All of them, those in power, and those who want the power, would pamper us, if we agreed to overlook their crookedness by wilfully restricting our activities.
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Editor:
I have been a reader of your newspaper for the past 2½ years during my semi-annual visits to your city.
I like the paper as well as the people. However, I take strong exception to your consistently biased reports concerning the Church of Scientology; particularly, the recent period of May 28–June 13.
I have been a member of the Church of Scientology since 1970. I have had the distinct pleasure of reading the more than 40 books by the founder, L. Ron Hubbard; studying many courses and receiving the special counseling offered. My life has been enhanced to the point where I can honestly state I am a happy person, successful attorney, devoted family man and all with integrity. This is what Scientology is really about. I have never read anything of this sort in your paper. I see downtown Clearwater busier than in a long time. I see clearer waters. I see a positive difference in your community. I attribute this to the successes of the Church of Scientology.
I am very proud to be a Scientologist. I live a very clean and decent, productive life. I wish you would read a book or visit the church. The picture you present to your readers is false. It thus makes your paper unfair. But I learned something a few years back. The truth will always win out in the end.
This letter is sent to you unsolicited by anyone. If you have the guts to print it, please send me a copy. If you would like to respond to it, I would be interested in your reply.
MALCOLM S. BABEL
Bayside, N.Y.
Editor:
First of all I want to thank you for publishing my last letter.
Secondly, I want to tell you, as a Scientologist, that I feel Scientologists in Clearwater have made a mistake. There simply needs to be more communication.
Throughout history, wherever there has been a new idea, a new religion or a new thought even, it has been ridiculed or attacked. Then as time goes on, it gets understood.
L. Ron Hubbard would say that communication is the universal solvent. Marriages, relationships between employer and employee and parent-child relationships alike are improved by communication. Nothing indeed gets done without communication.
Like a vacuum, an empty space will get filled up somehow. It's a simple law of the universe. There is a vacuum in Clearwater of real information as to what exactly Scientology is. So it gets filled up with anything, like Flynn's comments for instance. What does he know about it? Has he ever read a Scientology book and used it to save a failing marriage, or to help someone recover from a loss or an operation, or to help a man who couldn't work overcome his fears and get a job a I have?
Scientology hasn't communicated enough what it is really doing, so along comes Flynn. He looks at a beautiful field of roses and finds one has wilted. So he says the whole field is bad. There are thousands of flowers out there growing and giving beauty to others. Flynn, of course, needs glasses.
And Scientology needs to come out of the closet and say what it really is and what it does. Clearwater Sun, you can help. How about publishing articles written by Scientologists themselves, about their successes and gains and how it has helped them in their lives? How about for every Flynn article one by a member of the church? Equal time, just like in the presidential debates.
SIOUX ROBERTS
Clearwater Beach
Editor's note: The Letters to the Editor column of the Sun is open to all the paper's readers, including Scientologists. Also, though the Sun has repeatedly asked Church of Scientology officials to elaborate on their beliefs and tenets, these officials always have declined.