Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology

[osaraba]

So, I'm super busy at work right now and don't have a moment to write up my thoughts and squee about the Toronto trip (yet) or the recs post I've been compiling links for (yet). I WILL get to these things, eventually, I promise!

BUT, a link to this New Yorker article arrived in my inbox today and whoa-- I didn't even know that Paul Haggis (creator of due South, Crash and Million Dollar Baby, among other shows/movies) was a Scientologist! After maintaining active membership in the Church of Scientology for over 35 years, he wrote a resignation letter in reaction to statements made by the San Diego branch in support of Proposition 8, the move to ban gay marriage in California. (source)

It kind of baffles me that it took this for him to, I dunno, wake up and smell the coffee change his awareness/perspective? But it's an interesting thing, nonetheless.

The article is 26 (short) pages in length, and I'm just on page two now (and have to wait til lunch to continue), but I thought I'd post for anyone who's interested. Dunno if this would be appropriate on c6d_universe, but feel free to repost/etc.

The Apostate: Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology by Lawrence Wright

On August 19, 2009, Tommy Davis, the chief spokesperson for the Church of Scientology International, received a letter from the film director and screenwriter Paul Haggis. “For ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego,” Haggis wrote. Before the 2008 elections, a staff member at Scientology’s San Diego church had signed its name to an online petition supporting Proposition 8, which asserted that the State of California should sanction marriage only “between a man and a woman.” The proposition passed. As Haggis saw it, the San Diego church’s “public sponsorship of Proposition 8, which succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California—rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state—is a stain on the integrity of our organization and a stain on us personally. Our public association with that hate-filled legislation shames us.” Haggis wrote, “Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.” He concluded, “I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology.