I’ve toyed around with different ways of presenting this page, so here’s the latest version. If you want to see something else here, get in touch and let me know! And if you like bullet points more than my lengthy prose, try this one.
Sam at Work
I work for the Church of Scientology in the North of England. I’m in charge of public affairs, which means I meet with people who are not Scientologists and I work with the community as a representative of the Church and its social programmes. If you need to know something about Scientology then don’t hold back! Get in touch and I’ll answer your questions.
Sam the Web Developer
For many years now I’ve been working in web development, building websites from scratch, creating templates based on Photoshop designs, hand-coding entire systems and many specialised projects. In case you’re not technically-minded, I won’t bore you with all the abbreviations, but if you want to talk web design or scripting that’s fine with me. I’ve done a lot of projects for charities and non-profit organisations and my skills in this area often get utilised at work too.
Sam the Photographer
(excerpted from http://www.sambutlerphotography.co.uk/)
Beginning his photographic journey on Kodak 110 film in the early 1990s, Sam pursued film and, eventually, digital photography with the aim of sharing what he saw with his friends and family.
This aim of his became more important as Sam grew older and left the family home, travelling throughout Europe and later living in the United States before once again returning to Europe.
It was here that Sam took up photography as a professional skill while interning in public affairs. His first tastes of professional photography saw him jumping in at the deep end, covering events at the heart of European Union politics in Brussels and documenting charity work across Belgium.
Since returning to England, Sam has established his trademark fly-on-the-wall photographic style and applied it to documentary and event photography, as well as continuing to capture “ordinary” life through his personal street photography work.
Sam the Musician
I love music—my mum is a great singer and she used to act and sing in musicals with an amateur dramatics group. My parents were also into some great music when I was very young, so my passion for music started early. When I was eight I was already singing, and I began learning to read music and taking lessons on the flute. Six years went by and I decided I wanted a change, so I switched to percussion lessons. By this time I’d already sung in two school choirs and played in the York Minster, but I wanted a bigger game as I felt the flute wasn’t taking me where I wanted to go. I progressed quickly on the drum kit, having already learnt to read music, and soon I started playing in a Scout band. More and more opportunities opened up and by the time I left school I had played with a drum & bugle corps‘ percussion ensemble. During college I played drum kit in the jazz/big band and joined Northern Star Drum & Bugle Corps where I marched one season and caught the drum corps bug. The rest is history, and music is very definitely a big part of my life.
Sam the Scientologist
It’s not just at work that I’m a Scientologist. It runs through everything I do, the decisions I make, and what makes me successful. Many of my family members, including both parents, are also Scientologists. I became a Scientologist while I was at secondary school though, as my parents always left this decision to me. I had an urge to find out more and I knew the one thing I wanted to do the most was to help other people. I found something in Scientology that helped me to do that, and since then I’ve found answers to my questions and solutions to my problems. The best thing about it is that it’s not some deep, inaccessible thing that is hard to grasp. It’s an applied philosophy so you simply use it and observe the results. The most important thing is that it encourages you to think for yourself. If you want to know about Scientology, take advantage of the videos that the Church has put online at the Scientology Video Channel (also on YouTube) or ask me.
Sam’s Beliefs and Opinions
- The world is not flat.
- ECT, prefrontal lobotomy, psychotropic drugs, anti-depressants and other psychiatric ‘treatments’ don’t actually make things better for anyone except psychiatrists and their bank managers.
- It is possible for people to change; to improve their abilities and capabilities.
- Cannabis is not a ‘soft’ drug.
- The European Union might look like a good idea on paper, but so did communism.
- I am intolerant of religious intolerance.
- Education in the developed world is actually getting worse.
- Contrary to the beliefs of media puppeteers, the public don’t want to read/see/hear bad news.
- Freedom of speech is vital, but with this freedom comes a responsibility not to abuse it.
- It takes two to tango; it takes three to make a conflict.
- Drugs are bad, m’kay?
- People who are doing well and are successful and competent deserve to be rewarded.
- People who don’t pull their weight should not be encouraged to continue doing so by being given handouts.
- Every individual is basically good, no matter how evil he may have become.
- If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but find out why it still ain’t broke and keep it up!
Disclaimer: In case the title didn’t catch your attention, these are the personal views of Sam Butler and do not necessarily reflect the ideals, opinions or policies of any individual or group with whom he is affiliated.