MEDIA WATCH | THE AGE

The Age: Don’t Misrepresent My Religion Through Propaganda

I am very offended that The Age would allow one of its employees to slander my church and religion.

Fake news — Image by Pedrosek/Shutterstock.com

April 5, 2021

Ms. Gay Alcorn
Editor, The Age

Dear Madam,

I have recently read on The Age website several articles misrepresenting my religion with a cheap propaganda attack on the Church of Scientology authored by one of your journalists, Ben Schneiders. Outrageous and false claims have been made in your newspaper by this journalist insinuating that the Church of Scientology in Australia is a for-profit organization.

Having contributed my own funds and volunteer time to my church to enable it to build better communities in Australia through drug education and human rights education programs which promote morals, common decency and more, I am very offended that The Age would allow one of its employees to slander my church and religion.

Outrageous and false claims have been made in your newspaper.

I have seen my church in Australia grow exponentially over the past decade bringing such education programs to the public. The Church of Scientology was found by the High Court of Australia in 1983 to be a religion free of many tax obligations by individuals far more knowledgeable on what classifies as a religion and charity than Mr. Schneiders.

If one wishes to write upon the religious nature of the Church of Scientology in a newspaper, one should first have a person capable of making a judgment on what is a religion, and then use sources who are not just detractors of that religion.

I hope this outrage will be corrected urgently.

Yours sincerely,

Brian Johnston