Fukushima still leaking p. 48
February 2015—Vol. 47, Issue 1
Published by the Church of Scientology International
why you should care
Why religion still matters  p. 10 The January 7 terrorist massacre in Paris stunned the world. In the days that followed, it seemed that religion itself was put on trial in the court of public opinion. But from the seeds of mass murder has sprouted a bold new focus on religious tolerance and freedom, and the ways that faith impacts us all. In this issue, Freedom examines the role and relevance of religion in our society.
[features]
[departments] challenges for change in cameroon
Profile
Hope and promise transform a struggling nation.
Chris Seiple promotes religious liberty as the ultimate weapon to defeat terrorism, and he’s in a position to be heard.
BY DONNELL SUGGS & ROBERT DANIELS
by george michelsen
Her name was silje
Perspective
Eight psychiatric drugs. 10,000 doses. A tragic death. by joe taglieri
Self-described “relentlessly optimistic,” Andrea Powell heads Washington, D.C.-based FAIR Girls that battles human trafficking through education and helps survivors through empowerment.
fukushima: the disaster continues
L. Ron Hubbard Essay Respect the Religious Beliefs of Others.
Hundreds of tons of radioactive waste continue to leak from the site of Japan’s worst nuclear disaster. front page
the compass guiding society How cultures adrift can find their way.
Get religion? Where religious freedom flourishes, everything improves. Strides continue to be made globally. But it isn't going to happen overnight. By ray richmond
what would a day without religion look like?
by Greg Schwartz
What is Scientology?
church inspires artists in music city
Targets & Goals
Editorial
On Nashville’s Music Row, an Ideal Celebrity Centre becomes an artistic focal point in this diverse and creative city.
A Nation of Many Religions
by dylan j. ward
Talk Back
beyond fame
Letters from our readers
A look at how five popular entertainers utilize their celebrity status to improve the lives of others.
News Briefs
by dylan j. ward
Smithsonian features L. Ron Hubbard as one of the 100 most significant Americans of all time; States opting out of Common Core; Billions invested in clean energy; Millennials favor socially meaningful work.
If all things spiritual were suddenly, inexplicably erased from our world, what would happen?
the relevance of religion in 2015
Freedom Magazine
Investigative reporting in the public interest, published by the Church of Scientology International
At the core of the multitude of faiths that share our world burns a desire for spiritual belonging common to all.
6331 Hollywood Blvd. Suite 1200 Los Angeles, CA 90028
locked & Loaded Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale was killed by a soldier who then committed suicide. Were psychiatric drugs the real bullets behind the deaths? BY RICK ROGERS
previous page: bob krist/corbis
by ray richmond
Washington, D.C. Office 1701 20th Street NW Washington, D.C. 20009
Phone: (323) 960-3500 Fax: (323) 960-3508 Phone: (202) 667-6404
info@freedommag.org www.freedommag.org
Comment, question or story idea? feedback@freedommag.org
on the cover:
Illustration by Davide Bonazzi
ditorial
alk back
A Nation of Many Religions In January, five dozen politicians hit a
large, albeit figurative, pothole on the road to the 2016 election. The group planned to go to Israel—nothing wrong with that. Indeed, the 60 members of the Republican National Committee were engaging in all-American electioneering, demonstrating their ardent pro-Israel position. The problem was that the RNC members were being hosted on the junket by a group called the American Family Association. A spokesman for the AFA, Bryan Fischer, wrote last year: “We are a Christian nation and not a Jewish or Muslim one,” which many Israelis and American Jews—not to mention many Christians and others—found offensive. The statement is troublesome. It proclaims as fact, not opinion, that America is a Christian nation. Gary North, a theologian in the movement that includes the AFA, has even outlined the plan for America becoming a “Christian nation.” “We must use the doctrine of religious liberty,” he said, to construct “a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God.” Using freedom to destroy freedom. There are about 33,830 Christian denominations in the world—with 1,500 to 3,000 in America—the vast majority not in tune with North and the AFA. The issue, however, isn’t Christianity—or, for that matter, Scientology, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism or any other particular faith. The knotty problem arises when one group declares it has a monopoly on religion and wants to enforce its creed on others. At the heart of the murders of the French cartoonists working for Charlie Hebdo magazine was the belief of terrorists that their religion entitled them to silence— with bullets—the opinions of nonbelievers. It’s not just Muslims who resort to guns and bombs. The most prolific religious terrorists in America, by number of incidents, are anti-abortion bombers and killers. There are violent-prone religious fanatics of many stripes across the world—including the United States. There’s nothing new in that. When colonists left Europe for the New World, many fled religious persecution in their native countries. Religious liberty was nurtured in America long before the Revolution. In 1636, the royal charter creating Rhode Island 4
Agnostic Atheist Baha’i Buddhist Catholic Hindu Jain Jewish Mormon Muslim Protestant Scientologist Shintoist Sikh Sufi Taoist Unitarian Zoroastrian Other
proclaimed that “all and every person and persons may … freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concernments.” The Founding Fathers were men of the Enlightenment. Most were dismayed by the overreach of state-sanctioned religions into people’s consciences. Many of the Fathers— particularly Thomas Paine and Ethan Ellen— were avowed Deists, who viewed the Supreme Being as indifferent in the affairs of men and who eschewed traditional Christianity. Others such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Monroe were heavily influenced by Deism. The most outspoken of the Fathers on religion was Thomas Jefferson, who believed in the moral teachings of Jesus but not his divinity. Many other people who helped create the nation were devout in their traditional doctrines. The point is that men and women come to wildly different conclusions about God and all other religious matters. In a perfect society, each person would be respectful of others’ beliefs. Yet, harsh words are used by some to disparage religions—and in some cases coarse language morphs into violence. Terrorism isn’t an aspect of any major religion—it is criminal aberration. Healthy religions and a belief in the Supreme Being, as Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, enhance and energize society. As religious leaders express in this issue of Freedom, faith is alive and well, regardless of what the media say. We examine what life in America would be like without religion; the sweeping effects of such a spiritual vacuum convey how important churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious institutions are to our quality of life. We profile Chris Seiple of the Institute for Global Engagement, who believes religious freedom is one of the best weapons to defeat terrorism. There’s more in this edition—much more— including a detailed look inside one of our Ideal Churches: Nashville’s Church of Scientology and Celebrity Centre, serving its parishioners as well as the Music City with an array of events and activities. Enjoy this issue of Freedom. Express your own views on religion and society—we welcome your emails and letters. —The Editors
letters to the Editor Listen to the Teacher November 2014
“This issue of Freedom will help to enlighten people and inspire them to raise the standards of education and to bring about a brighter future. Proper education is needed in every society around the world so that students, who are our future leaders, will shoulder the responsibility in running their governments in a befitting manner.” S.S., Washington, D.C.
The Third Party Law October 2014
“I've never really looked into your faith but I enjoyed what Hubbard said about the nature of conflict being more complex than what meets the eye. I have a very similar view of it. The current events sections were really well-written and highlighted a similar perspective of the world to my own. From what I read in the Freedom Magazine, I can't believe more people aren't on board with this.” G.K., Ogden, Utah
Shock Treatment
November 2014
“Electroshock is an ongoing psychiatric assault on people, and I appreciate that Freedom continues to challenge this horrific practice. With its mega-wealthy pharmaceutical industry behind it, psychiatry ignores, denies or lies about the science and runs an ongoing PR campaign that is regrettably effective enough to keep shock going. In the early days of shock, psychiatrists were quite open that shock causes brain damage, and in fact acknowledged that the damage was the effect.” J.B., Austin, Texas
“I teach the U.S. Constitution and to paraphrase your quote from Madison, it won't work if people are not educated. The folks in my classes (and radio audience) attest there is a deliberate 'dumbing down,' an intended disabling of not only children but the general population as well. Anyone who aims to make others more able through education is working to make our republic work as intended.” J.C., Murphy, Oregon
Media & Ethics October 2014
“I found Dan Luzadder’s ‘Press Freedom and Responsibility’ very interesting. It is important to know what’s happening in media today and it is definitely not just a matter of ‘it only happens in the movies.’ The threat is real—groups and leaders working hard to make this world a better place for everyone have been attacked through history when they have been seen as a risk to the status quo. The reality is hard to face, and when a good task of investigation is done and the real connections and personal interests are revealed, the truth can arise above the lies for everyone. This does not happen as often as it should, so thank you for this valuable information.” R.B., Madrid, Spain Letters may be edited for clarity and length.
Send letters to info@freedommag.org
www.freedommag.org | 5 5
ews briefs
Investing in the Earth
Smithsonian Names L. Ron Hubbard a Most Significant American
Concern for sustainable energy solutions and improving the environment is becoming of increasing interest to the business community. 2014 saw a record $19.4 billion invested in offshore wind projects. Solar energy was the biggest single contributor. Global investment into clean energy overall was $310 billion last year, up 16 percent and more than five times the figure of 2004. The U.S. boosted its investment 8 percent to $51.8 billion. According to the Energy Information Administration, even with the increase in solar power generation, it is projected to make up only 0.6 percent of total U.S. electricity generation in 2015.
The Spring 2015 Collector’s Edition of Smithsonian magazine features Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard as one of the 100 most significant Americans of all time. Smithsonian also named Mr. Hubbard among the 10 most influential religious figures in American history, citing his landmark work Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health and the subsequent founding of the Scientology religion. Steven Skiena, a Stony Brook University professor of computer science, and Charles B. Ward, a Google engineer who specializes in ranking methodologies, developed an algorithm, a “method of ranking historical figures, just as Google ranks web pages,” according to the magazine. Skiena and Ward rank people according to their historical significance, which they define as “the result of social and cultural forces acting on the mass of an individual’s achievement.” The rankings “account not only for what individuals have done, but also for how well others remember and value them for it.”
The 26th annual “Say No to Drugs Holiday Classic Race” in December in Clearwater, Florida, drew a record number of participants, with over 2,500 registered runners. The race is organized by more than 200 volunteers and coordinated by the Clearwater Community Volunteers with the purpose of promoting an anti-drug message. Not to be outdone, a Los Angeles group of volunteers started up a “Say No to Drugs Holiday Classic Race” in L.A. in 2001. Thousands of runners participate annually, contributing to drug education efforts by distributing Truth About Drugs booklets and supporting the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, Community Alliances for Drug-Free Youth and other drug prevention groups. 6
freedom magazine
A Race in Two Cities Disillusioned States Drop Out of Common Core
State of the World’s Children
In 2014, at least six U.S. states opted out of, or moved to modify, the Common Core state educational standards, and other state legislatures are debating similar moves to sidestep the initiative, which critics say the federal government foisted on cashstrapped state education departments. In August last year, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, accusing them of
UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2015 report found that too many children are excluded from the progress of the past 25 years. For example, nearly 9 in 10 children from the wealthiest households in the world’s least developed countries attend primary school, compared to only 6 in 10 from the poorest households. The report calls for “brave and fresh thinking” to address the situation.
Illustration by Roy Huerta
illegally using federal grant money and regulations to force states to adopt Common Core. In January 2015, legislation to curb Common Core was introduced in at least two states. State Rep. Thomas Kerr presented a bill to the Kentucky legislature that would prohibit the implementation of Common Core standards in that state. In New Hampshire, State Rep. Rick Ladd introduced House Bill 276, that would allow school districts to opt out of Common Core.
www.freedommag.org | 7
who is MAKING
ews briefs
More Transparency in Drug Trials A new policy took effect on January 1 to publish the clinical reports that underpin decision-making on medicines. The policy, unanimously adopted in October 2014 by the European Medicines Agency, applies to clinical reports contained in all applications for marketing authorization. A similar trend for more transparency in clinical trials is emerging in the U.S. Last November the Department of Health and Human Services issued a notice of proposed regulations that will expand the scope of reporting requirements for clinical trials—even unapproved, unlicensed and uncleared products would need to report summary results.
111,000,000
Human Rights Education: Tools for Dignity
AWARE OF THEIR
HUMAN RIGHTS ?
In January, the U.N. World Program for Human Rights Education launched its third phase, focused on the role of journalists in the promotion and protection of human rights. “Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for a day; it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity,” said Kofi Annan, U.N. secretary general, when the program was launched in 2004. Phase two, a decadelong focus on the training of educators, civil servants, law enforcement and military personnel, was wrapped in December 2014.
There are 195 nations on Earth. In 55 of them, many do not have the right to a fair trial. In 96, freedom of expression is restricted. In 111, people are tortured. In 161, there is human trafficking. In a world where men, women and children are denied their dignity and refused their fundamental freedoms, how can human rights be guaranteed? The Church of Scientology is tirelessly advancing
the fundamental principles of equal rights for all humankind. The Creed of the Church includes the fundamental principle of equal and absolute rights for all mankind. For more than five decades, Scientologists have worked to overcome any and all obstacles to champion those inalienable rights—sponsoring one of the broadest human rights education and public information campaigns in the world under the banner of United for Human Rights.
