Proselytizing in Haiti: Not Just for Christians

Actor John Travolta and the Church of Scientology are apparently flying doctors and ministers (and e-meters?) to Haiti, taking advantage of the natural disaster to “help”. Help themselves to PR and vulnerable future congregants, that is.

According to an Associated Press story, Travolta himself piloted his own Boeing 707, loaded with six tons of military rations and medical supplies to Port-au-Prince. He brought his wife, Kelly Preston, along for the ride.

Up in the sky, it's a bird . . . it's a plane . . . it's an E-METER!

What else did Travolta pack for the jaunt? A change of underwear? A toothbrush? Assorted chocolates? No. If he brought these things (Shampoo? Toilet paper?), they’re not mentioned. He packed something far more valuable:

“Doctors and ministers from the Church of Scientology”.

Travolta’s comments to the press sounded quite reasonable.

We have the ability to actually help make a difference in the situation in Haiti and I just can’t see not using this plane to help.

It is admirable to use his own plane to help. I do wonder, though, how it is that John Travolta got in line ahead of international aid organizations.

Aid groups have been desperate to fly their own planes into the over-stressed airport. U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said Tuesday that at least 800 planes with relief items are on a waiting list for the airport, which can handle only about 130 flights a day due to a lack of space to park planes as they unload.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders has complained that the flight scheduling priorities of U.S. military controllers running the airport delayed the arrival of field hospitals, resulting in some deaths.

More than 150,000 people have already been buried since the magnitude-7 quake, which destroyed entire Port-au-Prince neighborhoods and landmarks and crumbled nearby towns.

Hundreds of thousands of people are living in the streets, with scores of injured wanting for proper medical care.

So, to be sure we understand:

Thanks to the US military’s priorities, John Travolta, Famous Hollywood Scientologist, was able to land his personal Boeing 707 in Port-au-Prince, bringing a modest amount of food* and undefined medical supplies, plus ministers from the Church of Scientology (who will doubtless be eating some of those MREs), while international aid organizations with cargo planes loaded with large volumes of food and medical supplies were forced to wait.

Or, put another way,

Rather than making a substantial donation to the international aid organizations, which would provide the most value by letting the experts in disaster relief do their jobs, Travolta and the Church of Scientology decided to go for a callous PR stunt by flying what amounts to a small amount of real aid directly into Haiti personally. They brought ministers who can then proselytize.

Do I understand the article correctly? Please let me know if I’m getting it wrong.

Question on my mind: Exactly who in the US military (running the Port-au-Prince airport) thinks it’s a good idea to let the private jet of a millionaire land while international aid organizations can’t get on the ground?

* “Modest” amount of food: 6 tons of MREs = 11 pallets (at 1100 pounds/pallet) = 48 (cases per pallet) X 11 (pallets) X 12 (meals per case) = 6336 1/3-day’s-requirement meals, or food for 2,112 eating-days. It’s a lot better than no food, to be sure, but not nearly what a cargo plane can bring. It’s even less food when you consider that the Scientology ministers will need to eat their share, while providing no value to the Haitian people . . . people probably not much interested in a personality test.

Related articles:

1. A Haitian without a Scientologist: Like a Fish without a Bicycle?
2. Christians Give Haitians What They Need Most – Solar-Powered Bibles
3. American Family Association Supports Pat Robertson's Haiti "Satan Pact" with Lies
4. A-OK in Arkansas: School administrator admonishes proselytizing teacher
5. Laura Silsby, missionary held in Haiti, released

Jenny Donati is webmistress and co-editor of Secular News Daily. Jenny is an outspoken secularist who believes firmly in the separation of church and state. She demands evidence to support arguments, and holds herself to the same standard. She doesn't write about herself in the third person . . . but there's a first time for everything.

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