New religions often face the challenge of being recognized and accepted in the world at large, one need look no further than the founding of Christianity to witness plenty of examples.

Christians being fed to lions was the in vogue weekend entertainment for a time in Rome.

Life can be hard and to survive the arena we all have to have a little lion about us.

That’s what gives Scientology its teeth.

I will never forget witnessing the Portland Crusade when I was young. I have never before nor since seen such an incredible mobilization of Scientologists.

Of course from the mid-80s the priority became to get the Orgs to Saint Hill size so OT IX & X could be released. Emphasis came off the Mission network and management put it’s focus on the Class V Org sector.

Of course this has now evolved into The Ideal Org program. While this program is taking time to get done, it’s being done the right way so it will only have to be done once. That in part is what justifies the price tag for the buildings and renovations.

The other aspect is the defense of the Church. It’s no secret that it is constantly under attack from suppressive elements in society, from its inception to today. This also comes with it’s own price tag, pursuing things in wog courts with the best lawyers available isn’t cheap. And this defense has to be funded by the members of the IAS.

Especially with the lengths to which Scientology has to go to in order to win some court cases, witness the Portland Crusade. Or the defense against the Lisa McPherson foundation. Also to produce and maintain the websites spreading the dirt on the likes of Mike Rinder and Leah Remini ain’t cheap.

This is part of what makes Scientology a brave religion, it’s collective membership is able to fund a massive war chest that defends the Church. One way I look at it is from the viewpoint of a forgiving parent bailing out a child as they grow and learn their way in the world. Scientology is still a very young religion and she’s does still need looking after when she gets into trouble.

For 70 years now the Church has been steadfastly defending itself from attacks using intensive litigation and sometimes Crusades. Of course with the advent of the internet, it is hardly about to get easier in the years to come, but the most hardcore will solider on. Bear in mind Christians were still being slaughtered in their millions by Stalin in the 1900s so it’s not a problem that is likely to go away anytime soon.

And there is something we can all do.

I remember from my time in CLO UK. When I joined in 1990 there was a relatively equal spread of staff in each branch of Management. So the FOLO which managed Orgs had 8 staff, SMI for Missions had 3, WISE for the business sector had 3, ABLE for the social betterment activities had 4 and OSA for legal affairs had 3.

When I left in 1998 the FOLO had 22 staff, OSA had 12 and SMI, WISE and ABLE were all managed by 1 person.

The switch in emphasis over the course of a decade to almost exclusive Class V Org management and OSA was completed in the 1990s.

Too many Missions have closed or ceased to operate, the WISE sector is just not capturing any significant part of the world’s business sector and ABLE is a bit of a bare-bones operation that gets good A/V material for PR purposes.

There was nothing more impressive to being in Scientology than when in 2005 after the boxing day tsunami hit Asia. 20 of us mobilized instantly from the UK.

We raised our own funds for flights by fund raising off the public doing their services at Saint Hill. We were all told to be sure we raised funds for our expenses if we never had our own personal money to use.

And once we got there, it was mostly staged events with local dignitaries for a photo op, or the odd trip into the field to get some ‘action’ shots.

This gives incredible material for PR purposes of course and obviously looks great at international events but I think it needs more emphasis and resources to deliver any actual assistance to anyone.

The Ideal Org program has to get completed. And as the bad PR continues and we endure this current lack of any new public, we can’t allow the emphasis to be just on the Orgs. Just because our membership has decreased from 100,000 in the 80s to 30,000 now is no excuse to not wear all the hats that need to be worn in society.

And the good news is that it is the best 30,000, the most dedicated, the most hardcore and upstat (affluent) who are still on board. Clearing the way to clear the planet. Digging deep and contributing where it counts. The extra emphasis on fund raising since 2000 has been a needed part of the cross we must now bear for our religion. A third of the Orgs are now Ideal since 2000, so by 2066 this project will be complete.

It won’t be long before we return to those heady days of 9,000 attendees at the IAS event instead of 4,000. Or get back to ad campaigns spreading the tech more than defending the Church’s PR.

And of course, continue the Ideal Org so there is the massive delivery potential needed for when our numbers do return to the 100,000s. But to get that influx of public the Mission and ABLE networks have to also be expanded. Otherwise, these big fancy Ideal Org buildings will just remain empty. Having a course room capacity for 200 is great but it looks better when you have more than a handful of students.

Every Scientologist should work to also expand these networks while of course, command intention concentrates on the Ideal Org program and Church defense.

KSW is the hat of every Scientologist.

It’s ironic the biggest attacks now come from ex-members and not the AMA or APA, so in effect for a generation now we’ve been creating our own worst enemies. One thing is sure – there’s keen participants on both sides willing to put a lot of time, money and effort into saying the other side is wrong.

The debate over the pros and cons of Scientology has been a very expensive one and zero progress has been made ultimately to settle the issue other than both sides washing their dirty laundry in the public arena.

Leah Remini’s TV series vs the Church’s anti-Leah websites are both keen and ‘official’ examples on how each side can be cultish in their bravery.

dortjuorfu@gmail.com