Profiles in Faith: Mr. David Miscavige – Ecclesiastical Leader of the Scientology Religion
- By Sam Field --
- 19 Jan 2022 --
Introduction
As ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, Mr. David Miscavige leads the only major world religion to emerge in the 20th century and flourish in the 21st.
Scientology is unique in that its entire scripture was written or recorded by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The Scripture of Scientology consists of more than 500,000 pages of L. Ron Hubbard’s writings and nearly 3,000 of his recorded lectures, according to the website of Religious Technology Center.
Hubbard evolved what he described as “a workable system, a route that can be traveled” to achieve spiritual freedom. It is a very precise route and one that must be followed exactly.
As Chairman of the Board Religious Technology Center (RTC), Mr. Miscavige bears the ultimate responsibility of ensuring the standard and purity of the Scripture and technologies of Dianetics and Scientology, now and into the future.
One of Mr. Miscavige’s most challenging and important accomplishments was his carrying out a 25-year, two-million-man-hour project to verify L. Ron Hubbard’s written and recorded works. He saw to the translation of all of Hubbard’s basic books, lectures and congresses into 16 languages and the beginning books of Dianetics and Scientology into 50 languages. To bring this legacy to the world, Mr. Miscavige saw to the establishment of fully digital publishing houses to produce these materials in any of these languages on demand. To guarantee Scientology would be available from this point forward, he oversaw an unparalleled archival project to preserve these works for the future.
Once the materials were verified as exactly as Hubbard intended, Mr. Miscavige was able to launch an entirely new era of its delivery with new training materials and courses. He had some 1,100 senior clergy from Churches in 37 nations come to the spiritual headquarters of the Church in Clearwater, Florida, where they trained and perfected their delivery of these materials and returned home to provide the highest quality of the technology in every Scientology Church in the world.
To guarantee the continued growth and expansion of the religion, he launched a program to create a new breed of Scientology Church, based on the description by L. Ron Hubbard of what an Ideal Scientology Church would consist of. These new churches would be the physical embodiment of Scientology technology, able to standardly deliver all Scientology services to parishioners in their fields. Ideal Churches are also configured to serve their communities with humanitarian and social betterment programs and facilities to serve as a meeting ground of cooperative effort for their communities.
In carrying out this strategy, Mr. Miscavige has met with hundreds of officials and civic and religious leaders when dedicating more than 60 Ideal Scientology Churches in cities across the globe.
How Mr. Miscavige Came to Assume a Position of Leadership in the Scientology Religion
Mr. Miscavige’s personal history in Scientology is every bit as noteworthy.
As a child, he suffered from debilitating asthma until he was brought to a Dianetics auditor (spiritual counselor). After one session, his asthma went into remission.
From an early age, Mr. Miscavige displayed the competence, commitment and compassion that have been his hallmark as the ecclesiastical leader of the Church.
Staff at Saint Hill, the spiritual headquarters of the Church in the UK, still remember him as the prodigy who trained to be a professional Scientology auditor by the age of 12.
At 16, he joined the Sea Organization, the religious order of the Scientology religion, and he was soon selected to work on a special project directly under L. Ron Hubbard who was producing films that would serve as a standard for the training of Scientology auditors.
He went on to accept a position in Church International Management, and by the time he was 18, L. Ron Hubbard was calling on him to carry out important assignments. Hubbard later described Mr. Miscavige as the heroic Church executive who identified and then cleared the ranks of rogue staff attempting to seize control of the Church, all while L. Ron Hubbard was engaged in intensive research and not directly involved in day-to-day Church management.
Mr. Miscavige brought the Church of Scientology through the critical juncture all new religions face: the passing of its founder. He settled decades-long conflict and discrimination from U.S. agencies particularly the Internal Revenue Service, securing tax exempt status for all U.S. Scientology Churches and related charitable organizations, and he saw to Scientology Churches gaining religious recognition in countries around the world.