Millennials Favor Socially Meaningful Work
Global Internet freedom has declined for a fourth consecutive year, according to Freedom on the Net 2014, an annual assess ment of Internet user rights conducted by research and advocacy group Freedom House. Users in 36 of the 65 countries assessed in the report had fewer rights online last year, with “a growing number of countries introducing online censorship and monitoring practices that are simultaneously more aggressive and more sophisticated in their targeting of individual users.” The report found that governments are taking an increasingly bold approach to Internet control, openly and rapidly adopting new laws that legitimize censorship and effectively criminalize online dissent. It also reported an increase in the number of people detained or prosecuted for their digital activities. Syria was found to be the most dangerous country for citizen journalists, with dozens killed in the past year. 8
t h e CHURCH o f
un photos/paulo filgueiras
World Governments Enact Tighter Online Controls
Seventy-five percent of Millennials believe businesses are too fixated on their own agendas and not focused enough on helping to improve society, according to the 2015 Deloitte Millennial survey, which looked at how tomorrow’s leaders view business and its impact on society. Participants in the study were born after 1982, hold a college or university degree, are employed fulltime and work in private-sector organizations. The study polled 7,800 Millennials in 29 countries. Six in 10 said a “sense of purpose” was part of the reason they chose to work for their employers. That number was even higher among the subset of reporting the highest use of social media, nearly eight in 10. While recognizing that businesses exist to make money, Millennials also expect them to have a positive impact on society.
scientology.org/howwehelp © 2015 CSI. All Rights Reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. The Foundation for a Drug-Free World logo is a trademark owned by the Foundation for a Drug-Free World and is used with its permission.
ront page
the
compass guiding
society
More than 40 years ago, Scientology Founder L. Ron
Hubbard crafted an article that would prove prophetic. Titled “Religious Influence in Society,” the piece eloquently captured the crucial role that religion plays in any society and how that moment in history augured an American culture at a crossroads in terms of its moral and literal decay. Mr. Hubbard predicted that the relentless attacks on organized religion that had gone on for the past century or so were likely to continue as long as spirituality was dismissed as the “opiate of the masses.” Although those words are associated with Karl Marx, Mr. Hubbard noted that they had been embedded in popular culture, and that broad swaths of the public regarded religion as “unscientific, that it is primitive; in short, that it is a delusion.” Beneath such assaults was a more fundamental target: the basic spiritual nature of Man. Mr. Hubbard vigorously opposed such thinking, arguing: “This black propaganda may have been so successful that maybe you no longer believe you have a spiritual nature. …Convince a man that he is an animal, that his own dignity and self-respect are delusions, that there is no ‘beyond’ to aspire to, no higher potential self to achieve, and you have a slave.” Mr. Hubbard described the new radical thought that Mankind is an animal without a spiritual nature as “totalitarian materialism.” It might today be seen as the forerunner to a new atheism movement that labels any spiritual belief as an aberration, that science trumps religion, and that the two are mutually exclusive.
10
In his article, however, Mr. Hubbard made the point, “Let a man know he is himself, a spiritual being, that he is capable of the power of choice and has the right to aspire to greater wisdom and you have started him up a higher road.” These define the very underpinnings of the Scientology religion and the Church's strong belief in all religions working together and respecting the rights of others. Scientologists well recognize that, as Mr. Hubbard wrote, the most critical point of attack on a culture is its religious experience. “Where one can destroy or undermine religious institutions then the entire fabric of the society can be quickly subverted or brought to ruin.” Why is this the case? L. Ron Hubbard points out that it was because the removal of religion’s influence shifts the entire definition of public morality, crime and toleration/ intoleration onto the State. The State assumes godlike powers—we know the terms as “welfare state” and “police state.” But this strategy hardly ever works, because “morality, integrity and self-respect not already inherent in the individual, cannot be enforced with any great success. “Only by a spiritual awareness and inculcation of the spiritual value of these attributes can they come about,” Mr. Hubbard continued. “There must be more reason and more emotional motivation to be moral, etc., than threat of human discipline.” When a culture has entirely fallen away from spiritual pursuits into materialism, there must be a great effort made by people to demonstrate they are a soul and not a material animal. It is only from this perspective and realization of their own spirituality that individuals can get more in touch with God as they understand God—and thus become more themselves. Mr. Hubbard also expresses in his essay that “Science in itself can become a new faith, a brave new way of overcoming anxiety by explaining things so there is no fear of God or the hereafter. Thus science and religion are not a dichotomy (pair of opposites). Science itself was borrowed from ancient religious studies in India and Egypt.” This is a key point in fitting Mr. Hubbard’s article into a contemporary context. To be sure, scientists are too often cast today as the enemies of religion, the point made that one is either spiritual or materialistic—and that science and superstition naturally clash. But Mr. Hubbard told us this was in fact erroneous. In his essay, he shows his deep concern for the dismissal of religious practice itself. He theorized that too much study had been given to believing religion was primitive by its nature, something that modern cultures could jettison without fear of consequence. “The truth of the matter is,” Mr. Hubbard wrote, “that at no time is religion more necessary as a civilizing force than in the presence of huge forces in the hands of Man, who may have become very lacking in social abilities emphasized in religion.” In this increasingly technical and materialistic age, the need to protect and maintain religious freedom for all Mankind is greater than ever before. n
11
ront page
Get
Religion by ray richmond Art by davide bonazzi
12
13
here is simply no getting around the fact that religion and religious freedom are under fire—sometimes quite literally—not only in the United States but all over the world. It was just a week into 2015 when a pair of terrorists claiming retribution in the name of Islam killed 10 staff members and two police officers in and around the Paris offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo. They professed to be avenging the publication of cartoons perceived to be blasphemous to the Muslim people, including demeaning caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad. That this act arose from a twisting of the Koran and was in no way endorsed by the overwhelming majority of those following the Muslim faith is self-evident to those who practice rational belief and spiritual tolerance. But in a media age when sensationalism too often captures the public imagination, it was religion itself, rather than the murderous aggression of a fanatical few, that was instantly put on trial in the event’s tumultuous aftermath. As wrenching and grim as was the tragedy in France, however, it carried with it an undeniable opportunity. The incident sparked a worldwide discussion about religious faith and freedom that was perhaps long overdue, shining a needed spotlight along with an acknowledgement of restrictions that some believe a necessary—and perhaps inevitable—evil. “Sometimes, the price you have to pay to protect people from an attack like we saw in Paris is to limit your freedom,” says Dr. John Graz, secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA.org) and director of the Department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
“But you also have to be very careful of the kind of restriction you impose and be very vigilant. You have to protect religious freedom, you have to promote it, you have to defend it. When you do nothing, you lose the freedom you have and you don’t deserve it, either.” It is further instructive to note that what happened in Paris had nothing whatsoever to do with religious freedom, maintains Dr. Graz. “In fact, it’s just the opposite,” he says. “It’s an expression of religious intolerance and fanaticism. It’s imposing what you believe on others and not allowing people to express their own beliefs. Those who are ready to kill others for having a different opinion, for criticizing their ideology, have closed their mind to freedom.” There is also another critical issue at play here that is largely missing from the current public discourse: The editors at Charlie Hebdo appeared to go to great lengths to antagonize extremists and some might even say provoke the deadly terrorist response with its publishing of sacrilegious depictions of the Prophet Muhammad they knew to be deeply offensive to Muslims. Is the freedom to publish also the freedom not to publish? Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, drew fire from his contemporaries in the journalism community for his refusal to reprint the images in question. “We have a standard that is long held and that serves us well,” Baquet said, “that there
is a line between gratuitous insult and satire. Most of these (were) gratuitous insult.” At what point would news value have overridden those standards? “You would have to show the most incendiary images,” Baquet said. He ultimately decided against it and had some support from his fellow journalists, including Glenn Greenwald, who said via Twitter, “When did it become true that to defend someone’s free speech rights, one has to publish and even embrace their ideas?” What there is less argument over, however, is that an America and a globe lacking the freedom to spiritually worship and believe as its citizens choose is not in fact free at all. The issue is gargantuan. In its annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom found that some three-quarters of the world’s population live in countries where there is either no religious freedom or massive restrictions. It leads to the persecution of hundreds of millions of Christians, Muslims and others. “In most places in the world right now, people live in societies that punish them either societally or governmentally for speaking out too openly about religion or for changing their religion,” finds Michael De Dora, director of the Center for Inquiry’s Office of Public Policy and the nonprofit secular organization’s representative to the United Nations. This, in short, is why religion remains of great significance on a global basis. The 2010 book The Price of Freedom: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the 21st Century by religious freedom scholars Brian J. Grim
You have to protect religious freedom, you have to promote it, you have to defend it. When you do nothing, you lose the freedom you have and you don’t deserve it, either. Dr. John Graz, secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association
14
www.freedommag.org | 15
and Roger Finke concluded that religious freedom is a key ingredient to peace and stability, as measured by the absence of violence perpetrated in the name of religious belief. Their takeaway was that for societies to be civil, states to remain stable and economies to flourish, faith and its protection is essential. Of course, even in the United States, we are not necessarily free from religious persecution. Certainly not Jews, who in parts of the country have increasingly faced anti-Semitism for practicing their faith. And certainly not Muslims, who have met an increasing amount of hatred and discrimination (what’s described as “Islamophobia”) since 9/11. According to the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the FBI reports that anti-Islamic incidents were the second-least reported hate crimes prior to 9/11 and the second-most since then—a growth rate of 1,600 percent. The irrational fear of mainstream, peace-loving Muslims in America since 2001 is evidenced by several cities that have attempted (mostly successfully) to stop the construction of mosques; state attempts to ban sharia law; rumors of President Obama secretly being a Muslim; profiling of Muslims in college and in the workforce; and hate speech perpetrated against Muslims. Indeed, the scars left by the 9/11 attacks may never fully heal and remain a divisive wedge of intolerance aimed at America’s Muslim community. Outraged family members and community groups took their anger to the streets in opposing the building of a 15-story, $100 million mosque and community
center two blocks from Ground Zero after it was announced in 2010. It prompted a polarizing national discussion about religious freedom and free speech. A scaled-down version of the mosque ultimately opened in 2011 amid great controversy. Plans were ultimately filed in April 2014 to demolish it, with a three-story museum dedicated to Muslim arts and culture scheduled to take its place. The fury aimed at the Muslim community speaks to a disturbing level of bigotry and outright discrimination. It raised its ugly head again last December when local residents and city officials overcame their initial reticence to allowing a mosque to open in a shopping center in Kennesaw, Georgia. The City Council had voted weeks earlier to deny the permit, prompting lawsuit threats from Muslim residents citing violation of their First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The United States also hardly has cornered the market on hostility targeting Muslims. A spate of arson attacks on mosques in Sweden during the last week of 2014 drove hundreds of protesters into the street in Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg marching under the banner, “Don’t Touch My Mosque.” It climaxed a rash of more than a dozen attacks on Swedish mosques in 2014, in a nation where Muslims make up some 5 percent of the country’s 9.5 million people.
In the United States, where freedom from religious oppression is Constitutionally guaranteed, the question must be asked: What is the role and relevance of religion in modern America? Is it even of great consequence in the lives of most? Would giving greater consideration to the role that faith plays in peoples’ lives and in society help to improve the state of the country? The nearly universal answer to that last question is an unequivocal “Yes.” Faith permeates the American society, supplying a moral and ethical compass for a majority of the country’s 320 million residents. That devout belief, no matter what it is, must be protected as a fundamental right, as emphasized above. To deny a person the right to practice spiritually is on the same level as to deny rights based on gender or ethnicity. What is equally true domestically in 2015, however, is the importance of respecting the convictions of the nonreligious community as well. A Pew Research Center survey in October 2012 found that 1 in 5 adults and a full third of adults under 30 claimed no religious affiliation, while a second Pew study in September 2014 concluded that 72 percent of those polled think religion is losing influence in American life. Of course, this fails to address the fact that the manmade construct of religion is not always intertwined with faith, which operates separately from organized religion. And in any case, those who identify as atheists, agnostics and humanists
are entitled to have their rights heeded the same as those who classify as devout, believes De Dora. “I think right now, particularly in America, you’re seeing a lot of nonreligious people who are concerned with the way religious freedom is being discussed,” De Dora says, who are concerned that there may be two different sets of regulations laid down. “And I think that would be unfair,” he adds, “because the concept of freedom of religion includes the rights of people who are not necessarily religious in the traditional way. Otherwise, it’s not real religious freedom.” By the same token, even those who eschew any religious affiliation have abundant reasons to defend those who do, De Dora acknowledges. “It goes to the connective issues of freedom of conscience,” he says. “This is why, in recent years, we see more and more nonreligious groups getting involved with cases of religious believers who are hunted down by governments and being abused.” This also goes to the point of how relevant religion remains, and it is another area where believers and nonbelievers, perhaps surprisingly, may agree. A May 2014 study concluded that religious freedom is one of three factors significantly associated with global economic growth. That report, “Is Religious Freedom Good For Business?: A Conceptual and Empirical Analysis,” was conducted by researchers at Georgetown University and Brigham Young University and looked at GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth in 173 counties in 2011. It found that economic strength was more than twice as likely in countries with low religious restrictions and hostilities. This hardly surprises Dr. Graz.
