For those already uncomfortable with the erosion of the separation of church and state in voucher programs and faith-based programs under Presidents Bush and Obama, a new proposal in Flint Michigan is likely to seen the inevitable result of this trend. The Flint city council is considering using police and other public officers to distribute copies of “The Way To Happiness,” a book by Scientology creator L. Ron Hubbard.
Scientologist Monika Biddle reportedly introduced the council to the book during an August 22 meeting as a way to reverse the high rates of crime and poverty in the city. The message appeared to resonate with Councilwoman Monica Galloway (right) who said “We need to sow [values] into these children [because these] are things they are not getting.”
While presented as a nonreligious moral code, the book is obviously associated with Scientology and written by its founder. Putting aside the controversy over Scientology and the view of some countries that it is a cult or criminal organization, there remains the more pressing question of the use of material closely associated with a religious organization. The book contains 20 different principles like “Don’t Be Promiscuous,” “Be Temperate,” and “Do Not Murder.” It has been distributed by The Way to Happiness Foundation which claims a distribution of 100 million copies of the book all over the world. The Foundation and distribution of the book has been the source of long controversy around the country, particularly in schools.
Police Chief James Tolbert did not balk at the notion of police officers passing out the book. He is quoted as saying “From the information I’ve seen, apparently it works. I’m for anything that works.” (You may recall Tolbert from the Detroit scandals)
Secularists have objected to the plan for obvious reasons. First, the use of public employees to distribute such a book is highly troubling, particularly when the book is written by a religious leader. I would feel the same if it is Hubbard or a rabbi or the Pope. It further erases the line of separation that is already under fire in our society. Second, the notion that a book like this will save the city of Flint shows how detached from reality some members of the government have become. The idea that a police officer will hand a copy of this book to a drug dealer and he will suddenly realize that killing and promiscuity is wrong seems less than likely. Finally, the role of politicians in trying to instill morality in a population is a dangerous proposition. Not only are politicians the last group that I would look to for such lessons, they often use such gimmicks to take away from the fact that they are making no serious efforts to address these social problems.
Flint has enormous and growing problems. It will not help its image with investors to be seen as using public employees to pass out a book like this. More importantly, it will not help its citizens. Flint has lost too much in jobs, the environment, schools and other areas. It does not need to add the separation of church and state as another casualty of its long-standing downturn.
Darren: sorry for all the repeats! Couldn’t figure out why they weren’t posting
Annie, haha, thanks!
Michelle, WordPress is nutty sometimes. We usually just yell “My comment was eaten by WordPress, help!” or something like that and usually one of the people with administration privileges goes to get it and posts it, if they happen to be around. Try rewording it and resubmitting I again, Frustrating, I know.
I do enjoy this site, it is a Christian site, coming from the left. I’m an agnostic as I’ve said before. I think that the principle of Seperation of Church and State should be honored. Our Founders were wise.
http://www.thechristianleft.org/
I’ve also been trying to post about Squeeky’s ignorant equation of TWTH with Aristotle’s Nicomedean Ethics: To compare L Ron to Aristotle is laughable. Your doing so shows your ignorance of one or the other–or both. Anything worthwhile that L Ron stole from other sources tends to get negated by the mold in which he recasts it. And yes, I have read both.
Annie: weird,I haven’t posted any links. I have been trying to post a response to the problem of using TWTH, but it won’t seem to go through
Squeeky, I will reiterate I have never equated Satanism with Christianity. I have absolutely NO problem with Christianity, I do admit to having problems with fundamentalism in ALL it’s forms.
Annie: weird,I haven’t posted any links. I have been trying to post a response to the problem of using TWTH, but it won’t seem to go through. So here it is again: The problem with this is that the Way to Happiness, like anything put out by Scientology, despite everything they claim to the contrary, is a recruiting tool for the cult. L Ron Hubbard came up with it at a time when the organization needed some positive PR after years of FBI investigations, raids and the prosecution of some of its top members. Anything that recruits even one member to the cult is a dangerous thing.
