Meet a Scientologist - Barbara Schneider's Happy Ending

Scientologist Barbara Schneider is a model, TV personality, paramedic, Scientology counselor and mother of four who didn’t anticipate how well things would turn out 18 years ago when things went wrong.  

Born and working as a paramedic in Lugano, Switzerland, in the early 1990s a failed relationship left her desperate to get away.

“I went to a travel agent and told him I needed a change,” she says. “I wanted to be someplace far away and on the sea.”

The next thing she knew, she was flying to Majorca with her 3-year-old son. Once there, she was paying a friend a visit at a hotel when a man directed her ‘right this way for the audition.’  She tried to tell him that was not why she was there, but he insisted, and she ended up being cast as co-host of a TV show.

Despite the change in scenery and an exciting new job, a year and a half later, Schneider was still suffering.

“My twin sister Elena could tell I was unhappy,” says Schneider. “She had been a Scientologist since we were 16 and she was convinced Scientology would help me.”

Agreeing to give it a try, she received some Scientology spiritual counseling and was amazed—the upset vanished.

Schneider relocated to Clearwater, Florida—the spiritual headquarters of the Scientology religion.  It was there that she met and married husband Roberto. 

A Scientology auditor (religious counselor), she credits the skills she has gained from her training for her success as a mother and in so many other aspects of her life.

“I don’t know how I would raise a family in the world today without what I’ve learned in Scientology,” she says.

She is tremendously proud of how self-reliant and responsible her children are.

“My kids have a very good life but they work hard for it,” she says.  “It’s not automatically—‘Oh, you’re 16 so here’s a car.’ They earn what they get by studying hard and doing well in school. Even with my little one who’s only four, she loves contributing to the family.  She helps me around the house.  We make it a game and she’s proud of what she does.”

Schneider’s commitment to helping others extends beyond the family.  A Scientology Volunteer Minister, she traveled to Port-au-Prince in January 2012 with her three sisters and several close friends to help in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. 

 “We are all mothers and the children there really touched our hearts,” she says. “We took on helping more than 100 children who were living on the streets, orphaned or separated from their parents. We built tents, turned an old school bus into a cafeteria, cooked and served their meals, arranged medical care, and tutored them.  Where possible, we helped them find their families.  My sisters stayed on for months and made sure the children would be cared for when they left.”

Involved with helping others since she was a child, Schneider finds being a Scientology auditor (counselor) enormously gratifying.

“What I like most is to touch someone’s life with a bit of magic—that’s what I really love to do,” she says, “to inspire them, bring out the best in them, so they can see solutions on their own and go ahead and resolve their problems and be happy.”

To meet more than 200 Scientologists and hear their stories, watch the “Meet a Scientologist” videos at www.Scientology.org. 

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The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total more than 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.

A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, with videos now viewed more than 7 million times.

^{I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— ScientologyFounder, L. Ron Hubbard}

Church of Scientology Backs UN Drug Demand Reduction Strategy

Active in drug education and prevention throughout the year, Scientologists around the world participated in United Nations Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

According to this year’s United Nations World Drug Report, drug-abuse kills some 200,000 each year and creates a “heavy financial burden” internationally. In a concerted effort to counter this epidemic, in the weeks leading up to the UN Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking June 26 through the first week of July, Scientology Churches, Missions and groups around the world, working with like-minded individuals and groups, organize, sponsor and contribute to drug awareness activities to prevent drug abuse before it begins.

The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was created by the UN General Assembly in December 1987 to encourage all sectors of society to work together to tackle drug abuse and addiction. Scientologists commemorated the day by organizing and sponsoring conferences, lectures and symposia, participating in cross-country running and cycling races, meeting with elected officials and manning drug education booths and kiosks.

In Tokyo, the Church helped organize a drug education symposium where legislators networked with representatives of civil society and journalists, sharing information on effective drug prevention strategies.

Sydney Scientologists set up drug information booths on busy streets, where visitors watched the Truth About Drugs documentary, Real People—Real Stories, and took home copies of The Truth About Drugs series of drug education booklets to share with friends and families.

Russian Scientologists ran hundreds of miles in a two-week anti-drug “marathon” from Nizhny Novgorod to Kaluga, on to Ivanovo, Yaroslavl and Orel and ending in Moscow. Along the way they lectured in schools and colleges and distributed thousands of copies of the Truth About Drugs series of drug education booklets. Moscow Scientologists also distributed copies of drug education booklets and fliers in street events on June 26, the same day that St. Petersburg Scientologists participated in a local anti-drug bicycle race.