I think right now, particularly in America, you’re seeing a lot of nonreligious people who are concerned with the way religious freedom is being discussed. Michael De Dora, director of the Center for Inquiry’s Office of Public Policy 16
www.freedommag.org | 17
“There’s a lot of study and data behind the idea that having religious freedom in a country is good for the economy, boosts creativity, and is to the overall benefit of everyone,” he says. “And by ‘freedom,’ we mean being able to decide what religion to have, whether or not to have it at all, and to practice it freely.” And the Georgetown-Brigham Young report points to even greater benefits of having a thriving religious culture. Religious participation promotes literacy, drives poverty relief, assists vocational and health training, provides marital and bereavement counseling, and helps lead to a better educated, more efficient workforce, for starters. We don’t typically associate religions as potential economic engines. But they are, providing training and creating jobs at churches as well as affiliated schools, hospitals and humanitarian organizations. The number of primary schools, colleges, universities and medical facilities connected to religious groups is significant. Dr. Graz: “If all of these hospitals run by churches and religious organizations suddenly had to close, our health and access to medical care would just plummet. The same with the humanitarian groups. They create jobs everywhere.” A Boston University study found that religion positively impacts on the “working lives of the poor” due to faith-based organizations standing out as major healthcare and education providers. They
18
also provide technical training opportunities, an outlet for stress, and a social support network—all of which enhance the productive capacity of lowincome citizens. The BU study also discovered that religious freedom fosters religious diversity. Moreover, the greater economic equality facilitated by religion reduces societal pressures that may result in riots or other conflicts, the Georgetown-Brigham Young report affirms. It concluded that religion often plays a major role in the human and social development of a country and has a direct impact on reducing corruption. The way that corruption wreaks economic havoc is through the reduced bottom line for businesses and the weakening of competitive markets, not to mention an erosion in that culture’s moral fabric. “It stands to reason that when you have religious freedom, you also have less corruption,” Dr. Graz believes. “Religion can have an influence on society that way, by helping people to be more honest and follow the rules, to be fair and develop a philosophy of justice.” Although righteousness and decency may not automatically correlate to a robust economy, the “Is Religious Freedom Good For Business?” paper indeed found a direct link between a country’s financial
health and its moral fiber. According to the analysis, “Standards and practices of honesty and integrity rest, ultimately, on…ideas of right and wrong, which for most of us are grounded in principles of religion and the teachings of religious leaders.” The study also uncovered the strengthening of the legal and judicial institutions in a society bound to religious principles. Conversely, corrupt governments that restrict or abolish religious freedom tend to subvert all democratic processes— including economic freedom, civil and political freedom, and press freedom. It was found that a society that unjustly restricts the religious practices of one group likely will undermine justice for all other groups. That circles back to the premise that launched this article: The relationship between religion and violence. As the business analysis made clear, religious freedom reduces violence, conflict and war. One of the empirical study’s authors, Brian Grim of Georgetown’s Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, found in comparing 143 countries that “when governments and religious groups in society do not erect barriers to religious competition but respect and protect such activities as conversion and proselytism, religious violence is less.” How much less? A lot. It also reduces the power and incentive a nation might have to persecute those following any specific religion. This is obviously a key
distinction to make, as it helps to partially disprove a long-held perception. It isn’t religion itself that perhaps most often sparks bloody conflicts but the tension arising from its persecution and constraint. Author Grim supplied anecdotal evidence for his findings as well, relating his own experience living in a country with abundant religious liberty (the United Arab Emirates) compared to a nation with low religious liberty (Saudi Arabia). He noted that he felt motivated to work and contribute to society while living in the Emirates where his religion, Catholicism, was legal. In Saudi Arabia, where it’s illegal, he admitted not working as hard or feeling a desire to contribute to society. One might conclude from all of this data that— perhaps not surprisingly—religion itself remains more relevant than ever and religious freedom is a positive force in the world, though for some unexpected (economic, educational) reasons. And whether believer or nonbeliever, the areas of daily life that religion improves, no matter where one resides on the faith spectrum, cannot be denied. What remains paramount in the discussion is the necessity for religious freedom to take root worldwide to a far greater degree. And to De Dora’s mind, it all begins with dialogue. “I think the idea that religious and nonreligious people and groups can get together and talk about these issues and try to figure out how we can all live together in peace is one of the most important things we can be doing in modern society.” n
www.freedommag.org | 19
Faith-based institutions engage 45 million volunteers, nearly half of the total of American volunteers. And 70 percent of volunteers who serve through faith-based organizations continue serving from one year to the next.
Community Volunteering Would be Cut in Half:
When approaching those who have endured a traumatic experience or event, no reassuring spiritual counseling could be offered to lend support and solace in a deeper, more divine way. We might instead be limited to tendering the bereft such platitudes as, “Hopefully things will improve for you soon. Good luck. We will wish the best for you” sans any sacred context.
We Would Lack the Comfort Tools to Soothe Those in Spiritual Need:
All of the faith-based charities that raise money for the homeless, for famine relief, for families on the brink, for children at risk, and so many other humanitarian and philanthropic works would grind to a halt for 24 very difficult hours should religion disappear. That would mean no help whatsoever for many people in need and vast holes in the social safety net.
We Would Exercise Considerably Less Compassion:
Some 20 percent of hospital beds in America are found at medical facilities with a religious affiliation. That would be an awful lot of people beset by illness lacking any means of finding acute care.
We Would Encounter Diminished Hospital Access:
Surveys reveal that those who regularly attend religious services are considerably more inclined to get preventive medical care in advance of becoming ill. In other words, those who nurture their spirit tend to do the same with their physical being.
Some 19 percent of higher education institutions in the United States bear a religious (Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Jesuit, Methodist and so on) affiliation—including such schools as Boston College, DePauw University, Southern Methodist University and the University of Notre Dame. Were faith itself to disappear for even a single day, the results could be economically catastrophic. These campuses enroll more than 2 million students, employ upward of 600,000 faculty and staff, and have operating budgets of more than $35 billion. Translated, even 24 hours without religious colleges and universities would have a staggering impact on America’s bottom line.
If surveys have taught us nothing else, they reveal that the sense of belonging to a larger culture itself builds confidence and self-esteem (of 69 studies, 42 found significantly higher levels of self-esteem among individuals who were more religious). Having a religious social affiliation can also soothe feelings of anxiety, as we tend to rely on our faith to more effectively deal with crises and setbacks in our lives.
We Would Feel a Lot Worse About Ourselves Personally—and More Anxious, Too:
If there’s no religion, there is no clergy, leaving an enormous faith gap. In practical terms, this would mean that people beset by probing questions are left on their own without uplifting assistance from a person of spiritual authority.
We Would Have No clergy to Conduct Services or to Consult on Personal Matters or Issues of Faith:
Some 64 percent of agencies providing food aid to individuals and families are faith-based or housed in a religious organization. Without religion, that sustenance might well not get distributed at all for an entire day.
We Would Find Millions of People Going Hungry:
Surveys show that spiritually committed people are twice as likely to say they are very happy. Being part of a regular group such as those found at churches and temples leaves human beings happier, social creatures that we are. We crave contact and deep connection. Without religion that one day, we would be more isolated and quite likely would be miserable.
We Would Be a Lot Lonelier and More Melancholy:
We know that the routine of attending services and hanging out with our friends during faith-based activities drives a state of well-being that lowers blood pressure, slows the advance of heart disease, and in general leaves us feeling healthier than if we spent the same time plastered on a couch watching television.
Indeed, We Would Probably Be a Lot Less Well:
We Would Be Less Likely to Take Adequate Care of Ourselves:
Somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of babies and toddlers are in childcare or preschool in a church, synagogue or other place of worship. Without religion, those kids would go uncared-for that day. Or mom or dad would have to stay home from work.
Very Young Children Would Be a Lot Less Secure and Cared For:
look like?
We Would Experience a serious Economic Impact:
We have all heard the statistics about how an increasing number of Americans profess no specific religious affiliation, even if they may still identify as spiritual. Given this reality, it’s instructive to ponder what it might look like were there to be a day without religion in the United States—if a temporary blip in the universe suddenly resulted in religion somehow not existing for a 24-hour period. Would it even be all that noticeable? Answer: Yes. Here are the ways that being suddenly religion-less for a single day would matter in our lives:
what would a day without
e of Religio c n ni a v n le e 20 R by ray richmond e
15
Th
pinion
Everywhere you look, it seems, signs of the decline in moral values are in evidence. It’s visible in a rampant narcissism, sense of entitlement and generalized contempt exercised by some factions of society. It’s recognized in the breakdown of the family structure. It’s acknowledged in the depersonalization wrought by social media that activates and reinforces both unchecked hubris and an utter absence of accountability. One constant that we see in most every Western society whose morality has decayed from within is a rejection of spirituality and a concurrent decline in religious faith—a creeping secularism that even now washes over the United States in particular, like a flash flood over a parched landscape. 22
But is that merely a coincidence? Maybe. Then again, maybe not. Religion is acknowledged as the glue that binds a culture— or series of smaller cultures— together. It’s the theological port in the storm, a place to remain grounded during times of crisis and strife. Its absence is thought to leave a nation adrift like a rudderless sailboat, like a backpacker who misplaced his compass and now aimlessly wanders. And yet it’s become not only permissible to flagrantly mock religion in America today, but cool. From Bill Maher to Jon Stewart, South Park to Family Guy, irreverent impiety is all over television. They assure everyone from Catholics to Lutherans, Hindus to Muslims, Jews to Presbyterians, and Mormons to Scientologists that their system of belief is quite literally a joke. If that doesn’t bother us just a little bit, perhaps it should. I say this as someone who has not always been the most devout of human beings. In fact, at many points in my adult life, in part because of my calling as a skeptical journalist, nearly the opposite has been true. I have regularly questioned the existence of God, struggling to imagine what Supreme Being would see fit to wipe out 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, permit the rise of AIDS and Ebola, allow young children to waste away from cancer or be gunned down in a Connecticut classroom by a firearm-wielding madman. This is, of course, to say nothing of the justifications of extremists who are able to validate the perpetration of stunning evil as a purposeful misinterpretation of their
religious doctrine. I’m talking about terrorists who hijack and crash passenger jetliners into buildings in the name of striking back at so-called infidels (i.e., those who conduct their lives in ways they consider aberrant and disrespectful to their faith). While the world rose up in condemnation of the Charlie Hebdo killings, with nearly 4 million people, including 40 world leaders, marching in solidarity across France in the week that followed—it served as a shocking reminder that the most radical factions can be driven to react with vengeance and hostility rather than temperance and diplomacy. But it’s important to note that those extremists who perpetrate such horrific crimes are criminals, not noble martyrs, hiding behind an Islamic cover. Their rogue behavior finds no justification in the Koran, as Muslim leaders assure. In some instances, terrorists on suicide missions were programmed using psychiatric techniques and while under the influence of drugs—another purposeful misinterpretation of Koranic law. Senseless, seemingly random acts of violence and horror are too often a divisive byproduct of those seeking to punish enemies whose spiritual beliefs differ from their own—such as suicide bombers who hide beneath the veil of pious virtue. This is religious dogma at its very worst: To validate the most zealous demonstrations of man’s inhumanity to man. I refer to this as “My God is better than your God” thinking. Even though the influence of religion is purported to be in decline, as Pew Research Center study after study assures us www.freedommag.org | 23
is the case, it isn’t in fact a rejection of spirituality but rather a rejection of the use of religion to justify such things as war and division. Today, religion is often pushed to the wayside because, ridiculous though it may seem, it’s being forced to contend with too many distractions in our attentionscattered culture. It gets lumped in with web surfing, television watching, video games, movies, cellphones, Facebook, Twitter and an ever-expanding array of things competing for our eyes, ears and thoughts. There is certainly also an argument to be made that science and scientific influence are given too little relevance in the modern world when compared with religion. But this is another area in which an either/or mentality blocks reason. Science and spirituality can easily coexist without one canceling out the other. The perception of a life philosophy that’s more literal and tactile, trumping another that’s decidedly more transcendent and divine, is perplexing on its face. Those who choose to denounce religion as antiquated or lacking in clear logic are of course entirely missing the point. That it may require literal and figurative leaps of faith doesn’t point to irrelevance but instead shows a diversity of belief—a healthy sign in any democracy. So where do critics get off in dismissing something as being nonexistent because they personally cannot see it, hear it, touch it or otherwise understand it? If your faith is real to you, then it’s as genuine as it needs to be—period. And as long as 24
no one is harmed or repressed or otherwise coerced in the practice of that belief—and if it brings spiritual comfort and guidance to those who abide it—it is no one’s business but that of the congregants and followers. It is for this reason that we shouldn’t take too seriously the exaggerated reports of religion’s precipitous waning. Religion remains, and always will remain, relevant to the lives of a majority of the population for a number of salient reasons. Most prominent is the simplest of motives: People want religion, faith and spiritual values. And those who want these find it unthinkable they could ever get along without them. Just as water seeks its own level, we seek a counterbalance in our lives that brings deeper meaning to existence beyond the routine act of surviving from day to day. We require on an almost primal level to believe in something greater than ourselves that creates in our mind a sense of mission. Religion, when permitted to propagate and thrive, provides that transcendent significance that at the same time serves as a unifying, beneficial force for good. Those who are engaged in the pursuit of enlightenment, and of a higher purpose, consistently spread positive energy by the very nature of that ongoing quest. Not to get too metaphysical about it, but when we are immersed in the process of self-improvement and meaningful understanding, we are pretty much incapable of creating destructive momentum in the lives of ourselves or those around us.
