While walking along to get some errands done, I passed an accident. Three cars had somehow collided in an intersection. One police officer was already on the scene and he was obviously calling for more help. As I was walking further, an ambulance passed, probably on it’s way to the scene of the accident (though I had not seen anything that indicated more than some severely damaged cars). On my way back home, I passed the same intersection. They were now redirecting traffic. I realized that the accident must’ve been more severe than I had originally thought after only a cursory look. Then I remembered Tom Cruise’s comments about accidents: “As you drive past an accident, it’s not like anyone else, you know you have to do something about it […] because you know you’re the only one who can help.” No, Tom Cruise has not used the money he earned as an actor to pursue a medical career. He is talking about Scientology. Apparently, the Church of Scientology uniquely enables its members to help at sites of accidents. Don’t worry about police officers. Don’t even expect help from paramedics. Just call for a Scientologist and everything will be all right. Such outdated thinking is simply mind-boggling to me. How can anybody, especially someone with the influence of a Tom Cruise, say crap like that? The release of the Tom Cruise video has sparked a debate about Scientology (or rather reenergized that debate). More than a debate, really. A debunking of the myths they’re trying to spread with the help of spokesmen like Cruise. It looks like there is a groundswell of anti-Scientology building despite the fear of reprisals (that, I admit, I have, too). Many of us are tired of being bullied into silence by religious fundamentalists (here is an interesting video on how CoS does that, filmed in the late 1990s, about Scientology in France). It is time to take a stand by not being afraid to debunk Scientology, tell the truth about them, and, of course my favorite, come out as atheists to show that rational living is not only possible but also ethical.

(Note that Germany has moved to ban Scientology… If only they’d close day care centers by the Catholic Church or the Protestants, too, they’d really move in the direction of preventing early childhood religious indoctrination.)