I've read alot of articles about how Tom Cruise is big on Scientology as are alot of other Hollywood Glitterati.

Does anyone here know the main features of Scientology (other than, apparently, trying to jam it down other peoples' throats)?  What exactly do they do?  Is is a financial scam to get people to give money?

Fill me in...

I've read alot of articles about how Tom Cruise is big on Scientology as are alot of other Hollywood Glitterati.

Does anyone here know the main features of Scientology (other than, apparently, trying to jam it down other peoples' throats)?  What exactly do they do?  Is is a financial scam to get people to give money?

Fill me in...


Have no idea.  Could care less what the "glitterati" are into.  After all, Tom, Mel, anmd the rest of them are just so many over-payed, over indulged, over rated spoiled brats, and some of them can't even act - like playing more thanm one chararcter.  Ho Hum.

Here are a couple of links y'all can pee-ruse at yer lezzure.  One is from the official Scientology site, and other is an anti-Scientology site.

http://www.scientology.org/
http://www.scientology-lies.com/

I've only got a few minutes here, so I'll just make a couple of observations.

Scientology bases its principles on faith in a lot of dangerous hogwash.  Another, the more money you have, the more respect you get in Scientologist community, the easier it is to move up the ranks, and the more fun it is to be a Scientologist.  Thus, it is much the same as the Republican party. 

The right-wing media has been bashing Tom Cruise as dangerous and Billy Graham as saintly in the past couple of days.  I posit that Rev. Graham was and is a hundred-fold more dangerous to the American public than Cruise and the Scientology kooks could ever be!

Here are a couple of links y'all can pee-ruse at yer lezzure.  One is from the official Scientology site, and other is an anti-Scientology site.

http://www.scientology.org/
http://www.scientology-lies.com/

I've only got a few minutes here, so I'll just make a couple of observations.

Scientology bases its principles on faith in a lot of dangerous hogwash.  Another, the more money you have, the more respect you get in Scientologist community, the easier it is to move up the ranks, and the more fun it is to be a Scientologist.  Thus, it is much the same as the Republican party. 

The right-wing media has been bashing Tom Cruise as dangerous and Billy Graham as saintly in the past couple of days.  I posit that Rev. Graham was and is a hundred-fold more dangerous to the American public than Cruise and the Scientology kooks could ever be!


Thankz for the links, Max.  :)

By the way, money buy access in all walks of life...  Did you know that the average Democrat in the Senate has more personal wealth than the average Democrat?  Money has corrupted ALL parties.

FREE KATIE!

FREE KATIE!
http://cache.eonline.com/News/Photos/f/free.katie.shirt.060905.jpg

Here are a couple of links y'all can pee-ruse at yer lezzure.  One is from the official Scientology site, and other is an anti-Scientology site.

http://www.scientology.org/
http://www.scientology-lies.com/

I've only got a few minutes here, so I'll just make a couple of observations.

Scientology bases its principles on faith in a lot of dangerous hogwash.  Another, the more money you have, the more respect you get in Scientologist community, the easier it is to move up the ranks, and the more fun it is to be a Scientologist.  Thus, it is much the same as the Republican party. 

The right-wing media has been bashing Tom Cruise as dangerous and Billy Graham as saintly in the past couple of days.  I posit that Rev. Graham was and is a hundred-fold more dangerous to the American public than Cruise and the Scientology kooks could ever be!



Here is a less "We're great and if you don't believe us you are d@mned" link.


http://www.religioustolerance.org/scientol1.htm



If that is what Tom believes, so be it. But, I don't like him looking down at everyone who doesn't believe as he does-like his interview with Matt Lauer.





Cat

Thankz for the links, Max.  :)

By the way, money buy access in all walks of life...  Did you know that the average Democrat in the Senate has more personal wealth than the average Democrat?  Money has corrupted ALL parties.

No sh*t Sherlock!  You don't say!

So, Tom Cruise says there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance, eh?  That's like Courtney Love saying there's no such thing as a drug addict!
Yeah, Tom's a celebrity whackjob with kooky religious beliefs.  I just wish the right-wing media would have the intellectual honesty to tell the same truth about Mel Gibson!

No sh*t Sherlock!  You don't say!

So, Tom Cruise says there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance, eh?  That's like Courtney Love saying there's no such thing as a drug addict!
Yeah, Tom's a celebrity whackjob with kooky religious beliefs.  I just wish the right-wing media would have the intellectual honesty to tell the same truth about Mel Gibson!


I agree. So, I guess there's no such thing as mental illness right? Let's all get together and exercise!

