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   From: #1@Bushy.net   
      
   Director Publicly Quits Church of Scientology Over Their Support For Calif's   
   Prop 8   
   By Nicole Belle   
   Yeah, it's a Hollywood mixed with Scientology story, which I normally avoid   
   like the plague, but director Paul Haggis's very public and damning   
   resignation from the Church of Scientology because he couldn't reconcile his   
   belief in the fundamental unfairness of banning gay marriage and his   
   church's support for it is definitely worth a read:   
      
     In what may prove to be an earth-shaking rupture for the organization,   
   Oscar-winning writer and director Paul Haggis has broken publicly with the   
   Church of Scientology, the Hollywood-centric religion that has recently come   
   under renewed scrutiny for its political positions.   
      
     In a scathing letter to the church's celebrity contact, Tommy Davis,   
   Haggis accused the church of hypocrisy and lies, especially regarding its   
   decision to support the anti-gay-marriage proposition on the California   
   ballot last year, Proposition 8.   
      
     "I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an   
   organization where gay-bashing was tolerated," Haggis wrote, referring to   
   support for Prop. 8 in the church's San Diego branch. "You promised action.   
   Ten months passed. No action was forthcoming."   
      
     He added: "The church's refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots,   
   hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence   
   is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent."   
      
   The church has officially denied that it supported Proposition 8, however,   
   Haggis felt that the denial was weak at best, and not the only troubling   
   thing about Scientology:   
      
     He accused Davis of lying in a CNN interview about church policy regarding   
   the requirement that members distance themselves from any family members who   
   oppose Scientology.   
      
     "I saw you deny the church's policy of disconnection," he said. "I was   
   shocked. We all know this policy exists."   
      
     Haggis said his own wife "was ordered" to break relations with her parents   
   because of the policy, "because of something absolutely trivial they   
   supposedly did 25 years ago when they resigned from the church. ... For a   
   year and a half, despite her protestations, my wife did not speak to her   
   parents, and they had limited access to their grandchild. It was a terrible   
   time.   
      
     "To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: What else are   
   you lying about?" Haggis wrote.   
      
   Haggis's letter is available here,  http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/   
      
    In it, Haggis acknowledges that the hardball tactics the Church of   
   Scientology employs to smear those who have left the fold will be used on   
   him as well. The Church of Scientology isn't having the best of weeks,   
   either. They were convicted in France of fraud and the country just stopped   
   short of banning the church altogether.   
      
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8327569.stm   
      
   Typical republican 'nut' church.  They should hire Dana Perrino as their   
   spokesperson.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)