Nashville Religion Communicators Council Discusses Teaching Religion in Schools

The longest running interfaith communications organization in the United States, the Religion Communicators Council (RCC), has chapters across the country that meet regularly and promote “excellence in the communication of religious faith and values in the public arena and encourage understanding among religious and faith groups,” according to the RCC website. 

In Nashville, the RCC Chapter recently shifted the style of meetings to maintain the organization’s historic integrity while adjusting to 21^st century ideals by holding bi-monthly meetings to discuss hot topics and how they, as people of faith, may influence others.

In November, the group talked about the teaching of religion in public schools, citing the recent news of parents in Williamson County who were upset about the amount of attention paid to teaching about Islam during a social studies class.

During the meeting, the group reviewed the possible ways that religion could be discussed in a grade school setting to promote tolerance and diversity without enforcing any one particular belief or faith values on students. RCC members also agreed parents are the ones that need to teach their children about religion, not just their own, but open the discussion so their kids understand that there are other people in the world who believe differently than oneself.

According to the President of the Nashville Chapter, Rev. Brian Fesler who also Pastors the Nashville Church of Scientology, the chapter meetings take place on the second Tuesday of every other month during breakfast. “The concept for these meetings is to bring diverse people together to dialogue about hot topics and how we can unite to bring more inspiration and good news to the world,” he said.

The RCC has members from every faith group and walk of life including Baha’is, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Scientologists, Sikhs, Hindus and more. For more information about the RCC or their next meeting, visit www.religioncommunicators.org.

Drug-Free South Treats Kids to Truth

Halloween this year was filled with candy, costumes and more. But just before the holiday, during a celebration event in the Edgehill neighborhood, kids were treated to more than just games and sweets. Drug-Free South came out to bring truth to young people and help prevent the worst kind of addiction.

Halloween falls on the last day of Red Ribbon Week, the last week of October each year which is also the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country. This is the best time to educate young people and help prevent drug abuse.

The Red Ribbon Campaign commemorates DEA agent Kiki Camarena, who died in the line of duty in 1985. Since that time, people display red ribbons as a sign of solidarity and intolerance toward the use of drugs.

Drug-Free South organizers participated in the Edgehill event on October 30^th, distributing materials to youth and encouraging health and safety during the holiday.

Drug-Free South began honoring Red Ribbon Week in Tennessee in 2009 by distributing copies of The Truth About Drugs booklets, which help young people understand what drugs are and how they affect the user, visiting school classrooms to deliver a seminar to students utilizing the documentary The Truth About Drugs: Real People, Real Stories, and getting the Drug-Free World public service announcements played on television. Drug-Free South has provided seminars to students in over thirty counties in Tennessee.

Drug-Free South is the Tennessee chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, an international non-profit organization. Its materials demonstrate the dangers of drugs through factual information and interviews with former addicts giving personal perspectives on each of the substances covered.  For more information, visit drugfreesouth.org. 

Artlightenment Releases 2015 Schedule for Art Show and Film Festival

The Artlightenment festival, now an annual tradition in Music City, combines several art forms into one breathtaking event in November. This is the seventh year of the festival which continues to grow and change while inviting even greater participation from the community. The 2015 theme is Music City Mystique: Behind the Art.

Saturday, November 7^th at 5:30pm is the opening reception. Guests will be able to view the art on display and meet the artists.

Robyn Morshead who founded the Artlightenment festival says, “Each year local artists submit their art for the show and each year I am absolutely blown away by the artistic skill and expression we have in our community.” 

The art show is hosting 47 local artists this year including the three featured artists: celebrity photographer Raeanne Rubenstein, whose photographs have recently been added to the catalogue of the prestigious Gagosian Gallery in New York City; Anne Goetze, a prolific artist whose Annecey, France Nun Series is scheduled to tour the United States; and Roy Laws, whose bold and expressive art hangs in private collections in the United States and Internationally.

Additionally, Laws will deliver a Live Painting Event of Rubenstein’s celebrated photograph of Martina McBride during the Artlightenment festival. Also during the festival, comedian and artist Bob Hutcheson will be creating a Community Coloring Experience, followed by his hilarious comedy show.

Artlightenment this year will be chock-full of inspirational talks, workshops, film screenings, a fashion show and much, much more.

Morshead said: “I am thrilled to give our local artists and filmmakers an opportunity to share their art with the community.  I invite everyone to come out and enjoy the experience.”

