My blog is about IAS Freedom Medal Winners. An understanding of the IAS - the International Association of Scientologists - is necessary to understand the significance of the people I write about. Here is an excerpt from the IAS Membership web site called "The Story of the IAS."
Here is a short description of what they stand for and what they do.
Without fireworks, without cheering crowds, but with pure unadulterated dedication, a small group of Scientologists determined to see to the security and dissemination of the Scientology religion formed the International Association of Scientologists (IAS).
All new movements have at one time been faced with persecution and misunderstanding, and all great movements have succeeded because of the personal conviction and dedication of their members.
Regrettably, history has seen many attempts to suppress religious freedom and human rights. From the persecution of early Christians in Rome to the slaughter of Jews in Nazi concentration camps, many faiths have suffered dearly.
Because of just such a lamentable history, the International Association of Scientologists was formed to guarantee that the Scientology religion can be practiced for all time — through a strong group composed of those who believe in and are willing to fight for the rights of man and the freedom of all religions.
In addition to adopting a constitution and electing a board, the first IAS delegates also formulated and signed the Pledge to Mankind, rededicating themselves to achieving the aims of Scientology.
Since that time membership has grown dramatically. Although there remain countries where religious intolerance must still be dealt with, the Association’s primary focus today is the dissemination and expansion of Scientology, bringing its technology into use to help others, and better the civilization as a whole.
Some of the activities IAS members and IAS Freedom Medal Winners are involved in in the community are for example, reversing the decline of literacy and education, making human rights a fact, bringing about a new era of morality, defeating the scourge of drug abuse, volunteer ministers - something can be done about it, helping to clean up the field of mental health.
For the next few days I will post data on each of these activities to show how the IAS is changing society for the better.
