Cult News

It seems the founder of Scientology might be considered a racist based upon some of his writings.

L. Ron Hubbard wrote within Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought “Unlike yellow and brown people, the white does not usually believe he can get attention from matter or objects. The yellow and brown believe for the most part that rocks, trees, walls, etc, can give them attention. The white saves people, prevents famine, floods, disease and revolution … the yellow and brown races are not very progressive.”

Hmm, does this mean that Hubbard saw something like a pecking order amongst the races with his own white race at the top?

This was recently reported by Zoe Williams for The Guardian in Great Britain.

Stars like Tom Cruise and John Travolta frequently extol Hubbard as their hero publicly, so on balance it seems fair to scrutinize the author’s writings critically.

But there doesn’t appear to be anything heroic about his racial theories, which sound more like condescending bigotry than an example of brave new thinking.

Scientologists often orchestrate awards and special celebrations for the creator of their religion.

Last month they gathered in Los Angeles for Hubbard’s birthday and to announce a “worldwide celebration” about what they call his “extraordinary life” stated Scientology’s official Newsroom.

One man attending the party was Reverend James McLaughlin, senior pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church of Houston, Texas.

McLaughlin praised Hubbard as a “genius.”

“I admire him. I respect him. I consider him to be an angel that came to help humankind to work out its problems,” said the African-American pastor.

Well according to Hubbard’s good book that recites the fundamentals of his faith, saving people is what white people do, while folks like Rev. McLaughlin crave attention from “rocks, trees, walls, etc.”

In fact, it seems that according to the “Word of Hubbard” the reverend would be relegated to the general category of “not very progressive.”

However, Hubbard himself wasn’t always judged as a fount for truth.

California Superior Court Judge Paul Breckenridge probably wouldn’t appear on any Scientology party list. He called Hubbard “virtually a pathological liar.”   

And apparently angered by the seemingly racist statements made within “Fundementals of Thought” Zoe Williams urged her readers to consider “boycotting [Scientology stars’] cinematic endeavors and pelting them with eggs.”

Well, that might be a bit much, but isn’t celebrating L. Ron Hubbard as a “genius” and calling him an “angel” just a bit over the top too?

Apparently Isaac Hayes isn’t the only Scientologist that has done voiceover for comedy cartoon characters that can’t take a joke and has no sense of humor when it comes to their controversial religion.

Nancy Cartwright, the voice for Bart Simpson on the TV show The Simpsons, seemingly suffers from the same malady as Hayes reports 7 Days.

Perhaps inspired by the creators of South Park, who ridiculed Scientology so successfully, some of The Simpsons writers wanted to have a little fun too.

The proposed line to be spoken by Bart went something like this, “Mormonism? That’s the second freakiest religion in America!”

One guess who must be the first “freakiest”?

Cartwright certainly got the joke, but she didn’t like it, so the show dumped it according to insiders.

So even a purported allusion to Scientology got the axe at the Fox show.  

“That’s ridiculous…Scripts change all the time as shows are prepared, and what goes into a show and what doesn’t go into a show is based on what’s funny, and that is it, her publicist.

Notice though that Cartwright’s spokesperson doesn’t flatly deny the report altogether.

Hollywood Scientologists and their publicists like to parse their language when responding to accusations that star power was somehow used to censor things within the entertainment industry.

Like South Park the longer running cartoon show The Simpsons has at times made fun of religion, but Scientologists seem to be very thin skinned when it comes to their own “sacred cow.”

However, unlike Isaac Hayes, Nancy Cartwright isn’t threatening anyone at Fox with a walkout.

The 58-year-old voiceover queen earns a reported $360,000 per episode, which means she takes in $8 million per season.

And besides, unlike Hayes, it appears Cartwright the cartoon diva cowed the show over her “sacred cow.”

CultNews previously reported within “Scientology’s top tin tips for having kids” that Tom Cruise bought his girlfriend Katie Holmes an MP3 player packed with her favorite tunes to apparently pacify the actress during childbirth, now it seems he has decided to pick up the real thing too, an actual “adult pacifier.”

And all this appears to have been done to keep within the divine guidelines dictated by Scientology’s founder L. Ron Hubbard, for what Scientologists call “silent birth.”

“The alleged pacifier, which is reportedly made of plastic and molded to perfectly fit the 27-year-old Katie’s mouth, could be deployed very soon,” reports the New York Daily News.

