Cult News

“A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant,” which mocks Scientology and its celebrity stars won an Obie special citation reports Variety.

The Obies honor achievement in Off and Off Off Broadway theater, and are selected by a panel of theater critics and artists in New York City chaired by Village Voice theater editor Charles McNulty.

Promoted as an “ironic masterpiece,” the pageant production was a “completely unauthorized look at the Church of Scientology featuring a cast of children.”

Using the theme of Christmas the play was a parody of the “spectacular life story of L. Ron Hubbard…dissected against the candy-colored backdrop of the a traditional nativity play.”

A cast of 8-12 year-olds portrayed Scientology celebrities such as former sitcom star Kirstie Alley, John Travolta and “Top Gun” Tom Cruise.

The show, which sold out and was extended, was presented by the Les Freres Corbusier theater troupe.

Scientology’s New York representative didn’t seem to appreciate the spoof and no doubt was not amused by the production receiving rave reviews and now an Obie citation.

For former members of Scientology is no laughing matter, but during the New York theater season last year the purported “cult” at least provided the basis for some Christmas cheer.

Note: “A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant” will be playing in the heartland of Scientology this Fall. The curtain goes up on the production in October and it will continue through November at the Powerhouse Theatre, located in Santa Monica, California.

Cult apology is a trade for some, but it may be a “politically correct” calling for others.

This week National Public Radio (NPR) “All Things Considered” apparently was on a mission, the program featured well-known “cult apologists” in a broadcast about “New Religions.”

The two-part series hosted by Barbara Bradley Hagerty discussed the history of so-called “new religious movements (NRMs),” which is a politically correct euphemism for groups commonly called “cults.”

Feigning academic objectivity was J. Gordon Melton and James Lewis.

Both men have long been closely associated with well-known “cults,” such as the notorious “Cult of Greed” (Time Magazine May 1991) Scientology, which has recommended the two as “religious resources.”

Melton frequently hires himself out to “cults.”

Melton, the founder of the “Institute for the Study of American Religion,” has worked for the likes of J.Z. Knight, a woman who claims to channel a 35,000-year-old spirit named “Ramtha.”

“Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati” a former Brooklyn housewife and the leader of the Kashi Ashram in Florida also has retained Melton.

Melton’s professional “research,” which frequently flatters “cult leaders,” seems to provide them with academic cover, but for a price.

The peripatetic apologists Lewis and Melton were once flown to Japan all expenses paid by the notorious cult Aum, just after its leader and many members were arrested for gassing Tokyo’s subways.

Lewis claimed at a press conference after conducting an “investigation” based upon photos and documents provided by the cult, that Aum could not have produced the poison gas used to murder 12 Japanese and send thousands to hospitals.

Not to be left out Melton chimed in that the Japanese authorities “were threatening the group’s religious freedom.”

For those that don’t already know, Aum’s leader Shoko Asahara and his key subordinates were found guilty and sentenced to death through a court process that included overwhelming evidence.

Apparently Lewis and Melton overlooked and/or ignored such factual information.

Another “scholar” featured on the NPR program was Catherine Wessinger.

This academic once described the suicide cult “Heaven’s Gate” led by lunatic Marshall Applewhite as “definitely Gnostic…very similar to Hinduism (and also Buddhism).” She concluded, “The outcome with Heaven’s Gate certainly calls into question traditional Hindu beliefs and practices.”

Huh?

What about the more obvious explanation that Applewhite was crazy? After all, the cult leader did once sign himself into a mental hospital, wasn’t his psychological instability a factor?

Wessinger says, “I’m not trained in psychology so I don’t articulate those opinions…”

Wessinger also engages in something like revisionist history regarding Jonestown led by another madman Jim Jones. This cult tragedy claimed the lives of more than 900 Americans in 1978. According to Wessinger “they would still be here. But due to the attacks and investigations they endured…”

Melton, Lewis and Wessinger might be the cult version of the “Three Stooges,” or maybe more like the proverbial monkeys that “hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil” when it comes to cults.

Whatever they are NPR appears to be just plain dumb, for either not doing its own research, or simply ignoring the facts in favor of some sort of “political correctness.”

Here are some glaring examples:

NPR discussed Krishna without even mentioning that the “cult” is currently embroiled in a $400 million dollar class action lawsuit filed by its childhood victims.

The Waco Davidians were labeled as a “new religious movement (NRM),” even though they are commonly called a “cult.” No mention was made about David Koresh’s bizarre claim that he was “The Lamb of God” or how the cult leader exploited and abused his followers, including the rape of a 10-year-old.

Another “NRM” mentioned was the Raelians, but again nothing about the sordid history of leader Claude Vorilhon (“Rael”) or the context of the group’s clone claim, within an endless series of self-serving publicity stunts.

Instead, all these groups were essentially whitewashed under the politically correct rubric of “new religious movements.”

And the word “cult” was never even used once throughout the entire program.

After all, according to the NPR “scholars” any meaningful discussion of “cult” bad behavior may be characterized as “persecution” and/or an “attack” upon “religious freedom.”

Note: In its second installment yesterday NPR featured yet another “cult apologist” Lorne L. Dawson. This program discussed the “Toronto Blessing,” an aberration on the fringes of the Charismatic Movement. However, in what can easily be seen as misleading, the report focused on the bizarre aspects of this Canadian group as if it offered listeners a pivotal understanding of Pentecostal Christianity.

Scientology offers its very own unique Mother’s Day greeting by quoting none other than its dead founder L. Ron Hubbard posthumously at PR Newswire.

“‘In the charge of woman is the care of the children,’ wrote philosopher and author L. Ron Hubbard,” the press release states

Is that why Hubbard reportedly “kidnapped” his baby daughter Alexis from her mother? Why didn’t he want this woman to take “care of the children”?

And here’s another interesting Hubbardism. “It is a remarkable fact, a scientific fact, that the healthiest children come from the happiest mothers,” wrote the “philosopher.”

However, according to press reports Hubbard once told his child’s mother that she would never see her baby again, and that “if she ready loved him, she would kill herself and thus save him further bother with her.”

Is this the stuff of happiness?

Hubbard also wrote, “Woman, you have a right and a reason to demand good treatment.”

But the Scientology founder reportedly once “subdued” his wife with a “hammerlock, causing strangulation.”

Is this the “good treatment” a woman has the “right” to expect?

Sarah Northrup Hubbard eventually sued her husband for divorce “on cruelty grounds” and called him “hopelessly insane and crazy.”

It doesn’t appear that the former Mrs. L. Ron Hubbard was one of those “happiest mothers” her estranged husband talked about.

Interestingly, Scientology says that “Hubbard’s research uncovered how unpleasant, painful and upsetting experiences influence us in the future and cause stress, anxiety, and unhappiness.” And also that “these occurrences subtly weave their way from incident to incident, causing our lives to follow patterns.”

This might explain why one Hubbard child Quentin may have committed suicide and another, L. Ron Hubbard, Jr., has been described as a “survivor.”

Of course Scientology doesn’t bother to offer such Hubbard family footnotes in its Mother’s Day message.

Instead it concludes, “‘Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health’ may be the best present you could give your wife or mother this Mother’s Day.”

It appears that Dianetics didn’t work out that well for the Hubbard family, but Scientologists want everyone to believe that nevertheless it will somehow work out for you.

Tom Cruise was out fund-raising this month yet again for his favorite cause, which seems to be almost anything linked to Scientology or as Time Magazine once named the group the “Cult of Greed.”

The former “Top Gun” and “Last Samurai” was shilling this month for a group he co-founded called the “New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project.”

The so-called “detoxification” promoted by the project is really just the latest incarnation of a Scientology-related religious ritual commonly known amongst the faithful as the “purification rundown.”

The “rundown” is a process that includes sweating out toxins in a sauna and consuming large doses of niacin.

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard came up with this idea.

Cruise raked in $1.2 million for his pet project through Hollywood connections, cronies and “friends” said the Hollywood Reporter.

And one of Tom’s special “friends” is New York City Council member Margarita Lopez.

Lopez actually chaired a hearing about “the recoveries being achieved through detoxification.”

She says, “Detoxification has helped over 200 men and women regain their health.” The councilwoman is beginning to sound more like a Hubbard groupie than an elected official concerned about her constituents.

