Monday, February 27, 2017

Nashville Church of Scientology Welcomes Community to Concert for World Health Day

The Church of Scientology supports the Foundation for a Drug-Free World (FDFW), which has as its mission to educate people about the dangerous effects of drugs so they understand and can make informed choices on the subject. The Tennessee chapter, Drug-Free Tennessee (DFT) is planning a concert to observe World Health Day where the organization will have plenty of educational materials to hand for anyone wanting more information on the topic. Organizers say they are also planning to invite community members who have information to share on healthier living.

Rev. Brian Fesler, pastor of the Nashville Church of Scientology, says, “There is a need in our communities to educate everyone on how to be healthy—this includes staying away from illegal drugs, but there are many other aspects to health that people should know,” he said.

Rev. Fesler says the concert will be headlined by the Jive Aces, a six piece swing band that has been together for over a decade. The group has performed at thousands of festivals, theatres and events throughout the UK, Europe and USA, as well as Japan, Israel, South Africa, Morrocco and the Caribbean, 30 countries in all. The Jive Aces are renowned for their high energy Jump Jive music (the exciting sound where Swing meets Rock ‘n Roll) and spectacular stage show.

According to jiveaces.com, “Having become the first ever band to reach the semi finals of Britain's Got Talent in 2012 following up with a performance for Her Majesty The Queen as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and performances for both the Olympic and Paralympic celebrations, The Jive Aces have truly established themselves as the UK's top Jive & Swing band.”

“We’re helping people learn about being healthy in a fun, upbeat way,” says Rev. Fesler.


For more information on the Church of Scientology or its programs, visit scientology-ccnashville.org. 

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Youth for Human Rights Presents Workshop at Tennessee Conference on Volunteerism

The Tennessee chapter of Youth for Human Rights, which works under the umbrella of United for Human Rights, presented a workshop at the Tennessee Conference on Volunteerism.

What do human rights have to do with volunteering? This was the question posed and answered by Rev. Brian Fesler, the regional coordinator for Tennessee United for Human Rights, during a special workshop at the Tennessee Conference on Volunteerism. The workshop, titled Human Rights 101, was aimed at volunteers, to help them first learn their basic human rights, then enlighten them on how to help others understand their rights, too.

As the Volunteer State, the Tennessee government created Volunteer Tennessee under the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration. According to tn.gov, “The State of Tennessee is the national leader in the promotion of volunteerism, community service initiatives and partnerships in which its citizens of all ages and backgrounds engage in services addressing the educational, public safety, environmental and other human needs of the state and nation.”

The main event each year for Volunteer Tennessee is the Conference on Volunteerism and Service Learning, which aims to “increase service and volunteerism across Tennessee as a means of problem-solving throughout all stages of life.” The conference encourages participants to collaborate to address needs in Tennessee while utilizing service and service-learning as a vehicle for education and change.

Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2001 by Dr. Mary Shuttleworth, an educator born and raised in apartheid South Africa, where she witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of discrimination and the lack of basic human rights.

The purpose of YHRI is to teach youth about human rights, specifically the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and inspire them to become advocates for tolerance and peace. YHRI has now grown into a global movement, including hundreds of groups, clubs and chapters around the world. One such chapter is in Tennessee, working to educate people across the state on their basic rights.

“Why do we teach people these basic human rights? Because everyone deserves to know,” says Rev. Fesler, “Only when you understand your rights can you defend your rights.”


For more information about Tennessee United for Human Rights or Youth for Human Rights, visit tnuhr.org. 

Thursday, February 16, 2017

CCHR Nashville Lifts up the Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights

The Nashville chapter of Citizens Commission on Human Rights works to expose abuse in the field of mental health.

Volunteers for the Nashville chapter of Citizens Commission on Human Rights are working to raise public awareness of the Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights.

CCHR is a nonprofit mental health watchdog, responsible for helping to enact more than 150 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive practices. CCHR has long fought to restore basic inalienable human rights to the field of mental health, including, but not limited to, full informed consent regarding the medical legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosis, the risks of psychiatric treatments, the right to all available medical alternatives and the right to refuse any treatment considered harmful.

CCHR was co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus Dr. Thomas Szasz at a time when patients were being warehoused in institutions and stripped of all constitutional, civil and human rights.
With recent international headlines warning populations of the dangers of psychotropic drugs, and resultant loss in sales, psychiatrists are shifting focus and regressing to electroshock treatment.  Wrapped in a new package and renamed “deep brain stimulation,” this controversial procedure has been touted as safe without sufficient evidence to back that claim.

