Scientology
Sir: Your article of 25 November, 'Cults and the death wish', I find to be quite intriguing. Christopher Booker, however, I ant afraid by attempting to explain spiritual values in rather esoteric and involved psychological terms ends up at the dead end of one of those nice little mazes that psychologists and psychiatrists use to test their hypotheses.
His lumping together of the Church of Scientology, Evangelical Christians, and Hare Krishna with the Workers' Revolutionary Party is a complicated attempt to explain the simple fact that people do align themselves with groups —whether the Manchester United Football Club or Evangelical Alliance. That these group members become dedicated to the principles and doctrines of their group is again nothing out of the ordinary.
If Mr Booker really wants to study those with a death wish I invite him to stand at Victoria Station or any tube station in the rush hour. One can witness activity which is not far afield from the lemmings pouring towards the cliffs, and a more brainwashed and hypnotised lot he will scarcely meet. In our dismay and concern about the tragedy in Guyana, let us not fall prey to sowing the seeds of a modern Inquisition.
Tom Shuster Director of Public Affairs, Church of Scientology, Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, Sussex Sir: As a member of the Church of Scientology for the last eleven years, I take great exception to your article by Christopher Booker.
To produce an apparently learned article (characterised by the sprinkling of obscure and obtuse words) to explain a totally inexplicable event, is just about as helpful as an umbrella in a hurricane. To link in the Church of Scientology isgrossly unfair; aside from the considerable personal distress suffered by myself and my family, I most strongly object to being referred to as 'immature and lonely'. As a thirty-six-year-old father of two, holding down a responsible job and representing my colleagues as a union representative while sending my son to private school, I hardly fit Mr Booker's idea, or many others come to that, of someone in need of 're-integration'. Yet I have found the time spent in studying Scientology and applying What! learned, most beneficial. All! ask is that my results are judged and not the parroted opinions of some alleged authority such as Mr Booker.
Should I find I need to know more about an unpublished Victorian novelist, I will approach Mr Booker — similarly, should he need to know more about the Church of Scientology, and on the evidence of this article he most certainly does. I hope he will do me the courtesy of finding out the true facts before launching into print. I would be delighted to be of service to achieve this end. S.H.M. Allen 55 Queens Road, East Grinstead, Sussex
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