Good news for those who were disappointed that Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master turned out to be a vague parable of Scientologyrather than a penetrating exposé of it: a new book promises to do the job instead. Just the title of Lawrence Wright's Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief tells you more than The Master did. Going Clear is a veritable book of revelations on L Ron Hubbard's sci-fireligion, exhaustively detailing its history, its methods and the depth of its weirdness.
Or so we're told. While Going Clear goes on sale in the US and the rest of Europe this week, you can't buy it in Britain. Not because it threatens national security, or features royal breasts, but because of our uniquely obliging libel laws.
Unlike in other countries, under English and Welsh law the burden of proof in defamation cases rests exclusively on the defendant, which means that if someone sues you, it's up to you to prove that it's true. If that someone is, say, a pharmaceutical company, or a church that believes in space people, then you're in for a long, expensive time in court, even if you win (legal costs here are up to 140 times higher than international norms). Hence Transworld's decision not to publish. The legal advice was that Going Clear's content was "not robust enough for the UK market," they say.
"It's a classic example of the chill that is cast over free speech by these laws, where people choose to self-censor," says Robert Sharp, head of campaigns and communications at the human rights organisation English PEN. "Something like religion is in the public interest. We should be allowed to scrutinise and criticise it. The cover-up of abuses by the Catholic church is a prime example of what happens when you don't."
Going Clear isn't the first Scientology-related book to be shelved in this country. In 2008, British booksellers were warned off selling John Duignan's insider account The Complex. John Sweeney recently tweetedthat his current Scientology book, Church Of Fear, was "nixed by all big UK publishers". The good news is that PEN and other free-speech groups have been campaigning for libel reform since 2010, and we could see changes when parliament debates the defamation bill this week.
Tom Cruise 'seeks to save people from aliens living inside people' by converting others to the Church of Scientology
- Claim comes from new book titled Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief makes the allegations
- Written by Lawrence Wright who won Pulitzer Prize winner for 9/11 book
- Author makes string of allegations about Scientology and Cruise
- Details Cruise's high-ranking status within Scientology
- The Church has denied allegations in the book, calling it ‘shoddy journalism’
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Superstar actor and Church of Scientology member Tom Cruise is a high-ranking Church official and he's on a mission to save people from the aliens that live inside of all of us, according to a new book.
The claims come from a new book by Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright who alleges that Cruise has focused on bringing non-believers into the fold in order to bring salvation to Earth from thetans.
In Scientology doctrine, thetans are the alien life forms that inhabit humans and have destroyed the planet in the past.
On a mission: Tom Cruise, here in a scene in Mission:Impossible II, is one of the highest-ranking members of the Church of Scientology and apparently believes he must save the planet from aliens living inside us
It was Scientology leader David Miscavige who saw Cruise's potential to help expand their membership ranks shortly after the actor started the initial phase of the religion, called auditing.
In Wright's book, it is alleged that Cruise has come to believe he has supernatural abilities, according to a story in the New York Post.
'Look,” Cruise has said, 'I wish the world was a different place. I’d like to go on vacation, and go and romp and play, you know what I mean? But I can’t.
'Because I know. I know. I have to do something about it. You can sit here and wish it was different, but there’s that moment where you go, ‘You know, I have to do something. Don’t I?’
Both the Church and Miscavige have issued a robust denial of the allegations made in Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief, which will by published by Knopf on January 17 with a reported print run of 150,000 copies.
Later, after Cruise's marriage to Nicole Kidman ended, his role in the Church became even more important, according to the the Post.
Miscavige told Cruise that they were among a select group of chosen ones, “big beings” who were destined to meet up with LRH on a planet called “Target Two.”
The way they were: Tom Cruise and ex-wife Nicole Kidman at the UK premiere of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut in September 1999. After their marriage ended, Cruise's role in the Church reportedly grew
Allegations: Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright will be published on January 17
A British version of the book has been cancelled after publisher Transworld took legal advice.
Karin Poew, a Church representative said: ‘Wright's book would be better suited for supermarket tabloids because they are nothing more than a stale rehash of allegations disproven long ago.
‘It is important to note that Wright's British publisher had second thoughts, choosing not to publish Wright's book after being informed of the numerous inaccuracies and defamatory lies it contains that were told to Wright by a handful of bitter and discredited former Scientologists.’
