Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis quit the Church of Scientology in protest this week over what he calls the organization’s “gay-bashing.” Haggis decided to leave Scientology partially due to statements made by the church’s San Diego branch in support of the California Proposition 8 gay marriage ban.
“As you know, 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… I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated,” Haggis wrote in a letter to Church of Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis. “The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly,†Haggis wrote. “I can think of no other word. Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.â€
The Oscar-winning director of Crash also declaimed the Scientology practice of “disconnection” – where members are required to cease contact with friends or family who leave the church or advocate against it. “We all know this policy exists,” Haggis said. “You might recall that my wife [Deborah Rennard]was ordered to disconnect from her own parents… although it caused her terrible personal pain, my wife broke off all contact with them.”
“I am only ashamed I waited this many months to act. I hereby resign my membership of the Church of Scientology,” Haggis said in closing. The church has yet to respond publicly to Haggis’ resignation.
A-list Hollywood celebrities in the Church of Scientology include John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston, Tom Cruise and wife Katie Holmes and Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley. Paul Haggis had been a practicing member of Scientology for 35 years. Other notable celebs who have ditched Scientology over the years include Demi Moore, Jerry Seinfield, Patrick Swayze and Cruise’s ex-wife Nicole Kidman.
Read the full letter from Paul Haggis here.
Wow. I guess under his logic all Christians should leave Christianity and all Mormons should leave the Mormon Church as they were for Prop. 8. Sounds like he lost it and also sounds like he has not been practicing Scientology for a while. I saw him once and he was smoking & cursing the whole time.
Suzanne: “Wow. I guess under his logic all Christians should leave Christianity and all Mormons should leave the Mormon Church as they were for Prop. 8.”
So let me get this, so to speak, straight: If your religion promises you salvation but oppresses other people, you should cheerfully buy the bargain? NIce! Anyway, as you should bloody well know, not all Christian sects supported 8.
From a nonbeliever’s perspective, though, if I were to choose a faith, it wouldn’t be based on something silly like an evil space emperor dumping people into nonexistent volcanoes, or magic stones that let someone translate a conveniently disappearing golden book. Oh, booga booga booga! Neither would it require followers to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars to be saved. Sounds like you’re one of the faithful followers of a drugged-out, second-rate science fiction writer and his utterly stupid myths. And good luck with that.
Suzanne, seems like you T. Cruise, J. Trovolta, etc. drank the bigot coolaide. Good luck in the afterlife. I hear it can get pretty warm living in a volcano. You scum bag bigot
I am always stunned in view of the obvious brainwashing that must have happened to some internet posters (or rather the traveling circus of “commenters” when it comes to stirring up anti-Scientology resentment). Scientology has never been and is not against homosexuals and supports their rights just as anyone else’s. Given that, the big question is: why did Haggis bother to make such show-down out of his choice to sever his ties to the Church of Scientology (after several years of inactivity, as he admits)? Guesses, anyone?
wait, i don’t get it. Louanne, is gay bashing supporting the rights of homosexuals? how, exactly, do anti-gay slurs support the rights of gays? didn’t he say he was making a big statement because of gay bashing – wasn’t that the big question? or are you saying that he made that up? sorry, i don’t follow your point.