The Spectrum

Issue date: 3/30/06 Section: A & E

Media Credit: AP Photo/Jimmy Duvall Tom Cruise amd Katie Holmes onstage and showing off her very pregnant belly.

First, there was the Kabala craze, ruled by the Material Girl herself. Now it's the scientology fad led by one of Hollywood's most famous faces, Tom Cruise. Here's the low-down and my two cents worth about the current religion dominating the streets of Los Angeles and the stars populating your local movie theatre.

We've all heard it, but do we all actually know what Scientology is? Simply put, it is a religious movement originated by author L. Ron Hubbard that started as a philosophy rather than a religion. Some of their central ideas include the belief that every person is an immortal spiritual being, called a thetan. A thetan possesses a body and mind. Sounds like a regular human being to me. Scientologists also believe in past lives, and that people are "basically" good.

This is the part that gets me. Are you trying to tell me that someone like Mother Theresa is only "basically" good? That statement sounds about right to describe me and half the world, perhaps, but how can one say that someone like Princess Diana was "basically good?" Come on, now!

Anyway, I'm not here to judge a religious movement, so now with a basic gist of what they believe in, let's take a look at who practices Scientology. First of all, Tom "Couch Jumper" Cruise and his poor fiancée, Katie Holmes, definitely believe in the Scientology craze. They are the poster children of Scientology.

Cruise has picked fights with Brooke Shields and her supporters for using medicine to cure her postpartum depression because Scientologists don't believe in medicine or psychology.

Here is an SAT analogy for you: Madonna is to Kabala, as Tom Cruise is to Scientology. Didn't think you'd escape those, did you?

Another celebrity couple involved with the evolving pseudoscience is Danny Zuko himself, John Travolta, and his wife Kelly Preston. Everyone's favorite "Fat Actress," Kirstie Alley, Jason Lee, and Isaac Hayes, are other celebrities that believe that people are "basically" good. I guess the same can be said for most of their movies; they were "basically" good.

Isaac Hayes recently made news headlines by withdrawing from the primetime animated series "South Park," where he played the character Chef, because of an episode that makes fun of Scientology and its poster child, Cruise. The episode is called "Trapped in the Closet" and in it, Cruise seeks shelter in a closet because he doesn't want to be in a world that makes fun of his religion of choice. He won't come out of closet, even when he is coaxed by his ex-wife, Nicole Kidman. There is a strong belief that Cruise is gay and refuses to admit it. It makes sense; I mean the guy has to tell himself everyday he loves Katie Holmes. It's not that hard, she is gorgeous.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools