Please, for those of you reading who say we should respect freedom of religion, PLEASE spend just 10 minutes reading about scientology on those websites that have countless examples of how and why this organisation has cloaked itself in religion to avoid taxes and prosecution.To call this a religion is an injustice of the highest kind.
And then please come back and make a fully informed comment.

For those of you who are legitimate Tom Cruise fans and cannot understand why so many people question his motives.
Please take the time to do a little due diligence on scientology and what it stands for, and in turn what Tom’s involvement is.
Just google, scientology, scientology abuse, scientology and hubbard, history of hubbard or lermanet.
And then please come back and make a fully informed comment.

Information is power and as women we need to inform and educate ourselves.
And if you can’t be bothered doing a bit of googling, then PLEASE don’t comment.
Why?
Because you don’t know what you are talking about and you may influence others into thinking Tom has good intentions.
When he clearly does not.
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With fame comes celebrity and with celebrity comes some element of responsibility.

I agree, Oprah, you think your gues is Tom Cruise, but he will push his faith. Your guest will be scientology.

I find it difficult to frame in just a few sentences why Scientology cannot be compared with any other religion, as suggested in some of the comments above. Nevertheless, let me take a shot at describing Scientology as I understand it (pls forgive me my spelling and grammar, I'm not a native speaker - also apologies if you read this post in the other thread I posted this).

Scientology basically has two manifestations. Firstly, the very core followers form an actual cult. A cult you say? Doesn't that involve a looney guy who locks himself up in a fortified compound in the desert with his followers, doing whatever crazy stuff they happen to believe in? Well, yeah it does, so I know it sound crazy. But, alas, knowledge is free so here we go: this is EXACTLY what Scientology is. The looney leader is called David Miscavige, the followers are called the Sea Org and the fortified desert compound is at Hermet, California. As for the crazy stuff: if you Google Scientology in combo with words like abuse, forced abortion, child labor or slave labor you'll find many tens of thousands of hits. I really hope you will read some of the first hand accounts you'll find this way. Please do, it will help letting this message sink in a bit and it may be the most important inoculation you will ever receive.

Now on to the second manifestation of Scientology. After all, isn't Scientology the religion for successful movie stars? Well, the thing is, unlike most cults, Sea Org members haven't dug a hole in the ground to passively await the end of times. They believe they are to free this world of drugs and crime. Regrettably, they don't realize they are made to operate a huge PR machine masquerading what can best be described as a bait-'n'-switch piramid scheme. The bait is a 'free stress test' which, if you take it, will invariably inform you that you are troubled, depressed and unconfident. If this doesn't hit home with you, don't worry, it just means you are outside their target group. If they are able to get under your skin though, they will sell you a 'communication course'. This is in fact a halfway decent assertiveness course which will often help people. This success is than used to con people into believing some batshit crazy stuff. Behold. Scientologists are Homo Nobis, New Men, who have discovered a great secret: all men have superhuman abilities, including heightened IQ, perfect memory and even (for high level members) complete control over others! These abilities are suppressed though, but taking Scientology courses will help you regain these powers. And there's the switch of course, as these courses are outrageously expensive. Needless to say I hope that no member has ever demonstrated these abilities...

There's so much more to tell about Scientology, but I'll leave it at this. I really hope Oprah will do her duties as a journalist, but I am not too hopeful. If she doesn't I hope you'll read this post lest you buy into Tom's parroted story (I do believe him to be as duped as any other member of the cult). But by all means, please please do some googling. Victims of the cult with particularly harrowing stories are Kaja Ballo (rip), Lisa McPherson (rip) and Paulette Cooper.

To the board moderator,

I started this discussion in the main discussion category specifically as it relates to an upcoming show.

Could you please clarify why it was moved to this thread category: “Talk about your favorite Celebrity”.

Tom Cruise it not my favourite celebrity and furthermore, I feel moving it to this category trivialises the important message in my comments.

Thank you.

I hope this is the last time I see Tom on any screen. He and Katy give me the creeps!

It was Oprah and not Tom who initiated the part of the interview that dealt with Scientology and Tom said that Scientologists accept people of all beliefs. That they allow others to believe whatever they want to believe and that they don't have to believe or be a member of Scientology in order for a Scientologist to be their friend.

Cybergal, what Cruise said about Scientology accepting people of all faiths is a flat-out lie. In the higher OT levels, they are actually told that Jesus was a paedophile. I am not kidding. You can look it up on Wikilinks or any of the other "doctrine" that has been put online. As a matter of fact, here is an excerpt from one source:

See for instance this quote from (Hubbard's?) OTVIII:

"For those of you whose Christian toes I may have stepped on, let me take the opportunity to disabuse you of some lovely myths. For instance, the historic Jesus was not nearly the sainted figure has been made out to be. In addition to being a lover of young boys and men, he was given to uncontrollable bursts of temper and hatred that belied the general message of love, understanding and other typical Marcab PR. You have only to look at the history his teachings inspired to see where it all inevitably leads. It is historic fact and yet man still clings to the ideal, so deep and insidious is the biologic implanting.

It is a good joke that the Galactic Confederacy is associated with the Serpent in the Garden, the beast and other emissaries of the "Prince of Darkness". Yet in certain passages and esoteric interpretations of the Bible (much of which has been taken out and effectively suppressed for centuries) as well as the Cabbalah, the truth reveals itself quite nicely for the clever and the ungullible."

