MEDIA WATCH | INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION (IPC)

Mr. Adelman, Decency and Fair Play Do Not Include Inciting Religious Discrimination

My experience in Scientology for almost 20 years has been extraordinarily positive. Scientologists as a group are some of the most friendly, outgoing, helpful and interested people you could ever meet.

August 1, 2018

David Adelman
Philadelphia, PA

David,

I’m writing this letter regarding your funding of Leah Remini’s anti-Scientology show. I appreciate you taking the time to read it.

I grew up in Germany before the Berlin Wall came down. My parents were teachers for military dependents. I visited Auschwitz and Buchenwald and, as you can imagine, it left an indelible impression on me at a young age.

I have always been someone who wanted to do whatever I could to make the world a better place. The analogy I give people is that, as a young person, I wanted desperately to be Superman but I could never manage to stop stepping on my own cape. I was able to accomplish some impressive things (major label recording contract, radio and TV appearances all over the world, performing with household-name bands, etc.) but in my personal life, I was deeply unhappy and the people around me bore the brunt of that.

I run a nonprofit that educates school kids all over the world about their human rights.

I was introduced to Scientology in 2001. I was a little wary at first but my experiences with the people involved made me persist with my inquiries into it because there was something about it that just rang true for me.

Fast-forward to today and I have spent the majority of my adult life as a practicing Scientologist. I’ve built a successful business (5X Inc. 5000 winner) with zero previous experience or relevant education in the field. I run a nonprofit that educates school kids all over the world about their human rights. I am happily married with an amazing son and I’m grateful for every bit of it every day.

Scientology is not a belief system. It’s a set of axioms that you can use to solve any life problem you’d care to tackle. It has been nothing short of magical in my life. It saved my marriage. It made me a much better father than I would have otherwise been. It’s improved my relationships with my parents and sister and with my coworkers and employees. It was the exact thing I needed to get out of my own way and it has helped me become the best version of myself.

For every person you could interview who has something negative to say about Scientology, I could show you 100 people who have had the exact opposite experience. As someone who has achieved the kind of success you have, you know very well how the truth can be distorted in the public eye, especially when it comes to the media.

My experience in Scientology for almost 20 years has been extraordinarily positive.

By way of analogy, in your own line of work you could easily find a handful of disgruntled current or former tenants who would have terrible things to say about your buildings, and yet you seem to be the kind of person who genuinely cares, especially about the thousands of students you provide housing for. Is the experience of those handful of people the truth? Or does the experience of the thousands and thousands of tenants who would have positive things to say deserve more time and attention?

No group or individual is perfect. But my experience in Scientology for almost 20 years has been extraordinarily positive. Scientologists as a group are some of the most friendly, outgoing, helpful and interested people you could ever meet. What’s most striking and frustrating to me in reading your bio and the handful of interviews I found online is that in another context you strike me as the exact kind of person who would be championing my church’s efforts at drug prevention and human rights education and criminal reform, not giving a platform to someone hellbent on its destruction. I literally have to explain to my young son why anyone would want to attack us so much.

Can you imagine what those conversations are like? He sees what a positive force Scientology is in our lives, the lives of our friends, and the people around the world the Church helps through its social betterment programs. He, like most young people, has a deeply ingrained sense of fairness and justice and he just can’t understand why people would want to hurt our group. He takes it personally, and I don’t blame him. In case I’m not being clear: simply seeing a billboard in Hollywood advertising Remini’s show made my son cry. I don’t say that to attack you, but I do want you to be aware of the consequences of supporting a show like this. Thanks again for taking the time to read this and for the work you do in your community.

Best,
Wil Seabrook