Tanya

Thankz for the links, Max.  :)

By the way, money buy access in all walks of life...  Did you know that the average Democrat in the Senate has more personal wealth than the average Democrat?  Money has corrupted ALL parties.

Oh, wait a minute, money hasn't corrupted the Greens, but just wait 'till they get some!
;)

One observation that's been made about Scientology is that it appeals more to vain, egotistical people, since it dictates that the higher power in the universe is contained within a person's self. That's why so many of its followers are Hollywood celebrities and the rich and powerful.

From what I know about Scientology, I would agree with this. It's a religion that plays on feelings of superiority and encourages people to be assertive and indulgent, as opposed to just about every other religion in the world, which teach people to be meek and humble before the forces of the universe.

Scientology isn't really a religion, at least not in the sense that a religion is usually defined, ie, belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers, or an institutionalized system grounded in such belief. Scientologists don't believe in a supernatural power and don't have any institutionalised practises of worship (because there's nothing to worship). Scientology is founded on a series of doubtful philosophies called Dianetics, a pseudoscientific system of self-healing ideas and practices invented by L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard established Scientology as a church (even though it isn't one) to avoid paying taxes. Scientology doesn't believe in the use of drugs or established medicine, as one of the tenents of the philosophy is that one can use the mind to overcome just about anything. Hubbard also believed that humanity was spawned on another planet and will one day return there.

a friend of mine once made an interesting point about scientology:

"Many celebrities believe in scientology so that they dont feel bad about having all that money and only spending it on themselves."


Im sorry, but I cant trust a religion that was started by a science fiction writer. 





on a side note.....what's up with the catholicism bashing in this post?

And how big an ass  did Tom Cruise make of himself when he criticized Brooke Shields for going through post-pregnancy depression?

Yeah, like a man like Tom Cruise knows a goddamn thing about childbirth and it's after affects.

Brooke got the final word by saying that if Tom wanted to see her knew stage production, she would leave him two free tickets at will call.

One adult and one child.

BUUUUUURRRRRRNNNNN!!!

One observation that's been made about Scientology is that it appeals more to vain, egotistical people, since it dictates that the higher power in the universe is contained within a person's self. That's why so many of its followers are Hollywood celebrities and the rich and powerful.

From what I know about Scientology, I would agree with this. It's a religion that plays on feelings of superiority and encourages people to be assertive and indulgent, as opposed to just about every other religion in the world, which teach people to be meek and humble before the forces of the universe.

When adherents of the major religions become corrupt, they end up advocating a similar philosophy contrary to the doctrines of the religion.  The Christian Right also plays on feelings of superiority and encourages fundamentalists to chase money and power. 
Do the Wahabi clerics of Arabia and the multi-multi-billionaire House of Saud violate the tenets of Islam?  And how!

While checking out Wikipedia, I came across an article about Scientology.... it's ummmmmmmm.... interesting.  ::)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology

Open your eyes to this site, enter  nan herst on Yahoo to read what she went through according to a 1993 Preniere magazine article.....

This includes being banished from her family when she 'questioned' the religion to stakeouts and Phone taps AND Hollywood Connections in the film industry.


Any corrections of the article were apparently made afterwards  so they would be covered from lawsuits

HOPE YOU FIND IT AND LEARN A LITTLE OF ONE PERSONS ENCOUNTER.. :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

I originally posted this on "Tom Cruise: Shut Your Pie Hole," but my statement is too political for over there, so I moved it here.

Tom's obnoxious to be sure, but come on, he's not nearly as offensive of the average panel of religious right pundits on a talk show circuit.  The swilly cr*p Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson, Bill Donahue, Jerry Falwell, and Franklin Graham dish out every time they get in front of a camera far more toxic than Tom's loopy proclamations.  The news media has painted Mr. Cruise as crackpot from the get-go, but the Falwell's, Robertsons, Buchanans, Donahues, and Grahams are accorded the respect of sages and prophets.  Look at the way the genuflect to Rev. Billy Graham, a man who kneeled in prayer with Nixon and Kissinger as they illegallly carpet bombed Southeast Asia causing untold human suffering!  FBG I say, and the the BG stands for Billy Graham!

I think Scientology is a bunch of hogwash, not a religion.

Verity is not the criterium for attaining the label of "religion," unfortunately. As much as I would like to see everyone have their head on straight, I'll have to disagree with this and yield to them their right to do whatever they want inside the law and call it their "religion."

