Nashville Church of Scientology celebrates International Day of Friendship with a forum dedicated to religious tolerance.

The Church of Scientology & Celebrity Centre of Nashville hosted an interreligious forum on United Nations International Friendship Day July 30, bringing together leaders from across Tennessee to coordinate actions to raise the bar on religious tolerance throughout the state.

Attending were leaders of the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Muslim, Jewish and Scientology communities and representatives of Religions for Peace USA, the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Nashville Human Relations Commission and Vanderbilt University.

In 2011, the UN General Assembly proclaimed International Friendship Day to “inspire peace and build bridges between communities” through “friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals.” Those attending the forum embodied this purpose in their determination to combat religious intolerance and bigotry.

“Freedom of thought, conscience and religion are fundamental human rights,” said Rev. Brian Fesler, President of the Church of Scientology & Celebrity Centre of Nashville.

These rights are expressed in Article 18 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which lays out the 30 rights all people have simply by being human. The Declaration urges every individual and social institution to “strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms.”

“Human rights education fosters understanding and tolerance,” said Fesler, who emphasized the need to mandate education for all youth and young adults.

The Church of Scientology has published the brochure Scientology: How We Help—United for Human Rights, Making Human Rights a Global Reality to meet requests for more information about the human rights education and awareness initiative the it supports. To learn more, visit www.Scientology.org/humanrights.

Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream,” and the Scientology religion is based on the principles of human rights. The Code of a Scientologist calls on all members of the religion to dedicate themselves “to support true humanitarian endeavors in the fields of human rights.”