If Scientology can be Clear, it can be transparent, too.
It’s time to acknowledge that the Foundation for a Slavery Free World is a Scientology front organization.
See the article above from People magazine with the photo of Riverdale star Marisol Nichols? The Dec. 10 article praises the Foundation for a Slavery Free World for its work in raising public awareness of human trafficking. Nowhere in the article does the reporter mention the foundation’s sponsor, the Church of Scientology. Go figure. Despite claiming that “thousands upon thousands of Scientologists all over the world are Clear,” it seems the Church has trouble being transparent.
Despite claiming that “thousands upon thousands of Scientologists all over the world are Clear,” it seems the Church has trouble being transparent.
It’s obvious the church has “transparency issues” after one conducts some online sleuthing and discovers that Nichols’ foundation has ties to Youth For Human Rights International (YHRI), a Scientology-sponsored group.
I wrote about YHRI a year ago on Medium after learning that some educational human rights posters and booklets I frequently used in my middle school classroom were published by the church’s Los Angeles-based Dissemination and Distribution Center, as mentioned in this video.
There’s no doubt that the Foundation for a Slavery Free World is a front organization of the Church of Scientology due to its relationship with YHRI. For example, Dr. Mary Shuttleworth is an advisory board member for the foundation and is listed on the “Our Team” menu at the foundation’s website; she is also founder and president of YHRI.
Shuttleworth’s son is Taron Lexton, founder and director of TXL Films, a Burbank, Calif.-based production company that creates human rights videos for Scientology. Marisol Nichols was married to Lexton for ten years; in November, she filed for divorce from the filmmaker.
Critics of the Church of Scientology question the credibility of an organization that claims to raise awareness of human trafficking, yet commits documented human rights abuses in its own facilities. For example, Mike Rinder, a former church executive who now appears on Emmy award-winning Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, wrote this in a post on his blog:
“Do you think Marisol Nichols has a clue about human trafficking? I don’t. If she did she would be briefing them on the changes the IAS (International Association of Scientologists) has enforced at Gold to reduce human trafficking there. After all, why not start at home? You don’t need to go to Africa to find real human trafficking.”
The “Gold” that Rinder refers to is the 700-acre formerly secret compound known as Gold Base, the international headquarters for the church and its controversial Sea Org cadre near Hemet, Calif.
According to this DailyMail.com article, “Outraged former members say that conditions are anything but fraternal and have painted Sea Org — which stands for Sea Organisation, a reference to the church’s early days sailing the globe on ships — as slavery by another name. Some 800 of the 6,000 Sea Org members are at Gold Base at any given time, but all of them can expect to spend some of their toughest years in the church there.” It’s hypocritical for the Church of Scientology to espouse human rights while violating them at the same time.
I have no connection to the Church of Scientology nor do I know anyone (other than those readers who commented on my previous post) who is or has been involved with the cult. However, an article about the Foundation for a Slavery Free World should clearly state the church’s affiliation.
In fact, why wouldn’t it? Why would a legitimate group of believers hide its identity in the first place? Answer: because the group isn’t legitimate in the first place.
And that’s what really bothers me, Church of Scientology. Be forthright. Own up to everything you do. Stop hiding.
Better yet, stop abusing your members. Stop practicing the activities that compel you to hide. Come out, come out wherever you are. If you can be Clear, you can be transparent, too.
