Scientologists are all embracing

IT is unfortunate there appears to be some misunderstanding about the Scientology volunteer ministers, who are currently visiting Papua New Guinea as part of the international goodwill tour.
The articles printed in The National June 11 and June 21 do not represent what Scientology is and what the volunteer ministers are and do.
Let me clear this up.
The articles fail to include the fact that the Scientology volunteer ministers work closely with Christian leaders in various countries in the South Pacific and around the world.
Rev Dr James Nicholls is a long-term member (48 years) of the Assemblies of the God church in the United States and has worked alongside the church of Scientology since the 1980s.
He wrote in his letter:
“I have often said to my Christian colleagues that I have often viewed Scientologists to be better Christians than those of many Christian churches. I have never seen them hate another faith, nor degrade God or another, nor speak ill of Christians or others. In fact, I have seen the opposite and for this and other things I praise them and am willing to work with them to help better the world we live in.
“They are wonderful friends of mine and I hope of yours as you see for yourself that what is being spread about them is false and designed to label them and to negate the wonderful help they can bring to help people of all faiths.”
Scientology is a religion that embraces all cultures and creeds. We do not believe it is our domain to convert people from their existing beliefs. 
Scientology is “all denominational”.
The founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard wrote: “We are all denominational rather than non-denominational, and so we should be perfectly willing to include in our ranks a Muslim or a Taoist, as well as any Protestant or Catholic…”
We follow the principle of respecting the religious beliefs of others, this is a tradition upheld by all great faiths. 
Religious arguments have been historically a short road to trouble and the religious conflicts we see today have gone on for thousands of years and are still not resolved. 
We believe that the way forward is to help people with their problems so they can lead happier and more productive and spiritual lives. We believe religion is important and that people are better off with religion.
According to the Bible, Jesus said you will know “false prophets” by their results.
“… every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit … Thus you will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15)
The Scientology volunteer ministers produce uniformly good fruits and products the world over.
The programme was established in response to rising crime and violence in society.
Hubbard wanted to provide people around the world with practical solutions and tools for helping people based on understanding and compassion.
He also wanted to make these tools available to everyone wanting to learn them. 
Thus, the Scientology volunteer ministers movement was born and now there are volunteers touring the South Pacific.
To use our methods to solve problems in life involves no change in faith or religious practice.
We teach how to get people off drugs, how to resolve conflicts, how to reduce violence and crime, how to communicate, have better relationships, organise their life and achieve their goals. It is practical tools to better life.
The ministers are well known for their work around the world. But disasters are not only environmental – personal trauma occurs every day within families and in society. 
Economic factors can affect people badly, relationships break down and more and more people turn to drugs and alcohol to fix their problems. 
We should not look for differences and fight amongst ourselves. Rather we should see what we agree on and work together to combat the real problems that are plaguing society at the moment such as illiteracy, drug and alcohol abuse, child abuse, violation of human rights, violence, crime and war.
To see what Scientology is doing about the ills of mankind go to the website www.scientology.org or the volunteer ministers website www.volunteerministers.org.
Right now, we are open every day to anyone in PNG to come and see us at the bright yellow tents on the rugby field at the PNG Defence Force headquarters at Murray barracks.
We will be in Port Moresby until July 5 when we will hold a graduation for those who have completed seminars in one or more of our 19 subjects.
We will talk to anyone, for anyone, about anything.

Mathew Luke Andrews
Team leader
Scientology volunteer ministers