Lopez apparently has chosen to ignore feedback from the deputy chief medical officer for the NY Fire Department who called the same detoxification “risky” and concluded, “there’s no proven evidence it works.”

A toxicology expert quoted by the NY Times stating flatly that the program is an “unproven, scientifically bereft notion.”

After all L. Ron Hubbard was a Sci-fi writer and purported “cult leader,” not a doctor or scientist.

But it appears that some elected officials find movie stars intoxicating and perhaps potentially useful for their own fund-raisers.

Maybe that’s why Lopez has jumped on the Cruise “detox” bandwagon, along with US Senator Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Maloney, as previously reported by CutlNews.

Cruise crowed, “Knowing that…heroes from New York’s bravest…are back on the job — that brings me immeasurable joy and pride.”

But the price tag to bring Tom more of that “joy and pride,” for anyone other than the NY firemen he often uses like promotional props, is around $5,000 a head.

The Hunger Project (THP), describes itself as “a strategic organization and global movement committed to the sustainable end of world hunger.” But it seems the group has added some interesting new strategies to its list of commitments lately.

THP has apparently decided to pursue a strategy of intimidation and threats to purge critical and/or historical information about it from the Internet.

What it seems THP doesn’t want the public to readily know is that it was initially launched by a controversial seminar guru named Werner Erhard (once known as John Paul “Jack” Rosenberg) through his organization called “est” (Erhard Seminars Training).

See “The Hunger Project: A Historical Background.”

Much of THP’s touted “framework of thinking,” worldview, working vocabulary and philosophy appears to come from the mind of the much-criticized Erhard and his “est” mindset. Not to mention the fact that staffers at THP historically often came from est, including current THP President Joan Holmes.

It seems that staffers at THP headquarters in Manhattan examined Google results and they didn’t like what they found.

Certain reports on the Internet traced the historical roots of THP, analyzed its “estian” connections and/or influence and shared a less than laudatory view of THP with fellow netizens.

Since the departure of Werner Erhard from THP’s board in 1990 and his subsequent sale of est to brother Harry Rosenberg and a group of employees in 1991, it seems that Erhard’s intellectual progeny want to disassociate from their controversial creator.

In fact, Est changed its name to Landmark Education, though it still features essentially the same so-called “technology” or seminar curriculum established by its founder, which includes the introductory course known as the Forum.

And THP, which is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in the U.S., has evolved from its early beginnings to a burgeoning nonprofit organization that claims “40,000 volunteers” working “in partnership with 120 staff in 22 countries.”

But don’t expect any acknowledgement about Werner Erhard or est’s historic contribution to appear at THP’s website. Nothing whatsoever is there about this.

Now back to that Internet campaign.

Hunger Project attacks former volunteer

THP started sounding off early last year. Their first target was former THP volunteer Carol Giambalvo who had written a critique of the group in 1987 titled “The Hunger Project Inside Out” and posted it on her website.

“It has come to my attention that you are continuing to publish a web page about The Hunger Project based on your experience as a volunteer more than 20 years ago…remove the web page…and eliminate any other references to The Hunger Project in your professional materials,” THP Vice President John Coonrod wrote Giambalvo in a letter dated February 5, 2003.

But she didn’t do it.

“[THP] says the article is outdated and the usual rap about them not being affiliated with Landmark or Werner Erhard. Funny, I have had some inquiries lately where the person who is involved with Landmark is also involved with THP,” Giambalvo later commented.

She then posted Coonrod’s letter at the end of her report to offer readers an alternative viewpoint.

However, giving THP the last word didn’t satisfy the organization.

In April Giambalvo was shocked when AOL pulled the plug on her entire website.

“AOL determined that a complaint from THP was more important than their customers and they actually cut me off from service without notice yesterday,” she said on April 3, 2003.

Eventually AOL allowed Giambalvo’s site to return online, but only after she agreed to purge the offending THP report. AOL purportedly said she’d be “permanently shut out” if she did not delete the disputed material.

“Wonderful freedom of speech we have here in America…but not America On Line,” she lamented.

Giambalvo placed a note on her home page explaining that the material was gone. Someone subsequently posted her report at a newsgroup on Google.

THP’s “strategic” effort had paid off by squelching the report somewhat.