To bring Scientology to the world, he established an international dissemination and distribution center and launched the Scientology television network that airs on DIRECTTV channel 320 and streams through the internet at Scientology.tv and through mobile aps and the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.
In His Own Words
In an article published in Premiere Magazine in 1993, Mr. Miscavige spoke of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and the scope of Dianetics and Scientology:
“Since 1950 when Dianetics was first released, there have been thousands of new ideas about man. Most were never attacked. You’ve also never heard of them, because obscurity is the reward for insignificance. Every significant new idea in history – every idea that truly challenges the way we think – has been attacked.
“When Galileo espoused the theory that the planets in our Solar System revolve around the Sun, he was ridiculed and placed under house arrest by the Catholic Church for the last eight years of his life. Later, when Harvey had the audacity to claim that arteries carry blood, not air, he also suffered derision from the entrenched establishment of the day. And of course, Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross for his ideas and teachings. It is only the great ideas that generate controversy; it is only great thinkers who are the subject of sustained attacks.
“The truth is that L. Ron Hubbard was a genius, ahead of his time and beyond simple categorization. And since the media are fixated on categories to fit preconceived ideas, they are generally unable to come to grips with Mr. Hubbard.
“Mr. Hubbard was a remarkably caring man whose humor, compassion and insight deeply affected those around him.
“Scientology is growing because it works. But don’t take my word for it. You’ve heard enough ‘about’ Scientology. Find out what it really is. Get a book on the subject by L. Ron Hubbard. Read it. Try it for yourself. And when it works for you, you’ll know what the fuss is all about.” – Mr. Miscavige in an article in the October 1993 edition of Premiere Magazine
“The answer to this planet’s problems will not be found in the material [its usual educational materials]. Of this there can be no question. For if those solutions can’t prevent war nation to nation, how then can they be expected to answer questions like love, happiness or peace of mind?
“Do people, at times, suspect offers of help? Unfortunately, they do. And it’s not surprising. Because too many times that help has failed. What people need are real solutions, real tools to deal with and effectively overcome human problems.”
“The aims of Scientology are a world without insanity, without criminals, without war, where the able can prosper and where Man is free to rise to greater heights. Also inherent in Scientology itself is that one take responsibility, not only for himself, but the world at large. And absolutely no part of those efforts have anything to do with mere belief or blind faith in a doctrine. Rather, we use what we know to help others, and we could care less about their race, creed, color or religion.” – Mr. Miscavige, August 7, 2004, in a speech delivered on the 35th anniversary of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles
“As Hubbard wrote in 1951: ‘The artist has an enormous role in the enhancement of today’s and the creation of tomorrow’s reality. He operates in a rank in advance of science as to the necessities and requirements of Man. The elevation of a culture can be measured directly by the numbers of its people working in the field of aesthetics. A society which in any way inhibits, suppresses or regiments its artists is a society not only low on the scale of emotion, but most certainly doomed. Because the artist deals in future realities, he always seeks improvements or changes in the existing reality. This makes the artist, inevitably and invariably, a rebel against the status quo. The artist, day by day, by postulating new realities of the future, accomplishes peaceful revolution. The artist injects the life into the culture, and without that life the culture becomes reactionary.’”
“[Mr. Hubbard] not only had compassion and respect for the artist, he was one. He knew from whence he spoke. As a writer through the 30s and 40s, through the depths of the Depression, he earned his way as a writer. He wasn’t just one of the figures of the pulp fiction era – he was the top of the heap.
“So yes, he most definitely understood it all: from the struggle to break through, to the critics sharpening their pencils in anticipation, to the ‘system’ and all that drives it. And that’s why a Celebrity Centre … As L. Ron Hubbard said, its purpose is ‘To take care of those who entertain, fashion and take care of the world.’” – Mr. Miscavige, August 7, 2004, in a speech delivered on the 35th anniversary of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles.