That’s really where those who engage in unrestrained bashing of religion get it so wrong. The overwhelming majority of those who practice their chosen faith act in ways that bring out their best attributes and that meaningfully elevates the dialogue. In nearly every instance, the goals of religion, aside from instilling senses of belonging and well-being, are to give back, to make a difference, to help those in need in word and deed, to pay it forward. And religions often meet and even exceed that objective. Religion is at its best a civilizing force that—when properly practiced—makes the world a far better place and mankind a profoundly more evolved species. We are never more human, or more alive, than when we are engaged in the process of practicing selfless acts of altruism and kindness, and religious faith supplies the organizational vigor that helps such acts to thrive. To put it bluntly, however, religion has gotten a bum rap of late. It’s been dismissed as the problem rather than a key part of the solution. It is hardly a coincidence that the battering of so many of our freedoms in this country has corresponded with attacks on religious sovereignty. Privacy is under assault, along with free speech. With attacks on religions on the rise, it’s beginning to induce people of faith not to communicate with one another and to reject those of different beliefs. Yes, this is what leads to paranoia and people of a single faith becoming insular. But any hostility from the outside will not cause those who practice to abandon their conviction; in fact, it’s likely
the opposite is true. And asking if religion is relevant to them is like asking if it’s important to breathe. As history has shown, oppression and persecution of one should be viewed as oppression and persecution of all. The good news is that those who look to demean and ridicule religion in general—and any specific one in particular— are strengthening the resolve of the believers. The trend toward secular arguments against the primacy and validity of faith is precisely that: a trend. As such, it will reverse, likely sooner rather than later. Not that religion itself is susceptible to the wild vagaries of trends, of course. It isn’t a faucet you can turn on and off. It’s not a bus you can hop on and off. It’s a choice but it’s also an identity, an ideology, a way of looking at the world and at ourselves that doesn’t change with the positions of the planets. Its ideals and beliefs are passed on through generations. Make no mistake, nothing stays the same for very long. Slaves were kept as property in the United States until a mere 150 years ago. American workers labored in terrible conditions for low wages and without a safety net as recently as a century ago. Segregation was inextricably woven into this nation’s fabric 50 years ago. Nothing can halt the march of change—much of it fortunately for the better. What never changes is the essential human quality of spiritual longing and the need for spiritual belonging. For that and many other reasons, the relevance of religion remains incontrovertible. It might help, however, if we stopped messing with it. n 25
rofile
Is religious freedom the ultimate
weapon to defeat terrorism and build world peace? Chris Seiple thinks so, as he told Freedom in a January 2015 interview. As president of the Institute for Global Engagement, Seiple directs a worldwide effort to construct multifaith partnerships to increase understanding and cooperation among religions. As co-founder and co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, he helps to promote and advance religious freedom concepts and programs within the Beltway and beyond. As chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Role of Faith, he stands in the forefront of advocacy for the indispensable purpose that religion and religious liberty play in life and society. A graduate of Stanford University, the Naval Postgraduate School, and Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, his background includes nine years as a U.S. Marine infantry officer, during which he helped to develop 26
Religious Freedom Advocate
chris seiple by george michelsen
and implement the Marines’ Chemical Biological Incident Response Force—an elite unit based near the nation’s capital and tasked to deal with terrorist threats and incidents. He served as the Force’s liaison to the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the 1996 Summer Olympics. He told Freedom that terrorist acts and threats, migrations forced by economic hardships, and economic travails themselves are among the factors contributing to a rising worldwide tide of anti-religious
sentiment. This trend should be a matter of concern to everyone, particularly those in the United States, where the concept of religious liberty is ingrained in the American DNA. Even if people don’t practice it per se sometimes, everybody is for it, at least superficially. … It’s the marrow of our bones.” On the larger world stage, he said, “Religious freedom—or freedom of conscience or belief—is so important because it’s really at the root of all these issues of instability.” He points to the work of sociologist Brian Grim: “His research demonstrates that where there is more religious freedom, there is more political stability, there is more economic development, there is more women’s empowerment.” Fundamental to increasing religious freedom and improving conditions, Seiple said, is respect. As he explained it, “From a philosophical or theological or a moral point of view, if you can respect somebody—which is to say you move beyond tolerance, because tolerance is Illustrations by Olivia Wise
not enough—and respect somebody who has a different world view than you do, politically and/or theologically, you don’t need to kill him. That’s a good thing.” And learning to live with deep differences, he said, according to the best of one’s faith, “is an individual spiritual journey that everybody takes—whatever their tradition, hopefully—because that’s also the process of maturity. So the point is this: Can societies from the bottom up and from the top down create a level playing field where people have the opportunity to go on that journey, to understand the best of their faith, and enough about a neighbor’s faith to respect it, and show dignity for somebody else’s different, even irreconcilable, theological views?” The Institute for Global Engagement was founded in September 2000, Seiple noted, before the words religion and national security were ever used in the same sentence. Until 9/11, no one had really thought about their relationship. “And so I started to think about it, and if you really get into this, religious freedom is counter-terrorism.” Given the urgent necessity of moving past the concept of “tolerance,” he works to bring about the shift in outlook that comes with genuine respect. “Where somebody feels respected and celebrated, not ‘tolerated,’ they’re less likely to agitate against the state or against others. But how do you get to that point? That’s the nut we’ve been trying to crack in so many ways.” “We have a theory of change,” he said. “It’s based on a fundamental premise that behavior doesn’t change unless you change the mind, and the only way to change the mind is through education.” In that regard, the institute sponsors educational programs on international norms of religious freedom—reaching
for example, 3,500 religious leaders, government officials and scholars in China, Vietnam and Laos. “If you have civility, you will have stability,” he said. “Religious freedom is at the core of that. We can put all the bandaids we want. We can defeat ISIS and it still doesn’t change the root cause”—the inability to live with, communicate with, and respect others who are different. “In the context of emergency response,” he said, “if there are no relationships among religious groups before a crisis, a tsunami, a tornado, before a storm, the crisis will exacerbate and make worse the divides that are there that nobody talks about within the community. But if there’s a safe space for talking about differences, and a safe space where people of different ethnic and religious groups come together to work on things practical for the community, a crisis will deepen those relationships and make the community stronger.” To underscore the importance of multifaith cooperation, he said, “A natural disaster or war is a lose-lose in a place where there are no preexisting relationships. Because not only does the disaster come, but it’s made much worse by the fact that the relationships are not there to work together to fix the common threat, which is the recovery effort, whether it’s war or natural disaster. And if they’re working together to recover, to rescue and restore and return to themselves where they were before in the relationships, then it’s a different story because they trust each other.” To foster dialogue and increase understanding among governments and religious leaders, the Institute for Global Engagement has held numerous conferences in the Middle East, Central Asia, East Asia, Europe and Africa. It also publishes The Review of Faith & International Affairs, a scholarly journal on religion and global affairs. Seiple’s approach is decidedly handson: Just a few weeks before speaking
with Freedom, he met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Patriarchs of the Eastern Church in the Middle East, and traveled through Northern Iraq where he visited hard-pressed families—Christians, Muslims, Yazidis and others—forced from their homes by terrorists. Seiple has been instrumental in organizing efforts to obtain aid so displaced families, regardless of religion, can make it through the harsh winter. In Washington, when the Religious Freedom Roundtable he co-chairs meets, “You have every conceivable political and theological persuasion in the entire spectrum of thought in the same room, working on behalf of this concept called freedom of conscience or belief, because each of our moral traditions says that’s the right thing to do,” he said. And, he noted, the more members collaborate on issues, the more they arrive at “the practical conclusion it’s also in our self-interest to do so.” He brings a passion to his work, a profound enthusiasm about building bridges. “That’s why I love working with people with whom I have irreconcilable theological differences,” he said. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is one of many world leaders who observed the value of the institute’s efforts: “I respect IGE tremendously for its quiet, nuanced approach that is yielding real results in some of the most difficult regions in the world.” “We consider ourselves a think-anddo tank,” Seiple said. “We try to think before we do.” And operating at the intersection of faith and international affairs, his group strives toward a future “in which people of all faiths and none have full freedom of conscience and equal citizenship,” a future that embraces understanding, freedom—and peace. n www.freedommag.org | 27
eform
Army Specialist Ricky Glen Elder was on a mixture of psychiatric drugs known to cause violent and suicidal behavior when he killed his superior officer in June 2012 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, then turned the gun on himself. How and why it went so tragically wrong.
28
www.freedommag.org  | 29
At 3:30 p.m. on a summer day in June 2012, Army Specialist Ricky Glen Elder pulled a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol from his uniform and shot his battalion commander multiple times, one bullet piercing his heart. He then reloaded and continued shooting the lifeless man and threatened to shoot others approaching him. He injured another soldier before kneeling and putting a bullet into his own head. Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale died instantly. Elder was brain dead and died the next day. At just 27, Elder had already lived a long, violent and troubled life, well documented in court records and news stories. His problems started as a juvenile in Hutchinson, Kansas, where he was charged with battery and marijuana possession, and continued even after he enlisted in 2004, later graduated from the elite Ranger school and was assigned to the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in June 2010. While other soldiers were building careers, Elder was building a rap sheet that included multiple charges for assault, drunk driving and one for leaving the scene of an accident. In 2010, he was charged with aggravated battery and reckless aggravated battery 30
for knocking a woman unconscious in a Kansas bar. His court date was set for the day after the shooting, according to press reports. For some unexplained reason, the civilian prosecutor in the case and the Army allowed Elder to deploy to combat with the serious charges hanging over his head. But it wasn’t just the woman in a bar who had reason to fear Elder’s unpredictable and violent temper. His wife, Erica Cone, told
was allowed to remain in the military despite his extensive record of criminal offenses, and why psychopharmaceuticals prescribed to Elder were not rigorously monitored and apparently not looked into as a contributing factor in the murder-suicide. According to Army’s own criminal probe, investigators knew Elder was on a host of drugs that even a cursory Internet check would’ve shown were capable of causing mood swings, suicide ideation and anger individually let alone in combination.
Freedom request for information about testing for drugs. The documents released by the Army contained no indication as to whether investigators examined the drugs as a possible contributing cause of the shootings or whether they investigated to find out if monitoring protocols for the drugs Elder was given had been followed. But portions of the report were not released. The Army and the media recount in detail the personal, legal and financial problems Elder faced the day of the
“She tried to convince him to get help, which he promised to do,” the Army report says. “She was told by unit personnel he missed several appointments.” The day of the shooting, Elder sent a text message to his wife saying he would “see her on the other side.” Minutes before the shootings, which occurred at a safety briefing on the military base, a soldier told investigators she noticed Elder and that “He was wearing sunglasses and had an extremely pissedoff look on his face.” As the assembly
investigators that when she was four months pregnant, a drunken Elder attacked her, prompting her to call police. She said she had convinced Elder to plead guilty in the Kansas bar fight case to put the incident behind them. When he killed himself, Elder was also facing court martial for stealing military property, which could have led to dishonorable discharge, loss of benefits and time in the brig. Just a month earlier he had wrecked his car and was cited for reckless driving. It was about this time the Army stopped his pay. Without question, Elder’s personal and professional lives were in deep turmoil. “He had his problems,” a fellow soldier told investigators. But none of this really fully explains what happened June 28, 2012, at Fort Bragg. When the Army Criminal Investigation Command released to Freedom 430 pages of documents related to Elder's death, a possible answer emerged—prescription drugs and their role in Elder’s life—and his death. The documents were obtained through requests made under the Freedom of Information Act for records pertaining to an ongoing examination and investigation by Freedom into military suicides. The newly released records raise numerous questions as to how Elder
In the investigation following the murder and suicide, Army investigators found bottles of high-dose Ibuprofen and the addictive painkiller Oxycontin in Elder’s car. They also discovered a brown paper bag with bottles of the painkiller and muscle relaxant cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril), and the painkiller Hydrocodone. Some of the drugs apparently were obtained 11-18 days before the shooting, according to the documents. Most damning of all was a bottle of the antidepressant amitriptyline (Elavil). Effects can include suicidal thoughts, worsening depression, hallucinations, extreme worry, agitation, panic attacks, aggressive behavior, irritability, mood swings, hostility and impulsive behavior. Flexeril can impair judgment. Oxycontin is an opioid pain medication than can cause confusion, cold sweats and fever, and Hydrocodone is a powerful narcotic that may become habit-forming and can cause depression and anxiety. Ibuprofen is an over-the-counter pain medication that can cause anger, mental impairment, mood changes and anxiety. A toxicology report from the North Carolina medical examiner indicated Elder had not been drinking. But in a glaring omission, the report made no mention of whether testing for other substances had been conducted, and the medical examiner did not respond to the
shooting, but there is no evidence in the FOIA documents that anyone considered the role of these powerful drugs in the tragedy that played out. Elder’s actions the day of the shootings are an incomprehensible mix, part doting father and part calculated killer. Just before 2 p.m. on June 28, Elder paid $85.60 cash for three unstuffed teddy bears. “The entire time he was at the mall he was by himself and did not display any odd behavior,” an investigator wrote after reviewing a mall security camera video. “He only went to the one store.” A fellow soldier told investigators that on the day of the shooting, Elder posted on his Facebook page that he had sought a medical discharge for combat-caused dementia, but the Army refused, saying the condition was hereditary. Elder maintained the dementia was caused by an incident in Iraq, where he deployed in October 2006. Nine months into his tour, he was thrown from the turret of a Humvee on which he was a gunner, knocking him unconscious and causing a concussion. The Army reported no visible brain damage. A fellow soldier died in the incident, deeply affecting Elder, according to reports. Elder’s wife told Army investigators that when she met him in 2010, he suffered from nightmares and talked about suicide and the loss of his Army buddy.
dispersed, she turned away from where she had seen Elder. At that moment, Elder walked up behind Tisdale and shot him several times. "Suddenly everyone started screaming and running," a soldier told investigators. One round fired at Tisdale struck another soldier, who thought the gunshots were fireworks until he felt a sharp pain in his right calf and realized he had been shot. “I heard a noise, and when I looked back, someone had a hand gun pointed at the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Tisdale, so I yelled ‘Gun,’” a witness told investigators. “Then I took a couple steps back when he began to fire and shoot Lt. Col. Tisdale.” Tisdale then fell behind the podium, hit three times in the torso, including once in the heart. Elder then reloaded the pistol with a spare ammunition clip he pulled from his belt and stood over Tisdale as he shot him several more times, including in the face. The witness said he and a sergeant chased Elder. “Then he [Elder] realized that I was going toward him and then he pointed the gun at me and said, ‘if you come toward me, I will kill you.’ So I stopped and yelled, ‘Calm down. It's not that bad.’ “As I was doing that, [the] sergeant tried to walk around him and he [Elder] started to wave the hand gun around.”