Attacking Christian Century articles

But there were two pesky previously published articles about THP that had appeared in Christian Century magazine during the 1970s that now drew the group’s ire and attention. Both were posted on the database at the Ross Institute (RI).

The offending articles were titled, “The Hunger Project and Est: Close Ties” and “The Hunger Project: You Can’t Eat Words.” The author was respected educator Dr. David Hoekema.

Hoekema had harsh words for THP. He described their program as “empty talk” and opined “If we want to work toward a solution to the problems of world hunger, we would do better to invest our time and money in relief programs [and] organizations engaged not just in talk, but in carefully chosen action.”

The first apparent shot in THP’s “strategic” effort to purge these articles from the Internet came in the Fall of 2003.

RI was contacted by the Executive Editor of Christian Century, who requested that “all Christian Century material” be removed, which only included the two Hoekema articles.

In October both articles were converted to news summaries within “fair use” standards.

Then came the next shot.

Carol Giambalvo’s pen pal John Coonrod surfaced. “I am writing to request your retraction of two articles published on your website,” he wrote in late October.

Coonrod tacitly acknowledged that “one of [THP’s] founders was Werner Erhard, the creator of the est training&But that Mr. Erhard severed any association with the Hunger Project back in 1990.” He concluded, “I request that you remove [the articles] from your site.”

But they were not removed; though a response was sent requesting that Mr. Coonrod be very specific about what allegedly “erroneous statements” were contained within the news summaries that quoted Hoekema and if any retraction had ever been run by the Christian Century.

After this exchange there was another, but Coonrod did not provide specifics and no published retraction was ever cited.

In November the THP VP wrote again offering details with much more clarity. He disagreed with “three central assertions” made historically by Hoekema. “(a) that [THP] does not take direct action to end hunger, (b) that [THP} is a scheme for divesting funds into private hands, and (c) that [THP] uses its resources to promote the agendas of private organizations.”

Mr. Coonrod then went on to attack specific statements that were once made by David Hoekema. But it should be understood that the scholar simply raised issues and asked serious questions, which offered a historical snapshot (1979) of THP’s early beginnings and the controversy that surrounded it.

“I repeat my request that you remove these articles and all references to our organization from your website,” Coonrod concluded. Echoing the demands he had previously made to Carol Giambalvo.

But the articles were not removed.

Threats of “litigation”

Now comes the attorneys.

“We are writing on behalf of our client The Hunger Project regarding the defamatory statements made in your…articles. Unless the articles are immediately removed from your website, we have been authorized by our client to take any steps necessary to protect its rights, including litigation,” wrote an attorney from a Manhattan firm.

The four page legal letter went on to rehash the grievances of THP and concluded, “Please notify us promptly with written assurances of the steps you are taking to comply with these demands on or before April 15, 2004” or “[we will] take any steps necessary to protect [THP’s] rights including commencing litigation.”

The net result is that the two news summaries were replaced with rewritten reports.

One is “The Hunger Project: A Historical Background,” which includes David Hoekema’s observations and opinions expressed in 1979. It also contains additional facts from other noted publications. This information was largely derived from Carol Giambalvo’s previously mentioned 1987 report. And also included is an updated section subtitled “The Hunger Project Today.”

The second news summary was replaced with this report titled “The Hunger Project attempts to purge criticism and history from the Internet.” And any pertinent quotations by David Hoekema contained in the news summary it replaced, were transferred to “The Hunger Project: A Historical Background” and duly noted.

Interestingly, such “strategic” efforts to suppress and/or purge information on the Internet have historically been undertaken by the Church of Scientology, which has often been called a “cult.”

However, The Hunger Project is not a “cult,” but rather “a strategic organization and global movement committed to the sustainable end of world hunger.”

CultNews began reporting about the Scientology-related “New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project” (NYRWDP) this past summer. Subsequently, articles about the project appeared through MSNBC, the New York Daily News and the NY Times.

Late last year an endorsement from the New York Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) of NYRWDP’s “Downtown Medical” was reportedly “yanked.”

David Prezant, deputy chief medical officer for the NY Fire Department told the NY Times in October that some aspects of the NYRWDP’s detoxification process were “risky” and concluded “there’s no proven evidence [the clinic program] works.”

A toxicology expert also quoted by the NY Times stated specifically that the basis for the program is an “unproven, scientifically bereft notion.”

