The Church of Scientology has launched its own TV channel.
The channel was launched with a pledge that it will be candid about every aspect of the church and its operations but is not seeking to preach or convert.
“There’s a lot of talk about us. And we get it,” church leader David Miscavige said while introducing the first night of programming on Monday.
“People are curious. Well, we want to answer your questions. Because, frankly, whatever you have heard, if you haven’t heard it from us, I can assure you we’re not what you expect.”
Founded in 1954 by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, the church teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems. It has about 10 million members worldwide.
Scientology is an “expanding and dynamic religion and we’re going to be showing you all of it”, Mr Miscavige said from the “spiritual headquarters” in which he was standing — a Florida-based, corporate-looking building — its churches around the world and a behind-the-scenes look at its management.
The channel also will explore the life and philosophy of Hubbard, whom Mr Miscavige called “a true-to-life genius”.
With all that the channel intends to present, he said: “Let’s be clear: We’re not here to preach to you, to convince you or to convert you. No. We simply want to show you.”
Mr Miscavige did not directly address critics even though Scientology does not lack for them.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here