I'm not doubting that there is a lot bad going on. But what makes that more newsworthy than the good news.

I look at the Scientology News site, for example, and find that there are people helping others. For example, the Scientology Anti-Drug campaign has just been re-energized with new literature to help get to kids before the pushers do. That's good.

And I know it's not just my church doing this kind of thing. Many people are working to help people, and there are "random acts of kindness" as Opra puts it, ever day.

So why not in the news?

What do you think?

One of the problems with ensuring this right is upheld is when there is too narrow a definition of religion.

I think this quote from the Scientology Theology web site is really apt and helps to clarify what religion is.

Ours is a world that is torn by religious strife and intolerance. If we want peace, and I do believe the vast majority of people do, it would be good to look or any fixed ideas preventing the kind of religious pluralism that would permit people of different beliefs to live in harmony.

The definitions employed from one person to the next almost always are defined by personal religious heritage and experience, yet history has demonstrated that this perspective is a perilous one. Such approaches have given us the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, hundreds of years of bloodshed in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, and the troubles of Northern Ireland.

More commonly, restrictive approaches to defining religion lead to less violent but nonetheless equally destructive forms of discrimination and other violations of human rights—particularly against members of new or unfamiliar faiths.

For centuries Western thinkers approached the subject from the unique perspective of Judeo-Christian tradition. This approach revolved around two fundamental but related doctrinal concepts—a belief that there is a personal creator God separate and distinct from man, and that man’s highest activity is the worship, supplication and veneration of this god. If a set of beliefs did not manifest these doctrines, it was not regarded as a religion.

This doctrinal approach also reflected the way Western scholars analyzed religious thought and practice from the very beginning of civilized society until only relatively recently. For hundreds of years the terms “religion” and “Christianity” were virtually synonymous. Henry Fielding’s sarcasm in “By religion I mean Christianity, by Christianity I mean Protestantism, by Protestantism I mean the Church of England as established by law” aptly caught the prevailing belief of the times. In fact, England refused to treat Judaism as a proper religion for purposes of charity law until as late as 1837.

This deceptively simple standard by which religions were judged not only closed the doors to many religions but opened the doors to persecution—underscorin g that “defining” religion is far more than an issue of academic concern. From it, uneven treatment, discrimination and even violence have flowed.

The Church of Scientolgy International and individual Scientology churches are very active in promoting the Universal Declaration and has helped create excellent educational materials to help people understand what Human Rights really are.

It is reaching out to the Tampa Bay community and throughout western and northern Florida with the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program, community centers and new Scientology missions (a Scientology mission offers introductory Scientology courses and Scientology spiritual counseling which is called auditing.) They provide tutoring to community children and are spearheading the use of L. Ron Hubbard's technology in its secular applications for the handling of crime, drugs, illiteracy and immorality.

I have a lot of friends in the Tampa Bay/Clearwater area of Florida. And they are so enthusiastic about what they are doing!

FDA Public Health Advisory
Worsening Depression and Suicidality in Patients Being Treated With Antidepressant March 22, 2004

For additional information, please see the Public Health Advisory, June, 2005

Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked manufacturers of the following antidepressant drugs to include in their labeling a Warning statement that recommends close observation of adult and pediatric patients treated with these agents for worsening depression or the emergence of suicidality. The drugs that are the focus of this new Warning are: Prozac (fluoxetine); Zoloft (sertraline); Paxil (paroxetine); Luvox (fluvoxamine); Celexa (citalopram); Lexapro (escitalopram); Wellbutrin (bupropion); Effexor (venlafaxine); Serzone (nefazodone); and Remeron (mirtazapine).

Yet despite this, the FDA today approved another "new" anti-depressant for treating "seasonal depression."

This is why I support the Citizens Commission on Human Rights

Like this story on My Scientology Blog(not MY blog, that's the

name

Here's what Createxpressions wrote about this today:

Some people think drugs enhance creativity.  In fact when I was in school that was the main reason most of my friends started using drugs.

It is not true.  The truth is drugs ultimately kill creativity, if they don’t kill you first.

Elvis Presley was a classic example, and his ex-wife brought this up yesterday when she attended the grand opening of Narconon Stone Hawk.  

Here’s what it says in the Battlefield Enquirer:

 
Priscilla Presley speaks at drug rehab center
The Enquirer

ALBION — Priscilla Presley, actress and ex-wife of the late Elvis Presley, addressed a crowd at Stone Hawk East Rehabilitation Center, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, during a celebration of the center’s grand opening Saturday.

The 120-bed residential facility is the second center to open its doors in Michigan and is located at Albion’s former Trillium Hospital on Erie Street.

Narconon Stone Hawk Rehabilitation Center of Battle Creek opened four years ago as a 100-bed facility.

Stone Hawk provides drug-free treatment for alcohol and chemical dependencies. The program follows the Narconon treatment model, using a holistic approach to addiction treatment.

Presley has long championed the Narconon program, according to Stone Hawk officials. Since Elvis Presley died from the effects of pharmaceutical drugs, Presley seeks to help others avoid the same tragedy, officials said.

Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center, spoke about Narconon in the speech he gave at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology of San Francisco.  Mr. Miscavige said: 

And for all the materialistic advances—all the fancy cars, computers, worldwide communication—we yet see the very fabric of the culture being torn asunder with addiction, illiteracy, criminality, and immorality at all-time levels.

So if we had workable solutions, it was time to bring them everywhere, on a planetary scale, to both reverse those trends and show that something can be done about it.

First was our assault on drugs and the establishment of our Flagship Narconon in Oklahoma—as both the largest residential drug rehab facility on Earth, and as a center to train people to take it everywhere. As a result, our Narconon program now extends across thirty-seven nations while today we are consulting with the governments of China, Pakistan and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, we are also now opening new rehab centers—at the rate of one every eight weeks. So yes, we are doing something about "addiction."

Narconon Stone Hawk is an example of one of these new rehab centers, and the work it is doing is incredible as this excerpt of a testimonial of one of their students:

"I thank Narconon and all who made it possible for me to experience this wonderful life I now have."

Three months ago I arrived at Narconon with what seemed at the time only a glimmer of hope. After twenty years of heroin and methadone addiction, countless efforts of attempted help that failed, happiness as a drug free person seemed as likely as hitting the lottery at five million to one. As overwhelming as it seemed, I couldn’t bring myself to accept the alternatives; death or prison. Not without exhausting all possible solutions. Somehow I still cherished the thought of drug free existence. Happiness had its price and upon arriving at Narconon I’d decided that if I could, if it was possible, I’d make a real, genuine effort. Then, after being exposed to the loving, caring and committed staff members at Narconon, my commitment became "I can", and "I will". And sure enough, three months later I am drug free and in control of my life for the first time in my adult life.

In this photo you can see (D - CA) with Lai Lai, the young rapper who features in the award-winning music video UNITED.

United

was premiered in New York a couple of years ago at an international youth summit at the United Nations. Church of Scientology International Human Rights Office co-produced the event with the help of the Church of Scientology of New York.

Youth for Human Rights International continues to spread to country after country.

Human Rights Hero Awards are being presented by YHRI chapters around the world over the next few weeks.