Scientology Volunteers

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Doing business with Tom Cruise is turning out to be a religious activity for film executives in Hollywood as the actor is using his star power for promoting his religion - Scientology.

Actors use their power in Hollywood to various ends. Some demand money. Some want to name a director or reject a co-star. Lately, doing business with Tom Cruise, one of Hollywood’s leading actors, means a bow in the direction of his religion, the Church of Scientology. Increasingly public about his long association with Scientology, Cruise recently invited film executives involved in distributing his summer movie, The War of the Worlds, on a four-hour tour of three different Scientology facilities in Los Angeles. About 20 managers from United International Pictures, which is distributing the Steven Spielberg-directed film abroad for Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks SKG, took him up on the offer in late January.

Andrew Cripps, president of United International Pictures, said the tour was useful because the news media often asks about Cruise’s religious beliefs. Cripps said no one was forced to attend, though at least one executive who took the tour said the visit was regarded by some as an unwelcome business obligation.

Scientology tent

The encounter came after Cruise had sponsored a ‘Scientology tent,’ offering what his spokeswoman, Lee Anne De Vette, called “assists” - administered by volunteer ministers - along with religious literature, on the War of the Worlds set. Also, the star had recently sent out a holiday greeting that included Scientological precepts on a plastic plaque. Notwithstanding Mel Gibson’s very public declaration of faith with his Passion of the Christ, Hollywood insiders typically avoid open discussion of their religious beliefs. But De Vette, who is Cruise’s sister, said he had been inviting colleagues to learn more about his religion in order to combat what he viewed as prejudice against a group that some critics have described as an exploitative cult.

Adherents say Scientology is a method of counselling and courses that helps individuals break free from negative emotions and lead more rewarding lives.

A celebrity religion?

Founded in 1954 by the science-fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, Scientology has long had a close connection with celebrity. Contending that artists “are a cut above man” - according to a church Web site, Celebrity Center - Hubbard said, “He who can truly communicate to others is a higher being who builds new worlds.”

The church has celebrity centres in several cities where actors and other famous figures come to study and meet. (John Travolta and Kirstie Alley are among the best-known Hollywood adherents.) At the centres, according to the Web site, they are promised “the best in service and care, for those are the people who are sculpting the present into the future.” In the last several years, Cruise has spoken more freely about Scientology in his many interviews promoting various films.

posted by: jbasoon at 02:22 | link | |