Danish Scientologists ran in an anti-drug marathon and distributed drug education booklets in Gammeltorv (Old Market), the oldest square in Copenhagen.

French Scientologists, cycling from Paris to Brussels, were met by Belgian Scientologists at the border. Together, they rode on to Brussels, meeting with mayors and aldermen along the way to provide them factual data on the importance of drug education in reducing abuse. Meanwhile, the Dutch “Say No to Drugs” marathon team took off from Amsterdam and, arriving in Brussels, joined the cyclists in an anti-drug bicycle tour through the center of the city, ending on the UN Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking at the headquarters of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions which hosted their anti-drug conference.

On June 12, Czech Scientologists began two weeks of running and cycling through the country for the 10th annual anti-drug “Cyclorun.” They educated youth on the truth about drugs in every town and city on their route.

Scientologists in Milan, Italy, held a “Say No to Drugs” soccer championship, and Scientologists from Padua carried out a bicycle tour through Cadoneghe, Noventa Padovana, Arquà Petrarca, Abano Terme, Montegrotto Terme and Battaglia Terme.

In New York, the Church of Scientology hosted the fifth annual Drug-Free Heroes Awards Ceremony.

In preparation for June 26, at a conference in Tennessee, Scientologists made drug education materials available to judges, court administrators, law enforcement officers, social workers, and treatment providers who deal with the backwash of drug abuse in state adult felony drug courts, DUI courts and juvenile drug courts.

As part of the International Faith-Based Coalition, the Church of Scientology of Sacramento helped bring the drug-free message to Oak Park, California, a community notorious for drug trafficking. At their press conference, religious leaders declared June 26 an “Oak Park drug-free day.”

In researching the destructive effects of drugs, Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “The planet has hit a barrier which prevents any widespread social progress—drugs and other biochemical substances. These can put people into a condition which not only prohibits and destroys physical health but which can prevent any stable advancement in mental or spiritual well-being.”

Scientologists live drug-free lives and work throughout the year to prevent drug abuse and addiction. Since last year’s UN Day against Drugs and Illicit Trafficking, Scientologists have distributed some 3.4 million copies of drug education booklets and organized, sponsored and participated in more than 3,000 drug prevention activities in their communities.

To learn more about the drug prevention initiative sponsored by the Church of Scientology or to participate, visit the Scientology website .

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The Church of Scientology sponsors the world's largest nongovernmental drug education and prevention campaign. It has been conclusively proven that when young people are provided with the truth about drugs—factual information on what drugs are and what they do—usage rates drop commensurately.


^{I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard}

L. Ron Hubbard - Founder of the Scientology Religion

“The first principle of my own philosophy,” wrote L. Ron Hubbard, “is that wisdom is meant for anyone who wishes to reach for it. It is the servant of the commoner and king alike and should never be regarded with awe.” To this he added that philosophy must be capable of application, for “Learning locked in mildewed books is of little use to anyone and therefore of no value unless it can be used.” Finally, he declared philosophic knowledge to be only of value if true and workable, and thereby set the parameters for Dianetics and Scientology.

How L. Ron Hubbard came to found these subjects is an immense story that effectively began in the first decades of the twentieth century with his befriending of indigenous Blackfoot Indians in and around his Helena, Montana, home. Notable among these people was a full-fledged tribal medicine man, locally known as Old Tom. In what ultimately constituted a rare bond, the six-year-old Ron was both honored with the status of blood brother and instilled with an appreciation of a profoundly distinguished spiritual heritage.

What may be seen as the next milestone came in 1923 when a twelve-year-old L. Ron Hubbard began a study of Freudian theory with a Commander Joseph C. Thompson—the first United States naval officer to study with Freud in Vienna. Although Mr. Hubbard was never to accept psychoanalysis per se, the exposure was once again pivotal. For if nothing else, he later wrote, Freud had at least advanced the idea that, “something could be done about the mind.”

The third crucial step of this journey lay in Asia, where Mr. Hubbard finally spent the better part of two years in travel and study. There, he became one of the few Americans to gain admittance to the fabled Tibetan lamaseries in the Western Hills of China and actually studied with the last in the line of magicians from the court of Kublai Khan. Yet however enthralling such adventures may have seemed, he would finally admit to finding nothing either workable or predictable as regards the human mind and spirit. (More)

^{I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard}

CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE

The Church of Scientology has since its inception been a champion of human rights. The Creed of the Church, written in 1954 by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, begins with the statement that Man is an immortal spiritual being and that all people of any race, color or creed are created with equal and inalienable rights.

