November 17, 2017 To: My Friends Anastasia, Constancia, Galina, Ivan and Sahib! Know that we are with you. Not a day goes by when I am not thinking of you. Freedom is the goal of all Mankind. Freedom, Total Freedom, is what Scientology stands for. In the Prayer for Total Freedom—the central prayer of Scientology—our Founder wrote:
“At this time, we think of those whose liberty is threatened; of those who have suffered imprisonment for their beliefs; of those who are enslaved or martyred.”
Today our prayers are with you. We are a new religion. And as with all religions through the ages, we have been unjustly attacked in our formative years. But do not forget: Falsehood must become exposed by the truth, and truth, though fought, always in the end prevails. To say that Scientologists engage in extremism is absurd. We are the opposite of extremists. Indeed, there has never been a less extremist religion in all of Man’s history. As you know, we fight no wars, we respect those of other faiths and in human living we work day-in and day-out to help resolve conflicts of others.
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But as we have discovered time and time again, false reports about us and our religion are the source of these unjust attacks. However, please do not become distraught. It is unfortunate the people in government are given false reports by ill-intentioned people. It is not the first time it has happened to us. But do not forget we and our people have been vindicated in every instance. What is being falsely said about you today was said about Scientologists in Australia in the 1960’s. There it resulted in a Parliamentary Inquiry! The result? We challenged and exposed the falsehoods in the courts and emerged victorious with a landmark decision by the Supreme Court. That court decision is, today, the precedential ruling on the very definition of religion and charity in Australia. And it is the court decision now used by the government to judge other religions and charities. In Spain, anti-Scientologists gave false reports to the police who, relying on those false reports, raided our Church with machine guns and imprisoned top officials of our International Church. Again, no matter the suppressive circumstances, we prevailed. All charges were ruled as unfounded and both our Church and officials were
“Absolved without reservation
.
”
The courts then ordered the government to enter us in the official rolls of the Religious Ministry! The same happened in Italy. Based on false reports of anti-Scientologists, our Churches, every one, were raided and shut down. Again, we had to expose the falsehoods. The Result? Full exoneration and, again, a precedent-setting court decision for all of Italy. Italy’s highest court ruled our activities and donations to be more fair than the Catholic Church! Then there was the discrimination we suffered in England, once again, based on false reports. But after exposing those falsehoods with the truth, in 2013 no less than the UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously in our favor with full religious recognition of Scientology! Even more recently, there was Belgium, where authorities listened to false reports from so-called “anti-sect authorities,” raiding our Church multiple times over a ten-year period. When that case finally went to trial, in 2016, the Judge, after hearing all “evidence,” not only dismissed all charges, but also reprimanded the government for their misconduct in listening to such
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obvious and blatant false reports about us. The false reports were the very same being made about you today. And yet, just last year, they were, once again, utterly disproven. Finally, of course, there is the United States. After 40 years of false reports—in fact, the
source
of these false reports—we disproved them all with a landmark decision recognizing every one of our Churches and humanitarian activities as
exclusively
charitable. So, remember, we have been through religious persecution before. And while this history does not alleviate your situation and the suffering you are experiencing, it does demonstrate that in the end truth
can
and
does
prevail. And please know: There are many people, world-over, working to overcome this injustice to
you
. _______________ I call on Russia to engage in dialogue. Russia must know this history. No doubt those responsible for violating your rights have also been given false reports about you. The fact is, they are being given the same false reports we have
disproven
in court after court, country after country. Whoever is making these false reports has not told them the truth as to this history. Russian authorities can understand this. After all, how many falsehoods are spread about Russia itself by the very same media that has spread falsehoods about us? Russia is a great country with a great future. The Church of Scientology and Scientologists in countries all over the world have always aspired to, and will continue to strive for, a contribution to the well-being of Russians in close cooperation with Russian authorities. As you well know from me, personally, we wish nothing but a flourishing and prospering Russia. The fight against drug addiction and crime, the instillation of morality in society and assistance of victims in natural disasters are just a few examples of the benefits that Scientologists bring to more than 165 countries.