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Scientology calls out to black community

The church continues its aggressive growth in Tampa, opening a facility to improve conditions for African-Americans using technology.

By ROBERT FARLEY and JONNELLE MARTE
Published June 6, 2006

TAMPA - The beige two-story house in Seminole Heights has a cozy feel to it, with hearts carved into the shutters and brick steps leading up to the black iron gate at the door.

From this humble post, Scientologist Milton James plans to reach out to the black community.

The mission at 902 E Louisiana Ave., opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday evening, will offer lectures and introductory courses on things like Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's study and communication techniques.

"We're not just reaching out to the African-American community,'' said James, the mission's executive director. "Our intent is to help anybody. But ... as an African-American, I feel a responsibility to take the technology to African-Americans to help improve their conditions.''

The mission is the latest addition to Scientology's aggressive growth in Tampa.

Three years ago, it bought two old cigar factories in West Tampa to serve as headquarters of the Tampa church, and it opened an outreach center in Ybor City.

The Seminole Heights facility is the third Scientology mission in Tampa Bay. The others are in Pinellas County, in Belleair Bluffs and Clearwater, the church's worldwide spiritual mecca.

Unlike the church-run outreach centers like the one in Ybor City and others planned for Plant City and St. Petersburg, Scientology missions are run by Scientology parishioners. The Seminole Heights building is being leased through donations from local parishioners.

James leased the two-story, 1,900-square-foot home from Phil Alessi Jr., whose father owns Alessi Bakery, a Tampa institution for decades. Just off Nebraska Avenue, the mission is tucked behind a boarded-up gray building that is up for sale. Across the street is the Nebraska Mini Mart, and it is surrounded by houses to the east.

James, 58, of Clearwater said he was particularly excited about offering courses in Hubbard's study program, a program he said is "very much needed'' in the nearby black community.

A Scientologist for more than 30 years, James is the manager of operations for a document retrieval service in Clearwater. He owns an advertising distribution company in Los Angeles and is a part-time composer.

James also is the executive director of the Florida chapter of Ebony Awakenings, an African-American wing of Scientologists.

The Church of Scientology has historically had relatively few black members, but Ebony Awakenings has begun to make inroads for the church in recent years, James said. The key, he said, is to locate facilities accessible to the black community.

The Seminole Heights mission is just 2 miles from the Glorious Church of God in Christ in East Tampa, where the Rev. Charles L. Kennedy has arranged for his congregants to be trained by Scientologists to teach Hubbard's scholastic and drug treatment techniques to residents in the predominantly black neighborhood. It's an unusual, if not unheard of, alliance between a Christian church in the Tampa Bay area and Scientology.

Kennedy was the keynote speaker at the ribbon cutting Saturday. The mission will be working closely with "Dr. K,'' James said.

In addition to basic Scientology courses, which run from $25 to $125, the mission also will offer Dianetics counseling, the core practice of Scientology.

And in a couple of months, James plans to offer purification rundowns, a process that purports to remove harmful toxins through vigorous exercise followed by several hours in a sauna, while taking a regimen of vitamins, minerals and oils.

The mission will promote itself with mailings, lectures and book sales at various events.

And while the center will offer stress and personality tests like those offered at the Life Improvement Center in Ybor City, it will not have members hawking those tests to bring in passers-by off the street, James said.

In preparation for the mission opening, church members passed out copies of Hubbard's moral code, "The Way to Happiness,'' around the neighborhood.

[Last modified June 6, 2006, 11:35:22]