Inside Scientology: Author Lawrence Wright
Wright’s highly-anticipated book is based on his 2011 New Yorker article ‘The Apostate’, for which he interviewed the screenwriter and director Paul Haggis about his decision to resign from the organisation.
It examines the Church’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, the church’s finances and its relationships with celebrities such as Cruise and John Travolta.
The first excerpt of the tome, published in The Hollywood Reporter this week, alleges that Miscavige attempted to cultivate Cruise to become a spiritual leader - and was 'bedazzled' by the glamour surrounding the star, who introduced him to a social life outside Scientology, including use of his private jet and set visits.
In turn, Cruise ploughed millions of dollars into the church and attempted to lobby foreign leaders - including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair - to promote Scientology. The book claims that the actor submitted to hours of 'auditing' - where followers are given 'spiritual counselling - in the run up to his split from Nicole in 2001.
It had been previously alleged that Cruise and Nicole's adopted children Isabella and Conor, both brought up as devout Scientologists, were told their mother was a 'supressive' person - a spiritually toxic person to be avoided.
Members of the Church quietly instilled this idea into the kids, who were just eight and six at the time of their parents split, to try and turn them against Nicole, sources claimed to Vanity Fair last September.
The Church strongly denied the claims, publishing online an eight-page letter which it sent to the magazine in which it accused the writer Maureen Orth of ‘shoddy journalism’.
Chairman of the Board: Scientology leader David Miscavige addressing the crowd during the opening of the Church of Scientology's new church in the City of London in October 2006
Happier times: Tom Cruise and ex-wife Katie Holmes seen together at the premiere of his film Knight & Day in Seville, Spain, in June 2010
After an intensive five days hours of auditing in October 1998, according to the new book, Cruise 'went quiet' until he and Nicole were in England, filming Eyes Wide Shut.
Out of the blue, former Scientologist and church official Marty Rathbun, who oversaw Cruise's auditing, received a call from the star in January 2001 asking for help - and revealing that he and Nicole had split.
Cruise's 'renewed dedication' to Scientology following the breakdown of his near 10-year marriage to Nicole, resulted in Miscaviage and the actor becoming 'closer than ever', as the book alleges the church leader flew with Cruise in the Warner Bros. jet to a test screening of The Last Samurai in Arizona.
While in July 2004, Miscavige hosted a 42nd birthday party for Cruise aboard the Scientology cruise ship Freewinds, with the book noting: 'Musicians, including Miscavige's father, played songs from the actor's films as clips played on giant screens. Cruise himself danced and sang 'Old Time Rock and Roll, reprising his famous scene from Risky Business.'
In Vanity Fair, in 2004, Miscaviage was alleged to have set up a team to help Cruise find a girlfriend. They claimed that the church discovered aspiring actress Nazanin Boniadi, a 25-year-old Iranian-born, London-raised beauty whose mother was also a Scientologist.
It was said that she was given intensive auditing and security checks by the Church and flown to New York and Cruise's Colorado estate in Telluride in late 2007 for dates with the star.
Toothbrush: Actress Nazanin Boniadi was allegedly wooed by Tom Cruise
But the brief romance ended when Nazanin asked Miscavige to repeat himself while they were talking - which was considered a huge slight
However the Vanity Fair claims were vehemently denied by Mr Miscavige and the Church who said: ‘The entire story is hogwash. There was no project, secret or otherwise, ever conducted by the church to find a bride (audition or otherwise) for any member of the church.’
Mr Cruise has also poured cold water on these allegations.
The latest book claims that she] was given a 'dressing down' by Cruise for 'disrespecting' the Church leader, as the book said he told her: 'You don't get it, it goes like this,' Cruise said. He raised his hand over his head. 'First there's LRH ' (L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology).He moved his hand down a few inches. 'Then there is COB' (Chairman of the board, Miscavige). Bringing his hand down at his own eye level, he said 'Then there's me'. [ADD: Cruise's attorney has vehemently denied that this exchange took place or that the Church set him up].
It was only a few months later that Cruise met Katie Holmes and the pair were married in November 2006 following the birth of their daughter Suri. Miscavige was Cruise's best man at the ceremony in Rome.
Katie, 34, stunned Cruise by filling for divorce last June and has since then moved her little girl to New York City, with reports claiming that she did not want their six-year-old daughter to grow up in Scientology.
The author of the new book is no stranger to investigating secretive organisations. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.
