Support John Dixon

Yes, a councillor did actually say something honest, accurate and not fed through the local party PR machine before regurgitation:

I didn't know the Scientologists had a church on Tottenham Court Road. Just hurried past in case the stupid rubs off.

Scientology is an enormous con - bigger than advanced fee fraud, just with better lawyers.  They don't have "churches", they have "mark fleecing centres".

'Stupid', to be analytical after the event, as is the right, nay the duty, of the commentariat everywhere, may not have been quite as good as "spectacularly gullible" or "needy, desperate and naive" but, in the context of 140 characters, it's a damn good approximation.

Religious tolerance, yes, to an extent. But only for religions, not for scams invented by a third-rate sci-fi hack writer.