“A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of Scientology.” —L. Ron Hubbard
In a London pub, a man puts his wedding ring back on, shoves his glass aside and decides to give his marriage one more try.
In the wreckage of a village in Nepal, a yellow-shirted volunteer dispenses food, water and comfort to an elderly victim of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake.
In a classroom in Costa Rica, a 10-year-old girl raises her hand and explains the importance of Human Right #18: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”
And steps away from the Stade de France in Paris, a woman who had almost given up searching finds the answers she’s been looking for her whole life.
What do these isolated events, tens of thousands of miles apart, have in common?
The International Association of Scientologists (IAS).
While humanity’s enemies are finite, its potential for help is infinite.
There is a lot to unpack in Mr. Hubbard’s single sentence above from the Aims of Scientology. One might just gloss over it as a lofty ideal that, of course, we all agree with and that, of course, we know is just that: a lofty ideal, a beautiful mission statement to post on one’s wall and possibly even memorize.
But to the International Association of Scientologists, now commemorating its 40th anniversary, that statement is a directive, a challenge and a vital call to action in a world crying out for help.
And for four decades, the IAS, the official membership organization of Scientology encompassing more than 180 nations and territories, has responded to that call.
How exactly can we bring about a world without insanity, criminality and war? What are the factors that prevent the able from prospering, human rights from flourishing and true freedom and progress for mankind?
The answers are no secret—they can be precisely defined: addiction, immorality, illiteracy and ignorance. And then there are the disasters, both natural and man-made: earthquakes, floods, famine, hurricanes and war.
These blights have signaled the death knell of civilization after civilization through the millennia.
But while humanity’s enemies are finite, its potential for help is infinite. That is the message of the IAS.
With the above-named plagues in its crosshairs, the IAS, through its grants, has made possible revolutionary social betterment and humanitarian programs targeting those plagues. These activities, unique in all the world for their effectiveness and impact, include: the only effective college for teachers, Applied Scholastics International, where educators are taught the technology of study itself; one of the largest drug rehabilitation networks on Earth, Narconon, which frees lives lost to the tyranny of substance abuse; and The Way to Happiness Foundation International, which distributes L. Ron Hubbard’s common sense, nonreligious moral code to every corner of the globe in more than 115 languages. Wherever The Way to Happiness goes, calm reigns.
The IAS also makes possible the world-renowned Scientology Volunteer Minister Program, which has brought emergency relief, comfort and hope at every major disaster site since 9/11 to a total of more than 10 million. To see the eyes of victims when they spot the yellow-shirted volunteers making their way with supplies and food is to see what hope looks like. As we speak, hundreds are bringing relief into the lives of grateful survivors of Hurricane Helene. Though those they help call Volunteer Ministers superheroes, angels, miracles and blessings, what they really are is simply people—hundreds of thousands around the world—who help effectively and with compassion, whenever and wherever needed.
Then there are the IAS-sponsored humanitarian initiatives aimed at addressing stress points where the fabric of society frays. These include informational campaigns dedicated to eradicating psychiatric abuses and ensuring patient protections through mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights; the largest drug education initiative on Earth, arming young and old alike with the truth about drugs; and the largest human rights education campaign on Earth, informing all on their fundamental rights as human beings, as laid down in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All told, through IAS-sponsored campaigns across the globe, hundreds of millions of individuals have been helped, educated, uplifted and made more able to confront and handle an often confused and difficult world.
And that is all beyond the IAS’ essential role in guaranteeing the future of the Scientology religion itself. For nearly half a century, it has done just that, serving at the vanguard of the fight for religious freedom—of Scientologists and members of every faith—while establishing islands of sanity in the form of Ideal Organizations in strategic cultural epicenters across the globe.
At a recent celebration of the anniversary of the IAS, Scientology ecclesiastical leader David Miscavige spoke of the IAS’ formation. It was then, as he put it, “we first pledged ourselves to mankind.” At a time when the religious freedom of Scientologists was imperiled, that historic 1984 Pledge to Mankind marked the founding of the IAS. It was a pledge to unite, advance, support and protect the Scientology religion and Scientologists in all parts of the world so as to achieve the Aims of Scientology—a pledge that each Scientologist the world over plays a role in fulfilling. And each knows it.
Doing one’s part to make the world a better place isn’t just something to pay lip service to. It is in the DNA of every Scientologist and is the engine that runs the IAS. It is the certainty that, as Mr. Miscavige said, “Whoever infringes on the rights of one, infringes on the rights of all, and a failure to salute the lowest human being is a failure to salute humankind.”
“In the same breath,” Mr. Miscavige continued, “we also pledged to recognize the magic in every living thing and thus, the majesty of the IAS. While beyond even that, let it be said you don’t make that kind of pledge unless you can live up to it, which, of course, we can.”