“Today, [Scientology Volunteer Ministers] are internationally known, and recognized, for what has been described as ‘spiritual first aid’ … Of course, that story began right here, at Ground Zero, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. With a city, indeed a nation, stunned into a state of shock, it was right here at this location you mobilized to bring help so desperately needed.”
“L. Ron Hubbard described a Volunteer Minister as: ‘One who does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence.’” – Mr. Miscavige in a September 26, 2004, speech at the dedication of the Ideal Church of Scientology at Times Square New York. It was restored and refurbished by the International Association of Scientologists in acknowledgement of the Church’s humanitarian work in the aftermath of 9/11
“This center … represents our recognition that all religions hold central truths in common and thus may work together to achieve the common dream of universal brotherhood. So from this day hence, it becomes your mission and destiny to extend your help across this legendary land. Let it be done in the spirit of Scientology so that your help is freely given, because it is all about freedom. And let it be one with supreme dedication, because only in that way we will realize the Aims of Scientology and thus a world without insanity, without criminality, without war – a world where the able can prosper, where honest beings have rights and all are free to rise to greater height.” – Mr. Miscavige at the dedication of the Center of Scientology for Israel in Tel Aviv, August 21, 2012
“It is my honor and privilege this evening to not only inaugurate this new National Office, but to simultaneously celebrate all this nation rests upon, including individual freedom, religious liberty, and a pursuit of the American Dream. For the fact is, the ideals of America are quite literally inherent to what we believe as a religion. And just as this nation was founded upon the principles of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, well, so too those principles are woven into the very fabric of our Scripture.”
“We are a very young religion. Hence, one can’t really compare our size to religions that began a thousand, two thousand or four thousand years ago. On the other hand, albeit just 60 years old, we now have a global presence. So, it is not just a boast when we say we were the only major religion to emerge in the 20th century.
“By the same token, however, track back history and you will find all great religions have had their time of growth. And for Scientology, that time is now.” – Mr. Miscavige at the Grand Opening to the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office in Washington, D.C., September 12, 2012.
“What all this represents can be summed up in a single sentence: Our uncorrupted communication line to the billions. Because, as the saying goes: ‘If you don’t write your own story, someone else will.’
“So, yes, we’re now going to be writing our own story – like no other religion in history. And yes, we’re going to be disseminating it everywhere. And it’s all going to happen right here, from Scientology Media Productions. – Mr. Miscavige at the Grand Opening of Scientology Media Productions in Hollywood, California, May 28, 2016
“You’ve probably heard of Scientology. In fact, every six seconds someone searches the question ‘What is Scientology?’ There’s a lot of talk about us. And we get it. People are curious. Well, we want to answer your questions, because, frankly, whatever you’ve heard, if you haven’t heard it from us, I can assure you, we are not what you expect.
“So, while I could tell you Scientology is new, our approach is new, our answers are new, and that Scientology is not just something you believe in, it’s something you do, well, I’m sure you would much rather see for yourself. And that’s what the Scientology Network is all about. To show you inside Scientology, who we are, what Scientology is, and what Scientology can do.
“Scientology is a dynamic and expanding religion and we’re going to be showing you all of it. For instance, I’m standing in our spiritual headquarters and we’ll take you through all of it.
“Likewise, we’ll take you into our Churches, spanning 167 countries on six continents. We’ll also take you behind the scenes and into our Church management, publication and dissemination facilities, humanitarian outreach centers and programs, and even into our new millennium Scientology archives.
“But even still, there remains the question of why so many people are Scientologists and why they are so passionate about it. In answer to that question, you’ll meet Scientologists from all walks of life: firefighters to factory workers, doctors to CEOs, and yes, some of the most well-known artists and celebrities in the world. You’ll see Scientologists in practice, our values and beliefs, our technology of auditing, our E-Meter – everything.
“Finally, we’ll answer the question as to how Scientology came to be the only major religion founded in the 20th century. And that’s the story of our Founder, L. Ron Hubbard, a true-to-life genius and an honest-to-God modern day Renaissance Man.
“But with all that, let’s be clear. We’re not here to preach to you, to convince you, or to convert you. No. We simply want to show you. Because, after all, the first principle of Scientology is that it’s only true if it is true for you. So, take a look and then decide for yourself.
“I’m David Miscavige. And this is the Scientology Network – Mr. Miscavige introduction to the Scientology Network on March 12, 2018, in the network’s launch special.
The Stories Others Tell
Scientology Founder L Ron Hubbard awarded Mr. Miscavige the “Star of Trust.” A person with the Star of Trust pin could put a situation straight and would be someone he could trust without reservation. The inscription on the back of the card reads: “The person wearing this pin is speaking personally for L. Ron Hubbard.” – L. Ron Hubbard October 1982
“Trust and friendship are things forged in fire and pounded out on the anvil of life. We have been through a lot together. I trust you as you trust me.” – L. Ron Hubbard, October 1982
“The opening of this Church greatly extends the service you can bring to the vibrancy and vitality that is the essence of the new South Africa. We in government work under the banner of creating an African renaissance. I believe it is fitting that the African renaissance should come from this country. And I sincerely believe that you and your church will play a vital role in realizing that renaissance, for all the citizens of Africa.” – Dr. Ben Ngubane, South Africa’s Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology Johannesburg, November 1, 2003
“I believe Scientology is the only religion that can create a connection or even affinity between the different faiths and the only one that can relieve the tension between religions. It is my hope that with your Ideal Org, you will accomplish your aims. In so doing you will mark a turning point for not just the entire Israeli society, but for all of the Middle East.” – Dr. Rimon Kasher, Department of Biblical Studies at Bar-Ilan University, Center of Scientology for Israel, August 21, 2012”
“My friends, this new church is an opportunity to make change. I encourage you, the community, to take full advantage. L. Ron Hubbard was a genius of a man who could say, ‘Here’s the problem, here’s the solution, and here are the details of how you achieve that solution.’… Well here is a mansion that has been constructed by L. Ron Hubbard, an architect of the soul and a designer of dreams. Our challenge is to make use of what we have been given. I am so very thankful for what you bring us today.” – Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray, retried head of First A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles and professor emeritus of religious studies at University of Southern California, at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology Inglewood, Nov 5, 2011
“I have seen how you accomplish the uncommon: putting smiles on the faces of individuals who would otherwise have nothing to smile about. It seems like everywhere I turn, I see you helping.
“And that is why I welcome the opening of this National Affairs Office, for I know it will bring new partners and resources to ongoing efforts to solve the most pressing social problems we face.
“I believe in a comment that is often made, relative to the thoughts of a poet who said at one time that there are some people who see things that are and ask why, but I dream of things that have never been and ask why not. You do too. And I thank you very much. – Danny Davis, U.S. Congressman for Illinois, at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office in Washington, D.C., September 12, 2012
“Our country must be thankful for what you have done, for your selfless and effective work that you have performed. The more responsibility you take for Colombia, the better our country will be. Scientology has the power to give people the opportunities they need to create a better country. So please continue to help us to build better human beings and better societies. The world needs Scientology in order to live in peace. In fact, I am totally certain peace can be achieved with the knowledge of Scientology. – Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Carlos Peña, Coordinator for Anti-Drug Education of the Colombian Anti-Narcotics Department, July 5, 2015
“The way I see it, the Church has a mandate to fill a gap in this community. The narrative from the book of Matthew chapter 25 talks of a judgment: Of how we deal with the stranger; with those who are hungry, those who are sick and in prison, and how we deal with those who don’t have adequate shelter. And so, the Church has a mandate to manifest its ability to help. The world of Scientology or Catholicism or Protestantism, we people of faith have to find a way to work together on common ground.
