Testimonial letter from M. Jacobs
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 Prof. M. Jacobs PhD. It is "Exhibit A-1127" 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.
 Professor M Jacobs To Whom it May Concern, America is a democratic country that wishes to set an example for the world to follow. The American Constitution allows the freedom of religious belief, so I am told. Yet it wishes to deport an established leader of such a belief on the grounds that his silence negates such a position. It is actions such as this that make the U.S.A. seem mean and petty in the eye's of the world. The spiritual presence of this man, combined with His published and recorded works is merely one aspect of man’s need for some spiritual guidance through a materialistic world of immediate survival. To deny a group of people the presence of their spiritual leader was the Roman motive of the crucifixion. I expect more from the so called enlightened and educated American establishment from whom you have the mandate to represent. Purely for the sake of the history of the U.S.A., do not put your selfs on the level of the petty and ignorant and intolerant dictators with which this planet abounds. Martyrs are not born they are created by fear. Let the U.S.A, practice the freedom it preaches. Yours sincerely |
(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.)
