MIND-ALTERING DRUGS COVER UP ILLS

I'm beginning to think the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is run by intolerant
bigots. There have been several letters scathingly mentioning the Church of
Scientology by people who obviously know less than nothing about it.

So let me set the record straight. The church was founded by Scientologists
in 1954 who realized that what L. Ron Hubbard discovered about the spirit
of man could be studied and practiced in none other than a religious realm.

Several religious scholars have found Scientology to be a religion in the
truest sense of the word. A person does not have to give up his current
religion in order to practice Scientology. This is basically because in
Scientology, the concept of God is left up to the individual to discover
for himself and is the eighth dynamic of existence or the infinity dynamic.

Church members are drug-free. This does not mean that they don't take
medicines for physical illness. They do not, however, take mind- altering
psychotropic drugs or similar street drugs like cocaine.

In researching the spirit, Mr. Hubbard found that these drugs not only
cover up problems but also can make them worse. A person who runs away from
a problem will always have that problem.

Kathy Dillon, Public Affairs Department, Church of Scientology of Florida,
Coral Gables