SALT LAKE CITY — Standing side by side, liberal Mayor Rocky Anderson and conservative Utah Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka welcomed a Church of Scientology mission to Salt Lake City.
Mission director Cyndy Wright said the opening of the mission Saturday was the completion of a years-long dream to open a center that will offer courses for people new to Scientology.
“We have tools to help you handle life,” she said. “People don’t know where to get those tools. That’s why we wanted to establish (a mission).”
Ad: Vacation? City Trip? Weekend Break? Book Skip-the-line tickets
The denomination also has a church in the city.
About 100 people attended the ribbon cutting.
Quoting from the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and from the leader of her own church, President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on the importance of family, Ruzicka praised the Scientologists.
She has worked with some at the Legislature against state intervention in family affairs.
“What a great blessing this will be for the city of Salt Lake to have you here,” she said.
Anderson welcomed the mission as a “beacon of spirituality” and “beacon of health and nurturing.”
The mission includes a library of Hubbard writings and a room for lectures on parenting, handling stress, improving business, communication and relationships.
Part of the teachings involve purification, and the mission includes a sauna and treadmill for that process.
There are an estimated 200 to 300 active Church of Scientology members in Utah.