As Kansas City homicides in 2020 top 150 and continue to grow, so does the resolve of the community to promote a better way of life. 

On a chilly KC afternoon, with cooler-than-normal temperatures turning the city’s trees into a vibrant display of color, more than 100 cars, motorcycles, SUVs and trucks took off from Linwood Boulevard Sunday, November 1, for the city’s second bimonthly United in Peace Ride. Lights flashing, horns honking and United in Peace flags flying, the riders made their way through Kansas City in the name of peace.

 

Kansas City 3rd District at-Large Councilman Brandon Ellington kicked off the ride, reiterating the need to work together and do even more to stop the killing. “Most of these murders are interpersonal or domestic violence,” he said. “If we are not being the change we want to see, then we can’t say anything about it and we are the problem.”

United in Peace uses The Way to Happiness, the common-sense moral code written by humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard, to promote change and lead the way to a better, more peaceful life.   

Throughout the ride, participants handed out copies of The Way To Happiness. Its 21 precepts encourage right action and inspire positive change. 

The Kansas City Police Department D.A.R.E. division came out with their mascot Daren the Lion and their DWI truck, to support the initiative to end the violence in the city.

 

“We are so pleased to see so many different faiths and people from all over the community coming together behind the common goal of peace,” said Bennette Seaman, spokesperson for the Church of Scientology of Kansas City. “We have to keep working at it, keep dreaming it, and most of all keep uniting to strengthen the force for peace in our city.”

 

The United in Peace Ride was organized by the Church of Scientology Kansas City in coordination with United in Peace Foundation, The Way to Happiness Foundation and Councilman Brandon Ellington.

United in Peace is a multiethnic, multifaith popular movement that unites diverse peoples to work together to bring peace to our inner cities. Law enforcement and government leaders have recognized and acknowledged reduction in violence and crime rates in neighborhoods touched by the Peace Rides. In Compton, California, the mayor and city council said, “the presence of the Peace Rides in the City of Compton not only inspired residents to come together in the name of peace, but each ride has also immediately preceded statistical drops in crime.”

The Way to Happiness Foundation is a secular charitable organization, coordinated by the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), an organization dedicated to resolving the major societal ills of drugs, crime, illiteracy and immorality. The Church of Scientology and its parishioners proudly sponsor ABLE and its social betterment groups.

For more information on the Peace Rides, watch an episode of Voices for Humanity on the Scientology Network documenting how Minister Tony Muhammad used these rides to build a peace movement among notorious warring gangs in South Los Angeles.

This week, the Church of Scientology Kansas City celebrates its first anniversary in its new home. On November 2, 2019, thousands gathered in the crossroads district at 1805 Grand Blvd. as Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige dedicated its iconic new Church.