That spirit animates the 10th anniversary of the Ideal Church of Scientology of Atlanta, opened on April 2, 2016, and gives special force to the Destination: Scientology episode that presents Atlanta as both gracious and driven—rooted in old Southern courtesies, yet always moving toward a broader civic future.
Watch the episode, and you’ll discover how that combination feels unmistakably local: the open door, the offered coffee, the easy “y’all,” and the sense that even in a fast-growing metropolis, welcome remains one of Atlanta’s deepest traditions.
In a city known for rail lines, runways, reinvention and motion, the episode settles on a simpler image: a place prepared to receive people and help them rise.
“People move here for opportunity,” says Scientologist John Nesbit. “They move here because they want to change something about their lives and make things better. Atlanta is, by nature, an optimistic city.”
Fittingly, Georgia’s first Ideal Organization was dedicated in a place whose history is defined by rebuilding, and whose identity is shaped by rising after hardship.
At the grand opening, Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige captured that theme in language equal to the moment: “This is Scientology for a new American South. And so, whereafter that ribbon falls for Atlanta and she in turn rises up, should anyone ask to what is Atlanta rising, you can truthfully say: She’s rising to eternity!”
Mr. Miscavige praised Atlanta as “a city of enduring inspiration, a city of grace and magic, a city where even oaks and magnolias possess souls; and a city of remembrance that also foretells of the future.”
That same sense of optimism and forward momentum is reflected in the episode’s portrayal of the Church and its role in the community. Staff member Seyi Omoakin describes the Church as “your safe space.” Nesbit says, “We want people to bring their problems in.” Peter Kviesis points to the Church’s human rights education work, while Senior Rabbi Bradley Levenberg of the local Temple Sinai says the Church has been “the driving force behind making sure that drug abuse awareness and prevention is front and foremost an issue that we deal with.” The anniversary, in that sense, marks a decade of keeping the doors open in a city where kindness is expected to do real work.
That is why Destination: Scientology serves as such a fitting companion to the milestone. In a city known for rail lines, runways, reinvention and motion, the episode settles on a simpler image: a place prepared to receive people and help them rise.
A decade after the ribbon fell, that welcome still defines the celebration—Atlanta’s own way of insisting that growth remains human, hope remains public and that the invitation still stands: y’all come.
