Scientology's, Davis, discusses Haggis' allegations and charges of fraud in France

October 27, 11:11 PMAtheism ExaminerTrina Hoaks

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Tommy Davis, the controversial spokesman of the Church of Scientology, has spoken out about the contents of the letter that Crash director Paul Haggis wrote to him. He has also addressed the findings in France that the Church of Scientology committed fraud.

In the letter that unintentionally became public, Haggis took issue with  Davis' failure to come out publicly against a supposed mix up that ended up with the Church of Scientology being listed in support of Prop 8. He said, "...for ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego. Their public sponsorship of Proposition 8, a hate-filled legislation that succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California - rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state - shames us."

Haggis went on to say, "I called and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of the church, to condemn their actions. I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated."

Now, according to an MSNBC report, Davis has responded to allegations that his church is bigoted in any way. He said, "'I don't want any misunderstanding. The church supports civil rights for everybody, regardless of sexual orientation, race, color or creed. We are a minority, too; we understand what it's like to be persecuted, so to the extent that anything prohibits or inhibits on civil rights, we don't agree with it.'"

Davis addressed the supposed mix up. He said, "'Church of Scientology San Diego had been put on a list of churches that supported Proposition 8 out in California. It was incorrectly included and named when it should have never been on the list to begin with.'"

He said the reason that they didn't come out and say anything after the mix up was because a church is not allowed legally to do such a thing as take a political stance. is it really a political stance to publicly say that a mistake had been made? Is it really a political stance to say that the church supports the civil rights of gays? Wouldn't something so simple as that had cleared the matter?

Davis claims that Haggis wanted the church to take a side on the Prop 8 issue. He said, "'He wanted the church to have an active political stance and the church is prohibited from doing so."

I'm not convinced.

Davis also addressed the verdict in the case against the Church of Scientology in France. It was found guilty of fraud today. The church, which is considered to be nothing more than a sect or cult in France, its library, and 6 members were fined approximately a million dollars.

In defense of the church, Davis said, ""(The decision) is all bark and no bite in reality. We'll absolutely appeal and emerge victorious, even if it requires us to go the European Court of Human Rights.'"

It seemed, as Davis continued, that he was trying to make light of the allegation and charges lodged against the church. (Common theme?) He said, "'Essentially what the court is attempting to do is to state that Scientologists are guilty of practicing their own religion. People have donated to their own church, received services in their own church, and the people who are being convicted of fraud have themselves donated money to the church, and far more than the woman that made the complaint. She only did church services for five months.'"

Even though the church was found guilty of fraud, Davis sees it as a victory. After all, what prosecutors wanted was to shut the church down. The judge in the case decided not to do that because he assumed it would continue to operate anyway outside the law. Further, Davis points to the fact that "the group just opened a church in Rome, another in Sweden, and are about to open a church in Berlin" as proof that the "Scientology is already winning."