Even if Scientologists are seen as a bunch of crackpots, so were the purveyors of every religion on Earth. It's still their religion and I still support their right to make arses of themselves. Personally I would feel more comfortable with the average Scientologist (because out of 8 million adherents, most of them cannot be rich) for president than a Christian fundie extremist.

I originally posted this on "Tom Cruise: Shut Your Pie Hole," but my statement is too political for over there, so I moved it here.

Tom's obnoxious to be sure, but come on, he's not nearly as offensive of the average panel of religious right pundits on a talk show circuit.  The swilly cr*p Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson, Bill Donahue, Jerry Falwell, and Franklin Graham dish out every time they get in front of a camera far more toxic than Tom's loopy proclamations.  The news media has painted Mr. Cruise as crackpot from the get-go, but the Falwell's, Robertsons, Buchanans, Donahues, and Grahams are accorded the respect of sages and prophets.  Look at the way the genuflect to Rev. Billy Graham, a man who kneeled in prayer with Nixon and Kissinger as they illegallly carpet bombed Southeast Asia causing untold human suffering!  FBG I say, and the the BG stands for Billy Graham!
VERY good point!!! I consider some like Pat Robertson to in fact be very dangerous. The way he gets certain people almost "under his spell"... having them send him money that only lines his pockets and getting people to go along with his bias, bigoted, closed minded views... He is scary and SHOULD NOT have his own TV show.

It's a shame really that all this publicity, whether positive or negative, will continually make Tom Cruise even bigger-headed than he already is; plus he won't suffer any type of boycott no matter how disrespectful he is to a great percentage of the population (especially women) and in fact will place more butts in theatre seats all over the world. That's just they way our world is today.

Side note -

When Tom Cruise was married to Nicole Kidman he forbade her from wearing high heels as she would tower evermore over his 5'6" stature. Since their divorce, she rarely wears flats with her gowns.

Another couple of thoughts -

IMO, the whole TomKat thing is nothing more than a publicity stunt and there's nothing that will make me think otherwise, even if they marry. At it's most honest, it's Tom Cruise in the midst of a major mid-life crisis.

Scientology, IMO, fits Hollywood to a "T". Hollywood is not based on our general population sense of reality. They live in a whole other world, don't you know?

VERY good point!!! I consider some like Pat Robertson to in fact be very dangerous. The way he gets certain people almost "under his spell"... having them send him money that only lines his pockets and getting people to go along with his bias, bigoted, closed minded views... He is scary and SHOULD NOT have his own TV show.


Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell are all parden my language, douche bags...  ::)

Scientology is being classified cult by the author(s) of the book Kingdom of the Cults. It was invented by L. Ron Hubbard, who is also responsible for crap books like "Dianetics". You know it's fake when Lisa Marie Presley endorses it, she being the daughter of Elvis, ex-wife of Jacko, and MTV media wh0re. >:(

Verity is not the criterium for attaining the label of "religion," unfortunately. As much as I would like to see everyone have their head on straight, I'll have to disagree with this and yield to them their right to do whatever they want inside the law and call it their "religion."

Even if Scientologists are seen as a bunch of crackpots, so were the purveyors of every religion on Earth. It's still their religion and I still support their right to make arses of themselves. Personally I would feel more comfortable with the average Scientologist (because out of 8 million adherents, most of them cannot be rich) for president than a Christian fundie extremist.

I'd be pretty freaked out if a Scientologist got elected President of the U.S.  It's bad enough that a Mormon, Mitt Romney, is even going to run!
::)

Hairspray wrote:
When Tom Cruise was married to Nicole Kidman he forbade her from wearing high heels as she would tower evermore over his 5'6" stature. Since their divorce, she rarely wears flats with her gowns.
As a fellow short man, I think it's a shame Tom is still insecure about his height.  So rare is it that a man under 5' 8" gets to be a leading man in Hollywood, I wish Tom would advertise his height.  At least then maybe other insecure short guys wouldn't feel so stigmatized.  We get the same attitude as overweight women do.  It's a nuisance at best, and at worst can be measured in naked discrimination.
As for Tom forbidding Nicole to wear heels, she should have kicked an eight-inch stilleto up his azz and walked out the door.  Who the h*ll does he think he is anyway?  I personally don't care for pumps (for me or for women!) because they're uncomfortable, bad for your body, and a patriarchical imposition.  But it's not my business to tell somebody else what to wear!

Carrie wrote:
VERY good point!!! I consider some like Pat Robertson to in fact be very dangerous. The way he gets certain people almost "under his spell"... having them send him money that only lines his pockets and getting people to go along with his bias, bigoted, closed minded views... He is scary and SHOULD NOT have his own TV show.
Thanks Carrie!
I see no problem with Pat Robertson having his own TV show.  If people are suckers enough to send him money, that's their problem in a free society.  Robertson being an operative for the Republican party is a problem.  The way to solve this kind of problem is reform of campaign financing and media access policies for political candidates.  But that's another issue. 
If you had a left-wing preacher who tried to build the same kind of media network as Robertson by condemning greed, racism, capitalism, and imperial foreign policy, you can bet your bottom dollar the powers that be would have found a way to destroy him!

I have no probably with anyone from any religion becoming president just as long that they don't shove THEIR religion on everyone else. Unfortunately, some religions think they need to do that.  ::)




Cat

Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell are all parden my language, douche bags...  ::)

That's not fair to douche bags.  At least they serve some useful purpose!

I seem to recall hearing something a long time ago about Hubbard's books being bought by Scientologists, only to resell them again. When I have more time (and patiance) I will do a little research to see what I can find.






Cat

I seem to recall hearing something a long time ago about Hubbard's books being bought by Scientologists, only to resell them again. When I have more time (and patiance) I will do a little research to see what I can find.


The reason "Dianetics" remains on the best-seller list year after year is because Scientologists keep it there by buying copies in bulk. If not for this, it may well have gone out of print in the 70s.

The reason "Dianetics" remains on the best-seller list year after year is because Scientologists keep it there by buying copies in bulk. If not for this, it may well have gone out of print in the 70s.



Yeah, that's it. I knew I heard I heard something about that.




Cat

I remember when I was a kid, I'd heard of "Scientology" but not L.Ron Hubbard.  They used to advertise Dianetics on television.  "Read Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard, the owner's manual to the human mind." 
I thought Hubbard was jus another New Age flake because the ad didn't mention Scientology.  It tells you something when a religious group can't even mention their own name when they're making their pitch to you.
"Excuse me, sir, we've got a spiritual revival spa down in Guyana.  Quite a nice little resort we call Jonestown.  Here's a brochure.  Come on down, bring the missus and the kids, ya like Kool-Aid by any chance?..."
::)

That's not fair to douche bags.  At least they serve some useful purpose!


Good point....  ;D

Ok, let me get this straight:

he demands that his movie-star wife wear flats,
he gets engaged to a hollywood starlet young enough to be his mistress
he chastizes his celebrity friends for using anti-depressants
he gets testy with network morning show hosts

Geez, normally I couldn't care less what these silly movie stars do with their own time and money, but when their actions start affecting hardworking ordinary Americans like these, clearly, something must be done!
::)

On Anderson Cooper yesterday, he was interviewing someone in the Scientology "church" about psychology. Anderson was asking him if just "talk" therapy was ok. The guy kept going off. Anderson then ask him what is the difference between the "talk" therapy with a psychologist and someone in the Scientology "church". The guy never did answer him. In otherwords, it is ok for people to talk to members of the "church" but not to a trained psychologist.  ::)



Here is a transcript from the show. As of now, that part isn't up yet but it may be later today or tomorrow.


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0506/29/acd.01.html


Cat

So, Tom Cruise says there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance, eh? 


I saw that.. and I think it killed Scientology {which has a few half-decent ideas, although not many} for me forever.. What sort of idiotic crap is that? No such thing as a chemical imbalance.. Scientology claims that all disturbing events form a "psychic scar", which is the cause of all problems... somehow, I just can't relate to this... And the Scientology.org site just keeps trying to sell me crap, I can't get answers.

By the way, did you know that the founder of Scientology once said "If a man wants wealth, the best way is to start a religion."?

And people just followed him? Wow..

I myself have had many run-ins with Scientologists over the years.  And one thing I have to admit, I think they are a bunch of nutcakes.

Elron took some of the tenets of faith from The Church of Christ, Scientist, and then mixed in a bunch of his science fiction writings in order to make himself over as a new messiah.  And the similarity between the name of his group (Scientology) and The Church of Christ, Scientist (commonly called "Christian Science) has often been the cause of confusion.

The Church of Christ, Scientist has several main points.  One is "Self Healing".  They believe the power of God can cure you if something is wrong.  If God does not/will not cure a person, then there is a reason why not.  Another is that there is no need for an "established clergy".  Instead of Churches they have "Reading Rooms".  Similar to the Mormons, they have an addition to the Bible that was writtne by the founder (Mary Baker Eddy) which is called Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  Instead of Clergy, they have "Readers", who lead the "congregation" through the weeks readings.  But they do follow the Bible, and consider themselves "Christians".

