Blog: The Spirit of Christmas - 2010-12-22
The Spirit of Christmas December 22, 2010,
A friend made the observation to me today that the Church of Scientology has no heart. This person, a former Scientologist, had just visited another church and had been impressed at the spirit of benevolence, charity, love and compassion that was evidenced by the people there, both the leaders and the members. These are all traits that we normally associate with Christmas, a time when even the hardest hearts feel some charity and goodwill.
I well remember Christmases in the Church of Scientology. It was seen as an annoying distraction. Staff had to be given a half a day to go out and shop for family presents and send them off. Otherwise it would be a "PR flap." But even this brief nod to Christmas was barely tolerated.
Every year, Management would go into a panic. It was known that the stats would go down over Christmas. Duh. People were doing other things, seeing family and friends, relaxing. The solution? A hastily put together program to "get the public to come into the Org for courses over the Christmas holidays. "Use that time to get up the Bridge!" the promotion screamed. How dare anyone actually just relax and have a good time when staff were working around the clock to "keep the stats from crashing."