Crash Director Paul Haggis Quits Scientology Over Gay Bashing

Paul Haggis, director of Crash and Million Dollar Baby, has written a scathing letter to Tommy Davis, spokesman for Scientology head David Miscavige, announcing his departure from the Church of Scientology, citing the Church's attitude toward gays and lesbians and their position regarding Proposition 8 in California, among other things.

Here's an excerpt: 

As you know, for ten months now I have been writing toask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Churchof Scientology of San Diego. Their public sponsorship of Proposition 8,a hate-filled legislation that succeeded in taking away the civilrights of gay and lesbian citizens of California – rights that weregranted them by the Supreme Court of our state – shames us.

Icalled and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of thechurch, to condemn their actions. I told you I could not, in goodconscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing wastolerated.

In that first conversation, back at the end ofOctober of last year, you told me you were horrified, that you wouldget to the bottom of it and “heads would roll.” You promised action.Ten months passed. No action was forthcoming. The best you offered wasa weak and carefully worded press release, which praised the church'shuman rights record and took no responsibility. Even that, you decidednot to publish.

The church's refusal to denounce the actions ofthese bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of noother word.  Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.

Ijoined the Church of Scientology thirty-five years ago. During mytwenties and early thirties I studied and received a great deal ofcounseling. While I have not been an active member for many years, Ifound much of what I learned to be very helpful, and I still apply itin my daily life. I have never pretended to be the best Scientologist,but I openly and vigorously defended the church whenever it wascriticized, as I railed against the kind of intolerance that I believedwas directed against it. I had my disagreements, but I dealt with theminternally. I saw the organization – with all its warts, growing painsand problems – as an underdog. And I have always had a thing forunderdogs.

But I reached a point several weeks ago where I nolonger knew what to think.

Read the full, letter, AFTER THE JUMP…

Blogger Marty Rathbun, who first published the letter, writes:"I received a copy of a letter sent to Tommy Davis written by a ratherinfluential person. The source who provided this was a third partyrecipient of the letter and was able to establish to my satisfactionthat the letter is authentic."

PAUL HAGGIS LETTER TO CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY

Tommy,

As you know, for ten months now I have been writing toask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Churchof Scientology of San Diego. Their public sponsorship of Proposition 8,a hate-filled legislation that succeeded in taking away the civilrights of gay and lesbian citizens of California – rights that weregranted them by the Supreme Court of our state – shames us.

Icalled and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of thechurch, to condemn their actions. I told you I could not, in goodconscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing wastolerated.

In that first conversation, back at the end ofOctober of last year, you told me you were horrified, that you wouldget to the bottom of it and “heads would roll.” You promised action.Ten months passed. No action was forthcoming. The best you offered wasa weak and carefully worded press release, which praised the church'shuman rights record and took no responsibility. Even that, you decidednot to publish.

The church's refusal to denounce the actions ofthese bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of noother word.  Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.

Ijoined the Church of Scientology thirty-five years ago. During mytwenties and early thirties I studied and received a great deal ofcounseling. While I have not been an active member for many years, Ifound much of what I learned to be very helpful, and I still apply itin my daily life. I have never pretended to be the best Scientologist,but I openly and vigorously defended the church whenever it wascriticized, as I railed against the kind of intolerance that I believedwas directed against it. I had my disagreements, but I dealt with theminternally. I saw the organization – with all its warts, growing painsand problems – as an underdog. And I have always had a thing forunderdogs.

But I reached a point several weeks ago where I nolonger knew what to think. You had allowed our name to be allied withthe worst elements of the Christian Right. In order to contain apotential “PR flap” you allowed our sponsorship of Proposition 8 tostand. Despite all the church's words about promoting freedom and humanrights, its name is now in the public record alongside those whopromote bigotry and intolerance, homophobia and fear.

The factthat the Mormon Church drew all the fire, that no one noticed, doesn'tmatter. I noticed. And I felt sick. I wondered how the church could, ingood conscience, through the action of a few and then the inaction ofits leadership, support a bill that strips a group of its civil rights.

Thiswas my state of mind when I was online doing research and chanced uponan interview clip with you on CNN. The interview lasted maybe tenminutes – it was just you and the newscaster. And in it I saw you denythe church's policy of disconnection. You said straight-out there wasno such policy, that it did not exist.

I was shocked. We all know this policy exists. I didn't have tosearch for verification – I didn't have to look any further than my ownhome.

You might recall that my wife was ordered to disconnectfrom her parents because of something absolutely trivial theysupposedly did twenty-five years ago when they resigned from thechurch. This is a lovely retired couple, never said a negative wordabout Scientology to me or anyone else I know – hardly raving maniacsor enemies of the church. In fact it was they who introduced my wife toScientology.

Although it caused her terrible personal pain, mywife broke off all contact with them. I refused to do so. I've neverbeen good at following orders, especially when I find them morallyreprehensible.

For a year and a half, despite her protestations,my wife did not speak to her parents and they had limited access totheir grandchild. It was a terrible time.

That's not ancient history, Tommy. It was a year ago.

And you could laugh at the question as if it was a joke? You could publicly state that it doesn't exist?

To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about?

And that is when I read the recent articles in the St. Petersburg Times.  They left me dumbstruck and horrified.

Thesewere not the claims made by “outsiders” looking to dig up dirt againstus. These accusations were made by top international executives who haddevoted most of their lives to the church. Say what you will about themnow, these were staunch defenders of the church, including Mike Rinder,the church's official spokesman for 20 years!

