Scientologist Censorship

That vile cult of scientology swims back in the news.

At such moments, I always think of the noble John Forte MBE and the bloody nose he delivered that pack in the days of the equally ignoble colonels.

Encouraged by Sinbad's friendly comment, here is what I wrote last summer to to the island's must-read monthly, The Corfiot:

"Dr the Reverend Clifford Owen's "Chaplain's Chat" salute to his predecessors (Corfiot, Aug) was an absolute gem.

There was a gleeful glint of the knuckle duster beneath the careful velvet prose and I look forward to increasingly kamikaze abandon as his October departure date nears and he clears his own Checkpoint Charlie to finally outdistance the smackmouth slings and arrows that will inevitably follow.

May I add a footling note to your own footnote about the heroic John Forte's single-handed saving of our cricket tradition.

In my book, John Forte is an unsung National Treasure and we owe him an even deeper debt for his dogged single-minded perseverance in squelching the appalling L. Ron Hubbard's plans to establish his 'Church of Scientology' here in Corfu.

This vicious cult poses as a religion but is in reality a hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics. The Colonels fell for it; John did not.

Had it not been for Forte's fortitude, Chaplain's Chat could well be sermonising from the Book of Dianetics, verses 18-30.

His booklet 'The Commodore and the Colonels' is available online and, as you say, the man "still lives in Paleokastritsa" where, on each excursion, I raise a ^5 as I cruise past those gates and growl a prayer of thanks."