Cloning



The Glendale News-Press reported on January 10th on the position

Scientology has taken in the controversy over human cloning.



"While some local religious leaders believe human cloning could provide

advancements in health research, others fear the concept allows human

beings to play God.



"For Father Joseph Shea of Holy Family Catholic Church, the sense of

family commitment would be adversely affected if advances in human cloning

were pursued. 'It's taking the family expression of love and reducing it

to a laboratory,' he said. 'As Catholics, we believe the body and soul

will be reunited in the Resurrection. I don't understand why people would

want to clone themselves. The body would not have the same soul, it would

not be the same person.'



"Jean Dale is a minister of Scientology, and spokeswoman for the Glendale

and Los Angeles areas. To members of her faith, how the body is created is

not something of importance. 'We believe that man is a spiritual being

that inhabits his body,' she said. 'It means they never die, and go from

one body to the next. What is important to us is that genetic research,

and any research, is approached responsibly and ethically.'"



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Tom Cruise



The Associated Press reported on January 10th that Scientology celebrity

Tom Cruise is using the publicity over the shooting of his latest movie to

denounce the use of drugs to tread Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity

Disorder.



"Hollywood star Tom Cruise advised parents on Saturday to work hard to

help children having problems at school and not immediately put them on

medication. 'Today in America I know they are so quick to put children on

drugs because they are not learning well,' Cruise told reporters before

the start of shooting of his latest movie, 'The Last Samurai,' outside

this North Island city.



"Cruise said he went to 15 different schools as he was growing up and had

a 'very difficult time' with formal learning. He eventually tackled his

learning problems with the help of 'study tools' from the Scientology

religion 'that have helped me to be able to educate myself,' he said."



From Stuff Magazine on January 12th:



"Nothing succeeds like niceness and Tom Cruise's niceness is like golden

rain. Yesterday he poured it over a sweltering black press room in New

Plymouth and everyone bathed in its glow.



"After the Te Huatahi concert party had karangaed and serenaded him he

fumbled a scrap of paper out of his pocket: 'I've got a little help here,'

he said, 'because I don't want to make a mistake. E Nga Iwi O Taranaki,'

he blurted in Californian Maori, 'Tenna Katow, Tenna Katow, Tenna Katow

Katoh.' The Maori party greeted this with a friendly explosion of welcome

but then they had a low key Kiwi charm to match his. Wharehoka Wano, the

Maori speaker who accompanied Cruise and spoke for him, said in Maori 'I'm

already being mistaken for Tom Cruise'. The Maori instantly guffawed; the

Pakeha journalists; and the trio from Hollywood listened to the

interpreter and burst into delayed laughter.



"Perhaps his performance lacked a little in grit. This after all is a

Scientologist and Scientologists believe that in the past billions of

surplus beings from other planets were sent to Earth and slaughtered an

evil alien called Xenu. Is there some dark weirdness beneath that golden

grin? Well, the star explains, Scientology helped him overcome his

dyslexia and his famously broken education (15 schools!)"



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Denmark



The Associated Press reported on January 10th that Scientology has been

fined for making defamatory statements in an edition of Freedom Magazine.



"The Church of Scientology was fined by a Danish court Friday for

publishing defamatory remarks about an east German filmmaker and a Danish

journalist described by the church as having links to the former East

German secret police. Anette Refstrup, the Danish editor-in-chief of the

Frihed, or Freedom, was fined 10,000 kroner (US$1,370) and the church was

ordered by the Copenhagen City Court to pay court fees of 130,000 kroner

(US$17,800).



"In 1999, Frihed published a story that claimed filmmaker Walther

Heynowski worked for East Germany's Stasi and trained Danish journalist

Joergen Pedersen. The article was published after the Church of

Scientology tried to stop Pedersen from making a television show critical

of the church, which is not recognized as a religious organization in

Denmark.



"Heynowski, a German citizen, and Pedersen worked together on the show.

They sued the church for defamation and demanded 250,000 kroner

(US$34,200) apiece. Among those who testified in the trial, which started

in October, was former East German spymaster Markus Wolf, who denied

Heynowski had worked for him."



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Germany



die Kirche, a Christian newspaper in Berlin and Brandenburg, Germany

reported on January 12th that Gerry Armstrong and Thomas Gandow will

participate in a religious service in Berlin-Charlottenburg.



"He used to work directly with L. Ron Hubbard as a staff member in

Scientology's public affairs and secret service: Gerry Armstrong. He first

came upon the 'findings' of science fiction author Hubbard when he was 22

back in 1969, and was filled with enthusiasm for the promises of the

psycho-guru. In 1981 Gerry Armstrong left Scientology. What happened after

that was nothing especially strange to the former secret agent:

psychoterrorism, attempted attacks upon his person and court proceedings

with trumped-up charges. One result of this was that Armstrong is no

longer allowed to address himself to the topic of Scientology in the USA.



"Even in Berlin, Scientology has attempted to silence the the insider gone

out. So it's no surprise that the church commissioner for issues of sects

and weltanschauung, Rev. Thomas Gandow, sees a continued need for

information work in dealing with the Scientologists. He has referred to

the dangers of the organization many times in lectures for the public and

in job enhancement training for ministers and religious instructors.



"The Focus divine service, where Gerry Armstrong and Rev. Thomas Gandow

will speak, will take place at 11:30 a.m. January 19, 2003 in the

Luisenkirche on Gierkeplatz in Berlin-Charlottenburg."



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