Tom Cruise - Celebrity/High Profile Member

[AlwaysShocked]

I was introduced to Tom Cruise and $cientology when the unauthorized biography of Cruise by Andrew Morton came out. I was like, "Wow! Can this stuff actually be true?" So I started googling and found the book "Madman or Messiah" about L. Ron Hubbard available for free online. I also found a journalist named Tony Ortega at the Village Voice online, writing about all things $cientologist.

Yes, at first it is like, "Can this stuff really be happening in this day and age?" Sadly, the answer is that yes it can and indeed it is!

Thanks for opening these threads.

 

[nanwv]

If this cult allegedly generates all this money, and over half is used to defend itself legally,

http://fortune.com/2015/04/08/scientology-tax-exempt/

As for revenue, Augustine estimates that the church collects annual receipts of about $200 million, which he bases on conversations with former Scientology officials who have since left the organization. (Augustine is married to Karen de la Carriere, a former member of the church). He says about $125 million comes from the sale of auditing services to its followers, while the remainder comes from donations. How much of that revenue would actually be subject to income tax is difficult to say, however. Augustine estimates that much of the money that comes in is spent on legal defense of the church.

Where/What is their power to intimidate institutions ie. the media:

https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/ABC_News_yanks_20/20_investigation_of_Tom_Cruise_and_Scientology=

ABC News yanks 20/20 investigation of Tom Cruise and Scientology
Monday, September 10, 2012
An investigation into Scientology and Tom Cruise which was set to air this past Friday on the American television program 20/20 was removed from broadcast by ABC News. This is not the first time that ABC News has pulled an investigation into Scientology from airing on 20/20.

 

[neesaki]

Cruise is listed here as no. 4 in the top 25 people crippling Scientology. Of curse no. 1 is L Ron Hubbard, suffice it to say, Scientology has been crippled since Hubbard invented his cult of lies and greed.

 

[Dmacky]

If this cult allegedly generates all this money, and over half is used to defend itself legally,

http://fortune.com/2015/04/08/scientology-tax-exempt/

As for revenue, Augustine estimates that the church collects annual receipts of about $200 million, which he bases on conversations with former Scientology officials who have since left the organization. (Augustine is married to Karen de la Carriere, a former member of the church). He says about $125 million comes from the sale of auditing services to its followers, while the remainder comes from donations. How much of that revenue would actually be subject to income tax is difficult to say, however. Augustine estimates that much of the money that comes in is spent on legal defense of the church.

Where/What is their power to intimidate institutions ie. the media:

https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/ABC_News_yanks_20/20_investigation_of_Tom_Cruise_and_Scientology=

ABC News yanks 20/20 investigation of Tom Cruise and Scientology
Monday, September 10, 2012
An investigation into Scientology and Tom Cruise which was set to air this past Friday on the American television program 20/20 was removed from broadcast by ABC News. This is not the first time that ABC News has pulled an investigation into Scientology from airing on 20/20.

The last 20/20 when Dan Harris interviewed Leah, he had NO problem asking her if she was making money from her series/documentary. BUT when he interviewed Monique Yingling, Dan certainly didn't ask her how much Ca$h she has received and I$ $TILL receiving from David Mi$cavige, for being hi$ personal Attorney...tsk tsk

Are all journalists afraid of this cult?

 

[neesaki]

I was just remembering the Amy Bradley case, and how the Scienologist Sea Org people approached the Bradleys on the ship, were confrontational, strange and treated her family so badly. It was speculated for a while that Amy's disappearance was connected to Scientology. She reportedly was seen talking to some of them on the ship, they were in their uniform. I've always wondered why Sea Org members were even there, I mean, they have their own ship. :thinking:
But then the Scientologists used their usual intimidation tactics, there was legal action and threats, IIRC, and the Bradleys let it go. I think they did so because they were threatened and afraid of the big bullies.

 

[Nova]

The last 20/20 when Dan Harris interviewed Leah, he had NO problem asking her if she was making money from her series/documentary. BUT when he interviewed Monique Yingling, Dan certainly didn't ask her how much Ca$h she has received and I$ $TILL receiving from David Mi$cavige, for being hi$ personal Attorney...tsk tsk

Are all journalists afraid of this cult?

I'm not a journalist and am only speculating. I don't know that "afraid" is the right word. The Co$ is a regular focus of the tabloids.

But I suspect that mainstream outlets often decide there aren't enough people involved to justify the legal hassle. Perhaps Remini's series and its success will change some minds, but the people interviewed stayed in the Co$ of their own volition and were able to escape when they chose. In itself, that isn't much of a story.

