A serious one

I've mentioned before that I ghost-wrote an autobiography of a New York cop. Soon after that was published, my editor at Hodder & Stoughton asked me if I'd be interested in ghost-writing the story of a woman who had left the Church of Scientology.

I travelled to London to meet her and her husband and when I left them, I had the impression from her that we'd be meeting again. However my editor later told me that they didn't think I was the right person for the job. (I guessed while I was with them that her husband felt I lacked the passion for their cause, and, also, he'd started writing the story himself and wanted to continue I believe.) As far as I am aware the book was never published, at least not by H&S.

But all that's just an introduction to what I wanted to say. One thing the woman and her husband both tried to impress upon me was that, if I took on the job, I would come under pressure from people who didn't want the book published. The woman had been targeted with all sorts of slurs. Well, I didn't have any secrets in my past so whether I was naive or stupid, I wasn't particularly concerned.

I was both relieved and disappointed when I didn't get the job. Relieved because I wanted to do my own writing, not ghost-writing, and disappointed because I would have been earning money, and the story was fascinating. How she'd got involved in Scientology, progressed to a high level, then 'seen the light' and left. As well as the problems she'd had since leaving.

It seems incredible that people can become involved in cults. That they can be so gullible as to fall for the stories they're told. (Yes, Dr Stu, I know I've fallen for the story of Christ!) And many of these people are intelligent. I think, 'how can they go along with this? '

But they do and I suppose it's because they want to, no, they need to. They're searching, desperately seeking answers, acceptance, love, and if these are the answers put in front of them, then they will grab at them with both hands.

Okay, because I can hear Dr Stu's voice, I'll say that, yes, I was searching, seeking something beyond myself. I was fortunate that I found Christ - or rather He found me. My faith isn't insidious, I don't believe. It doesn't make ridiculous demands of me; its basic message is a good one, one of love and unselfishness.

Those who fall prey to less humble saviours are easy victims. A saviour who shouts a lot about the state of the world but continues to enjoy its benefits and live by its principles isn't a saviour worth having.