Corea and Scientology

I was appalled that The Times would stoop to print a puff piece on the soi-disant “religion” of Scientology in the guise of a legitimate article on Chick Corea (“Playing in His Key,” by Don Heckman, Aug. 18).

Is Heckman a journalist, or an apologist for a cult that believes we’re all infected with countless “space cooties” that require hundreds of thousands of dollars to exorcise?

I realize the comics pages are combined with the Saturday Calendar section, but giving most of Page 1 to this story, which was mostly about the shameful scam of Hubbard’s rather than about music, is too lowbrow an antic even for the funny pages.

DAVE SUESS

Hermosa Beach

As a celebrity Scientologist, Corea is kept comfortably unaware (or in denial) of the church’s deceptive and litigious history. (Its activities are a matter of public record, and more information can be found at https://www.xenu.net .) If doubts remain as to how dangerous this group is: Remember that when the Cult Awareness Network (a prominent critic of the church) could not be legally silenced or discredited, the Church of Scientology simply bought it.

If you would update and reprint your excellent six-part series on L. Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology from the early ‘90s, you would be doing your readers--and potential victims of this organization--a real service.

GREGORY D. STANTON

Los Angeles