Typography by Peter Green Design
www.freedommag.org | 31
the mess. I think this tool is urs as well.” On the note was a black Leatherman multipurpose tool, opened with the blade exposed. Concerned about possible booby traps, authorities brought in a bomb-sniffing dog, but found nothing. Later, investigators searched the 2012 Chevrolet Malibu that Elder had rented after he crashed his car and fled the scene. That’s where they found the trove of psychopharmaceutical drugs. Also in the vehicle were records related to the pending case involving theft of government property. Other papers indicated that Elder was granted “convalescent leave” in May 2012 for “severe pain,” clear evidence that he was on a cocktail of drugs with high potential for having deadly effects. On June 19, nine days before the shooting, Elder sought to extend the leave but was denied, the Army report says. Also in the car was a memorandum from the Department of Behavioral Health at the post hospital to a defense attorney related to a “sanity board” proceeding for Elder. Freedom asked the Army why, in light of his numerous legal troubles, Elder was allowed to remain in the military; if investigators ever considered the cocktail of drugs he was prescribed as a possible contributing factor in the killings; and whether his antidepressant use was properly monitored. 32
The Army responded to Freedom’s questions by saying “The investigation speaks for itself” and declined further comment, citing federal medical privacy laws. But the fact remains, and is worth noting, that nowhere in Elder’s case file is there any mention that his antidepressant use was ever monitored or investigated. In 2012, the year Elder took his own life, the Pentagon’s Defense Suicide Prevention Office reported 320 full-time service members committed suicide. In 2013, the number reported was 286. The Associated Press reported 288 confirmed or suspected suicides by active duty troops in 2014. Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, found that 94 percent of veterans diagnosed with major depressive disorder were prescribed at least one antidepressant. Although the report concerned veterans, many of them, like Elder, were combat veterans adjusting to life back in the United States and had been prescribed drugs. The Department of Veterans Affairs, the GAO found, “does not know the extent to which veterans … who have been prescribed antidepressants are receiving care as recommended ... and whether appropriate actions are taken by VA medical centers to mitigate potentially significant risks to veterans.” Other cases under examination by Freedom involved service members who were prescribed antidepressants or exhibited suicidal behavior before killing themselves. One of those cases, the 2008 suicide of Navy Hospitalman Christopher Purcell, triggered a Congressional inquiry and resulted in a 64-page report from the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, charged with finding and exposing waste, fraud and abuse in the military. Purcell, 21, shot himself in the chest with a .357-caliber magnum pistol at Naval Air Station Brunswick in Maine after military law enforcement officers failed to find a pistol he hid under his clothes. He bought the gun just 10 days before taking his life with it. A 313-page report from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)
obtained by Freedom indicated that Purcell had a history of drinking problems and was taking a psychopharmaceutical and possibly another drug, ostensibly for insomnia. Purcell’s medical records indicate that he attended counseling in November 2007 for “alcohol-related issues” and that he was prescribed Xanax in December 2007, according to the NCIS report. Studies have shown Xanax can cause aggression, violence and increased risk of suicide. In January 2008, the month of Purcell's death, commanders referred him for further counseling for “another alcohol incident and mood disorder,” the report says. The inspector general's report, released two years before Elder's death, highlights a Navy investigator’s finding that the Navy failed to recognize behavior that indicated Purcell was suicidal. Some of the behavior was similar to that of Elder. “A friend of Purcell noted a change in Purcell’s behavior about three months before his death,” the report says. “Purcell was reportedly kicked out of a club for punching a statue.” “Purcell told this friend he was doing self-destructive things to see if he would get into trouble, like driving his car to the clinic while drunk. ... Purcell expressed strained relationships with friends and a lack of trust and sincerity in relationships; expressed trouble sleeping.” Purcell's behavior, the report concluded, “was consistent with suicidal behavior warning signs.” Michael Purcell, the dead sailor’s father and a Navy retiree, filed a federal wrongful death claim in 2009, but the claim was denied in 2010. His appeal to a federal court in 2011 also was denied, and in March 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. n Rick Rogers is a Southern California-based writer who has covered defense and veterans issues for more than 30 years. He has reported for several publications, including Stars and Stripes and the San Diego UnionTribune. In 2004 he embedded with Marines at Fallujah. The Defense Department, Virginia Press Association, California Newspaper Publishers Association and the Society of Professional Journalists have honored his work.
courtesy of the u.s. department of defense photo archive
Elder then dropped to his knees, reportedly began to breathe heavily and yell, placed the pistol to his right temple and pulled the trigger. He was alive but brain dead until the next day, when his uncle granted permission to remove life support. After the shooting, investigators went to his apartment and found what appeared to be a staged scene: a framed caricature picture of Elder as “Ranger Rick” and next to it a handwritten note: “Sometimes U just have to pull the pin. Sorry about
Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale was fatally shot by Specialist Ricky Glen Elder who then killed himself. The role of psychiatric drugs in the tragedy has not been fully investigated.
33
Honesty and integrity are not just words. They require action.
Challenges for Change in Cameroon
36
If you have information on unethical, biased reporting by the media or know of human rights violations, write to feedback@ freedommag.org
www.freedommag.org/write
michal szymanski/shutterstock.com
Perspective 42
Her Name was Silje
44
Fukushima: 48 The Disaster Continues
orld
Challenges for Change in
Camer窶ハ by Donnell Suggs & Robert Daniels A land of contrast and promise, of violence and struggle, Cameroon is a fragile young democracy with deep tribal roots, a nation whose rich natural resources portend a bright future. But its 20 million people face challenges that include diseases such as cholera, a high rate of illiteracy, floods of refugees from turmoil in neighboring nations, and an array of human rights issues that have long plagued many subSaharan nations.
36
37
Beginning more than a decade ago, teams of volunteers from Youth for Human Rights International undertook a series of extended visits to many of the countries of West and Central Africa to introduce and establish broadbased human rights educational programs. Their purpose: to bring about awareness of the United Nations Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and, most importantly, to encourage individuals to undertake actions that would make those rights more relevant to local needs, more effective, and more forceful. Focusing on youth, the programs gained momentum from 2004 onward, expanding in the nations of Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Human rights clubs were established in high schools, empowering young people as researchers and advocates, with teams of students turning their attention on local and regional human rights problems and their solutions. The thrust of the educational efforts was to select a particular human rights issue such as child trafficking, lack of education, or religious intolerance, to document the problem, and to advocate for its resolution. Sierra Leone students, for example, investigated and reported on rape victims, amputees and child soldiers impacted by that nation’s 11-year civil war. Instruction on film and photography was included, with teams encouraged to produce videos as part of their campaigns. By means of these youth-driven public awareness efforts, the students involved— who now could genuinely be referred to as human rights activists—reached more than 12,000 of their peers in schools, community groups and other gatherings. Some even trod on broader stages, presenting their messages about the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to hundreds of thousands or even millions through national media. 38
The programs spread to Togo, then to Ethiopia and, in 2012, to Cameroon. The director of the program in Cameroon, Bertrand Tientcheu, had been working as a Christian missionary at the World Council of Churches office in West Africa when he met representatives of Youth for Human Rights International who were then in the midst of a multi-nation educational tour to promote awareness and utilization of the Universal Declaration. Tientcheu struck up enduring friendships with those on the tour, including Joseph Yarsiah, then the director of Youth for Human Rights Liberia. Yarsiah knew full well the importance of human rights because he had twice experienced the horrors of being a war refugee. In 1990, he and his family fled Liberia for Sierra Leone. After returning to Liberia, they were forced to leave again, escaping in 1995 with some 5,000 others on a boat designed to hold 1,000—and with no food or water. He spent the next several years in Ghana, returning home once again in the late 1990s. Yarsiah, who went on to become a Youth for Human Rights International program director for Africa, is now studying for his master’s degree at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. Reflecting on the carnage that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in Liberia, he says, “I realized that the reason behind all of this was just major human rights abuses…. It was important to get involved, whatever contribution I could make, to help bring [human rights] to my country.” Tientcheu, born in 1975 in Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, had been interested in human rights from an early age. “I read a lot about Dr. Martin Luther King, who was a pastor and also an activist for justice. His engagement and his passion to defend human dignity inspired me,” says Tientcheu, commenting on his experiences in an interview with Freedom. Another influence was Mahatma Gandhi. “I watched many films, many documentaries about him, his sense of integrity and also his passion, the way he fought for the freedom of India,” says Tientcheu.
Partnering with national leaders and others, Youth for Human Rights Cameroon spearheads educational efforts in both official languages, French and English.
Photographs by Scientology Media Productions
www.freedommag.org | 39
His own humanitarian work started in 1995, educating people about HIV and AIDS. After seeing the scope and impact of the Youth for Human Rights educational initiative, Tientcheu took on the task of informing his compatriots about their inherent rights, becoming director of Youth for Human Rights Cameroon in 2012. In 2012, Dr. Mary Shuttleworth,
president of Youth for Human Rights International, visited Cameroon and with Tientcheu met with Dr. Chemuta Divine Banda, chairman of Cameroon’s National Commission on Human Rights and Freedom (NCHRF) and General Marie Abunaw Nana, technical adviser to the Ministry of Justice. The following year a memorandum of understanding was signed with the NCHRF. According to the memorandum, NCHRF and Youth for Human Rights International agreed “to collaborate, develop and propose pilot curricula and one or more courses of study in human rights and Human Rights Education (HRE).” Similar agreements have been established with authorities in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Togo and Ethiopia. Today Tientcheu and his co-workers at Youth for Human Rights Cameroon deliver lectures and classes to youth and adults alike at schools, churches and other venues on the importance of human rights and the power of education, on occasion teaming up with others, including faith-based organizations comprised of members of various Christian and Muslim groups. Attorney Timothy Bowles, who has undertaken many extended visits to West and Central Africa to establish educational programs on behalf of Youth for Human Rights International, points to an additional dimension: “In my view, the greatest challenge facing Africa, including Cameroon, is literacy, guaranteed by Article 26 of the 40
Universal Declaration.” It has been estimated that only 78 percent of males and 65 percent of females age 15 and over in Cameroon can read and write. But Bertrand Tientcheu knows the many challenges his nation faces and remains undaunted. “Working in the area of human rights for me has been … a journey of discovery, discovering myself as not just a spiritual person but also discovering human beings as spiritual people, as spiritual beings,” he says. Tientcheu notes that the multimedia educational campaign, which has already touched the lives of thousands in Cameroon, created a positive impact over the past year. He looks to continue the campaign with an emphasis on strengthening the public’s awareness of their responsibilities within a democracy, knowing that with freedom comes many privileges but even more responsibility. “Though Cameroon has ratified several international human rights instruments, like the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, still we have the serious problem of implementing those rights,” he says. As part of the ongoing educational effort, in August 2014 Tientcheu met with the King of Bafut at his palace. The most powerful of the ancestral kingdoms located in the area of Cameroon known as the Western Grassfields, Bafut is a region where the hierarchy that has ruled for centuries remains in place. But Tientcheu’s visit was a case of the old welcoming the new: the king and his delegation were eager to learn about the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in order to implement them in Bafut youth programs. Speaking from his own experiences in helping to train hundreds of young men and women as human rights advocates, Joseph Yarsiah says, “When young people confront other young people about human rights issues, it motivates them to take a stand and get activated. I’ve seen great change in their lives. I’ve seen how much they’ve been inspired.” n
Members of the Mbororo (translation: “cattle herder”), a large nomadic tribe, have encountered human rights abuses centered on questions of land use and ownership.
www.freedommag.org | 41
erspective
On Trafficking Andrea powell
Slavery is not dead in America, says Andrea Powell, co-founder and executive director
of FAIR Girls (Free, Aware, Inspired, Restored), a Washington, D.C.,-based nonprofit that assists survivors of human trafficking through education and empowerment. She serves as FAIR Girls’ chief liaison to the D.C. Anti-Trafficking Task Force and has trained hundreds of law enforcement personnel, social workers and others in how to identify and assist victims of sex and forced labor trafficking. She is also an adjunct professor at the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
What is the ideal interaction of law enforcement and service organizations such as FAIR Girls?
As the liaison to the D.C. Anti-Trafficking Task Force, I tell police that while they conduct their investigation and focus on the crime, we in the nonprofit sector will help the person who has been affected. It’s a dynamic group working together: FBI, local law enforcement, service providers, attorneys, U.S. Attorney’s Office, judges.
Education is the only way out of this deep-rooted problem. We give lectures and workshops to about 3,000 teenagers every year in Baltimore and D.C., and we partner with other organizations to provide educational opportunities nationwide. The collaborative model is vital: By getting the community to identify and assist victims, and by educating young people to see that this is about a girl’s liberty being taken from her, we address the problem from the supply side. On the demand side, there are as many as 20,000 online sex ads a day, and boys and girls are bought and sold over the Internet. Where there is demand for purchasing sex there will be sex trafficking victims, so we must educate this side of the equation, too. When we reach the children, their families, the community and the purchasers, then we will see significant change. How does education fit into the solution?
42
What must happen on a grand scale to arrest this problem?
I think that we’re making big strides by educating people to look at the people around them and report signs of trafficking—the U.S. Health and Human Services national hotline receives a hundred calls a day. But it is important for people to help the person right next to them, too, because when you help a girl to survive slavery, you’re helping her transcend to freedom. You are also helping her future children and family, the community, and everyone around her. She goes from draining the community to actually being an asset to the community. And that’s real power. You also have to educate those who are at risk. You have to focus on empowerment and justice. And you can’t have one without the other. Our sub-motto at FAIR Girls is “We are relentlessly optimistic.” We have seen a critical shift in public awareness, and amazing, innovative ideas are surfacing and others are picking up on them. The White House convened a collaborative of interfaith and nonprofit leaders to pool their experience and expertise in combating trafficking, and the United States Congress is taking strong measures to provide services to victims. On a more personal humanitarian level, to truly assist survivors of trafficking, the whole community must be willing to open their hearts, their homes, and their wallets. A young woman who had been trafficked came to us when she was 18. A lovely host family gave her a home—not a wealthy family, but a middle-class family with willingness and a spare bedroom. Now that young woman is going to college, and she has a bright future. We need thousands of families to open their homes to these survivors. It is the best investment we can make. As a society and as a community, we have to take back power from the traffickers. We need to send a united message that we will not tolerate this human rights abuse. n Is there any reason for optimism?
From Washington, D.C., headquarters, Andrea Powell heads FAIR Girls rescue and support operations for young trafficking victims.
robert nickelsberg/getty images
The majority of the young survivors I meet each day at FAIR Girls are American girls sold right here in our own backyards. Through a Department of Justice-funded grant, we interviewed over 100 runaway teens and found half of them were sold into sex trafficking within 48 hours of leaving home. The average age of entry into a life of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States is 13, and more than 100,000 American girls and boys live at risk of being sold into sex trafficking every year. Our focus is to provide support to girls who are on the edge, and also to provide critical emergency response and aftercare for those who have already fallen prey to trafficking.
What is the focus of FAIR Girls’ work?
Seroquel Quetiapine Catapresan Rivotril Klonipin Nozinan Remeron Cipralex Sarotex Lamictal Vival Valium Orfiril Truxal Nobligan Tramadol Pinex Forte Paralgin Forte Codeine Imovane Zoplicone Atarax Sobril Cipramil OxyNorm Seroquel Quetiapine Catapresan Rivotril Klonipin Nozinan Remeron Cipralex Sarotex Lamictal Vival Valium Orfiril Truxal Nobligan Tramadol Pinex Forte Paralgin Forte Codeine Imovane Zoplicone Atarax Sobril Cipramil OxyNorm Seroquel Quetiapine Catapresan Rivotril Klonipin Nozinan Remeron Cipralex Sarotex Lamictal Vival Valium Orfiril Truxal Nobligan Tramadol Pinex Forte Paralgin Forte Codeine Imovane Zoplicone Atarax Sobril Cipramil OxyNorm Seroquel Quetiapine Catapresan Rivotril Klonipin Nozinan Remeron Cipralex Sarotex Lamictal Vival Valium Orfiril Truxal Nobligan Tramadol Pinex Forte Paralgin Forte Codeine Imovane Zoplicone Atarax Sobril Cipramil OxyNorm Seroquel Quetiapine Catapresan Rivotril Klonipin Nozinan Remeron Cipralex Sarotex Lamictal Vival Valium Orfiril Truxal Nobligan Tramadol Pinex Forte Paralgin Forte Codeine Imovane Zoplicone Atarax Sobril Cipramil OxyNorm Seroquel Quetiapine Catapresan Rivotril Klonipin Nozinan Remeron Cipralex Sarotex Lamictal Vival Valium Orfiril Truxal Nobligan Tramadol Pinex Forte Paralgin Forte Codeine Imovane Zoplicone Atarax Sobril Cipramil OxyNorm Seroquel Quetiapine Catapresan Rivotril Klonipin Nozinan Remeron Cipralex Sarotex Lamictal Vival Valium Orfiril Truxal Nobligan Tramadol Pinex Forte Paralgin Forte Codeine Imovane Zoplicone Atarax Sobril Cipramil OxyNorm Seroquel Quetiapine Catapresan Rivotril Klonipin Nozinan Remeron Cipralex Sarotex Lamictal Vival Valium Orfiril Truxal Nobligan Tramadol Pinex Forte Paralgin Forte Codeine Imovane 44
Her Name Was Silje by Joe Taglieri
Turning 18 for most young people is
an exciting time, marking one's entry into adulthood as hopes and aspirations for the future seem ripe for the taking. But for Silje Owre of Norway, that was not the case. According to her father, Silje was worried about reaching this milestone age because it meant she would have to transition into the nation's adult mental health care system. She had heard things about adult psychiatry's unbridled reliance on powerful psychopharmaceuticals to “treat” emotional or psychological problems and to administer psychiatric drugs when the physical sources of a person’s problems were either undiagnosed or not properly addressed with actual physical handlings. Diagnosed in 2006 at age 14 with chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as a lesion in a part of the brain responsible for emotions, the once active, vivacious child suddenly became bedridden and at
times even unable to feed herself without assistance. This went on for the next two years, until her physical and mental health started to improve. Silje's dad, Espen Owre, 46, attributed her turnaround to the kind of help she received from a team of pediatric specialists. “The youth team at [Akershus University Hospital] did not give Silje any kind of medication but [instead gave] cognitive training,” he said in an email to Freedom. “Instead of being locked in a depressing institution, Silje was during that period staying home, and a team came to our home, including us parents and our son. They took Silje out [for coffee] and shopping, creating a good and stable environment for her. ... They treated her with love and understanding.” Tragically, however, Silje's concerns about adult mental health care in Norway eventually proved morbidly valid. On November 5, 2012, after two years of
being heavily dosed with a slew of prescription antidepressants, antipsychotics, painkillers and tranquilizers, Silje was found dead, along with a suicide note, of a heroin overdose in an Oslo hotel room. Compounding her family's despair, Silje was supposed to have been receiving closely monitored care as an inpatient at the drug detox ward at Akershus University Hospital, which in Norwegian is abbreviated as “Ahus.” Not long after undergoing surgery in fall 2011 to remove a cystic brain tumor described as being small and benign, Silje survived a suicide attempt on New Year's Eve after jumping off a bridge that stood more than 20 feet above a highway. She suffered multiple bone fractures and spent three months at Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital. As she consistently struggled with bouts of depression and emotional instability, a report shows that between 2010 and www.freedommag.org | 45
46
day before,” according to the report. Silje was reported missing to the police on November 6. “Police and a priest came to their home about an hour later stating that their daughter was found dead,” the County Governor’s report stated. Silje’s mother, Lise, ended up being the one who informed the hospital that Silje had committed suicide. Espen Owre's grief soon shifted to outrage aimed at what he saw as a dysfunctional mental health system. Owre filed a complaint against the hospital with the medical oversight office, and he and Lise took to the airwaves as the national news media flocked to the story.
Following his daughter’s suicide, Espen Owre demanded Parliament initiate nationwide reforms of the Norwegian mental health system.
On the Facebook page he established for the Silje Benedikte Foundation, which spreads the word about the dangers of psychopharmaceuticals and advocates for reforming Norwegian mental health care, Owre posted a list of the drugs prescribed to his daughter between 2010 and 2012. According to her father's research into Silje's prescription history, she consumed a combined total of more than 10,000 doses of the following:
• Seroquel/Quetiapine • Catapresan • Rivotril/Klonipin • Nozinan • Remeron • Cipralex • Sarotex • Lamictal • Vival/Valium • Orfiril • Truxal • Nobligan/Tramadol • Pinex Forte/Paralgin Forte/Codeine • Imovane/Zopiclone • Atarax • Sobril • Cipramil • OxyNorm Eight of these medications—Seroquel/ Quetiapine, Remeron, Cipralex, Sarotex, Lamictal, Nobligan/Tramadol, Imovane and Cipramil—are known to increase suicide risk, especially for children and young adults. The European Medicines Agency’s scientific committee, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, reviewed the use of antidepressants in children and adolescents in 2005, and concluded that suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts were more frequently observed in clinical trials among children and adolescents treated with certain classes of antidepressants. Both Cipramil and Cipralex fall into this category of drugs. After a year and a half of a heated back-and-forth between the findings of the government medical experts, Oyvind Watne and Tor Ketil Larsen— who exonerated the hospital and its staff from any wrongdoing—and the Owres' detailed rebuttals, an unprecedented outcome occurred. In his official response to the investigation, Petter Schou, the county's chief medical officer, overruled the
previous page and right page: courtesy photos; left page: freedom magazine
2012 Silje had multiple “episodes of selfharm” such as “severe cuts in the wrist for suicide and serious suicide attempts with drugs” that included an August 2010 trip to the emergency room after a prescription pill overdose. Nonetheless, on the day of her fatal heroin binge, the ward's supervisors—psychologist Knut Erik Duna and his boss, psychiatrist Geir Ebbestad—gave Silje a day pass, ostensibly to attend school. The report explains the rationale for this fateful decision with a statement attributed to Duna dated three months after Silje's death. “With chronic elevated suicide risk it is always such that suicidal thoughts vary from week to week, from day to day, and sometimes from hour to hour,” Duna wrote. “We have of course never intended or claimed that this patient was cured of her chronically elevated suicide risk. She was granted leave because we assessed that she was not acutely suicidal.” Silje, according to a report, had told a psychologist that she “will ... take her life with an overdose of heroin. She does not want to live like a junkie and does not want to live without heroin.” And that’s what happened. The report of the County Governor— the King’s and Norwegian government’s representative in each of the nation’s 18 counties—indicates that Silje never showed up at school on November 5, and the school had not been notified that she would come that day. “The complainant [Espen Owre] also writes that they were greeted ‘by a wall of silence’ when they made contact with the department to clarify whether the patient was in the department.” The day after Silje failed to return to the hospital as scheduled, her mother called the ward and wasn’t “informed that the patient had not come back after leave the
experts and confirmed the Owres' charges of malfeasance by Ahus staff. “We do not find recorded justifications for the drug treatment given, neither for actual medication nor possible medication,” states a key finding of Schou's report. “The County Governor’s assessment is that the treatment the patient received, including the drug treatment, was not in accordance with proper practice.” This garnered quite a bit of press, which eventually led to Ebbestad losing his job and Ahus administrator Trond Rangnes’ public apology to the Owres. “Silje had been misdiagnosed,” said Espen Owre as he recounted the report's findings. “She received indefensible medication, she was mistreated, it was bad evaluation, sloppiness in the records, poor [suicide] prevention, lack of notification procedures and lack of contact with relatives.” The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and noted author Dr. Thomas Szasz, has long been a vocal critic of psychiatric human rights abuses. “Silje's story is unfortunately far from unique,” said a spokesperson for CCHR Norway via email. “What is very unique, however, is that parents take on the battle the way they have done, to confront the system and to take action both to get justice for Silje and to prevent others from suffering a similar fate.” In September 2013, activist Hans-Erik Husby joined Espen Owre at the front of a protest march that brought demands for reforming the mental health system to the steps of Parliament. Formerly known as “Hank von Hell,“ lead singer of the raucous rock band Turbonegro, Husby detailed his own experience with Norwegian mental health care as a recovered drug addict who went through mainstream rehab regimens that utilize psychotropic drugs. “I discovered that
there are alternatives to handling man's problems in life, rather than just drugging or using brute force to make man ‘behave,’“ he said in an email to Freedom. Calling for “drug-free residential units,” CCHR Norway stated that the foundation for such facilities must include “a safe place to be, a bed to sleep in, regular meals and people to talk to.” Husby pointed out methods that he said have shown promise as viable alternatives to psychotropic drugs. “By helping people communicate to better sort out the practical problems in their lives ... much can be done in order to repair a broken mind,” Husby said. “Making people realize
Before she was put on massive doses of 18 psychiatric drugs, Silje Owre was an intelligent young woman with a bright future.
that they actually can take responsibility in their lives also seems to have helped many individuals out of ... hopelessness.” Largely as a result of CCHR and the Owre family's activism, there were indications of government action toward shifting mental health care away from its dependency on drugs. By the latter part of 2014 the Parliament's Health Committee Chairwoman Kari Kjos and national Health Minister Bent Hoie had called
for drug-free treatment options. Kjos also authored a bill that prohibits primary care doctors from prescribing antidepressants to patients younger than 25. In December, Norway's most populous health care region, which includes Oslo, directed doctors and staff members to implement measures aimed at improving access to drug-free treatment as well as improving the documentation of psychotropic drug prescriptions and side effects. Additionally, the Hamar region became the first health care sector to roll out a model for drug-free mental health care. As a key starting point for effecting change in the mental health system, Espen Owre noted the simple efficacy of placing greater emphasis on compassion and communication instead of the guesswork-style prescription practices that dominate contemporary psychiatry, coupled with the wall of patient confidentiality that shuts loved ones out of the healing process. Comparing the atmosphere at Sunnaas Hospital with the detox psych ward at Ahus, Owre said: “They respected Silje, they talked to her, gave her love and understanding. Let me give you an example: When Silje was admitted to Sunnaas, the staff could say to her, ‘Hi, I heard that your parents are coming to visit you today, let’s go bake a cake.’ “When visiting her at Ahus in the psych ward,” he continued, “the staff would open the front door a few inches and say to us, ‘I can ask her if she wants to talk to you.’ Normally the meeting was in the doorway or in the hallway outside. When she was at Sunnaas, we, her parents, were always invited to staff meetings, making plans, how we could help and so on. That never happened in the psych ward. We had the feeling that the staff at the psych ward looked at us as the enemy, instead of as a resource.“ n www.freedommag.org | 47
orld The spring 2011 meltdown at the
FUKUSHIMA The Disaster Continues 48
by Greg Schwartz
Radioactive waste spewing into the air and ocean from Japan’s 2011 Fukushima meltdown, one of the worst nuclear disasters in history, now threatens North America.
Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan is considered—with Chernobyl in 1986— one of the worst nuclear disasters in the history of the planet. Three of the plant’s reactors melted down after being hit by the tsunami caused by the magnitude 9 earthquake, spewing radioactive elements into the air and water. Many on North America’s West Coast were concerned about this radioactivity, and felt that government agencies weren’t doing nearly enough to monitor the situation. Nuclear watchers are equally concerned about the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in California, at the top of the earthquakeprone list, which Damon Moglen, a senior adviser to Friends of the Earth, describes as “a direct parallel to what was going on in Japan.” These concerns led Northern California activist John Bertucci and associates to create Fukushima Response, a regional network of citizens working to spur stronger action against the threat of global radiation contamination from Fukushima. While many people assume that the situation has been contained, it has not. At least 300 tons (80,000 gallons) of radioactive wastewater have flowed from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean every day for nearly four years. “The initial explosions were like flushing a toilet, but what we have is a faucet you can’t turn off. And that’s what nobody wants to confront,” Bertucci told Freedom. “No question, this kind of truth is hard to embrace. Who wants to think about it?” Bertucci wrote in an update on the catastrophe. “We look around, things look the same and the media ‘helpfully’ reinforces that perception. Our opinions are guided into a polarized, false choice: those currently trying to talk about Fukushima in a coherent manner are framed as ‘alarmists’ and those who want us to believe that Fukushima is ‘no problem’ simply omit to mention the correct time frame for truly understanding what’s wrong there, the full span in which this disaster is going to play itself out.” Because they view the Environmental Protection Agency and other government bodies actions as woefully inadequate, Bertucci and fellow citizen scientists have been doing their own radiation monitoring. Bertucci also points out that
no U.S. government agency monitors radiation levels in ocean water. “EPA does not monitor or sample ocean waters or operate outside of U.S. territories. We work with other federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to carefully follow the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant,” responded the EPA to an email query regarding their efforts. This is all part of what led Fukushima Response and partners to start a campaign in 2013 calling for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to add a new “Level 8” designation to its International Nuclear Events Scale. This new level would “identify the urgent need for international assistance and monitoring” of an unprecedented situation like that at Fukushima, a “multi-unit, disaster-initiated and/or ongoing radioactive release requiring global response.” Recent news reports have indicated that the radioactive plume from the Fukushima disaster is now hitting the North American West Coast, but will peak in the next year or two, and even at its peak, levels of contamination will be so low the public need not be concerned. But a growing voice of scientists and activists suggests that the radioactivity continuing to flow out of Fukushima remains a threat with potentially dire ramifications for humanity. Said Friends of the Earth’s Moglen in a recent interview, “The problem is that Fukushima is an international disaster— they continue to pump vast quantities of nuclear waste into the open ocean, which is against the law. The IAEA is doing nothing about that. The United Nations is doing nothing about that. And yet there is a global treaty banning the dumping of nuclear waste at sea and nobody is saying Japan is in noncompliance.” Why aren’t the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) that runs the Fukushima power plant and the Japanese government doing more to contain the radioactive wastewater? Moglen said it boils down to economics. “Of course they could store it. The problem here is the almighty greenback…. The fact of the matter is that they could do www.freedommag.org | 49
86° F (30° C)
83° F (28° C)
79° F (26° C)
75° F (24° C)
72° F (22° C)
68° F (20° C)
65° F (18° C)
62° F (16° C)
58° F (14° C)
54° F (12° C)
50° F (10° C)
WATER TEMPERATURE
Radioactivity from the Fukushima accident was detected along the Pacific Coast of the United States by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Satellite measurements of ocean temperature (illustrated by color) in mid-2014, and the direction of currents (white arrows), help show where cesium-134 (a radioactive isotope) from Fukushima travels. White circles indicate locations where low levels of cesium-134 were found.
everything they could to actually retain that liquid and stop the spread of it into the ocean, but they don’t want to spend that kind of money,” Moglen said. He cited the 2010 BP oil spill with the U.S. government putting heavy pressure on BP 50
to contain the spill, yet noted Fukushima has not received the same urgency. “If we actually started spending hundreds of billions of dollars to deal with the Fukushima nuclear disaster, it would bankrupt the Japanese nuclear industry, which supposedly was one of the most together and most powerful in the world…. And if Japan goes under, people would start to ask what is the true cost of nuclear power?” Moglen said. Fukushima Response’s Bertucci points to the nuclear power industry’s connection with the military as another related factor. “The whole military-industrial complex is invested in nuclear, and the plants are
the flip side of the coin. If you took away the nuclear power plants for electricity, it would be incredibly expensive for them to generate the plutonium they need for the bombs. The plants do that automatically, it’s a win-win for them. But Fukushima has changed the game,” Bertucci said. Moglen pointed to public relations as a major culprit: “The nuclear industry has a multimillion-dollar PR budget and they are fighting for their lives. They are very focused on trying to minimize the sense that nuclear is dangerous.” Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste watchdog for Beyond Nuclear, said it appears that “a cost-benefit decision” was reached
previous page: reuters/kimimasa mayama; map source: woods hole oceanographic institution
47° F (8° C)
regarding the roughly 300 tons per day of waste allowed to flow into the Pacific. “It is deeply disturbing,” said Kamps by email. “The attitude seems to be that the ocean is a radioactive industrial sewer, to be used at whim by the nuclear power industry and pro-nuclear governments, like that of Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe of Japan. This situation could become much more dire in the near future. … They want to dump the accumulated 100 million gallons stored in that tank farm into the ocean, and be done with it.” Why is there still so much radioactive wastewater flowing out of the Fukushima plant and into the Pacific Ocean, so long after the meltdown? Kamps said that Tokyo Electric Power Company has to keep pumping water through the plant to cool down the melted cores. “Tokyo Electric must continue to cool the melted cores for years. In a sense, it's not unlike the irradiated nuclear fuel in a storage pool at a reactor site. In the U.S., some high-level radioactive waste is still stored in pools, a half-century after it left the reactor core as irradiated nuclear fuel. The thermal heat given off by the radioactive decay is so significant, it has to be continually cooled,” Kamps explained. “Fukushima Daiichi, of course, is an outof-control catastrophe. So TEPCO has to continue to cool the melted cores in Units 1, 2 and 3, even though they don't really know the status, or even location, of those three melted cores.” Kamps warned that the volatile situation also includes factors that scientists are not able to measure, further heightening the need to contain the radiation. “A diabolical move is afoot,” Kamps said. “TEPCO and Abe's administration wish to release the 100 million gallons of radioactively contaminated wastewater… into the ocean. But there are some 200 radioisotopes contained in high-level radioactive waste, which is what the wastewater is contaminated with…. So what about those 140 or so other radioactive isotopes not being filtered out before release to the ocean? “Science knows little to nothing about the potential biological impacts of those radioisotopes. The assumption that there is little or no biological hazard is not precautionary nor conservative.” Kamps said that American advisers have
“shamefully” been hired by TEPCO to put an American nuclear industry stamp of approval on this dumping plan, including former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Dale Klein and former U.S. Department of Energy official Lake Barrett (who also directed cleanup efforts for the NRC at the Three Mile Island accident in 1979). For a better solution than dumping the wastewater or storing it on site, Kamps cited a suggestion from Dr. Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. Makhijani recommends pumping the captured radioactive water into the hold of a supertanker and transporting it to a safer and more stable location where the filtration process could be carried out. As to why the United States hasn’t intervened further, Kamps cited a litany of conflict of interest issues between regulators, government and the industry they are supposedly tasked with overseeing.
There’s also growing concern about the potential for a Fukushima-level disaster on the American West Coast. “The NRC did an evaluation of nuclear plants most likely to be hit with earthquakes stronger than they were built to withstand [as happened at Fukushima], and Diablo Canyon [in California’s San Luis Obispo County] was at the top of the list,” said Bill Walker, a campaign consultant for Friends of the Earth, in a phone interview. The NRC evaluation of American nuclear facilities was conducted in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster. But whether the NRC really prioritizes the safety of Californians is debatable. In December 2014, Friends of the Earth issued a news release drawing attention to internal emails, acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request, indicating that the NRC and Pacific Gas & Electric Company had colluded to downplay the earthquake danger at Diablo Canyon.
A growing voice of scientists and activists suggests that the radioactivity continuing to flow out of Fukushima remains a threat with potentially dire ramifications for humanity. Kamps cited Keith Baverstock, a British scientist who studies the health impacts of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, and who challenged the neutrality and scientific validity of the 2014 Fukushima report from the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. Released last April, the UNSCEAR report minimized the possibility of higher cancer rates developing as a result of the Fukushima disaster. Baverstock told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper in Japan that the report was “not qualified to be called ‘scientific’” because it lacked transparency and independent verification. He also said the committee should be disbanded. Baverstock warned that the Fukushima crisis is far from over. “Radioactivity is still being discharged to the air and to the sea. … Some progress appears to have been made in removing radioactivity from the stored water on the site, but that does not include removing the tritium which will be discharged at sea when that water is released.”
“This is a new and shocking example of such collusion on an issue that could affect the safety of hundreds of thousands of lives,” said Moglen in the news release. “Rather than acting to address the fact that PG&E is operating Diablo Canyon without a valid license and in a place where no reactors belong, the NRC has sought to protect PG&E’s financial interests rather than public safety.” Moglen compared Diablo Canyon to Fukushima: “As bad stuff comes out, the Japanese regulators simply moved the goalposts, and then you have this absolutely terrifying, devastating triple meltdown. And that’s the risk we face here with Diablo. “Bottom line is, you could never build those reactors at that site today, nobody would sign off on a license to those reactors. And yet we’re supposed to accept the idea that reactors designed in the 1960s and built in the 1970s are up to modern standards in a place where there are far more earthquakes than we ever understood. And that’s insane.” n www.freedommag.org | 51
cientology news
In Nashville, the Church of Scientology celebrates a 30-year milestone this year. In 1985, the Church opened in a small house in the city’s historic district. It has now been nearly six years since it moved to the sprawling site it occupies just a mile off Music Row as the Ideal Church and Celebrity Centre of Nashville.
52
54
own faith. And that’s just fine with us. We are all-denominational and open to everyone.” Part of the reason for that acceptance, Fesler believes, is that Nashville is such a cultural melting pot. That includes a large migrant population from Kurdistan and another from Somalia, as well as a large Hispanic presence. “In a town so filled with minorities,” he observes, “it’s tough to know who’s the majority anymore.” That the Church here is crowned by an Ideal Celebrity Centre is far more than merely symbolic. The facility’s concert hall has been a haven for the 1960s folk music legend Melanie Safka (known professionally as Melanie), country recording artist and songwriter Ryan Laird, bassist George Hawkins Jr., guitarist Regi Wooten, Grammy-winning composer, film scorer and musician Mark Isham, and producerengineer-composer Tony Rockliff. Corinne Sullivan, president of the Church of Scientology and Celebrity Centre Nashville, notes that artists such as Rockliff,
Isham, bassist Chuck Jacobs and others donate their time and expertise by holding seminars at the Church. “That’s the kind of thing that happens here all the time,” Sullivan says. “It’s people giving the gift of the expertise so others will benefit. Every aspiring artist can find inspiration here, and it’s part of our mission as Scientologists to help them. “As our Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, ‘A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists.’ We know that art can keep a culture vibrant and alive.” The Nashville Church and Celebrity Centre hosts and sponsors numerous events to support artists of all disciplines. Each December, it celebrates International Human Rights Day with programs related to social justice and freedom that honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This past year, the Church held a human rights-themed writers’ night. There are also popular weekly songwriters’ nights at Celebrity Centre, with featured guest performers and an open
artlightenment.com/bob berg; freedom magazine
The Church now occupies the historic Fall School Business Center, its 36,000 square feet of space built near the turn of the 20th century as an elementary school. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places, faithfully restored to a gleaming luster in advance of its April 2009 opening. From the start, Scientology has been met with a warm and welcoming reception in Nashville, proving to be a solid fit with the country music hub known throughout the world as Music City. The focus from day one was to give artists a comfortable retreat that blended well with the creative community surrounding it. “A lot of people may not realize that Nashville is a really progressive town in the middle of a conservative area,” says the Rev. Brian Fesler, a pastor of the Nashville Church and director of public affairs since 2009. “It’s a huge civil rights and human rights center and very prosocial justice. Scientology is a vital part of the local community’s fabric. “We have found the people of Nashville to be kind and receptive to new ideas, even while holding firm to their
“Every aspiring artist can find inspiration here, and it’s part of our mission as Scientologists to help them.”
microphone designed to provide performing musicians with constructive feedback and encouragement. A variety of workshops and seminars, poetry readings, fashion shows and film festivals populate the calendar, with a similar goal of cultivating and raising artistic creativity. “Our focus on the arts is extensive,” Rev. Fesler says. “We’re preparing to celebrate Black History Month in February with readings, performances and visual arts.” That will include a book signing and talk with Art Gilliam, whose book One America reflects on his life growing up in a segregated South during the 1950s. A weeklong Black Legends of Professional Basketball exhibit featuring memorabilia from the early years of the Harlem Globetrotters and New York Rens. With such an arts emphasis “it helps that most members of our staff are musicians of one sort or another,” Rev. Fesler adds. “That would also include me.” Yes, Rev. Fesler says he originally came to Nashville in the 1990s to play bluegrass music, but acknowledges, “I do more pastoring than picking these days.”
His role, he says, is to get out into the Nashville community and make a difference, such as his coordination of an ambitious Martin Luther King Day march. Civil rights, human rights and drug education are initiatives close to his heart, and he proudly points to major achievements statewide with the Church’s humanitarian programs. Scientology parishioners in Nashville have worked tirelessly to deliver the Church-sponsored “Truth About Drugs” campaign message, launching a Drug-Free Tennessee initiative to bring awareness of the impact of drugs to youth in the state through schools and a variety of events. “When I see police officers delivering drug booklets we have given them,” says Rev. Fesler, “I know that we’re making a difference.” But it is again Nashville’s artistic community that remains a primary focus for the Church, with its vigorous attention on elevating the creative culture of Music City. “Our mission is to raise up the artists, athletes, business and government leaders, and those who drive the community forward,” Sullivan says.
A recent example The Nashville Church of that undertak- sponsors a broad ing was a semi- array of community nar from author outreach programs David Carus at the including human Celebrity Centre, rights, personal values entitled “You Can and drug education initiatives. Be an Artist.” The Church also displayed artwork from artist Stephen Hackley who paints oil on canvas, the goal being to shine a deserving light on artists of particular merit. As a bonus, Sullivan discovered a high level of interest from many people in learning more about Scientology, which she ascribes in part to the Nashville area. “Having a sense of religion is very important to the people here. The interest and warmth from the Nashville community is very strong.” An example is Anna Maria Franzella, an acting coach and voice teacher in Nashville. “When you come to something new like a religion, it can take some time to warm to it,” says Franzella. “But the truth is, Scientologists are the real deal. The president of the Nashville Church is www.freedommag.org | 55
a true life force. The knowledge she has, and her willingness to demonstrate and teach, have been a singular joy.” Franzella—who is not a Scientologist— gives an unconditional rave to the people she has met at the Nashville Church. “They’re all loving, caring, very professional and focused,” she offers. “It’s very rare in this world to meet people as genuine as they are.” Likewise relating positive experience at the Nashville Scientology Church is Elaine Allen, an artist and talented fine artist who has attended several of the art-related Celebrity Centre seminars. She was invited to participate in the annual Artlightenment Art Show and Film Festival that features local Nashville talent ranging from painters to sculptors and screenwriters to photographers. She was both a buyer and a seller at Artlightenment. “My work is meant to be upThe Nashville Church’s lifting and ennobling,” Allen concert hall is available to says, “and I’ve found that my the community for jam positive message fits together well with the Church’s. sessions, rehearsals for plays, “My philosophy of art is that poetry readings and pretty what you hang on your walls should encourage you to live much any creative endeavor your best life. I feel like the that can be imagined. Church has embraced me for that reason.” Indeed, Allen confirms that all of the talk about inspiring artists on the path to creative success isn’t just talk. “A staff member at the Nashville Church personally sat down with me, listened to my dreams and goals and helped me map out a plan for how to get it going,” she says. “That’s been very satisfying and quite appreciated.” Going forward, the Nashville Church’s concert hall is available to the community for jam sessions, rehearsals for plays, poetry readings and pretty much any creative endeavor that can be imagined. Mr. Hubbard wrote in his book Science of Survival, “The artist works with life and with universes. He can deal with any level of communication. He can create any reality. He can enhance or inhibit any affinity…. The artist has an enormous role in the enhancement of today’s and the creation of tomorrow’s reality.” The reality of today and tomorrow continues in Music City. n 56
www.freedommag.org | 57
cientology news Kate Ceberano
Meet Andrés López
David Pomeranz
Celebrities from around the world who are using their powers for good.
Despite what we’ve been conditioned
Ruddy Rodriguez
Maria Lara
beyond Fame by Dylan J. Ward
58
to believe, “celebrity” connotes more than fame. If someone truly deserves to be celebrated, they should use their recognition for good, to open humanitarian doors and change the world for the better. Ideally they should see themselves not as privileged royalty but honored messengers who have been chosen to propel a cause far greater than themselves—who care more about the many than about their money. In that spirit, we introduce you to five top entertainers from around the globe who have achieved fame in their respective countries. As practicing Scientologists, they have each used the platform created by their fame to significantly make the world a better place. Each one has received the prestigious Freedom Medal, a special recognition presented by the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) for stellar accomplishments and tireless efforts on behalf of the Church’s social betterment initiatives. www.freedommag.org | 59
Maria Lara One of three winners of last year’s Freedom Medal, Maria Lara has appeared in some 30 telenovelas and is well-known throughout her native Colombia. But it is her dedication to making a humanitarian footprint that has helped Lara to connect with her people in a special way. A Scientologist since 2006, Lara seemed to understand instinctively that L. Ron Hubbard’s common-sense moral code The Way to Happiness was more than just a program designed to upraise humanity; it was a personal crusade. She began promoting it via a tireless campaign in her drug-ravaged home country and other nations, beginning with a successful appearance on the Colombia TV show “Good Morning”. “The Way to Happiness spoke to me,” Lara said. “I quickly realized that this was so much more important than only going to parties and having a big social life. I knew this is what mattered most in life, and I needed to be a messenger.” Lara began conducting seminars centered on the ethics and morality espoused in the 21 precepts of The Way to Happiness. She spoke to company executives and moved on to address corruption-plagued military forces and, finally, to law enforcement. She was a one-woman force of nature, taking her message to Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Mexico to reach tens of thousands of open ears. “I took four years off from my work as an actress to do just this,” Lara says. “I saw this as something that needed to happen, and the reactions of the people told me I was right.” Over the past eight years, Lara has personally given The Way to Happiness seminars to more than 120,000 people 60
across Latin America and reached 25 million more through television, radio and print media. She started acting again this fall but continues her relentless campaigning on behalf of an initiative that she has seen change lives. “I’m very fortunate because fame has given me this powerful tool,” she says. “It’s a responsibility and it’s a privilege to deliver the message. So many people come up to me after seminars to say, ‘It has changed my life. It has shown me how to be happy.’ That’s really the greatest gift I could ever receive.”
Kate Ceberano Kate Ceberano is a third-generation Scientologist from Melbourne, Australia, and also a Freedom Medal winner. She has been a musical star in the land Down Under since breaking out as lead singer with the funk band I’m Talking in the mid-1980s. She has been entertaining audiences and selling records for more than three decades with a string of Top 10 hits, platinum discs and awards over a 23-album career, recently becoming the first woman to be inducted into the Australian Songwriters Association Hall of Fame. But what motivates the effervescent Ceberano isn’t only the chance to promote her latest album or take home another prize. It is also the opportunity to champion Church-backed humanitarian causes, from literacy and moral values to drug rehab and the quest for human rights. Ceberano has been walking this walk since before she was a teenager, performing at fundraisers for local social betterment programs in Melbourne at 12. She is also her nation’s most prominent Scientologist, proudly wearing the
mantle and saying simply, “The secret of my success is Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard’s technology.” Embracing the religion in childhood helped Ceberano employ what she learned to drive her life from the beginning. “For every tool I get and have applied, I go out and prove to myself that there is something I can do to change lives,” she stresses. That includes her promotion of Study Technology—the educational method developed by Mr. Hubbard—and raising money for a school in Australia implementing it. Ceberano is also a passionate voice on behalf of the Church’s Youth for Human Rights initiative and in raising awareness to the dangers of drug abuse and the virtues of a drug-free life. “Drugs kill the mind. They kill the spirit. They kill all the goodness in a person,” she says. To that end, she promotes what she sees as the solution: Championing the Narconon drug rehab technology based on Mr. Hubbard’s discoveries and performing dozens of benefit concerts in support of it. And she crusades against the unrestrained psychopharmaceutical drugging of children, calling it “an abomination.”
Andrés López have positively impacted the radically improved situation in his homeland. But it’s likely he can take a share of the credit for his unflagging work in disseminating The Way to Happiness program since he became a Scientologist in 2003. López—who has performed his comedy for millions of fans—parlayed his renown to deliver The Way to Happiness seminars for thousands of members of Colombia’s scandal-wracked armed forces. That led to presentations to private companies and government agencies, where he used a dash of mirth to impart a message of morality, ethical behavior and contentment. In 2009 he delivered seminars to more than 15,000 members of the Ecuador Police Force. Annually, López presents seminars to more than 20,000 people on average, with some 250 talks specifically for the armed forces and national police. In Ecuador, he was appointed an honorary police officer. In Colombia, the Defense Ministry awarded him the title Soldier of Happiness. So successful were The Way to Happiness talks that he next created a seminar centered on the embrace of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. López was awarded an IAS Freedom Medal in 2009. “What we found in creating our group is that people really want to help, and once the audience members hear what we have to say, they respond,” López says.
Andrés López In 2004, the United Nations described the violence gripping the nation of Colombia as “the worst humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere.” A decade later, crime rates have dropped markedly, tourism in the South American nation has soared, and there is a sense that the worst of times have been weathered and a brighter day has dawned. It is impossible to know how much the efforts of Colombian stand-up comedian Illustration by Peter Green Design
Ruddy Rodriguez In 2005, a time of significant civil unrest in her native Venezuela, Ruddy Rodriguez did her part to diffuse the situation with her work promoting The Way to Happiness
precepts. She joined forces with The Way to Happiness Foundation in that nation to spark a moral resurgence through mass booklet distribution and public service announcements broadly televised. The effort earned Rodriguez an IAS Freedom Medal honor that same year. Yet it was hardly an isolated case. The former beauty queen—winner of the Miss Venezuela World title in 1985—has been a dedicated Scientologist since 1997 and has supported The Way to Happiness Foundation since 2001. It is Rodriguez’s success as an actress and model in Venezuela that has made her a stalwart member of the Artists for a Better Venezuela group. Her career has included acting parts in some three dozen television serial dramas and 10 movies, while also working as a successful model. But her passion has been The Way to Happiness, making countless appearances to place the book in the hands of hundreds of thousands of fellow Venezuelans as well as in Spain and elsewhere. “The message of the book applies to life,” Rodriguez says. “Happiness lies in doing worthwhile activities. And there is nothing more worthwhile than The Way to Happiness.” That was particularly true back in 2005 when Venezuela was suffering a series of crises that spurred a massive public backlash among the citizenry. The Way to Happiness, she believes, was instrumental in helping to restore a sense of calm and understanding. Since 2005, in fact, millions of copies of The Way to Happiness have been distributed throughout Venezuela in Caracas, Maracaibo, Barquisimeto and Valencia as well as along the Venezuela-Colombia border where drug trafficking is rampant. Rodriguez has been actively involved in that distribution. She has also spearheaded a media campaign of public service announcements in 2013 called Artists for a Secure and Prosperous Venezuela. “What I tell people,” Rodriguez says, “is that The Way to Happiness gives you a route in life. It guides you. It’s there to tell you where the bend is, where the detour comes. And when you know the curve is coming, you can turn and avoid running into the same rock again.”
David Pomeranz American singer, composer, lyricist and multi-platinum recording artist David Pomeranz has written songs for scores of artists such as Barry Manilow, Missy Elliott, Freddie Mercury, Isaac Hayes and Bette Midler. His songwriting and recording projects have generated 22 platinum and 18 gold albums—selling over 40 million copies. He is also a composer for Musical Theater whose shows have premiered in London, off Broadway and Broadway. A Scientologist for more than 30 years, Pomeranz has performed worldwide on behalf of drug education, human rights and moral enrichment initiatives of the Church of Scientology, for which he received an IAS Freedom Medal in 2009. Fans in the Philippines in particular have long revered Pomeranz as an icon. His 1999 Greatest Hits compilation Born for You, became the top International Pop album of all time in that country. But for Filipinos, Pomeranz’s actual greatest hits are his and wife Kelly Yaegermann’s help creating the first Scientology Enhancement Center in Manila and working with the Philippine DEA, the Red Cross, and Narconon drug rehab. He also spearheaded a major media campaign for the book Dianetics and in 2013 introduced Volunteer Minister techniques to thousands of his fans. In accepting his IAS Medal, Pomeranz told the audience, “We have the actual wherewithal in our hands right this minute to dispel all the pain and suffering that Man has endured for eons. To ignore the opportunity to share it would be unthinkable. I am proud to be part of a group dedicated to a future where regard for one’s fellow man counts for something, where art doesn’t degrade but inspires.” n www.freedommag.org | 61
ron hubbard essay
Respect the Religious Beliefs of Others. by L. Ron Hubbard
Tolerance is a good cornerstone on which
to build human relationships. When one views the slaughter and suffering caused by religious intolerance down all the history of Man and into modern times, one can see that intolerance is a very non-survival activity. Religious tolerance does not mean one cannot express his own beliefs. It does mean that seeking to undermine or attack the religious faith and beliefs of another has always been a short road to trouble. Philosophers since the times of ancient Greece have disputed with one another about the nature of God, Man and the universe. The opinions of authorities ebb and flow: just now the philosophies of “mechanism”1 and “materialism”2—dating as far back as Ancient Egypt and Greece—are the fad: they seek to assert that all is matter and overlook that, neat as their explanations of evolution may be, they still do not rule out additional factors that might be at work, that might be merely using such things as evolution. They are today the “official” philosophies and are even taught in schools. They have their own zealots who attack the beliefs and religions of others: the result can be intolerance and contention. If all the brightest minds since the fifth century B.C. or before have never been able to agree on the subject of religion or anti-religion, it is an arena of combat between people that one would do well to stay out of. In this sea of contention, one bright principle has emerged: the right to believe as one chooses. “Faith” and “belief” do not necessarily surrender to logic: they cannot even be declared to be illogical. They can be things quite apart.
Any advice one might give another on this subject is safest when it simply asserts the right to believe as one chooses. One is at liberty to hold up his own beliefs for acceptance. One is at risk when he seeks to assault the beliefs of others, much more so when he attacks and seeks to harm them because of their religious convictions. Man, since the dawn of the species, has taken great consolation and joy in his religions. Even the “mechanist” and “materialist” of today sound much like the priests of old as they spread their dogma. Men without faith are a pretty sorry lot. They can even be given something to have faith in. But when they have religious beliefs, respect them. The way to happiness can become contentious when one fails to respect the religious beliefs of others. n
mechanism: the view that all life is only matter in motion and can be totally explained by physical laws. Advanced by Leucippus and Democritus (460 B.C. to 370 B.C.) who may have gotten it from Egyptian mythology. Upholders of this philosophy felt they had to neglect religion because they could not reduce it to mathematics. They were attacked by religious interests and in their turn attacked religions. Robert Boyle (1627–1691), who developed Boyle’s Law in physics, refuted it by raising the question as to whether or not nature might have designs such as matter in motion. 1
materialism: any one of a family of metaphysical theories which view the universe as consisting of hard objects such as stones, big or very small. The theories seek to explain away such things as minds by saying they can be reduced to physical things or their motions. Materialism is a very ancient idea. There are other ideas. 2
www.freedommag.org | 63
hat is scientology?
The CHURCH of
SC IE N T OLO G Y
Targets & Goals
works with over
50,000 SCHOOLS
BUSINESSES
VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATIONS
GOVERNMENTS
EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
The achievement of one’s
goals, no matter how large or small the endeavor, relies on goals, purposes and activities being aligned and organized. One can be working toward a goal, but discover that his actions do not yield any forward progress. This occurs not only for an individual in his life, but also for an organization, state or country of any size. This can be a result of the plans, actions and other factors not being aligned to attain the goal. There are actually a number of subjects that make up an activity. Each of these must operate in a coordinated manner to achieve success in the intended accomplishment of the envisioned goal.
64
A scale has been developed in Scientology which gives a sequence (and relative seniority) of subjects relating to organization. GOALS: A goal is a known objective toward which actions are directed with the purpose of achieving that end. PURPOSES: A purpose is a lesser goal applying to specific activities or subjects. It often expresses future intentions. POLICY: Policy consists of the operational rules or guides for the organization which are not subject to change.
PLANS: A plan is a shortrange broad intention thought up for the handling of a broad area to remedy it or expand it, or to obstruct or impede an opposition to expansion. PROGRAMS: A program is a series of steps in sequence to carry out a plan. PROJECTS: A project is a sequence of steps written to carry out one step of a program. ORDERS: An order is a verbal or written direction to carry out a program step or apply general policy. IDEAL SCENES: An ideal scene expresses what a scene or area ought to be. If one has not envisioned an ideal scene with which to compare the existing scene, he will not be able to recognize departures from it.
STATISTICS: A statistic is a number or amount compared to an earlier number or amount of the same thing. Statistics refer to the quantity of work done or the value of it. VALUABLE FINAL PRODUCTS: A valuable final product is a product that can be exchanged for the services or goods of the society. This scale is worked up and worked down UNTIL IT IS (EACH ITEM) IN FULL AGREEMENT WITH THE REMAINING ITEMS. This scale and its parts and ability to line them up are one of the most valuable tools of organization. n
© 2015 Church of Scientology International. All Rights Reserved. Grateful acknowledgement is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. Scientology, Hubbard, Scientology symbol and Freedom are trademarks and service marks owned by Religious Technology Center and are used with its permission. Scientologist is a collective membership mark designating members of the official churches and missions of Scientology. The Way to Happiness is a trademark owned by L. Ron Hubbard Library in the USA and in other countries (trademark registration issued and other registrations pending) and is used with permission. Printed in USA.
COMMUNITY GROUPS
MILITARY
CHURCHES
HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
TO MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE Our Help is Yours sc ie nto lo g y. o r g