Testing out the new quick post function on the WordPress Android app, with a photo of my son playing in the chapel of the DC Church of Scientology.

Testing out the new quick post function on the WordPress Android app, with a photo of my son playing in the chapel of the DC Church of Scientology.
For the last several hundred years (or perhaps longer) the activity of putting together a new church for the town has been a very rich community affair, drawing together the skills, efforts and energies of the parishioners in the community, and of neighboring communities.
In that tradition, Scientology communities around the world have been quite intensely engaged in the construction of new premises to better suit and service their communities. Scientologists refer to this new breed of church as an “Ideal Organization”, in reference to an essay L. Ron Hubbard wrote entitled, “The Ideal Org” – the substance of which is more finely detailed in this post on Ideal Churches of Scientology.
But one such project that I’ve been following with great interest is that of the Church of Scientology of St. Louis.
The Executive Director of the St. Louis Church has a blog which is filled with interesting anecdotes as they happen, as well as some truly intriguing articles – like this one on the topic of Guy Fawkes day.
Definitely worth a read!
I’ve been recently asked to add some guest posts on the Scientology section of the quite excellent Patheos Internet community. I’d long admired the work of the site, as the folks who run the site seem genuinely interested in fostering an environment where one can learn about the religious beliefs of others whilst offering respect and understanding of what others believe.
Most of what I’ve been posting has appeared elsewhere in some form on my Scientology Parenting site (like the one pictured above on Communication as it relates to parenting), so I’m happy to be able to help. I definitely count among my friends, folks from all manner of different religious (and non-religious) backgrounds, so I think the goal of the site is a worthy one to support.
As this is a personal site with a rather varied set of topics related to Scientology, I get some interesting results in terms of search terms people use to arrive at my site. Some of them are understandable, others – well, not so much. But I figured it might be of interest to give a bit more info for some of this week’s top search terms, just to make sure future searchers find what they’re looking for:
An interesting Google search indeed. Not sure what “Scientologists say” except for that they happen, and when they do, some tragic results can ensue. Obviously it’s incumbent upon the science community to be able to better predict them, but in terms of handling the results, Scientologists have been extremely active. The Scientology Volunteer Ministers blog has info on what our teams are currently doing in Japan as a result of the recent tsunami, and the Scientology VM site has more info on what our volunteers have done in the wake of other disasters.
Photos of the Grand Opening of the new Ybor Square Church of Scientology in Tampa are here, and I think the video you’re after of the Grand Opening is right here:
Well, that’s a fairly easy one. If you were Googling this because you were wondering why someone might be a Scientologist, I did a fairly detailed write up here. If you were wondering on what’s involved with being a Scientologist, well, it’s easy enough to just check out some of the free courses in Scientology that are available on-line, apply it and see if it works for you. If you have any questions, just ask.
The IAS is the International Association of Scientologists – the official membership association of the Scientology religion. The purpose of the IAS is: “To unite, advance, support and protect the Scientology religion and Scientologists in all parts of the world, so as to achieve the aims of Scientology as originated by L. Ron Hubbard.” I wrote more on the IAS here, and you can find out more about the programs that the IAS supports in a nutshell on this video.
ABLE is the Association for Better Living and Education. In a nutshell, ABLE has the purpose of reversing the social decay that threatens our societies by resolving the worst problems that plague man today — drugs, crime, illiteracy and immorality. While supported by the actions of many Scientologists and non-Scientologists alike, ABLE is a secular (non-religious) activity, and uses the technologies of L. Ron Hubbard to forward four major areas:
You can find out more about each of these areas on their site. Hope that answers the question!
I have a site dedicated to that question.
Let me know if there’s a question on parenting which is not answered on that site, and I’ll take it up!
There were about 6 different permutations of that search term in the last week. You can see my take on being on staff in a Scientology organization here. I know of at least one person who’s now on staff after reading this, so that’s a good thing. Let me know if you have any questions about being on staff and I’ll answer them.
Interesting – quite a few searches this week for “Scientology Reviews”. Well, I’ll certainly give you my review of Scientology.
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Curious to see what the next week turns up in searches!
There’s a question I get asked quite often when I’m wearing my shirts that state I’m a member of the International Association of Scientologists, one I’m bound to get asked all the more often now that my family are all Patrons of the Association.
“What’s that?”
One fellow that I did web engineering with saw me wearing a shirt with a torch on it that said, “Crusader” and said, “Crusader – I think I’ve heard of those guys.” – thinking it was a vendor we worked with.
No, folks, I proudly sport those shirts because I’m a contributing member of the International Association of Scientologists – something I’m extremely proud of.
The IAS is the official membership organization of the Scientology religion, being made up of individual Scientologists who truly want to change conditions on this planet for the better. The purpose of the International Association of Scientologists is:
To unite, advance, support and protect the Scientology religion and Scientologists in all parts of the world, so as to achieve the aims of Scientology as originated by L. Ron Hubbard.
Now, in practical terms, here’s what IAS members do, and what the IAS as a whole accomplishes, which I’m very much a supporter of:
One program that the IAS supports that I’ve been intimately involved in is the Scientology Volunteer Minister program. I’ve worked personally to get volunteers out to disaster sites like after the earthquakes in Haiti, the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Chinese earthquakes, Hurricane Katrina, and others. Volunteer Ministers are known for their ability to calm down & bring order to disorderly surroundings, and to also thereby work hand in hand with disaster response forces to clean up these major disaster sites. But also, those same principles that make Scientology Volunteer Ministers effective in major upheavals also make them effective in smaller disasters – like kids with bonked heads, parents with upsets, or children needing to study better. It’s such an effective program that gets such excellent results, that I love supporting it.

Taken in my office at the Founding Church of Scientology, shortly after I started on staff.
The amazing surge of life & activity in and around the Founding Church of Scientology in Washington, D.C. these days has inspired me to write a bit on my time as a Scientology staff member, one of the most amazing periods of my life which I’ll cherish forever.
In an absolutely futile attempt to encapsulate the experience in a few words, I’ll say this: My time as a Scientology staff member was easily the most fun, the most challenging, rewarding, and the most life-changing experience I’ve ever undertaken. And I say that with no qualifiers, and no exceptions.
That obviously begs the question of “why”. That, unfortunately takes a bit longer to express, but if you’ll bear with me, I’ll attempt to articulate.
Prior to my being on staff, I had a life which (I say now in retrospective) was a bit flat and purposeless. I had gotten a string of excellent IT jobs that made great money, and had no problem, really, acquiring any car, computer, vacation, or other worldly item I wanted. However, my activities were unpleasantly self-oriented, and I knew that. There’s only so much gratification one can get from helping oneself, and oneself only.
Once one has a great car, a nice house, all the computer equipment one could ask for, and a body in good health, one sort of realizes that there’s got to be a bigger game – and a cooler one too that doesn’t just involve oneself.

My then-fiancee, now wife of 11 years, at the Scientology New Year's party 2000.
I then started dating a girl (now my wife of 11 years) who was a staff member at the Founding Church of Scientology in Washington, DC. After weeks of observing her and the fun she was having as a staff member, I decided to take a break from computer networking and take up a position on staff at the Church.
I honestly had no idea the number of changes that would make in me, all of them changes for the better.
To sum up a few points:

Helping out my dad, also staff at the Founding Church, grooving him in on one of his organizational duties.

Founding Church of Scientology Staff - Circa December 1999
It’s that last part I’m reminded of constantly now that I get to rub elbows with the Church Staff here on a regular basis. They are the most caring, fantastic, outrageous, amazing people I’ve ever known, people that I am just utterly proud to say are my friends.
Written by ScientologyParent
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