Politics | 01/07/2009 9:50 am
Lisa Marie Presley: 'Now is Not the Time' to Blame Scientology for Jett Travolta's Death (Video)

Lisa Marie Presley is the latest to come to the defense of Scientology as critics continue to question whether the religion had anything to do with the death of John Travolta’s son.
The King’s daughter expressed her condolences over the death of Jett Travolta, the 16-year-old son of fellow Scientologists John Travolta and Kelly Preston.
On her MySpace blog on Tuesday, in an entry entitled, "This is Not the Time," Presley said:
I am writing this because I have noticed that for the most part, people and the media have been very sympathetic and respectful, but there are those certain ones that want to use this horrible tragedy as an opportunity to once again blame and/or attack Scientology?
Now is NOT the time. I realize that there is a lot of misinformation out there about the subject which has caused a lot of stone throwing but we are not still in the dark ages and it is still an Unconstitutional Injustice to partake in and encourage such condemnation … Among most of the crazy made-up garbage that goes around about it, it is not true that Scientologists "don’t believe in" medical care, medicine or medical doctors and that may have something to do with this terrible tragedy.
Let’s not use the tragic death of a child to facilitate your insatiable need to attack and destroy Scientology shall we?
Since Jett’s tragic death, some Scientology critics have linked to a website that in 2007 predicted Jett’s death, and saying it would be because his alleged autism was not being treated (the Travoltas have repeatedly said Jett did not suffer from autism).
The critics claim that Jett was autistic and was not given the proper diagnosis and/or treatments because Scientology disapproves of psychiatric and drug treatment of autism, also rejecting psychiatry as a pseudo-science.
MSNBC’s Courtney Hazlett spoke to Scientology International, who said not seeking medical treatment for something like seizures isn’t allowed under Scientology practices.
"Scientologists seek conventional medical treatment for medical conditions," said Tommy Davis. "Scientologists use prescription drugs when physically ill and also rely on the advice and treatment of medical doctors. The church does not involve itself in the diagnosis or classification of any medical condition."
We agree with Pressley, now is not the time. People, let the Travoltas grieve in peace.
Here’s video of Hazlett’s report:
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