The so-called “purification rundown” used by the clinic for its “detoxification” has been called “unsafe” and is based upon the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The “rundown” includes supposedly sweating out toxins in a sauna and large doses of niacin.

To better understand how NYRWDP fits within a Scientology-related labyrinth of organizations, entities and people click here.

Despite all the bad press, withdrawn UFA support and controversy surrounding NYRWDP, US Senator Charles Schumer and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York both were actively fund raising for the project as recently as last month.

Fund raising letters from Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Maloney are now prominently displayed at the NYRWDP website.

The senator says he is “pleased to write in support for the…project.” And acknowledged implicitly that it is based upon “the Hubbard Method of Detoxification,” which Schumer describes as “treatment for ailments believed to be caused by toxins in the air at the site of the World Trade Center bombing.”

Senator Schumer concludes, “I strongly urge you to support the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Fund and wish them all the success in their future endeavors.”

Maloney’s letter reads, “I want to write to express my support of the…project.” She adds, “With an increase of funding, this program will be able to assist many more September 11th rescue workers that have experienced health problems related to the air quality of ground zero.”

“I admire the work the detoxification program has done, and I strongly support its future endeavors, says Maloney. The congresswoman explains, “The brave rescue workers of New York deserve the best treatment available to address the lingering health effects of this tragedy.”

Such praise from these public servants would no doubt make Tom Cruise blush, who has been fund raising for the project himself.

Of course Cruise who is a devout Scientologist can be expected to promote and do whatever he can to help his beloved church, but what about Schumer and Maloney?

What’s their agenda?

Do these elected public servants somehow imagine that such fund raising benefits and/or represents the needs and sentiments of the majority of their constituents? How can that be when so many have made it clear repeatedly that they don’t endorse or support this controversial project?

So why then are Schumer and Maloney so ardently shilling for this specious and scientifically unproven Scientology-related enterprise?

As the Congresswoman so aptly said, “The brave rescue workers of New York deserve the best treatment available.”

A new book is out that skewers Scientology and “cults” titled “Hollywood Interrupted” by Andrew Breitbart and Mark Ebner. And it recently hit 15 on the New York Times bestseller list.

The sensational screed is getting mixed reviews, but this seems to depend upon which end of the political spectrum critics fit into, liberals hate it and conservatives love it.

Breitbart and Ebner are harsh on Hollywood fixing their scrutiny on the foibles of its stars, such as their pretentiousness, politics, narcissism and often self-indulgent lifestyles.

In Part III, “The Believers” the authors have two chapters devoted entirely to Hollywood’s fringe religious groups

The first installment is called “Karma Chameleons,” and it sends up everything from yoga classes for pregnant women to actor Steven Segal’s claim that he is somehow an “anointed Tulku” of Buddhism.

The second chapter titled “Shilling for Scientology” delves into the secrets of this sect that boasts celebrity boosters like Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Breibart and Ebner say that “once hooked and drawn [stars] find it near impossible to leave Scientology.”

They then proceed to review the group’s pseudo-scientific practices, expose its bizarre claims about “Theatons” from outer space and explain how Scientology has turned litigation into a virtual religious rite.

Hollywood Interrupted offers a cutting look at the world of “cults” within “Tinsel Town.”

Note: Rick Ross assisted the authors in their research and is prominently quoted within the book.

The so-called “Kabbalah Centre” run by religious guru Philip Berg and popularized by 1980s rock diva Madonna has often been called a “cult” and criticized as little more than a business, by Jewish scholars and leaders.

Never mind.

Extra, a Hollywood TV show that features celebrities has now apparently determined Berg’s group really “isn’t a cult,” but instead infers that it represents “a set of 4000 year-old teachings, predating all religions.”

At best this statement is misleading.

But of course when religious scholars need a definitive explanation about a controversial group like the Kabbalah Centre, what better source to rely upon than Extra?

Seriously, such a proclamation carries little weight amongst experts, but it may influence the public’s perception. And celebrities like Madonna seem to call the shots at shows such as Extra, which cater to stars for face time.

If such a program reported something critical about a celeb’s favorite “cult” it just might end up on the star’s list marked for no more interviews. And this may mean lower ratings for celebrity-driven shows like Extra.