CCHR Nashville reminds citizens that the Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights as proffered by CCHR International includes “the right to accept or refuse treatment but in particular, the right to refuse sterilization, electroshock treatment, insulin shock, lobotomy,” and a host of other sordid modes of mental manipulation.  The Declaration contains over thirty rights, such as “the right to discharge oneself at any time and to be discharged without restriction, having committed no offense.”

CCHR Nashville urges citizens to adopt the Mental Health Declaration and give it the force of law in their community and state.  For further information, visit cchr.org.  Read the Declaration at cchr.org/about-us/mental-health-declaration-of-human-rights.html

Nashville Church of Scientology Celebrates Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s 106th Birthday

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s 106th birthday will be celebrated in Nashville by Tennessee area Scientologists on March 18, 2016.

Born March 13, 1911, L. Ron Hubbard had a varied and exciting life. An International celebration of what would have been his hundred and sixth birthday is being pre-recorded in Florida and will be shown to parishioners in Tennessee the following weekend.  There will be refreshments and even a cake contest to bring in the festivities locally.

Born in Tilden, Nebraska to a career Naval Officer, Lt. Harry Ross Hubbard, and the well-educated Ledora May, Hubbard had memories of “…being insufferably hot in a swing in an Oklahoma yard…of watching bluebirds from a tent at the ‘Old Homestead’…of Dad carefully abstaining from water when the car broke down in a limitless Nevada desert, of rain at night in San Diego, of my Uncle Bob’s coffee store in Tacoma, of the awful abyss below the curling mountain roads of the Rockies, of, in short, many cities, many country sides…and all this before I was ten.”  

After becoming America’s youngest Eagle Scout at the age of 13, Hubbard went on to become an accomplished pilot, a master mariner, a photographer, a prolific writer of stories for pulp fiction magazines (which funded his research into the mind and life) and a Captain in the US Navy during World War II.

Hubbard’s journeys through the Far East and the Caribbean brought him face to face with many different kinds of people, fueling his drive to solve the riddles of life and enable all to achieve happiness, spiritual awareness and success in life.   How he took what he learned from these adventures and arranged this knowledge into what would become Dianetics and Scientology is available on-line as an interactive biography at www.lronhubbard.org.

Scientologists around the world gather to celebrate Mr. Hubbard’s birthday each year in a special celebration where they hear stories from people who knew him while he was alive, and celebrate advances made in churches across the world.

“We are celebrating the wonderful gifts L. Ron Hubbard gave mankind,” said Rev. Brian Fesler, pastor of the Nashville Church of Scientology. “Mr. Hubbard’s writings bring a lot of hope for a better world, and a way to accomplish that.  We are honored to host this event.”


Learn more about L. Ron Hubbard and his work at www.lronhubbard.org and www.scientology.org

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Nashville Church of Scientology Pastor Releases New Publication on Freedom

The Pastor of the Church of Scientology in Nashville recently unveiled a new publication during a special service in observance of World Interfaith Harmony Week.

“Without freedom of religion, or freedom of thought, freedom itself cannot exist,” says Rev. Brian Fesler, pastor of the Nashville Church of Scientology. Rev. Fesler recently organized an interfaith service for the community in observance of World Interfaith Harmony Week, and during the celebration, he unveiled a new publication from the Church’s International Office on Freedom of Religion.

The booklet, which includes authoritative texts from international human rights treaties on the subject of religious freedom, contains what any person might want to know to protect their rights to practice their religion in peace and harmony.  The booklet is available in seventeen languages, is downloadable from the website scientologyreligion.org, and contains chapters on the Rights of Parents and Children, Freedom from Discrimination, and the Rights of Employers, Employees and Volunteers.

“These are times that call for all of us to be united as one, not stand apart,” said Rev. Fesler, who was excited to bring together the many faiths represented during the service for World Interfaith Harmony Week. “There are issues in this world that affect all of us--crime, drugs, human trafficking--we need to come together and learn about the religious other.”

During the service, members from several faith traditions spoke about why it is important to their faith and to them that all people come together in unity. In this way, the service helped provide a means to showcase religious freedom in its purity. The faiths represented included Sikhs, Baha’is, Baptists, Latter-day Saints, Scientologists, Buddhists, Catholics, and Muslims.

“It is part of our very fabric to support others’ rights and abilities to practice their religion in peace, and that is what we lifted up through the service,” said Rev. Fesler.

For more information about Scientology, its practices or beliefs, visit scientology.org.