Apparently the thinking is that Ms. Holmes will be so preoccupied with jamming and sucking on her big “binky” that she’ll forget about the baby.

Perhaps the pacifier is a fitting symbol of the child-like dependence the actress has developed, both on Cruise and his controversial church.

David Hinkley observed within the New York Daily News that Tom Cruise doesn’t discourage  the “speculation that whether Katie Holmes asked or not, he feels his Scientology-based thinking is plenty for both of them.”

But would it be a “mission impossible” for the girl to get a little epidural?

“The Church has no policy against the use of medicines to help a person with a physical situation. This, too, is up to the mother and her doctor,” says Scientology through a recent release from the official newsroom.

Though this just might be an example of Scientology carefully parsing its language for media consumption.

The release doesn’t specifically state that “painkillers” would be an option for Holmes’ doctor, only “the use of medicines,” whatever that means.

However, this may provide enough wiggle room for an epidural, if it’s needed.

No matter how soothing the music is coming out of her MP3 player, the baby coming out might just make Katie swallow her pacifier.

It appears that Nicole Kidman was granted an annulment regarding her marriage to Scientology’s “Top Gun” Tom Cruise because it “did not conform to the requirements of the church,” according to Jeanette Walls at MSNBC.

But what does that mean?

Does this mean that the Cruise/Kidman marriage was somehow sexless or that matrimony Scientology-style is outside the parameters of what the Roman Catholic Church considers reasonable?

Maybe religious organizations like Scientology, which have been called “cults,” can’t “conform” to its “requirements” and therefore Ms. Kidman is off the hook.

How ironic that Tom Cruise’s Oscar-winning ex has returned to embrace the church, just as the next Mrs. Cruise has apparently rejected that same religious heritage.

Perhaps the conservative Catholic parents of Katie Holmes should look into the process of obtaining an annulment, given their future son-in-law’s marital track record?

But would their daughter giving birth before walking down the aisle be OK with Catholic clergy?

Probably not.

Looks like if things don’t work out for Katie Holmes she will probably have to get along without an annulment.

As if Whitney Houston didn’t have enough problems, she has apparently continued her involvement with a group often called a “cult.” The fallen star reportedly sought help from the “Black Hebrews” as recently as two months ago.

“Friends hoped she had reformed thanks to a ‘spiritual adviser’ and her renewed links to a controversial religious sect” reports the Herald Sun.

But is it wise for Houston’s friends to hope her crack habit can be cured by a cult?

Certainly there are more credible options, such as a hospital treatment program.

Houston and husband Bobby Brown first hooked up with the so-called “Black Hebrews” in 2003 on a trip to Israel. The strange group is led by Ben Carter a former Chicago resident who now calls himself “Ben Ammi Ben Israel”

Carter claims that the “Archangel Gabriel told him that many African Americans were descendants of the lost Israeli tribe of Judah.” He led some followers to settle in Israel during 1969, but they didn’t receive permanent residence status until 2003.

The “Black Hebrews” have been linked to crime and the death of a child.

One of Carter’s henchmen was found guilty of “operating an international crime ring” in 1986 and just last year a couple was charged with manslaughter. And the death of their baby was allegedly tied to the group’s strange diet.

Does Whitney Houston really need this kind of help?

Her family has said repeatedly that the influence of Bobby Brown brought about the star’s downfall.

Is the undue influence of this strange sect really going to restore reason to the former diva?

Perhaps Houston’s friends should come up with something better than a choice between either crack or a “cult” for the troubled singer.

Mormon Church President Gordon Hinckley just told the faithful gathered at a conference, “There is no basis for racial hatred from any member of the Church. If any of you have used such words, go before the Lord and ask for forgiveness” reports The Daily Herald of Utah.

However, historically the Mormon Church itself is racist based upon the “words: within its so-called “Book of Mormon,” which was magically translated by its founder Joseph Smith.

This then begs the question should Hinckley “ask for forgiveness” for himself and his church?

He better do it quick. The 95-year-old Mormon leader doesn’t seem to have much time left. Appearing frail at the conference the anointed “prophet” had surgery to remove a cancerous growth from his intestine early this year reports Associated Press.

Mormons believe Smith’s supernaturally translated stories about “Nephites” that were “pure,” a word officially changed from “white” in 1981, and “delightsome.” Their adversaries were the idol-worshiping Lamanites that received a “curse of blackness,” turning their skin dark. And according to Mormonism it was the Lamanites that became the principal ancestors of Native Americans.