So rather than focusing on the facts, Hollywood TV shows often produce puff pieces that soft focus on a subject in a way that pleases celebrity patrons.

Warning the public about a potentially dangerous group and possibly preventing someone from being hurt does not appear to be a concern for such programs. Instead, they seem to care more about a bump in their ratings, which the cache of an icon like Madonna often delivers.

In this sense these Hollywood shows frequently serve as convenient free advertising for whatever trendy guru or “cult” a star wants to promote, from Scientology to Philip Berg.

However, if you are interested in substance rather than fluff read what one religious authority has to say about something called “scanning” taught to students like Madonna at the Kabbalah Centre.

“This practice of scanning is pure and utter nonsense,” says Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok at the website Kosher Torah.

“Scanning” is the practice of viewing pages of religious text without the ability to read the words, that never-the-less somehow provides a supposed “spiritual” benefit, according to the Kaballah Centre.

Despite Extra’s apparent endorsement Madonna’s version of the Kabbalah doesn’t appear to be Kosher. And more serious reporters have actually ridiculed it as “McWisdom.”

But don’t expect Extra to change its format any time soon. Instead, the program will likely continue to allow celebrities such as Madonna to present little more than infomercials about their favorite “cults” in a seeming exchange for face time.

The Church of Scientology may be “mentoring” some recently released convicted criminals in your neighborhood soon.

Scientology is included as “part of a program that gives churches, mosques and other religious organizations an instrumental role in shepherding such men and women back into the community” reports the Washington Post.

Forty-two institutions have signed up for the project, including the controversial church favored by such Hollywood stars as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

And who is paying for this program?

Not wealthy celebrities, but the American taxpayer.

That’s right, $300,000.00 is budgeted annually, which comes from President Bush’s so-called “faith based initiative.”

Two hundred mentors from an array of religious institutions are currently assigned to 100 convicts.

“It just gives you that spiritual stability,” said one former prison inmate.

But that’s not what TV preacher Pat Robertson once said about using federal funds that in some way might be linked to Scientology.

The televangelist noted that the organization, often called a “cult,” has been “accused of all sorts of underhanded tactics.”

He then concluded that President Bush might potentially open up a proverbial “Pandora’s box” by handing out grants to religious groups through his initiative.

Well, it looks like the box is wide open.

And Robertson hasn’t been critical since he received a generous grant for one of his own pet programs through the Bush plan.

But how do Scientologists “mentor” ex-cons?

Time Magazine once stated, “In reality the church is a hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner.”

Within its cover story “Scientology: The Cult of Greed” Time reported that 11 top Scientologists, including the founder’s wife, were sent to prison for burglarizing and wiretapping more than 100 private and government agencies in attempts to block investigations.

Maybe those ex-convicts could have used some “mentoring”?

The source for all things Scientology and the top mentor to Scientologists is its deceased creator L. Ron Hubbard (LRH).

However, a California Superior Court Judge stated flatly, “The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be reflective of its founder LRH.”

It seems like trusting Scientology to mentor convicted criminals is like the blind leading the blind, or at best evidence that “Pandora’s box” has indeed been opened and all hell may just have broken loose.

Tom Cruise may finally have gone nuts, but don’t expect him to seek professional help.

The devout Scientologist came out swinging against the practice of psychiatry reports iAfrica.com.

“I think psychiatry should be outlawed,” the star of The Last Samurai told a reporter.

He further fulminated, “I think it’s an utter waste of time. There’s nothing scientific about it.”

Of course this is the party line promoted by the Church of Scientology, a religion created by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who some say was nuts himself.

Hubbard’s rather fanciful religion is based upon a sci-fi story about alien beings from outer space.

Participants like Cruise pay to eventually learn this myth when they reach what Scientologists call “Operating Thetan Level Number Three,” or “OT3.”

This progression of courses can take many years and become quite expensive.

The former “Top Gun” has passed this point, so he knows the story of an evil galactic overlord named Xenu who is supposedly responsible for the human condition.

Some might observe that anyone who would swallow this story must be “crazy,” or maybe just a bit “brainwashed.”

But since Scientology doctrine effectively cuts its members off from any objective analysis, Cruise may never see the craziness of his situation.