Scientologists do not believe in God.  They believe in Xenu, an evil galactic dictator that came to Earth 65 million years ago.  He brought down millions of humans and placed them around a volcano.  After doing this, he killed them all with Hydrogen bombs, which caused the volcano to errupt, covering them under lava.

This is the reason why an exploding volcano is on the cover of Dianetics.  Written as a "Self-Help" book, it is frequently the first exposure many people have to Scientology.  Scientology itself claims to be the way to exorcise the ghosts of these dead aliens and humans from 65 million years ago.  The followers go through different "levels" of clensing.  Each level costs more money, and make the person "more pure".

And not all Scientologists are as rude and obnoxious as Tom is.  John Travolta and his wife are both Scientologists, but neither of them has tried to cram that fact down the throat of everybody that interviews them.  But John uses Scientology for himself, and very few can deny that he is a class act.  Tom on the other hand is a loud-mouthed jerk.

That's not fair to douche bags.  At least they serve some useful purpose!


They do?  ::)  ;D

Oh, and if anybody is curious as to why Scientologists are opposed to Psychologists and Psychiatrists, this is why:

Xenu was about to be deposed from power, so he devised a plot to eliminate the excess population from his dominions. With the assistance of "renegades", he defeated the populace and the "Loyal Officers", a force for good that was opposed to Xenu. Then, with the assistance of psychiatrists, he summoned billions of people to paralyse them with injections of alcohol and glycol, under the pretense that they were being called for "income tax inspections". The kidnapped populace was loaded into space planes for transport to the site of extermination, the planet of Teegeeack (Earth). The space planes were exact copies of Douglas DC-8s, "except the DC-8 had fans, propellers on it and the space plane didn't."

Taken from the Wikipedia article on Xenu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu

ELron tried to sell the story as a screenplay called Revolt in the Stars.  Needless to say, it did not sell.  So instead, he sold it to idiotic Hollywood types.

Elron does not only hate Psycologists.  Scientology also talks about the evils of God, Christ, Catholicism, Government, and many others.

It never ceases to amaze me what some people actually believe,things like humans were transported here from the planet tharg, NO THEY WEREN'T we share 99 per cent of our dna with apes we evolved right here on earth.Some things i've read when i've delved into the odd (and believe me some of these books are odd) new age books have been about humans descended from aliens. One book that really perplexed me and i  admit to thinking it's rubbish was Neale Donald Walschs conversations with god. Anyone else read this?

Weird thought.... maybe Tom Cruise is an alien himself....  ::)  ;D

But why do people even care what other people believe?  It was funny for about half a minute to see a famous person jump on a couch acting silly about being in love like he was 9 years old, but so what?


Thanks to Tom, we now have a new phrase in the American Lexicon.

I am sure that at least some of you have heard of the phrase "Jumped The Shark".  That is a TV show that has outlived it's reasonable time.  The phrase came about because most fans of the TV series "Happy Days" realize that the best of the show was in the past when Fonzie jumped over the shark on waterskis.

Thanks to Tom, we now have the phrase "Jumped The Couch".  This is a star that has done something (ore several somethings) that are so outrageous, that he/she can no longer be taken seriously.

Thanks to Tom, we now have a new phrase in the American Lexicon.

I am sure that at least some of you have heard of the phrase "Jumped The Shark".  That is a TV show that has outlived it's reasonable time.  The phrase came about because most fans of the TV series "Happy Days" realize that the best of the show was in the past when Fonzie jumped over the shark on waterskis.

Thanks to Tom, we now have the phrase "Jumped The Couch".  This is a star that has done something (ore several somethings) that are so outrageous, that he/she can no longer be taken seriously.

Hmmm...if I use the phrase with four of my friends, and they use the phrase with four of their friends, and so on, "Jumped the Couch" could be the biggest pop-culture phrase since "yadada-yadada."
OK, then, first I gotta go out and make four friends...
:D



:D

Hmmm...if I use the phrase with four of my friends, and they use the phrase with four of their friends, and so on, "Jumped the Couch" could be the biggest pop-culture phrase since "yadada-yadada."
OK, then, first I gotta go out and make four friends...


Maybe you need to make some different friends.  I have heard it many times.

Max, try doing a Google search for "Jump the couch", you might be surprised.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jump+the+couch&defid=1358762
http://blogs.citypages.com/ctg/2005/07/vaulting_into_o.asp
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity/54252004.htm