Open Letter from Steve Allen to Heber Jentzsch, President,
Church of Scientology. (As printed in Skeptic Magazine,
Volume 5, Number 1, 1997 and keyed-in by Fredric L. Rice.)
May 11, 1995. When I ran into uyou at an airport a few
weeks ago, there was no opportunity to have a talk, but
since I have about 49 seconds free between appointments at
this office this morning is occurs to me that you might be
interested in an idea that I have suggested to you and other
Scientologists before.
When I spoke at a convention in the East quite a few months
ago, a convention at which a dozen or so Scientologists
were in attendance, I said something to them along the
following lines.
"But I also suggest that it is not because of those
views that your group doesn't have a very good
reputation. There are other churches that, in the
opinion of non-members, have some truly bizarre beliefs
but no one dislikes the individual members as a result
of those beliefs.
"The Mormons are a perfect example. No non-Mormon on
Earth accepts a word of Mormon assertions about the
experiences of Joseph Smith, visits with angels, golden
plates, etc. But despite that fact the Mormons have a
very good social reputation. A number of my personal
friends are Mormons and they are for the most part
lovely and socially decent people.
"But -- again -- the same _cannot_ be said of
Scientologists. And if I were you it would occur to
me to wonder why. So, to save you a little wondering
time, I'll tell you why right now. You have the
reputation as just about the worst bullies this side
of the National Rifle Association. I've talked this
over with some of you and you've said that the terrible
harassments and crimes are a thing of the past. that
you've learned from your earlier mistakes, etc. That
may be true and I certainly hope that it is, not only
for your sake but for the sake of everyone else
concerned. But to be honest, many people doubt that
Scientology has reform itself in this particular
regard."
As I say, Heber, those couldn't possibly have been my actual
words but they do represent the point I was making at the
convention. Really shameful harassments, telephone threats,
and similar offenses are continuing to be perpetrated by
individual Scientologists. Now it is theoretically possible
that you personally don't know about the above incidents.
It may even be that you have advised your fellow-believers
to cease that sort of harassment, either because you are a
marvelous fellow and recognize the evil for what it is, or
because you've realized -- purly out of the church's
self-interest -- that that kind of conduct is precisely the
sort of "public relations" which has gotten the Church of
Scientology into such a bad odor in the first place.
If you are simply being devious and dishonest yourself and
are perfectly aware of the kind of harassment which has
been for a good many years typical of Scientology's
response to perfectly fair criticism, then I don't really
know what I have to say to you except to implore you to
consider the possibility of reforming yourself individually
and then trying to spread the good word to your fellow
believers. Hey, maybe you should just walk away from
Scientology and go back to the Mormon fold.
-- Steve Allen Van Nuys, California.
The Skeptics Society
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Most will recognize Mr. Steve Allen as a well-known actor who may
also be widely recognized for having performed outside of comedy
in the old "Chock Full of Nuts" coffee commercials which once aired
on commercial television.
Mr. Steve Allen, however, is also a skeptic, a Humanist, a member
of the Intelligencia who offers American social and political
commentary, and is an author of numerous books including:
'"Dumbth" And 81 ways to make Americans Smarter.' Mr. Allen's
office has an E-Mail address which I'll pass along to members of
the ARSCC for legitimate contacts if you're interested.
This open letter appears to have been written before Mr. Heber
Jentzsch and 68 other Scientology officials and fall-guys were
arrested in Madrid, Spain, for exactly the type of offenses
which Mr. Allen underscores in his open letter. And it appears
as though Mr. Allen isn't aware of Heber's history inside of the
Scientology organization, or of the way that Heber Jentzsch
acquired the mock title of "International President" of the
criminal organization. Other than those areas, it does appear
as though Mr. Steve Allen is fully up on what Scientology is.
Return to The Skeptic Tank's main Index page.
"If I may make a suggestion to you folks, whatever your
purly religious views are, you're entitled to them and
they are more or less in the category of not anyone
else's business.
Post Office Box 338
Altadena, CA. 91001
skepticmag@aol.com
26/May/00 Note by Fredric L. Rice:
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