Tommy, if only afraction of these accusations are true, we are talking about serious,indefensible human and civil rights violations. It is still hard for meto believe.  But given how many former top-level executives have saidthese things are true, it is hard to believe it is all lies.

Andwhen I pictured you assuring me that it is all lies, that this isnothing but an unfounded and vicious attack by a group of disgruntledemployees, I am afraid that I saw the same face that looked in thecamera and denied the policy of disconnection. I heard the same voicethat professed outrage at our support of Proposition 8, who promised tocorrect it, and did nothing.

I carefully read all of your rebuttals, I watched every video whereyou presented the church's position, I listened to all your arguments –ever word. I wish I could tell you that they rang true. But they didn't.

I was left feeling outraged, and frankly, more than a little stupid.

Andthough it may seem small by comparison, I was truly disturbed to seeyou provide private details from confessionals to the press in anattempt to embarrass and discredit the executives who spoke out. Apriest would go to jail before revealing secrets from the confessional,no matter what the cost to himself or his church. That's the kind ofintegrity I thought we had, but obviously the standard in this churchis far lower – the public relations representative can reveal secretsto the press if the management feels justified. You even felt free topublish secrets from the confessional in Freedom Magazine – you juststopped short of labeling them as such, probably because you knewScientologists would be horrified, knowing you so easily broke a sacredvow of trust with your parishioners.

How dare you use privateinformation in order to label someone an “adulteress?” You took AmyScobee's most intimate admissions about her sexual life and passed themonto the press and then smeared them all over the pages yournewsletter! I do not know the woman, but no matter what she said ordid, this is the woman who joined the Sea Org at 16! She ran the entirecelebrity center network, and was a loyal senior executive of thechurch for what, 20 years? You want to rebut her accusations, do it,and do it in the strongest terms possible – but that kind of characterassassination is unconscionable.

So, I am now painfully awarethat you might see this an attack and just as easily use things I haveconfessed over the years to smear my name. Well, luckily I have neverheld myself up to be anyone's role model.

The great majority ofScientologists I know are good people who are genuinely interested inimproving conditions on this planet and helping others. I have tobelieve that if they knew what I now know, they too would be horrified.But I know how easy it was for me to defend our organization anddismiss our critics, without ever truly looking at what was being said;I did it for thirty-five years. And so, after writing this letter, I amfully aware that some of my friends may choose to no longer associatewith me, or in some cases work with me. I will always take their calls,as I always took yours. However, I have finally come to the conclusionthat I can no longer be a part of this group. Frankly, I had to look nofurther than your refusal to denounce the church's anti-gay stance, andthe indefensible actions, and inactions, of those who condone thisbehavior within the organization. I am only ashamed that I waited thismany months to act. I hereby resign my membership in the Church ofScientology.

Sincerely,

Paul Haggis

Ps. I'veattached our email correspondence.  At some point it became evidentthat you did not value my concerns about the church's tacit support ofan amendment that violated the civil rights of so many of our citizens.Perhaps if you had done a little more research on me, the church'ssenior management wouldn't have dismissed those concerns quite socavalierly. While I am no great believer in resumes and awards, this iswhat you would have discovered:

* Founder, Artists For Peace and Justice,
– sponsoring schools, an orphanage and a children's hospital in the slums of Haiti
* Co-Founder, BrandAid Foundation and BrandAid Project
– marketing the work of artisans from the poorest countries in the world,
* Board Member, Office of The Americas
– supporting peace and justice initiatives around the world
* Board Member, Center For The Advancement of Non-Violence
* Member and active supporter, Amnesty International
* Member, President's Council, Defenders of Wildlife
* Member and fundraiser, Environment California and CalPirg
* Member and Award Recipient, American Civil Liberties Union
* Member and supporter, Death Penalty Focus
* Member and supporter, Equality For All
* Fundraiser, NPH (Our Little Brothers) – for the children of the slums of Haiti
* Member, Citizens Commission on Human Rights
* Patron with Honors, IAS
And formerly:
* Trustee, Religious Freedom Trust
* Board Member and fundraiser, Hollywood Education and Literacy Project
* Board Member and fundraiser, For The Arts, For Every Child
– supporting art and music in public schools
* Board Member and fundraiser, The Christic Institute
– supporting Human Rights in Central America
* Founding Board Member, Earth Communication Office
* Working Board Member, Environmental Media Association
* Fundraiser, El Rescate – Human Rights for El Salvador
* Fundraiser, PAVA – Aid and Human Rights in Guatemala

Awards for outspoken support of Civil and Human Rights:

* Valentine Davies Award – Writers Guild of America
“for bringing honor and dignity to writers everywhere”
*Bill of Rights Award – American Civil Liberties Union
*Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award – Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
*Peace & Justice Award – Office of the Americas, presented by Daniel Ellsberg
*Signis Award, Venezia, World Catholic Association
*ALMA Award – National Council of Latino Civil Rights
*Ethel Levitt Award for Humanitarian Service – Levitt & Quinn
*Prism Award – Entertainment Industries Council
*Humanitas Prize (2) – Humanitas
*Legacy Award, for Artistic and Humanitarian Achievement
*Environmental Media Award – EMA
*EMA Green Seal Award – EMA
*Image Award – NAACP
*Creative Integrity Award – Multicultural Motion Picture Association
*EDGE Awards (2) – Entertainment Industries Council
*Artistic Freedom Award – City of West Hollywood
*Catholics in Media Award – Catholics in Media Associates

Andmany dozens of fundraisers and salons at our home on behalf of Humanand Civil Rights, the Environment, the Peace Movement, Education,Justice and Equality.