Celebrities & Scientology

[Deleted]

Gilt and glitz run contrary to the founding principles of the world's major religions.

Eh, tell that to the Vatican. (Although to be fair, the Vatican IS also open to the public, for free most of the time, and it's all historical and art and stuff, and they don't charge people to be Catholic. You can go to confession for free, and they even give you free food at their services, although it does taste like paper.)



(Ah, you can take the girl out of the Catholic church, but you can't take the Catholic church out of the girl!)

[Oxynia]

Yeah, Guin, I did think of that before I wrote!

Which is why I referred to the founding principles of the religion, not how the churches have chosen to adorn themselves. The Vatican is excess, but the church does cater to all classes, as you pointed out.

$cientology wouldn't let you in the front door without your checkbook.

[CyberCathy]

and they even give you free food at their services, although it does taste like paper.

And wine! Don't forget the wine! Clams don't let you drink.

[Deleted]

ANypne else here ever watch the 4400 on USA network in the states? It is basicly about a group of people(4400) who were supposedly abducted by aliens and one day just dropped back down in washington with enhanced abilities (mind reading, healing, predicting the future). Turns out some humans from the future abducted them because they are the only ones who can save the world.But one of the guys is this rich real estate guy who made a 4400 center where people could "unlcok the 4400 within" andi n one episode this guy taked about losing all his life savings to them because one must pay for the 'keys' (like the auditing and whatnot). It sounded like a big dig on the scientology movement in genreal. anyone else ever see this show and the similarites?

[swanflake]

I have a question--there are plenty of actors and musicians that are $cientologists, obviously, but does anyone know of any noted athletes that are $cientologists?

I thought of that after casually wondering if Tom tried to recruit any of the athletes that made cameos in Jerry Maguire. I really liked that movie, and my dear, wonderful Katarina Witt (dead girl in avatar) was one of those cameo-making sports stars.

[Coffeecakes]

I would hope not. Clambo probably thought that Katarina would just slit his throat with one of her skates.

[girlfriday]

To be a professional athlete, you have to be focused and driven from a very young age. I'm guessing most of them don't have that moment of spiritual crisis/angst/vulnerability in their youth that you need to have to be sucked into Scientology.

I think elite athletes would probably be most vulnerable when their careers are ending and they're trying to decide what to do with the remaining years of their life. But, that's probably also the exact moment when shelling out a bunch of money doesn't really appeal to them all that much.

Also, if you're an elite athlete, even if you're stupid, you probably know enough about nutrition and the human body to know that things like the purification rundown are very dangerous.

Maybe Rodman's a Scientologist. That would explain a lot.

[duskwolf]

Shut up, Kelly Preston OR I {heart} Rick Ross (his website is the source of this article).

Thank goodness only E! takes Kelly Preston seriously. And who among us takes E! seriously anyway?

[Ginger]

"And we've been married for 14 years -- and in Hollywood that's like 70," said Preston.

I fucking hate it when celebrities say that. 14 years is like 14 years. Their marriage is not a bigger achievement than anybody else's 14-year marriage. I'll always like Jada Pinkett-Smith because she was once asked to pontificate about marriage and she was like, "I don't know because we've only been married for five years. We're just starting out." I know people hate her, but to me that sounds like somebody who has a realistic view of marriage, unlike these celebrities who are like, "Oh my god, we've been married for five years, that's sooooooo long. We're practically Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward."

[roxpopuli]

Slate Magazine takes on Co$ and L. Ron:

Strange as Scientology's pseudo-theology may be, though, it's not as entertaining as the life story of the church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

At the end of the day, any substance can be abused. It doesn't mean that it should be withdrawn though.

Yea, including--dare I say it--vitamins. Take too much vitamin A, for example, and your muscles start peeling off of your bones. Let's ban those vitamins immediately!

With regards to the whole "Clams" issue; while floating around on "Operation Clambake", I found out that it isn't so much that El-Ron believed that we are physically descended from clams, so much as we inherited engrams from them.

Wow, that's so much saner!