Blog: The World is Watching - 2009-11-07
The World is Watching November 7, 2009,
The world is watching to see how rank-and-file Scientologists react to the growing reports of abuse, violence and criminality among Scientology's highest echelons.
How those individual Scientologists react will determine, to a large measure, how the subject of Scientology itself is perceived, now and in the future.
Consider the reaction of lay Catholics in the wake of the 2002 Boston Globe coverage of the priest abuse scandal. Parishioner meetings in the basement of St. John the Evangelist church in Wellesley, Massachusetts, soon expanded, thanks to the internet, to conferences of thousands – lay Catholics, victims of clergy sexual abuse, theologians, and priests from around the United States and the world. The resulting organization, Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), grew to 30,000 members within a year and is now a strong advocate for lay oversight of their parishes and dioceses. Their motto is "Keep the Faith, Change the Church."