Flint, Michigan considers advocating Scientology Moral Code

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Flint, Michigan is ranked the #1 most dangerous city in the USA by Business Insider [source 1], and by FBI statistics for cities under 250,000 people [source 2]. In exasperation over what to about such "moral decay", the city council has proposed adoption of Scientology creator L. Ron Hubbard's 'non-religious moral code' as presented in his book: 'The Way to Happiness' [source 3].

Councilwoman Monica Galloway: "The moral fiber of our community is so decayed it will take years to change. We need to sow (values) into these children (because these) are things they are not getting."

A Scientology group in favor of the proposal suggests police officers give the book to members of the community, to neighborhood watch groups and those involved in community policing; get "The Way to Happiness" public service announcements played for youth groups, schools, after-school programs and detention centers; and get educators using the booklet in tutoring and mentoring programs.

The book teaches describes 21 principles, including: "Take Care of Yourself, Be Temperate, Don't Be Promiscuous, Love and Help Children, and Honor and Help Your Parents. Don't Kill. Don't break the law".

Good idea ?



sources:
1. http://www.businessinsider.com/most-dan ... nt-mich-25
2. http://lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/crime/1 ... ous-small/
3. http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.s ... ve_fl.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_to_Happiness

I think it would be better to scare them into obedience. Yog-Sothoth is perfect for the job.

/\ As long as they don't try to make it the law....

This assumes that somehow "morality" (or lack of it) causes these crimes. But it isn't it usually poverty and the economic crisis? From what I read on wikipedia this city sounds somewhat similar to Detroit, shrinking population etc. Eventually the poorest people will be left and this is the result. Fixing their economy would be more useful than this I think. Or give the residents a plane ticket to a wealther location.

so poverty is the root of all evil? i would LOVE to tell you just exactly what i think of this theory of yours, but i'm sure it would get me banned from this forum for all time.

truly, one of the most disgusting opinions i have ever heard expressed, ANYWHERE.

Just what the world needs; more morality code wrapped around a crazy religion. Scientology is regarded as a money scamming cult here in France and is legally restrained from operating. Figures that in America you'd promote such a money grubbing cult to the masses. What could possibly go wrong?

I doubt this will ever happen nor would it have any effect. I remember back in high school the Gideons or whatever would hand out bibles as we left school all the time, can't say it improved the school any. I do wonder if they ever actually changed someone's life, kind of weird to think about.

trollcatman's post seems quite sensible to me. Civil unrest and crime tend to follow in regions where there are poor education and employment prospects and kids tend to graduate from school to the local gangs, disillusioned with the society they find themselves living in. It becomes a vicious cycle, the more run down the neighbourhood the higher the crime and those that can afford to move out do so and the neighbourhood continues in its downward cycle. Detroit is the classic example of this; since the demise of the automotive industry there, the lack of jobs and poverty have pushed the city to rock bottom.

The average humans' aspirations are quite humble... have a job they at least half-way like, have enough income to feed and clothe themselves and maybe own a car and live in a decent home, own some "stuff" like a TV, cell phone etc and maybe get a girlfriend / boyfriend and settle down one day and raise a family of their own. In run down neighbourhoods there are very few jobs; so little in the way of legal income. Kids go through school with despair in their heart because they hold no hope of getting a job, so they adopt a "why bother with education" attitude, which further makes them less unemployable when they leave. These young kids see no hope of prospering in their society or having the things most of us take for granted. Gravitating towards gangs and gang culture is almost inevitable for many of them... and thus the cycle continues. Businesses don't want to open up there due to the risk of vandalism, robbery or worse; so no new employment opportunities. The businesses that are there gradually shut down or move out. What these young kids need is hope of a future; not a handbook on morality by a cult of scammers. This has to be by economic means and education, I can't see any other way out of the problem.

During my HS years, some Christian classmates had a habit of praying during the lunch hour and always got told off not only by faculty, but also by the "popular crowd." Thankfully, none of them invited me to join them even though such a connection would have been weird and out-of-place.

My Christian classmates did not hand out Bibles, but instead were very good at quoting
The Bible at random, thankfully it did not convert people to the faith.

Scientology is a religion and therefore our public officials aren't allowed to promote it.

"The Way to Happiness is described by the foundation as "a non-religious moral code "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_to_Happiness

So, the city is saying, "Hey, the Scientologists say it is not a religion, therefore it's not a religion".

Then again ...

"Scientology is legally recognized as a tax-exempt religion in the United States"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology

There are people that say the 10 commandments should be promoted in the public sphere. But we know where it comes from.

"Way to Happiness" fundamental principals of morality:

a. "Survival" is the fundamental point of life.
b. You can be truly happy if you become the "cause" of your own actions.
c. Truth is "what is true for you."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_to_Happiness

Take charge of your life! Stop being a loser! Don't be a chump!

What you believed before is wrong, so scrub, rinse and repeat these principals often

Some of these precepts are total BS.

If you think I'm implying that poor people are inherently less moral, that's not what I meant. If you were to seperate identical twins at birth and raise one in a wealthy neighbourhood with good schools, and the other in a poor neighbourhood with a lot of crime, you can predict which one is more likely to end up in jail, simply by the circumstances in which they will grow up. I'm not blaming the victim here, I'm blaming the situation in which they have to live. If something could be done to give the people in Flint more opportunies (education, help with finding a job?) crime would probably go down, because these people are not inherently immoral, they just got dealt a bad hand. Plus what Tallyman said.

All heil Xenu, the dictator of the Galactic federacy, who brought billions of his people to Teegeeack (earth) in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes, and killed them with hydrogen bombs.

If I lived in Flint Michigan I would run away as fast as possible.