Michelle Barnes, I retrieved your comment at 2:51.
@Annie
No, that is exactly what you did, and have been doing for quite a while. You have some kind of bone to pick with Christianity, but rather than just come right out and admit your hatred, you sneak around and try to destroy it and undermine it on the sly. Or, you are just ignorant of what you are doing.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Michelle, WordPress sometimes ‘eats’ comments if they have more than two links in them.
@squeeky The problem with this is that the Way to Happiness, like anything put out by Scientology, despite everything they claim to the contrary, is a recruiting tool for the “church”. L Ron Hubbard came up with it at a time when the organization needed some positive PR after years of FBI investigations, raids and the prosecution of some of its top members. Anything that recruits even one member to the the “church” is a dangerous thing.
Michelle Barnes, I retrieved your comment at 2:46.
Thanks Michelle, I just found that Xenu site.
http://www.xenu.net/
I had also posted a longer comment regarding squeeky’s question regarding “the problem” with using TWTH: The gist was this:The problem with this is that the Way to Happiness, like anything put out by Scientology, despite everything they claim to the contrary, is a recruiting tool for the cult. L Ron Hubbard came up with it at a time when the organization needed some positive PR after years of FBI investigations, raids and the prosecution of some of its top members. Anything that recruits even one member to the cult is a dangerous thing.
Michelle Barnes, I retrieved your comment at 2:45.
“Religion is the opiate of the masses.”
The current “masses” in Flint COVETED what the founders of Flint had. They moved in to obtain their share of the “free stuff.” All good things must end. The capable, motivated, ambitious and incentivized founders moved on leaving the “masses” to their own devices. Looks like they don’t have any. Life was good as long as they could COVET and confiscate “other people’s money.” What to do now?
Pass the opiates please.
Annie: my posts seem to keep getting lost, so I’m sorry if this ends up as a repeat. Xenu.net is a great place to start. Also, if you just google Jesus as Implant or Jesus and Scientology, you’ll come up with a bunch of stuff. THere’s even a wikipedia page about it.
@annie If you google Jesus as implant or Jesus and Scientology, a bunch of stuff comes up. There’s even wikipedia page on it. You found Xenu.net, which is an excellent place to start.
I tried to post a longer response to Squeeky’s post about no seeing what the problem with TWTH is, and her ignorant equation of TWTH and Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics, but it seems to be lost in time and space. Basically my point was, however, that the problem with this is that the Way to Happiness, like anything put out by Scientology, despite everything they claim to the contrary, is a recruiting tool for the cult. L Ron Hubbard came up with it at a time when the organization needed some positive PR after years of FBI investigations, raids and the prosecution of some of its top members. Anything that recruits even one member to the cult is a dangerous thing.
Michelle Barnes, I retrieved your comment at 2:40.
I don’t believe I equated Satanism and Christianity Squeeky.
http://www.xenu.net/archive/infopack/5.htm
Ok, I found this. It looks like Hubbard actually agrees that it’s OK to destroy your enemies, this and more many in this listing of Hubbard in his own words. Hmmm, I don’t know if we want to promote that to the youth of Flint, Michigan.
@annie
Yes, Annie, I have heard about the more seedy side of Scientology. What difference does that make if the book is presented in a non-religious format? Do you want hungry people to reject food because it comes from a church???
My point is, that your equating Satanism and Christianity requires some pretense that the two are equivalent because both of them are religions. You might as well pretend that Nazis and the Democrats are equivalent because they are both political parties.
Your distinction blurring means one could not teach the Constitution without teaching Mein Kampf, or teach neither of them, because they both are political theories. Sorry, but the only purpose for doing that is a desire to destroy the good. Or sheer ignorance.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Wow Michelle, I didn’t realize Hubbard said those things, disgusting. Now I’m interested, going to go do a bit of research. Michelle if you have any links handy to some of those crazy things Hubbard said, could you post a link or two?