Don't get me wrong: I've been riveted and have seen most episodes twice. But the apostates of most religions will have harsh things to say about the group to which they used to belong. This isn't to say I think Remini, Rinder & Co. are lying; rather, I'm saying they aren't as unusual as they may seem to those of us who participate more casually in a religious sect.

 

[DeDee]

The title of the thread may be confusing me. Is this thread solely for Tom Cruise?


If not, I wanted to mention back in the 1980s when Elvis Presley was slinging mud at CoS. He claimed all they wanted was his money. When he died, iirc, Lisa Marie Presely inherited around 32 million dollars from his estate when she reached a certain age. Lisa Marie Presley recently said of CoS that they are a "sinister snitching culture".

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2...y-quit-sinister-scientology-expert-weighs-in/

The famous race car driver Mario Andretti had the word "Dianetics" removed from his racing car in 1998.

Phil Donahue tried exposing them on his show in 1995 through investigative journalism.

CoS has faced conflict since its inception. This post, including LR's coming out, demonstrates decades of complaints against the religion.

If this thread is only about TC, then all I have to add is that a man who would give up his children for a religion is not a good father for he abandoned what should be an important source of his pride and joy.

 

[Hatfield]

The title of the thread may be confusing me. Is this thread solely for Tom Cruise?


If not, I wanted to mention back in the 1980s when Elvis Presley was slinging mud at CoS. He claimed all they wanted was his money. When he died, iirc, Lisa Marie Presely inherited around 32 million dollars from his estate when she reached a certain age. Lisa Marie Presley recently said of CoS that they are a "sinister snitching culture".

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2...y-quit-sinister-scientology-expert-weighs-in/

The famous race car driver Mario Andretti had the word "Dianetics" removed from his racing car in 1998.

Phil Donahue tried exposing them on his show in 1995 through investigative journalism.

CoS has faced conflict since its inception. This post, including LR's coming out, demonstrates decades of complaints against the religion.

If this thread is only about TC, then all I have to add is that a man who would give up his children for a religion is not a good father for he abandoned what should be an important source of his pride and joy.

Hello Dedee,

There are other threads in this same area which are mainly about Leah Remini's new cable documentary on church of scientology and it looks ok what you wrote in this particular subthread for it since you did include Tom Cruise in some of your discussion at the bottom of your post. I suppose the mods could move it if they see a better subthread one that fits better.

There are other threads and what I like to do to navigate in any thread is if you go towards the top under where it says "Forums Blogs Chats", there is a link bar path in a small area where if you click on the part of the link bar that says ""Forum^Trending Discussions^Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath", and put your cursor on the part that says "Leah Remini Scientology and the Aftermath", then it will show all the subthreads like "S1 EP6" which is series 1 Episode 6 of that show. I like to use that method on any thread to go back one link to get to the subthreads of a link topic

A lot of us have been watching that cable show on A+E. Its been really good and Leah has been interviewing lots of past members to expose the tactics that Co$ does to members and ex-members that begin to speak out against them and expose their mean tactics that they do to them like intimidation and spying on people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Remini:_Scientology_and_the_Aftermath

 

[Nova]

If the thread wandered, I'm sure the fault was mine. I tend to respond to something in a post (in this case, "Are the media afraid of the Co$?") without thinking about the original topic.

To me, that's how a conversation progresses, more like a river than a pond. But if mods want to to move or delete my posts, I won't complain about it.

 

[Dmacky]

This is a fairly lengthy article, but well worth the read.

1. What Katie Didn’t Know
2. The Surprise Divorce

Katie’s best man, it turned out, was her father, who had negotiated a prenuptial agreement for his youngest daughter that reportedly filled five bankers’ boxes. Because of it, when Katie Holmes made her bombshell announcement late last June that she was divorcing Tom Cruise, the case was able to be resolved in a mere 11 days.

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/10/katie-holmes-divorce-scientology

 

[Dmacky]

As always, with everyone Leah has talked to that has "escaped" Scamatology, even KH was followed after she snuck away.

Having filed for divorce in New York while her husband was in Iceland filming Oblivion, Katie Holmes set off her own media H-bomb when friends leaked to gossip site TMZ that she feared Scientology was following her. As was helpfully confirmed by TMZ photographers, who were in fact following her at the time, she was in fact being trailed by men in SUVs, though their employer remains unconfirmed. (A Scientology spokesman denies involvement.)

Reports that Holmes had removed Suri from her Scientology preschool in L.A. and enrolled her in a Catholic school in New York must be particularly galling to church elders.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...-about-what-katie-holmes-is-experiencing.html

 

[neesaki]

The title of the thread may be confusing me. Is this thread solely for Tom Cruise?