Due to this “curse” of color until 1978 the Mormon priesthood was for whites only, which essentially includes all the church’s male members.

Today millions of Mormons are not white and the church’s growth is largely outside the United States. But to date there has never been a member of its highest body, “First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles,” that was not white. And there have been few members of its elite governing bodies known as the First and Second Quorum of the Seventy that were not white.

In 1989 Native American George P. Lee, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy submitted a letter of protest to the First Presidency criticizing its President Ezra Taft Benson for encouraging “an attitude of superior race, white supremacy [and] racist attitude…”

Lee was subsequently excommunicated for “…apostasy and other conduct unbecoming a member of the Church,” reports Watchman Fellowship.

Arguably, racism remains enshrined within the “Book of Mormon,” through its bizarre mythology of wars between pre-Columbian American peoples that no credible non-Mormon historian believes ever existed.

Mounting scientific evidence continues to contradict the text sacred to Mormons and demonstrate that its historical claims are false. But for true believers, scientific evidence disputing their scriptures is sacrilege and an attack or expression of “bigotry” against their religion reported the Los Angeles Times.

However, science and history are not about faith, but rather based upon facts. And is not religious persecution to question the historical claims made by Mormons.

One Mormon academic Thomas Murphy, chairman of the Edmonds Community College Anthropology Department, was almost excommunicated for daring to dispute Mormon doctrine.

“The Book of Mormon assumes that dark skin is a curse for wickedness. I’m trying to examine where that idea came from,” the anthropologist told the Seattle Post in 2003 amidst much controversy over his scientific findings based upon DNA evidence.

“Sin, Skin and Seed: The Mistakes of Man in the Book of Mormon” was the title of one of Professor Murphy’s lectures.

“The Book of Mormon is a piece of 19th century fiction, and that means that we have to acknowledge sometimes Joseph Smith lied,” Murphy told the Los Angeles Times.

This words must mean “heresy” to Mormon leaders, who would probably like to deal with the anthropologist the way the Roman Catholic Church once dealt with Galileo, whose writings were banned by the Inquisition.

Murphy insists, “The Mormon faith is going to survive one way or another. The Catholic Church survived Galileo, but they first had to admit they were wrong.”

Don’t expect President Hinckley to admit that, an admission though hard to avoid, would impugn the status of venerated church founder Joseph Smith.

If Smith “lied” than perhaps he wasn’t a “prophet.” And that begs this question; where does that leave Mormons?

The Kabbalah Centre, most readily recognized as Madonna’s spiritual hangout, may have recruited 19-year-old Lindsay Lohan.

The star of Herbie: Fully Loaded that grossed $144 million for Disney worldwide explained, “Yes, I am looking into Kabbalah. All of us need something. You just have to grab on to whatever can get you through. Maybe it’s this business, but it seems everything can be so tough, so hard” reports Entertainmentwise.com.

Lohan who is notorious for her partying, binge and purge lifestyle and living in the fast lane may think this is one way to slow down, but maybe her management should do some research about what the teenager is grabbing.

She could be jumping out of the proverbial “frying pan into the fire.”

The Kabbalah Centre has been derided in the press as a “Hollywood cult,” “craze,” “fad” and mocked for its pop version of Jewish mysticism as “McWisdom.”

The religious organization run by Philip Berg his wife Karen has its own special menu, which features “Kabbalah Water,” “Kabbalah Energy Drink” and an assortment of books and amulets, most notably the ever popular “red string” now available embedded in an assortment of resin colors.

In a critique about such teachings published by Zeek Jewish scholar Jonathan Garb observed, “Emphasis on ‘personal power’ is a part of the fusion of these schools of contemporary Kabbalah with the New Age, a blurring of the core Jewish elements of Kabbalah.”

In other words historic Kabbalah isn’t a commercialized grab bag of what you get from God, but rather an often arduous and prolonged path of revelation. 

But Lohan apparently like other Hollywood stars finds drive-thru religion more appealing and hopes to make a quick stop to pick up her order at the supposed window of enlightenment.

Way cool right?

Warning, you might get fried with this “McWisdom.”

The head of the Kabbalah Centre in Israel was busted for fraud. A former member who filed a complaint with authorities said that he and his wife were “exploited.”

Others have accused the Bergs of “brainwashing.”

Lindsay Lohan has reportedly had personal problems to contend with, including a difficult dad.

But she may find that what the Kabbalah Centre has cooked up can be tough to swallow and even worse to purge or escape from than “the parent trap.”