MEDIA WATCH | ABC NEWS

Disappointed in ABC’s coverage

If you seek truth, listen not to what is said but to what one is doing. Scientology is bringing positive change to the world.

January 3, 2017

President ABC News
47 West 66th Street,
New York, N.Y. 10023

Dear Mr. Goldston,

After over forty years of watching my Church being attacked in the media, I have become somewhat inured to the fact that so-called responsible news organizations will run ANY story no matter how unbalanced, irresponsible or inaccurate it might be, as long as it is sensational and creates controversy. So while disappointed, I am not surprised when this occurs.

Over long decades as a parishioner and many years ago, as a staff member, I have been privileged to interact with many thousands of Scientologists. I have not led a cloistered life and have spent time in the military, at sea, in university, in corporate life and in isolated construction camps in the far north. I have met and worked with people in all walks of life. While there are many, many good people almost anywhere you go, I have never met a more honest and truly moral group of people than I have in Scientology. In particular, the average Scientology staffer sincerely cares more about humanity AND dedicates him or herself to actively helping people than the vast majority of the rest of us can claim. So it greatly troubles me when very good people come under media attacks with the generally false accusations of apostates and others who lacked the moral fiber of this group.

None of us is a saint and all of us are flawed and imperfect. But Scientology as a religion and a movement has offered a path upward, that if actually followed does lead one to higher states of moral and ethical attainment. In my experience, those former Scientologists who thereafter rail against the church are simply those flawed individuals who found themselves unable or unwilling to follow that path and taking no responsibility for their own condition, sought to blame others for it.

I have been greatly helped by Scientology. It has saved my life and guided me in the right direction to a higher level of happiness and success than I would have had any expectation of achieving. My wife and I have raised two great children that we are very proud of. With all the immorality, drugs and crime popularized in our pop culture, it is not the ideal environment in which to raise a child. Scientology has provided a framework in which we have educated our children in how to make correct decisions for themselves. They have benefited from an education that has taught them how to evaluate data and make optimum choices in life.

I do not know the particular slant your forthcoming story will take, but judging from past stories, I can safely predict that it will portray apostates as great people that Scientology purposefully damaged and it will portray Scientology staff as mean individuals who dedicate themselves to harming others. In other words, 180 degrees from actuality.

If you seek truth, listen not to what is said but to what one is doing. Scientology is bringing positive change to the world. What are these people you promote contributing other than noise and discord?

Sincerely,
Paris Morfopoulos
Clearwater, Fla.