“Your contribution to put this Church here is most certainly a great investment for a stable society. Let’s call it an important beginning of our partnership to serve the people of this city. A partnership that can take responsibility for all. And in that way we can, all together, enter the bright glories of tomorrow.” – Rev. Dr. James Milner, Founder and Executive Director of Community Concerns Inc. at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology Atlanta, April 2, 2016
“David Miscavige said, ‘We came to help you do what you need to help yourself.’ People don’t realize the help that they have is within them, the change they need is within them. To be able to bring community people, bring people that don’t know that there’s help available, here to the center, impacting their life that will hopefully cause a ripple effect for wherever else they go … So many people are hurting. So many people are lost. So many people want help and don’t know how to even ask for it or who to ask. To have the Church of Scientology here at this time to be another vehicle of support for the help that people need is amazing. Absolutely amazing.” – Rev. Joseph J. Jones, Senior pastor, Mount Herman Baptist Church at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology and Community Center of Harlem July 31, 2016
“This church has spread, in centers and churches, in fifty something years, faster than Christendom. It’s an amazing phenomenon that could never have taken place without the technologies that we have. It’s just a phenomenon. I think honestly all good social movements need to learn from the Church of Scientology and how they communicate.
“It’s filled with people. Good people, caring people, loving people – people who want to leave the world in a better place. That’s what I do, I wake up in the morning, that’s what I live for and that’s what I get back from working with the Church of Scientology. They are bountifully energetic, unrelenting, caring and it gives me hope that I don’t have to do it all, that I don’t have to be the only lone ranger. That I have friends, that I have family, that I have spiritual brethren and sisters who are working with me. That’s an incredible feeling…Where there are people doing good, the presence of God is there. Please do good. That’s all I want Scientology to do. Take its force, its vision, its dogged relentlessness and don’t stop until good is everywhere. That’s the gift I believe that L. Ron Hubbard was teaching the entire world.” – Rabbi Michael Shevack at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology and Community Center of Harlem July 31, 2016
“In the end, it’s all about partnerships. No single agency can do everything. What ties those of us who live and work together is we know Kansas City is great and has the potential to become even greater. Planting your new Church here says to others: ‘Hey, there’s something going on in Kansas City — maybe we should be part of that too.’ Thank you for investing in our future, and thank you for pouring your heart into the future of this American heartland.” – Scott Wagner, Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem (2015 – 2019) at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology Kansas City, November 2, 2019
A Life in Brief
Mr. Miscavige was born April 30, 1960 in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania and was raised in Willingboro Township, New Jersey.
His first encounter with Scientology was as a child: a session of Dianetics spiritual counseling resolved his asthma and he was able to lead a normal life.
In 1972, the family sold their house and moved to the Scientology headquarters in the UK. At 12, Mr. Miscavige, a prodigy, became an accomplished auditor (Scientology spiritual counselor. Auditor comes from the Latin word “audire” – “to listen.”)
The family moved back to the U.S. to the Philadelphia area in 1973 where he attended Marple Newtown High School.
On his 16th birthday, disgusted with the drug use of the students in his high school, he determined to begin his career in the Sea Organization, the religious order of the Scientology religion, and went to Clearwater, Florida, where the Church had recently established the Flag Land Base, the spiritual headquarters of the Scientology religion. Ten months later he was selected to work directly with L. Ron Hubbard in La Quinta, California, where Hubbard was producing Scientology films for the training of parishioners in Scientology technology. He was soon promoted to Director of Photography.
About a year later he was promoted to Action Chief, a senior executive supervising projects involving Scientology Churches around the world.
By age 18, Mr. Miscavige had become the person L. Ron Hubbard called on to carry out his most important assignments. Several years later, Hubbard described him as a heroic Church executive who identified and cleared the ranks of rogue staff attempting to seize control of Scientology.
In 1982, at Hubbard’s request, Mr. Miscavige saw to the corporate reorganization of the Church. Hubbard appointed Mr. Miscavige as a trustee of Religious Technology Center which was established to hold the trademarks and preserve, maintain and protect the Scientology religion.
On the passing of the Founder in 1986, Mr. Miscavige assumed the position of Chairman of the Board Religious Technology Center, responsible for the standard and pure application of L. Ron Hubbard’s religious technologies and its expansion to the major world religion that it is today.
Achievements for Which He’ll Be Remembered
At age 12, Mr. Miscavige, a prodigy, became an auditor and delivered auditing in a professional capacity at Saint Hill, the UK ecclesiastical headquarters of the Scientology religion.
Mr. Miscavige joined the Sea Organization, the religion’s religious order, at age 16, at the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida.
At 17, he was promoted to work directly with Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in La Quinta, California, where Hubbard was producing films for the training of Scientologists in the technology of Scientology and Dianetics. Mr. Miscavige was known for his work ethic and his professionalism and was soon promoted to Director of Photography.
Within a year, Mr. Miscavige was promoted to Action Chief, responsible for ecclesiastical direction of Churches of Scientology around the world. Hubbard was writing to Mr. Miscavige directly, giving advice and direction. He identified and cleared the ranks of rogue staff attempting to seize control of Scientology.
In the early 1980s, L. Ron Hubbard appointed Mr. Miscavige as chairman of the organization overseeing and handling his personal affairs for the remainder of his life.
On the passing of L. Ron Hubbard in 1986, Mr. Miscavige became Chairman of the Board Religious Technology Center, responsible for the standard and pure application of L. Ron Hubbard’s technology. As such he became the ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion.
In 1992, his interview on ABC’s Nightline was awarded an Emmy.
In 1993, Mr. Miscavige was among the select group of leaders invited by the U.S. president to participate in a conference on religious liberty in the White House Rose Garden.
On October 1, 1993, Mr. Miscavige brought to a close 40 years of contention between the Internal Revenue Service and the Church, gaining full tax exemption for the Church of Scientology International, all U.S. Churches, Missions, and Church social betterment and humanitarian organizations and groups.
With IRS recognition, Interpol also acknowledging the religious bona fides of Scientology and agreed to end its long-standing conflict with the Church. On September 11, 2001, Mr. Miscavige responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks by issuing a call to action to all Scientologists to greatly increase their spiritual progress and their service to their communities and mankind. This inspired remarkable growth in the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program, which grew rapidly to one of the world’s largest independent relief forces.
Mr. Miscavige also spearheaded global humanitarian programs including the Truth About Drugs, one of the world’s largest nongovernmental drug education and prevention campaigns, and the Church-sponsored worldwide human rights education campaign promoting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
To ensure anyone could avail themselves of these and other humanitarian and social betterment programs supported by the Church, he oversaw the establishment of the Scientology Dissemination and Distribution Center that provides informational and educational materials for Church-sponsored humanitarian initiatives, all of which are available free of charge in more than a dozen languages.
In 2003, Mr. Miscavige launched the strategy to upgrade Scientology Churches to Ideal Scientology Churches each a living representation of the technology of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, capable of delivering all Scientology services to the state of Clear and professional auditor training, and to serve as a meeting ground for cooperative effort to unite and strengthen the community. He has since seen to the opening of more than 60 Ideal Organizations with many more under construction or about to open.
In 2009, Mr. Miscavige completed the program to verify and restore the Scripture of the Scientology religion. The 25-year endeavor known as the Golden Age of Knowledge that involved 2 million man-hours to recover and make fully accessible all written and spoken words of L. Ron Hubbard, constituting the ultimate guarantee for the permanency of Scientology itself. This included the translation of all LRH recorded Congresses, Scientology and Dianetics basic books and accompanying lectures translation into 16 languages, all of Hubbard’s beginning books in 50 languages, courses and extension courses for these and the release of Hubbard’s Advanced Clinical Courses in English along with courses and extension courses for each.
To make these materials available at a fraction of the cost of outsourcing them to other manufacturing companies, Mr. Miscavige oversaw the design and creation of two digital publishing houses capable of producing 1.3 million books and 1 million compact disks per week and with print on demand capability, making it possible to do so in 50 languages.
In 2013, Mr. Miscavige completed the Golden Age of Tech. The completion of the Golden Age of Knowledge led to significant discoveries of Hubbard’s original intent on Scientology training and spiritual counseling. Over a period of years Mr. Miscavige scrutinized more than 21,000 Policy Letters and Technical Bulletins written by Hubbard and other written materials for authenticity. He then carried out the most intensive ecclesiastical education program in Scientology history, overseeing the instruction of more than 1,100 Scientology clergy who then returned to every Scientology Church in the world fully trained to deliver the technology exactly as LRH intended to their parishioners and field.
Mr. Miscavige conceived and oversaw the creation of the Church’s 377,000-square-foot international spiritual headquarters, the Flag Building, configured to deliver services requiring special equipment and spaces and only available at Flag. At the November 2013 event when he released the Golden Age of Tech, he also dedicated and launched the Flag Building.
In May 2016, Mr. Miscavige dedicated Scientology Media Productions, which he described as “our uncorrupted communication line to the billions.” The state-of-the-art media center houses every form of communication from TV to internet to magazines and social media in a 5-acre fully restored studio originally opened in 1912—the longest continually operating studio in Hollywood.
On March 12, 2018, Mr. Miscavige launched the Scientology Network with a special introduction recorded at the Flag Building. The Network has continued broadcasting on DIRECTV channel 320 and streaming on Scientology.tv, mobile apps and via Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.
On June 13, 2018, Mr. Miscavige was awarded the Brigadier General Jaime Ramirez Gomez Inspector General Transparency Medal for “saving humanity from violence, evil, terrorism, drug dealings and all the negative factors that threaten it.” The medal acknowledged Mr. Miscavige for the Church’s humanitarian outreach that helped bring about peace in the country’s 57-year civil war. The award represents “courage, bravery and honesty” and the “display of the highest ideals, morals and ethical values.”
On March 13, 2020, Mr. Miscavige published a directive just as the COVID-19 pandemic was announced by the World Health Organization. He saw to the highest possible standards of sanitization and safety for Scientology Churches, staff, public and the communities they serve, based on L. Ron Hubbard’s maxim for such emergencies: “An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.” He inspired an international movement, with millions of volunteer hours contributed to communities the world over to help them make it through the pandemic safe and well. Volunteer Ministers around the world distributed more than 7.5 million educational How to Keep Yourself & Others Well booklets in 21 languages.
The Religion He Serves
The Founder of the Scientology religion is L. Ron Hubbard and Mr. Miscavige is the ecclesiastical leader under whose leadership the church has experienced the greatest period of expansion in its history, with some 11,000 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups and millions of members in countries across the globe.
The fundamentals of the religion are contained in the basic books of Dianetics and Scientology and anyone wishing to know more about Scientology is encouraged to read these books and apply what they learn to improving conditions in life.
In the book Scientology: A New Slant on Life, L. Ron Hubbard described Scientology as “the Science of knowing how to know answers.”
L. Ron Hubbard’s written and recorded works on the human mind and spirit comprise more than 500,000 pages of his writings and nearly 3,000 recorded lectures. And these are the Scripture of the religion.
The Scientology website describes the religion as comprising a body of knowledge which extends from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these are:
• Man is an immortal spiritual being.
• His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime.
• His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized.
Scientology further holds Man to be basically good, and that his spiritual salvation depends upon himself, his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.
Scientology is not a dogmatic religion in which one is asked to accept anything on faith alone. On the contrary, one discovers for oneself that the principles of Scientology are true by applying its principles and observing or experiencing the results.
The ultimate goal of Scientology is true spiritual enlightenment and freedom.
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