The Church of Scientology and Celebrity Centre Nashville is the festival host each year, in accordance with Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s vision to help all artists. More information and the complete schedule can be found online at artlightenment.com. 

International Association of Scientologists Marks Year of Incomparable Global Impact

The International Association of Scientologists’ 31st Anniversary Celebration showcased historic expansion and unprecedented reach, rounding out 12 months of extraordinary worldwide achievement.

More than 7,500 Scientologists converged on Saint Hill in the United Kingdom to celebrate 31 years of sweeping accomplishment and spectacular triumph of the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) on Friday, October 23, simultaneously honoring the Scientology religion’s continued growth and impact as a planetary force for humanitarian uplift and social betterment.

The event is being re-broadcast in churches around the globe one week later to unite all Scientologists and share the good news.

Indeed, the past year has proven to be perhaps the most expansive and successful in Scientology history—a period marked by monumental victories in terms of both Church growth and its dynamic, tireless work in battling drug abuse and human rights offenses including in the field of mental health, as well as instilling morality and delivering freedom from travail for those suffering in the aftermath of disaster.

When the IAS was founded in 1984, Scientology could be found in 39 nations worldwide. Today, the association’s members hail from more than 130 countries across six continents—securing the Church’s eminence as the only world religion to emerge in the 20th century that continues to expand, evolve and thrive 15 years into the 21st.

Indeed, the vast roster of Scientology achievements in 2015 filled the nearly three-hour event, beginning with the peerless efforts of Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) to eradicate psychiatric human rights abuses around the world—at once bringing its perpetrators to justice and empowering its victims. CCHR’s trailblazing crusade to bring psychiatry under the law continued to ramp up dramatically over the past year.

It was also during 2015 that permanent facilities for the Scientology-supported humanitarian and social betterment initiatives were established along with a Scientology Information Center in Clearwater, Florida—spiritual headquarters of the Scientology religion. These serve as a model for raising entire communities with these enormously effective campaigns.

The programs represented are: The Truth About Drugs, an anti-drug education program designed to erase pandemic substance abuse worldwide; United for Human Rights, enlightening populations on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; The Way to Happiness, whose 21 universal moral precepts help to restore the bonds of humanity and basic decency of mankind; and Scientology Volunteer Ministers, providing urgent assistance to the devastated and traumatized and bringing succor in times of disaster, both acute and everyday.

Examples of the sheer impact of the initiatives during the presentation included:

The Truth About Drugs campaign reaches a potential user every five seconds along high-trafficking zones in 58 nations.

More than 70,000 children in 40 schools across the nation of Togo alone were educated on their human rights.

The Way to Happiness is now permanently woven into West Bank society in the Middle East to help bring calm to a volatile region, with full recognition as a charitable organization by the Palestinian National Authority.

Volunteer Ministers logged more than 300,000 miles to train in excess of 50,000 people worldwide in how to use the VM tools.

Volunteer Ministers persevered through one of their greatest challenges this year following the devastating 7.8 earthquake in Nepal in April. The temblor resulted in more than 9,000 deaths and 23,000 injuries and left some 2 million homeless. However, within 24 hours, the Volunteer Ministers International headquarters had dispatched and mobilized Mexico’s famed Los Topos and CINAT (National Circle of Aid Technicians) out of Colombia. VMs from Pakistan, India and Thailand joined in the search-and-rescue effort along with power teams from Colombia, Australia, Europe and the United States.

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The International Association of Scientologists, a membership organization open to all Scientologists from all nations, was formed in 1984. The purpose of the IAS is to unite, advance, support, and protect the Scientology religion and Scientologists in all parts of the world so as to achieve the Aims of Scientology as originated by L. Ron Hubbard: “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.”

Nashville Church of Scientology Hosts Community Discussion on Drug Prevention

The Nashville Church of Scientology hosted a multi-faith, multi-cultural forum on drug prevention and education in honor of Red Ribbon Week, which occurs the last week of October each year and is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country, according to imdrugfree.com. The forum was titled “Fight Back: Make Drugs a Bad Deal.”

The Church showcased the Truth About Drugs program and the educational materials which are provided to community groups and schools free of charge.

