You won't stop Scientology: Like it or not, Scientology's here to stay. It isn't going to be driven away or driven underground by any group of any kind, any time. Anyone who doesn't like it may as well resign himself or herself to the fact that Scientology is an anvil that will wear out any hammer.
If spewing hate is what makes you happy, enjoy yourself. You won't stop Scientology.
The L. Ron Hubbard House is just that, a house. Ron Hubbard lived there at one time. There isn't anything hidden or secret about that. Some people (including quite a few neighbors who aren't deranged) have actually enjoyed seeing the house and safely eating some coffee cake.
Russell Shaw, Phoenix
Scientologists are always recruiting: You can expect that all Scientologists are always in the process of recruiting. That's all they do. Even when they tell you they are not recruiting, it's because they're recruiting. They're graced with the "ethical" directive to lie to everyone outside the cult to make the cult grow, and take in more money. It's not rocket science — the ex-cult members all say the exact same thing.
Jeff Oxenburg, New York City
It's all about playing a better game: Wow! Must have been a really slow news day at New Slimes. You didn't even manage to make a mole hill out of this mole hill. "Run for your lives! The Scientologists are coming, and they're bringing cake!"
The facts are that Dianetics is man's only science of the human mind, and Scientology is man's only science of the spirit and life. The goal of Scientology is making the individual capable of living a better life in his own estimation and with his fellows — playing a better game.
Now, my having said that doesn't make it true. And others claiming it's false doesn't make it false. So, I encourage one and all to grab a basic book on the subject by the author of the subject, L. Ron Hubbard.
Jim Reeves, Phoenix
Beware a takeover: Folks in Arizona, you have to keep this L. Ron Hubbard House under close watch and do something to stop it. Listen to what ex-Scientologists are saying. Check it out for yourselves, as there are many people aware of this cult and how it takes over lives, towns, and legislative bodies.
Wendy Tocan, Toronto
Investigate before you judge: I find it fascinating that people have negative viewpoints on subjects they know very little about. It shows that we are a society that believes everything we read and hear in the media and don't bother looking for ourselves.
Why don't the neighbors of the L. Ron Hubbard house go to their library and take out one of the books by Mr. Hubbard and find out for themselves what Scientology is? A very good book is A New Slant on Life.
Mary Joost, Phoenix
The cult that killed Clearwater: The residents of this neighborhood would do well to investigate what's happened to the residential and business areas of Clearwater, Florida, and specifically the residential areas around cult buildings in Los Angeles.
Downtown Clearwater's almost dead. The townspeople are terrified of the cult, and any opposition is met with covert and overt personal attacks.
I suggest that residents of this area in Phoenix join together and radically oppose any more cult expansion or incursions, because the one thing folks in other towns have discovered is give the cult an inch and it will take 10 miles.
James Lightfoot, Cincinnati
Neighbors are the hypocrites: I took an art group on a tour of this Phoenix facility, as L. Ron Hubbard was a huge supporter of the arts, photography, and writing.
The tour was great, the house was great, and Marlyse Brock was an excellent tour guide, very informative. There was plenty of parking on the property; she supplied us with cookies, juice, coffee, and tea.
Besides mentioning the fact that Mr. Hubbard was the founder of Scientology, we were never approached to attend a meeting, given any literature, or given any other type of propaganda.
I think the neighbors should be grateful there is a little bit of history in their neighborhood and that the property is kept in such great condition.
Virginia Curry, Phoenix
It's nothing but a corporation: Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard told his son that the best way to become a millionaire was to start a religion, admitting that Scientology is nothing but a fictionally created story.
Scientology is nothing but a corporation that thrives on the ignorance of its followers by selling them books and courses on how to "improve" themselves spiritually.
Robert Lindblad, Montreal
We have no reason to "convert" anybody: I find it all very suspicious that these neighbors have such negative attitudes about Scientology, and I wonder who has fed them the misinformation about the subject. As a member of Scientology since 1969 and someone who isn't a foreigner and who has lived in Phoenix since 1948, I'm just amazed and dumbfounded by it all.
I can state without reservation that this house makes no attempt to convert anyone to Scientology, sells no product, takes in no money for anything, and, in fact, is simply a place where someone can go who would like to know more about Mr. Hubbard, not the Church of Scientology.
Jim Bennett, Phoenix
Why are they always playing the victim?: It's not because I know too little, but because I know too much. I can't, in good conscience, keep my mouth shut about the dangerous group that's Scientology.
Try asking a Scientologist about Lisa McPherson, and they'll merely shrug and say, "I don't know anything about that." How do I know this? I've tried countless times to talk to Scientologists about Scientology. They all just shrug and say, "Go read the book."
Fair enough, I read the book. I read Dianetics over and over and over again. I reference the page in Dianetics that deals with L. Ron Hubbard's opinion of gay people:
"The sexual pervert (homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual sadism) is actually quite ill physically . . . He is also so far from normal and so extremely dangerous to society that the tolerance of perversion is as thoroughly bad for society as punishment for it."
Why do Scientologists play the victim? Why are we considered the "terrorists" when they are the ones trying to follow me home, hiring private investigators to find out who I am? I don't follow you home, and I don't want you in a neighborhood where good people pay plenty of money to lead a nice and quiet life.
Nina Lamb, Phoenix
