Meet a Scientologist: Putting Human Rights onto the Fast Track

In a video featured on the new Scientology Video Channel at www.scientology.org, Niki Lanik puts human rights first in a race to the finish line.

As a self-professed “speed freak,” professional Austrian GT race driver Niki Lanik has been whipping around race tracks since he was 16.

Despite his success in the rarefied, precision arena of motor sports—including ending the 2009 season as the top Porsche driver in the European sports car series after scoring a Top 10 finish in the final race of the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship in Belgium—Lanik, now 23, knew he had to use his success for a good purpose.

And that's where Niki Lanik finds himself in the driver's seat.

“The adrenaline you get is huge. It’s all about being the quickest out there but also about promoting a good message and I promote Youth for Human Rights,” the blonde, shoulder-haired Lanik says.

For Lanik, it was the natural next step that he would choose human rights as the primary focus for his charitable work, inspired by the Creed of the Church of Scientology that includes: “We of the Church believe that all men of whatever race, colour or creed were created with equal rights.”

As Lanik puts it, “I just decided to take it up and just promote it because you have a right to any nationality, any religion and whatever you want to do.”

That’s why in 2007 he joined with fellow race car driver Andrew Chalmers and established the Youth 4 Human Rights Racing Team that now includes seven fellow race car drivers across Europe and Canada.

Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) is a non-profit organization with the purpose of teaching young people about human rights, specifically the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so they become advocates for tolerance and peace.

Lanik's promotion of human rights has taken him far beyond the race tracks of Europe, and on to Colombia and Barbados. His latest participation was as a delegate to the Seventh Annual International Human Rights Summit at the United Nations in Geneva. The Summit has been hosted by YHRI every year since 2004, bringing together young people from around the globe who volunteer in the human rights education initiative.

The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International video channel at Scientology.org now total 150 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.

A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own YouTube Video Channel. The Official Scientology YouTube Channel has now been viewed by millions of visitors.