Testimonial letter from Charles C. Ervin
This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.
This letter is from Charles C. Ervin, Jr.. It is "Exhibit A-863" in the Noles collection.
The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has one page.
 July 15, 1983 To Whom It May Concern: America is composed of immigrants who have come to our country in search of freedoms that are an integral part of our American way of life. Over the past two hundred years, these immigrants have contributed to maintaining this freedom and as importantly contributing to our economy. It is unconsciousable to think that our country is now reversing itself to discriminating against persons that it does not fully understand. Never before have we in America had the opportunity to welcome such a religious leader in our country as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. However, instead of welcoming him, we are attempting to discredit and deport him. This man has touched the hearts of millions of people through his lectures and more than 350 publications. Something is amiss! The City which is founded under is name in Oregon contributes millions of dollars to the economy and in itself represents a capital investment in excess of $20,000,000. It is not as if he has asked the United States government for funding or to provide for his disciples. He only wants to live in peace and reach out and touch us through his heart. Bhagwan has not spoken to his disciples in over two years. Understand this, what needed to be said has been said, the most important communication takes place in the heart not in the mind. Followers of Bhagwan do not question his place as spiritual leader, what gives an outsider the perogative of acting as judge and jury on a man they cannot understand? This certainly is not the philosophy under which our country was founded! As a citizen of the United States, I request that Bhagwan Shree Rasjneesh be allowed to remain in the United States as the religious leader that he is. Respectfully submitted, |
(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)