The Way to Happiness Association of Tennessee Helping Communities

The Way to Happiness Association of Tennessee is working to help communities across Nashville.

The Way to Happiness, a book written by humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1980s, is comprised of 21 precepts, each one predicated on the fact that one’s survival depends on the survival of others—and that without the survival of others, neither joy nor happiness are attainable. In the three decades since it was authored, more than 115 million copies of the book passed hand to hand, thus inspiring the international movement which is spreading throughout Nashville, TN.

Volunteers for The Way to Happiness Association of Tennessee (TWTH-TN) have been working to get the booklet into the hands of every Nashvillian through a series of events. This past weekend, a group of volunteers distributed more than two hundred booklets to households near downtown Nashville.

"This book is based on common sense principles and acts as a moral compass,” says Judy Young, Director of The Way to Happiness Association of Tennessee, “when people read it, they are able to easily put the concepts in it into practice to live a better life.”

According to thewaytohappiness.org, “This code of conduct can be followed by anyone, of any race, color or creed and works to restore the bonds that unite humankind.” In the three decades since it was authored, 100 million copies of the book passed hand to hand.


TWTH-TN is making a true impact across Tennessee and reaching other parts of the world. To learn more about the program, or to order copies of The Way to Happiness booklet, visit twthtn.org. 

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Citizens Commission on Human Rights Hosts Holocaust Event, Sparks Discussion

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Nashville (CCHR Nashville) held a special briefing on The Holocaust: What They Don’t Want You to Know in observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.


The UN General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the victims of the Nazi era and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides,” according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website.

This is why the Citizens Commission on Human Rights chose this day to present a special briefing on “The Holocaust: What They Don’t Want You to Know.” A special video was played which showed the atrocities committed in the early 1940s under the Nazi regime and exactly whose ideas led to the Holocaust. After seeing the video, attendees went into immediate discussion about the implications the video showed for how these same people are affecting people in the current day.

CCHR has long been an advocate for human rights, especially as relates to patients’ rights in the field of mental health. Per the international CCHR website, cchr.org, “CCHR has long fought to restore basic inalienable human rights to the field of mental health, including, but not limited to, full informed consent regarding the medical legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosis, the risks of psychiatric treatments, the right to all available medical alternatives and the right to refuse any treatment considered harmful.”

CCHR is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious mental health watchdog. Its mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections. CCHR receives reports about abuses in the field of mental health and is especially interested in situations where persons experienced abuse or damage due to a false diagnosis or unwanted and harmful psychiatric treatments, such as psychiatric drugs, electroshock (ECT) and electronic or magnetic brain stimulation (TMS). CCHR is often able to assist with filing complaints, and can work with a person’s attorney to further investigate the case. To contact CCHR Nashville for more information, visit cchrnashville.org.  


Nashville Church of Scientology Brings People of Faith Together in Unity

The Church of Scientology in Nashville opened its doors to all religious communities for a special service in observance of World Interfaith Harmony Week.

Unity was the watchword on February 1st at the Nashville Church of Scientology, where leaders held an interfaith service to help bring people together. “These are times that call for all of us to be united as one, not stand apart,” says Rev. Brian Fesler, pastor of the church and organizer of the interfaith service, “Everyone in this room has a different background, a different faith tradition, but they are all my friends.”  

Hate graffiti, death threats, and violence toward people of religion have become recurrent mainstream news. As recently as January 9th, the Washington Post reports that the “FBI is looking into bomb threats at Jewish centers in the United States...”

“In order to truly combat religious discrimination in this day and age, we have to come together and learn about the religious other,” says Rev. Fesler.

During the service, members from several faith traditions spoke about why it is important to their faith and to them that all people come together in unity. The faiths represented included Sikhs, Baha’is, Baptists, Latter-day Saints, Scientologists, Buddhists, Catholics, and Muslims.

The service was held in observance of World Interfaith Harmony Week, the first week of February, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in a resolution adopted on 20 October 2010. In the resolution, the General Assembly points out that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace and establishes World Interfaith Harmony Week as a way to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith, according to UN.org.

The Church of Scientology’s creed begins with the words: “We of the Church believe that all men of whatever race, color or creed were created with equal rights; that all men have inalienable rights to their own religious practices and their performance…”   

“It is part of our very fabric to support others’ rights and abilities to practice their religion in peace, so that is what we are lifting up through this service,” says Rev. Fesler.

For more information about Scientology, its practices or beliefs, visit scientology.org.