Paul Haggis Walks Away From Scientology

Roberta @ Gone Hollywood | Monday, October 26, 2009

Award winning Writer and Director, Paul Haggis, has walked away from the Church of Scientology, after being a devout follower for 35 years.

Haggis left the cult-like religion after he wrote a letter to its spokesman, Tommy Davis, for its support of Proposition 8. The letter asked Davis to denounce the religion’s support of the anti-gay marriage legislation. To which, Haggis said that Davis said he would, but never lived up to his promise.

When Davis declined to publish a letter to that effect, Haggis said, “Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.”

He fired off a letter to Davis that said he could no longer sit back and watch as the religion supported the abuse of any group’s civil rights.

He said:

But I reached a point several weeks ago where I no longer knew what to think. You had allowed our name to be allied with the worst elements of the Christian Right. In order to contain a potential “PR flap” you allowed our sponsorship of Proposition 8 to stand. Despite all the church’s words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry and intolerance, homophobia and fear.

He also touched on the religion’s use of their policy of disconnect, when a person leaves their group. He said that even though Davis said that no such policy existed, it happened to his wife, recently. She was told that once her parents left the religion, that she should disconnect contact from them, to which she did.

He added, “For a year and a half, despite her protestations, my wife did not speak to her parents and they had limited access to their grandchild. It was a terrible time. That’s not ancient history, Tommy. It was a year ago.”

Read the entire letter here.

source: Exclusive: “Crash” Director Paul Haggis Breaks With Scientology – [showbiz411]