In fulfillment of that ideal, decades of human rights advocacy and accomplishment by Scientologists have ensued, including exposing slave labor camps in apartheid-era Africa, spearheading Freedom of Information laws in the U.S. and other countries, establishing the Citizens Commission on Human Rights to clean up human rights violations in the field of mental healing, and publishing Freedom human rights journal since 1968.

“It is vital that all thinking men urge upon their governments (for the governments’ own sake if no other) sweeping reforms in the field of human rights,” stated Mr. Hubbard in 1969. To that end, today the Church sponsors the world’s largest non-governmental human rights information campaign, aimed at raising awareness and calling for governments to meaningfully support and ensure human rights.

The Church has made possible the distribution of millions of educational booklets, the creation of a series of 30 public service announcements depicting each article of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and production of The Story of Human Rights film.

I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— ScientologyFounder, L. Ron Hubbard

L. Ron Hubbard and Education

In the 1920s, L. Ron Hubbard’s concern for education began when he realized the “influence of a mislearned word on a life.” At that time, he was teaching English in a school in Guam.

He stressed two significant points: first, he wished his students to appreciate the scope of the world beyond their shores; and second, he wanted them to understand how literacy held the key to participation in that world.

To convey the foreign concept of a railroad train to children, who had no experience of mechanical transportation, he hitched three or four ox carts together. The theory underlying this successful experiment would prove vital to his later work. He had hit right at the heart of the learning process, how information is best assimilated-and what accounts for the bored and exasperated student.

In 1938, Mr. Hubbard outlined fundamental principles of education, from his views on the degrading examination system to practical procedures to be followed in teaching a foreign language.

During the Second World War, he became involved in the direct instruction of military personnel as well as the redrafting of instructional materials. In a preliminary note on his navigational text, he advised, "Failure to learn definitions results in a later inability to understand explanations, which include those definitions. Easily the most important factor in any study is a comprehension of what is meant by certain words."

In 1950, he lectured further on effective approaches to education, clarifying the goal and purpose of education as well as basic axioms for the subject. “The maintenance of a high level of self-determinism is more important in educating than the maintenance of order,” he stated. This prescient observation predated modern education reform efforts, and the emerging emphasis on teaching students to reason with the concepts they are taught, by more than four decades.

In fact, by the early 1960’s, Mr. Hubbard saw fully that declining educational standards were having a profound effect on the learning abilities of the people he was attempting to instruct. His investigation of this decline, and research regarding the basic laws of education led to a revolutionary development in the field – a technology of study. His lectures on this work were recorded and formed the basis for a whole approach to teaching and learning.

As educators throughout the world learned of Mr. Hubbard’s breakthroughs, they began to utilize them in their own work. Thus were formed the roots of a new world wide movement – Applied Scholastics.

Due to Mr. Hubbard’s discoveries and developments, quality education is now within the reach of every person who wants it. Applied Scholastics is the organization that makes available L. Ron Hubbard’s educational methods to the world.

^{I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard}

A Milestone Year

Fabulous event this year in honor of Ron's birthday. They just keep getting better, every year. This year there was an absolutely wonderful set of video interviews with people who were there with LRH in the really early days of Dianetics and Scientology.

And the other thing I love about the March 13th events is the news about the winning churches and missions. All Scientology churches and missions compete against one another and the church and mission with the best expansion for the year wins.

This year it was a real surprise - a Church I've never seen in the running - the Church of Scientology of Denmark. And boy were they excited!

To me, when I hear how well our churches are doing, how many new Volunteer Ministers are coming on board, how many books are being distributed, that's fantastic news because it is an index of how many people are learning priceless information that is making their own lives better and is rippling out into the environment.

I also loved hearing David Miscavige. I always look forward to the briefings he gives us at events. For every event he gives an overview of the best expansion news of recent months. And Mr. Miscavige usually ends the evening with a special message to Scientologists.

I walked out of this event determined to do more and help more and reach out to people like never before.

No matter how many years I'm in Scientology, when I read a book or listen to a taped lecture by L. Ron Hubbard I am again struck with Ron's brilliance, and how much he cared.

So for me, it's going to be a lot more volunteering this year. I've also set myself some new resolutions (March vs. New Years) as to my progress as a Scientologist.



I like to help others and count it as my greatest pleasure in life to see a person free himself of the shadows which darken his days.— Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard