Citizens Commission on Human Rights and the Church of Scientology Nashville organized a panel discussion on safety of houses of worship.

A panel discussion at the Church of Scientology Nashville took up violence against houses of worship. 

The event, called “Worship in Safety: Love and Protect Your Friends and Family,” was held in the Church of Scientology community hall. The panel featured experts on religious persecution, with representatives from the Jewish Federation, Amnesty International and the American Muslim Advisory Council.

The importance of religions standing together in the face of anti-religious violence is highlighted by the famous words of German theologian and Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the 1930s:

 “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

“Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

“Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Dozens attended the evening panel discussion where they came together as a community.

Held on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the program was organized by the local chapter of the mental health watchdog CCHR, Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

CCHR exposed psychiatry’s deadly involvement in Hitler’s final solution. Nazi psychiatrists experimented with mass euthanasia, which they performed on their own patients, and these clinics were the testing ground for the methods later used in Hitler’s extermination camps.

The Church of Scientology of Nashville is located at 1130 8th Ave., just one mile from “Music Row.” The Church holds community open houses and forums as part of its mission to bring together, enhance and uplift the community.