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Reporter Borrows from Larry Wright’s Fiction in Bigoted Article on Scientology

I have been a Scientologist for 38 years. I entered it of my own free will and have remained a Scientologist since then because I want to.

6 June 2017

Erica Grieder
Theweek.com

Ms. Grieder:

I read your disgustingly bigoted piece in theweek.com and am here to tell you that I am one of those you describe “who have been sucked into Scientology.”

You have no idea what you are talking about.

I have been a Scientologist for 38 years. I entered it of my own free will and have remained a Scientologist since then because I want to.

Further, I know hundreds if not thousands of Scientologists around the world because I have had the pleasure of traveling to their countries and meeting with them too, something I am certain you never have. They love their religion. They practice it daily. They go out of their way to help their fellows. They think for themselves and are not hypnotized by hateful pieces such as the one you wrote.

Like me, they too would be appalled at the level of sanctimonious hypocrisy you level in your article.

Further, you appear to blindly accept Larry Wright’s fatally flawed Going Clear when he never once set foot in a Scientology Church to find out what he was writing about. Is it any wonder that today’s media are held in the lowest esteem?

We respect your right to freedom of speech and the press. You should respect the freedom of religion Americans cherish. Religious bigotry of any kind has no place in society. It foments religious hatred, which itself is intolerable.

At least have the courtesy to find out from honest sources the truth about what you write. You can start at www.scientology.org.

Eva Band
New York, NY