SCIENTOLOGY AT THE CENTRE
OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD

The United Kingdom’s Church of Scientology, standing on Queen Victoria Street in the cultural epicentre of London, drew more than 3,000 Scientologists, London citizens and dignitaries from every continent to its October 2006 opening. The dedication of the new Church by Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center and ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, marked the significance of the occasion.

Honoured guests who participated in the dedication, each of whom had partnered with Scientologists in civic or humanitarian endeavours, included Commander Kevin Hurley, City of London Police; The Right Honourable Ian Lauder, City of London Alderman; and The Honourable Iftikhar Ayaz, United Nations permanent peace envoy and representative of the UN Human Rights Commission.

The definitive statement on what the new Church in London signified came from Mr. Miscavige in his inaugural address to those assembled:

“As every Londoner knows, just across the road stands St. Paul’s Cathedral where some 400 years ago John Donne declared: No man is an island unto himself, that every death diminishes us if we are involved in Mankind, so ‘never send to find for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.’

“Which, as every Scientologist knows, is quoted in the famed L. Ron Hubbard chapter on responsibility in Advanced Procedure and Axioms.

“All this organisation represents as a force for preserving and bettering lives—our gift of literacy to disadvantaged children, restoring self-respect to those who have gone astray, easing suffering, eradicating racial prejudice and repairing the bonds that bind men together.

“All that and more is about responsibility. It is about never sending to find for whom the bell tolls, because we know it tolls for us, and we know it because we are involved in Mankind.

“I want you to remember what LRH himself wrote in the wake of forming the first Scientology Organisation in this city: ‘Our goal, with what we have, cannot be less than our knowledge demands.’

“And so it is today. You have the full knowledge of his legacy in the Church that stands before you. I implore you to use that legacy to the hilt, and the next time you hear the bell tolling, it will be ringing out in celebration.”