A field full of a wildflowers and a romantic 'fairy-tale' bungalow made for two: How David Miscavige tried to woo Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman
In the mid 1990s, Scientology leader David Miscavige tried to woo Cruise and his then wife Nicole Kidman with a 'completely deferential environment as spotless and odorless as a fairy tale', according to Lawrence Wright's book.
A romantic bungalow was especially built for the couple at Gold Base, Scientology's desert outpost near Hemet, California.
When he heard about Cruise and Nicole's fantasy of running through a field of wildflowers together, Miscavige had Sea Org - whose members dress in military-style uniforms, a throwback to their original purpose as L Ron Hubbard's private navy - to plant a section of the desert with the blooms.
When that failed to meet his expectations, the meadow was plowed and sodded with grass.
However, former Scientologist Marty Rathbun told how he was against the 'endless courtship' of Cruise - especially after he returned to the Church.
Gold base: Scientology's desert base in California
In a bubble: Nicole Kidman said she was heartbroken when she split from Tom Cruise, seen togther at the Oscars in March 2000
The book claims: 'He told Miscavige 'I think I'm done with this guy.' Miscavige responded: 'He'll he done when he calls me'. Rathbun believes the leader was galled by the fact that Cruise had never contacted him when he came back for counseling.'
It adds: 'Miscavige showed his instinctive understanding of how to cater to the sense of entitlement that comes with stardom.'
In November, Nicole -now married to country singer Keith Urban with whom she has two young daughters - gave a rare glimpse into her split from Cruise
She married the actor in 1990 when she was just 23 and told DuJour magazine that after their break-up, 'It took me a very long time to heal. It was a shock to my system...I was totally smitten - I fell madly, passionately in love.
'I was reeling with Tom. I would have gone to the ends of the earth for him...I was so impulsive and naïve.'
The Australian star added: 'We were in a bubble, just the two of us.'
There were hints of why the marriage might have gone wrong after nearly 10 years. Cruise, after all, is the most famous Scientologist in the world. Kidman grew up Catholic and remains devout, saying: 'We were a close-knit family — still are,' adding that she still lives by the Ten Commandments.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262440/Tom-Cruise-seeks-save-people-aliens-living-inside-people-converting-Church-Scientology.html#ixzz2I4KKfunO
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TOPICS: THE WEEKLINGS, HOLLYWOOD, DIVORCE, ENTERTAINMENT_CULTURE, GAY MARRIAGE, TOM CRUISE, ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
This article originally appeared on The Weeklings.
Tom Cruise’s wife is leaving him.
A few days ago, Katie Holmes, the other half of TomKat, the mother of Tom’s only biological child, and the impetus of his notorious Oprah couch-jump, filed for divorce in New York. As Amy Argetsinger points out at the Washington Post, Holmes becomes the third Mrs. Cruise to jump ship at the age of 33 (which probably has some numerological-Scientological significance Beck would be able to explain).
About the only person surprised by this is Tom Cruise, who turns 50 today (he was born on the third of July).
Whatever went on behind closed doors, the Cruise-Holmes union seemed, to those of us following it obsessively at TMZ and Us Weekly, like a P.R. stunt. Holmes staggered through publicity appearances like a catatonic, while Cruise’s egregious and desperate determination to convince us that the relationship was legit comprised the worst performance of his acting career.
Let the record show that I’m a huge Tom Cruise fan. I love the guy. I became aware of him as an actor, as opposed to just a guy in the movies, when I went to see Interview with a Vampire. Anne Rice had been outspoken in her disappointment at the casting of Cruise as Lestat — and he wound up being the only thing in the movie worth watching. He killed in that flick. He kills in every flick. “Jerry Maguire,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Tropic Thunder,” “Magnolia,” “Collateral” — stand-out performances, all. Is he limited? Sure, but who isn’t? I may not like every movie he does (“Mission Impossible” is wretched, and “Vanilla Sky” is a train wreck), but I always like him. The guy is a movie star, plain and simple, and he’s been one for a staggeringly long period of time.
His personal life, however, is harder to get behind. It’s not so much what we know as what we don’t — or, rather, what we think we know. Yes, he’s a Scientologist … but what does that mean, exactly? Does he really believe all that stuff, or is Scientology just another high-profile acting job?
And then there’s the elephant in the room. The big, pink elephant.
The rumors have dogged him for decades now, since before he rocked out to Bob Seger in tighty-whities. That he wants to do it to for Johnny. That Mimi and Nicole and Katie were beautiful beards. That what he really desires is A Few Good Men.
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