Attendees heard from a narcotics officer who spoke about the drug trends in Middle Tennessee and gave tips on how to help loved ones who may be becoming addicts to prescription painkillers, one of the current drugs of choice. Also presenting was a former drug addict who now has taken it upon himself to spread the truth about drugs with informational seminars on the topic. The reason: he never knew what he was getting into, and believes that if others knew they would never fall into the trap.

Rounding out the program was a representative of the Office of Faith-Based and Special Initiatives from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services who spoke to what faith communities are doing across the state to handle the problem. He described congregations that are being certified as “recovery congregations” and how they are reaching into the community and helping addicts.

The Church of Scientology participates in drug prevention activities each year for the Red Ribbon Campaign, which was started when drug traffickers in Mexico City murdered DEA agent Kiki Camarena in 1985. This began the continuing tradition of displaying Red Ribbons as a symbol of intolerance towards the use of drugs. The mission of the Red Ribbon Campaign is to present a unified and visible commitment towards the creation of a Drug-Free America, according to redribbon.org.

The Church works with Drug-Free South (DFS), the local chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World. DFS has participated in the Red Ribbon campaign since 2009 by distributing copies of The Truth About Drugs booklets, which help young people understand what drugs are and how they affect the user. For more information on DFS, visit drugfreesouth.org. For more on the Church of Scientology’s drug prevention efforts, visit scientology-ccnashville.org/antidrug. 

Spreading Happiness Among Tennessee Native American Tribes

The Way to Happiness participated in this year’s annual Intertribal Powwow in Clarksville, Tennessee.

The Native Cultural Circle (NCC) of Clarksville held its eighteenth annual Intertribal Powwow earlier this month with festivities all weekend long. Attendees came from all walks of life and enjoyed learning about and exploring Native American culture and traditions.

The Powwow is held each year in a location with special significance to Native peoples. According to the website, “during the Indian Removal of 1838, the Cherokee nation was taken from their traditional homes in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama, and forcefully relocated to the Indian Territories in what later became Oklahoma. The Powwow grounds lay along the northern land route. Diary records of the removal identify Port Royal, as ‘the last stop before leaving Tennessee, and as an encampment site where the Cherokee stayed overnight or longer to re-supply, grind corn and rest.’”

During the removal, an estimated 4,000 - 6,000 Cherokee died. The journey became known as “The Trail of Tears” or, as a direct translation from the Cherokee Nunna daul Tsuny, “The Trail Where They Cried.”

The powwow is a time to commemorate the Trail of Tears and special ceremonies are held in remembrance of it.

This year, a volunteer from the Way to Happiness Foundation was welcomed to the powwow to distribute booklets written by humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1980s. The Way to Happiness booklet contains a common sense moral code that is interreligious and can be used by anyone.

Rebecca Carter, the volunteer for The Way to Happiness said, “This booklet, when distributed to people in need, has such a great effect. You see whole communities uplifted once they learn the values contained within.”

More than two-hundred booklets were distributed to those attending the Intertribal Powwow. For more information, visit thewaytohappiness.org. For more information on the next Intertribal Powwow, visit discoverclarksville.com. 

Drug-Free South Scaring Away Abuse and Addiction

The week leading up to Halloween is often filled with children frantically deciding what costume to wear or ensuring they have enough bags to fill with candy, but many don’t know that this week is also a time to fight drug abuse and come together with solutions to end addiction. The week is known across the country as Red Ribbon Week, commemorating DEA agent Kiki Camarena, who died in the line of duty in 1985.

“Red Ribbon Week is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country,” according to imdrugfree.com, and it occurs during the last week of October each year. This is the best time to educate young people and help prevent drug abuse.

As it comes right before Halloween, Drug-Free South organizers are set to participate in an event on October 30th, distributing materials to youth and encouraging health and safety during the holiday.

Drug-Free South began observing Red Ribbon Week in Tennessee in 2009 by distributing copies of The Truth About Drugs booklets, which help young people understand what drugs are and how they affect the user, visiting school classrooms to deliver a seminar to students utilizing the documentary The Truth About Drugs: Real People, Real Stories, and getting the Drug-Free World public service announcements played on television. Drug-Free South has provided seminars to students in over thirty counties in Tennessee.

Drug-Free South is the Tennessee chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, an international non-profit organization. Its materials demonstrate the dangers of drugs through factual information and interviews with former addicts giving personal perspectives on each of the substances covered.  For more information, visit drugfreesouth.org.