What do I like about my religion?

It isn’t necessarily what others might think I should or shouldn’t like about it, or what any other Scientologist likes about it.

It may or may not be the kind of thing that others might also like about their faith.

It’s certainly not what the media will tell you are the reasons to like or dislike it; the media is singularly ill-qualified to speak, it seems, on any spiritual matters at all.

It actually might apply to me and me alone. But here is what I personally like about it and why.

Scientology is something I can understand. First of all, It is a “Doing” religion, as opposed to a “Believing” religion. It is a body of knowledge, that I can use as I see fit. To me it has had tremendous workability– that is, I use it to bring about changes in my life that I wish to bring.

Over a quarter century of my own personal application of this knowledge has proven to me that it is effective, and continues to be effective even when the challenges are great.

I know that I am personally evolving because of Scientology. And I have also seen that evolution in others.

Scientology helps me understand the complexities of the world, and position myself and my actions so that I contribute to the parts I like, and withhold my allegiance to the parts I don’t agree with.

It stresses personal responsibility, which of course is shared by many other religions, but to a degree that I believe is unique.

When I look around at areas in life that deserve my support, the activities of Scientology are the ones that engage me, because they always empower the individual, and never rely on force or degradation to achieve their goals.

Age-old problems like war, insanity and crime are confronted and addressed by Scientology in a way that I know I can participate in, and will have a broadly positive result.

I know that by applying the principles of Scientology, I can add to the civilization, not diminish it by repeating the same ancient errors, like punishment, prejudice, combat, blame, bigotry and hate.

Everything in Scientology, I have found, empowers the individual.

I believe that those that state otherwise have either never taken an honest look at Scientology, or are blinded by their own ignorance or crimes to even its most basic principles.

I like Scientology because the Scientologists I know are fun, productive and pleasant people, and when they are not, I know they are at least making steady progress towards becoming so. (I was not always so fun, productive or pleasant either, but where I have improved it has been through my application of Scientology fundamentals, and no other approach.)

I like Scientology because I like things to make sense, and in a world as crazy as this one, things that make sense seem few and far between, and more valuable every day.

I love people, and I love what people do to help one another, and to make the world a more orderly, friendly and beautiful place. Scientology is for those people, and anyone who is active in creating order, peace,  friendliness or beauty is a friend of mine, regardless of their religious beliefs.

I like Scientology because it respects the religions of others and makes no demand on others to convert. One can be as good a Catholic, Jew or Buddhist as they like and still be a Scientologist.  Or, if one doesn’t wish to become a Scientologist, that’s fine too.  It isn’t for everybody.

As a Scientologist, I don’t consider myself better than other people just because of my faith. I believe we are all caught up in the same traps, and will fare far better if we aid each other in escaping them than by picking fights with each other.

I don’t even consider the Founder, L. Ron Hubbard, to be divine; he himself said many times that he was just a man. One doesn’t even have to like him, although most of us wind up loving him as a dear friend for all the work he did on our behalf; millions of words in books, hours of recorded lectures, courses, drills and other ways to help people he would never personally meet.

Scientology has helped me understand and appreciate myself and my family, my own creations, my career, my affairs with others, my relationship to nature and the world around me.

I can enjoy the richness of life because I look at life through the eyes of a Scientologist; noticing and supporting the things that encourage survival, taking actions to obstruct or stop things that threaten survival, while respecting all people of goodwill.

So, that’s what I like about it.  There are other things, but perhaps these will serve to give you some idea.

As the late, great Isaac Hayes used to say, “You don’t have to like Scientology, but respect it.”

I respect you, your religion, or your personal decision to belong to no religion at all.

If you will respect mine, we can be friends.  And that would be splendid.