Tag: Religion and Churches

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Feb. 6, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- In an era of increased polarization, rising hate crimes, and social and economic challenges affecting all segments of society, religious leaders gathered at the Church of Scientology to review how religions can work together to improve the quality of life for their congregations and the greater community.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Feb. 3, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Many men and women who emigrate from Mexico to America do so not only for the promise of a better life for themselves and their children. They leave to help support families left behind with the dream of one day reuniting under better circumstances either at home or in their adopted country. But in many cases, this means families are separated for decades.

PARIS, France, and LOS ANGELES, Calif., Feb. 1, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Despite one of the most restrictive drug policies in Europe, France has the highest use of cocaine and second-highest use of cannabis in Europe according to a March 2023 report by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Trends (OFDT). But in Paris, drug-prevention volunteers of the Church of Scientology believe drug education can radically change this trend for the better. They are ramping up their Dites Non à la Drogue (Say No to Drugs) campaign to help youth create a better future for themselves.

TAMPA, Fla., and LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 31, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month and Florida is the third-busiest hub for child sex trafficking in the United States. Tampa-based activist Christopher King, United for Human Rights Florida Executive Director and Founder of the nonprofit The Gentlemen's Course, works to protect youth from being trafficked. How he came to take on this mission is documented in an episode of Voices for Humanity on the Scientology Network.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., and MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 30, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- In a city obsessed with sport, what could be a better location for a Church of Scientology than the original home of the first Aussie rules football team and the site of the first game that team ever played? That is exactly where the Ideal Church of Scientology was dedicated by Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige on January 29, 2011.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., and SEATTLE, Wash., Jan. 29, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Sean Burke's passion is helping others. A lifelong volunteer and a Scientologist since 1987, during the pandemic he worked with a nonprofit formed by top ICU doctors, sharing information on how to properly treat COVID in the hospital and at home. But this year, he decided to focus on another pandemic: The spiraling drug crisis that is affecting youth throughout America.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, and LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 27, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Marc Bromberg, a Nonagenarian Scientologist, was 9 when France surrendered to the German forces in June 1940, and 10 when he and his mother were separated from his father. Two years ago, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, in an article in the European Times, Bromberg shared his memories of life under Nazi occupation all those many years ago.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 25, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- When Scoutmaster Marcos Antonio Correia Santos Jr. Googled the question "Is there a way to happiness?" the answer not only changed his own life, it led to a new international movement within Scouting. At the celebration of the 39th anniversary of the International Association of Scientologists, Chief Marcos' story was presented as a stellar example of the impact of The Way to Happiness, the common-sense guide to better living written by L. Ron Hubbard.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 24, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- The mangled frame of a silver sedan gleams under the overhead lights in a local body shop, a testament to human capacity for error. Replacing crumpled fenders and shattered windshields is a body shop's stock in trade, but the owners know these broken cars aren't just metal and plastic. So when volunteers from Bridge Publications approached body shop owners and managers about displaying sets of The Truth About Drugs from the drug education initiative supported by the Church of Scientology, it not only piqued their interest, it gave them a way to save lives.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. and BUGARAMA, Rwanda, Jan. 23, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Rwanda evokes images of a tragic past marked by ethnic violence. But educator and human rights activist Ladislas Yassin Nkundabanyanga is determined to ensure a peaceful future for the country. He partners with Youth for Human Rights, an educational initiative supported by the Church of Scientology, to protect future generations and create a better life for all.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 22, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- It was just under a year ago on February 6, that a 7.8-magnitude earthquake slashed through southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the earthquake displaced or disrupted the lives of 15.73 million people in Syria and Turkey including 2.5 million children. Scientology Volunteer Minister disaster response specialists from Tel Aviv mobilized immediately and were soon joined by VMs from Pakistan, India and the United States.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa and LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 20, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- On the bright South African New Year's Day in 2019, when Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige dedicated the Scientology Advanced Organization and continental headquarters for Africa at Castle Kyalami, "COVID" was an obscure term known only to scientists and public health workers. But it soon entered the world's vocabulary when the first cases of the virus appeared. COVID-19 arrived in South Africa in March 2020 and the country went into lockdown.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 18, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- With inflation driving up food prices and some 30 percent of Los Angeles County families now experiencing food insecurity, Volunteer Ministers of the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles dedicate their Saturday mornings to helping fellow Angelenos cope.

COMMERCE, Calif., Jan. 17, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Not only is the East Los Angeles crime rate higher than the U.S. average, the crimes are often drug-related. To help local vendors and residents cope with this problem, volunteers from Bridge Publications Inc., publisher of the nonfiction works of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, reached out to area food trucks and food stands this week to further extend their drug prevention campaign to the community.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., and BRUSSELS, Belgium, Jan. 17, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- A Brussels-based drug education and prevention initiative supported by the Church of Scientology is optimistic that drug education can still prevail despite current drug trends. According to the president of Dites Non à La Drogue (Say No to Drugs), Julie Delvaux, the importance and effectiveness of drug prevention has been grossly underestimated.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., and TOKYO, Japan, Jan. 16, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Each year, the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) presents the Freedom Medal to humanitarians whose work materially forwards the Aims of Scientology. These aims, as set forth by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, are: "A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is free to rise to greater heights."

PARIS, France, and LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 13, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- It was in Paris at the Palais de Chaillot on December 10, 1948, that the General Assembly of the fledgling United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Youth for Human Rights, an initiative supported by the Church of Scientology, has as its mission to inspire people to become valuable advocates for tolerance and peace by educating them on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

TOKYO, Japan, and LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan. 13, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- It was no ordinary New Year's Day for those living in Japan's Ishikawa prefecture. They would ordinarily spend the day with a prayer for the new year at a temple or by visiting family. This year, on New Year's Day, faults that lay dormant for more than 3,000 years suddenly triggered a 7.6 magnitude earthquake. More than 200 died and tens of thousands were displaced. Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Tokyo, joined by others from as far away as Pakistan, responded to bring help to Wajima, one of the cities hardest hit by the disaster.

COMMERCE, Calif., Jan. 10, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Volunteers from Bridge Publications Inc., publishers of L. Ron Hubbard's nonfiction works, have launched their drug education and prevention campaign for 2024. They are visiting shops and parks and sharing the drug education booklets of the Truth About Drugs campaign with anyone wishing to help take effective action against drug abuse and addiction.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. and BUDAPEST, Hungary, Jan. 10, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the local chapter of Youth for Human Rights and the Church of Scientology of Budapest organized and hosted a conference to explore the history of human rights and where we go from here.