Published by the Church of Scientology International

Sheriff Rallies All Faiths to Aid LA County Communities

Largest-ever multi-faith gathering headlines LA County’s “Community Day 2003”

Clergy Council representatives of many faiths (above) joined LA County Sheriff Lee Baca (in center of top row above) to build a strong working bond between the Sheriff’s Department and LA religious and community leaders.

The occasion was a special interfaith breakfast hosted by LA County Sheriff, Leroy D. Baca’s Clergy Council.

Welcoming them was Christian Bishop Edward Turner, a special assistant to Sheriff Baca, who said the Sheriff’s wish was to bring together representatives of all faiths to improve the quality of life in our LA County communities. Speakers represented leaders of Protestent Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Sikh, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Buddhist, Scientologist and Mormon faiths.

Among this wide array of religious leaders was Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch, President of the Church of Scientology International, whose recommendations for healing violence- and poverty-plagued communities are grounded in the words of Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard: “Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe.” [See “What is Greatness?”]

	Left: LA County Sheriff Lee Baca. Right: At the speaker’s table Field Deputy, Bishop Edward Turner of the Power of Love Community Church and Rev. Heber Jentzsch, President, Church of Scientology International.

“You are only a stranger when you refuse to smile at the next person,” he told his audience. “Learn to smile at a stranger because that is the connecting point of your heart.

“Let us embrace the differences between each and every one of us and unite as one.”

This accomplished, there could be no other result but peace and harmony, he explained.

The Sheriff’s Clergy Council is made up of more than 50 religious leaders representing hundreds of denominations. They meet regularly in order to create forums and opportunities for people to come together in an effort to ease tension in the community. It is a partnership that is clearly working for both the men and women of the law and the cloth. The communities of Los Angeles County are the benefactors of their combined efforts.

The “Drug-Free Marshals,” a community service of the Church of Scientology [see “Tenth Anniversary Kicked Off”], welcomed youths to a booth where hundreds of personalized anti-drug posters were created on the spot “for display wherever they would have the greatest impact,” said LA Drug-Free Marshals spokesperson Jean Dale. Visitors also took a seven-point pledge to stay off drugs and lead the way to a drug-free USA by “helping my family and friends to stay drug free.”

If diversity is the hallmark of LA, it was unmistakably stamped on this occasion. While Latter Day Saints provided a legion of volunteers to keep the event running smoothly, a rough-clad “Servants of God” motorcycle club was there to witness for their faith. Men and women in a variety of colored robes and headdresses bore evidence of more than a dozen cultures of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres. All were faces of the communities served by the Sheriff’s Department and the council of spiritual leaders that joined forces on Community Day 2003.