great spiritual leaders, because they
gave to men on down through the years the hope that life could go on,
that there was a spiritual side to existence, that the business of
barter and gain was not all there was to life."

     Obviously no individual holds to the beliefs of another's religion
to the degree that he holds to his own.  If he did, he would be a member
of that other religion.  But to try to exploit these differences of
belief to create division between religions is a sordid tactic.  What is
important is to grant to another the right to hold to his chosen
beliefs, even though they may differ from yours.  That is the essence of
what is meant by religious freedom.

     The Creed of the Church of Scientology holds that all men have the
right to their own religious practices.  Scientologists practice the
Creed in their lives: they respect the beliefs of others and they do not
criticize or try to degrade other people's religions.

     If you want more information about the religious background to
Scientology, you will find it in the book What Is Scientology, available
in churches of Scientology, in libraries and in bookstores.