Because of this fragment OT8 has become known as the "Jesus is a pedophile"-OT. Until recently, CoS was adamant that OT8 was a forgery.

Until recently. When Arnaldo Lerma's house was raided by CoS, they took his computer. Under the writ of seizure, they were allowed only to identify files that were copyrighted bij CoS / RTC. A CoS lawyer - Kendrick Moxon, expert attorney and a senior OT - was asked to supervise this, and guess what: he identified OT8 as an RTC copyright and therefore, as a church scripture.

I would give you the source web site, but I don't think we're supposed to do that on Oprah's boards. It's a simple search, though.

I know nothing of his religion but I do not appreciate the way in which the media tried to destroy his reputation. He spent 25 years trying to build a reputation in the arts and because he was too expressive about the new love in his life the media decided to make him and label a nut job. The scientology practice is not a part of my faith.Tom Cruise is free to worship in anyway he wishes in America.As he deems appropriate he is free to worship and that is not the business of the American public.

It isn't a question of what Cruise believes, it is the abuse practiced by Scientologists. No one would have a problem with Scientology if it did practice such abuses such as enslavement and forced abortions for Sea Org members.

Religion isn't the issue here. It's a cult you know, not a religion, despite what Scientologists claim themselves. In Europe High Courts have overruled the claim they'd be a religious organisation. Sorry, but true.

Given the continuous editing of fact-based information regarding Scientology which has appeared in support of comments regarding the appropriateness, or abject lack thereof, of Oprah's providing Tom Cruise an unimpeded forum to spread his religous beliefs, the only reasonable conclusion is that your post was buried in Celebrity News as a tactic to enable a rebuttal response against a charge of censorship which will doubtless be directed in the none-too-distant future against Oprah and Harpo Studios.

It's a whitewash, and a setup for things to come.... plain and simple.

Tom Cruise is way beyond repairing an image problem caused by a "misunderstanding" as a person might gather from Oprah's "damage control" interview.

Instead of life imitating art, the true topic for Cruise’s new film Valkyrie, presents very odd irony indeed. Valkyrie is delayed in release as test audiences found it to be dreadful, with Cruise’s bad German accent being the least of the problems.

Cruise plays Stauffenberg, a Colonel in the German Army who led an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Hitler. Stauffenberg was a devoted Catholic, a career soldier, but one who did not join the Nazi Party, and today is regarded, along with people like Oskar Schindler, as a true hero.

Stauffenberg was very disturbed early on by Hitler’s policies and practices against Jews, such as Kristallnacht, as well as Hitler’s involving Germany in an increasingly crazy course ofwar, bent on conquering the world.

Scientology is a totalitarian cult that viciously and deviously pursues critics, not unlike the Nazi's under Hitler (but no concentration camps, since Scientologists aren't in power, yet) and contains one division of members who pledge themselves for a billion years to the cause, that is spreading its beliefs and methods to every business, educational system, and government in the world.

Hitler planned for a thousand year Reich (Empire) lead by the master race, people of German blood. Scientology plans for rule by their elite, “homo-novus” or “new man” made “clear” and perfect through the principals of Scientology, which were written by a science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard. At one point, Hubbard tried to establish headquarters in Rhodesia, with intentions to dominate the country, and take over the world. His effort to even establish a base there failed miserably. He was better at making money than he was overthrowing countries.

Given Cruise’s real life role as celebrity poster boy for Scientology, he would have been better typecast as Goebells, Hitler’s minister of propaganda.

David Miscavige, best man at Tom Cruise’s wedding and a close friend, is the current leader of Scientology and like Cruise, a high-school dropout. He ascended to the post in 1980’s at a very young age, with a reputation for being manipulative and ruthless, unlike Hubbard, who was imaginative and charismatic. Miscavige, unlike Hubbard, keeps a very low public profile, because when he does appear in public, he has no talent for charming the public with stories or lies. He merely spouts them, in a way that appears secretive and fanatical. Appropriate, since, Scientology is both secretive and fanatical.

Scientologists cannot answer the simplest questions about their so-called religion, without lying, or evading the question.

Scientologists top their churches with a cross, but as pointed out, Jesus plays no part in their religion, and is dismissed in a few of Hubbard’s writings as a piece of fluff or fraud, perpetuated by evil space aliens.

The reason the cross is there, is strictly to deceive. Scientologists will tell you their mission is “to help” but their real mission is to bilk people out of their life savings, and they do a good job out of that.

On top of it all, Hubbard was probably a racist, since one of his famous comments, after his failed incursion into Rhodesia was that Blacks were too stupid to give a reading on an e-meter. Since then, Scientology has modified its policies on Blacks and invites money from them, just like everyone else, although you will notice in photos on CLAMBAKE, there are no Black members in the top levels of their organization in the 1980's.

Scientology brought buildings in their headquarters in Clearwater, FL, under another name, as an unknown ecumenical organization. They operate under a variety of programs, such as Narconon, some of which have limited success, but a lot of which are used to recruit directly into their cult, catching people at the weakest moments in their lives.

Some stars of German theater and cinema went along with Hitler wholeheartedly. Don't joing Scientology just because Tom Cruise thinks it is great. We are living in 2008 now and you have the web to find the truth on this cult.