Remember my piece on the teamup between Scientology and the Nation of Islam?
Well, there’s more on that subject:
An independent Scientology news service, @IndieScieNews, first tipped me off to the connection. On October 20, the Church of Scientology honored the Nation of Islam’s Tony Muhammed with its Freedom Award in Inglewood, Calif., in recognition of his “humanitarian” efforts. What, exactly, are those efforts? Muhammed travels the world showing a documentary on vaccines, claiming they cause autism. Just this week, Nation of Islam members held a blessing and naming ceremony for Tony Muhammed at the Scientology Land Base Chapel in Clearwater, Fla.
The individual behind IndieScientologyNews told me:
The extent of the integration of Scientology into the Nation of Islam is demonstrated by the fact that members of the Nation of Islam are not only practicing the religion of Scientology, they are also becoming Ministers and Ministers-in-Training of the Church of Scientology.
The connection between the two groups goes far deeper than just a gala or a naming ceremony. One of the stars of Leah Remini’s docuseries, Aaron Smith-Levin, laid out the financial connection and the incentive for Nation of Islam members to become involved in the Church of Scientology, and vice versa. Smith-Levin explained to me:
Louis Farrakhan is entitled to personally receive a 10% commission on all money NOI members pay for Scientology auditing and a 15% commission on all money NOI members pay for Scientology courses. I don’t know what Farrakhan’s compensation plan is within the NOI, but with ~40,000+ NOI members, the relationship between the NOI & the Church of Scientology, Farrakhan stands to personally earn an awful lot of cash.
During his keynote address to members of the Nation of Islam last year, Farrakhan seemed to take aim at Remini. Writing at his blog, Ortega explains,
He then cited a chapter from the Koran, and used it to say that he was interested in useful knowledge, whatever its source.
“I’m just setting the record straight. I’m not a Scientologist but I respect L. Ron Hubbard. I know that this is the time that they’re making an all out move to destroy Scientology. But what I ask Mrs. Remmy, or whatever her name is, she’s going in hard. She’s hurt, by something.”
Farrakhan then seemed to go on a tangent, talking about his followers looking for understanding but worrying that it was coming from sources that weren’t “perfect.” It was difficult to tell whether this was another reference to Hubbard and Scientology. But he concluded this section of remarks with this line: “The more we strive to make ourselves better, the better we will become in being disciples of Christ or Muhammad or anybody we think we should follow.”
The message seemed pretty clear: Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam will stand by the Church of Scientology as it is marked for destruction by a hurt Leah Remini.
And both, of course, are willing to silence their critics and defecting former members by any means necessary…
“And both, of course, are willing to silence their critics and defecting former members by any means necessary…”
You can always judge the true intentions of any organization by observing how fairly (or not) they treat their ex-members.