If not, I wanted to mention back in the 1980s when Elvis Presley was slinging mud at CoS. He claimed all they wanted was his money. When he died, iirc, Lisa Marie Presely inherited around 32 million dollars from his estate when she reached a certain age. Lisa Marie Presley recently said of CoS that they are a "sinister snitching culture".

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2...y-quit-sinister-scientology-expert-weighs-in/

The famous race car driver Mario Andretti had the word "Dianetics" removed from his racing car in 1998.

Phil Donahue tried exposing them on his show in 1995 through investigative journalism.

CoS has faced conflict since its inception. This post, including LR's coming out, demonstrates decades of complaints against the religion.

If this thread is only about TC, then all I have to add is that a man who would give up his children for a religion is not a good father for he abandoned what should be an important source of his pride and joy.

He said "**** those people, all they want is my money", Go, Elvis! Never thought I'd find yet one more reason to love The King. Personally I think TC is in because it fills some sort of need, he and the rest of them need to find a backbone and quit giving up their power to an abusive, controlling, money mongering cult. JMO

 

[neesaki]

As always, with everyone Leah has talked to that has "escaped" Scamatology, even KH was followed after she snuck away.

Having filed for divorce in New York while her husband was in Iceland filming Oblivion, Katie Holmes set off her own media H-bomb when friends leaked to gossip site TMZ that she feared Scientology was following her. As was helpfully confirmed by TMZ photographers, who were in fact following her at the time, she was in fact being trailed by men in SUVs, though their employer remains unconfirmed. (A Scientology spokesman denies involvement.)

Reports that Holmes had removed Suri from her Scientology preschool in L.A. and enrolled her in a Catholic school in New York must be particularly galling to church elders.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...-about-what-katie-holmes-is-experiencing.html

Scamatology, I like that, LOL. BTW, how do you do that line through a word thing? TIA.

 

[Dmacky]

Scamatology, I like that, LOL. BTW, how do you do that line through a word thing? TIA.

Hi Neeski :wave:
I was honestly afraid that a mod might snip it, so I drew a line through it.
You do it with an s in brackets. I think/guess the s stands for strike?
example
**word here**[/ s] of course close bracket closer. Good to see you here my friend!

 

[Nova]

He said "**** those people, all they want is my money", Go, Elvis! Never thought I'd find yet one more reason to love The King. Personally I think TC is in because it fills some sort of need, he and the rest of them need to find a backbone and quit giving up their power to an abusive, controlling, money mongering cult. JMO

I still don't know TC. Still guessing. But TC isn't just a star, he's a megastar. There aren't many who could claim membership in his "community". So I speculate that the Co$ meets that need.

Maybe TC never wonders why everyone in his world kowtows to him. Maybe he thinks he deserves it.

 

[msboo]

Seems that Cruise just falls all over himself when given the attention he gets from David Miscavige & the Co$.... as he himself believes he's just the greatest thing ever created. OMG, gag me with a spoon!

Glad to hear Lisa Marie Presley has stood up to the Co$. There's a lot online about that when you search. She's been working with Ron Miscavige, David's father, as he wrote a book titled "Ruthless".

Interesting.... close friends of ours lived in the Belleair Shore area, Clearwater, FL, on Gulf Blvd, on a private beach. About 4 houses up was a house owned by John Travolta. Whenever we walked we passed that house, it was always closed up. My friend felt Travolta had the house simply for church use like entertaining, etc---he was seen there just a few times along with others so my friend was probably right. Down the opposite way was a home owned by the Presley girl---neighbors figured her house was used by her the same way as Travolta's but my friend & her neighbors never noticed anything going on there. Who knows. Our friends sold their home in 2015, lived there 11 yrs. Surely the Presley girl sold hers since debunking the Co$. Seems you never hear anything anymore about Travolta even mentioning the church, wonder about his place there since was only for church use at the time.

YES, agree about Katie Holmes father. And they 'executed' The Tom Cruise Divorce' as they should have under what was/is a threat... the Co$. Was done without warning. Bada-boom, bada-bing... DONE! Tom never knew what hit him nor the church. FUNNY you certainly don't hear much anymore about Cruise & the church since Holmes divorced him AND the HBO Going Clear docu aired. He really looked foolish in the documentary, just enamored with himself of his own presence.

 

[SurfieTX]

Seems that Cruise just falls all over himself when given the attention he gets from David Miscavige & the Co$.... as he himself believes he's just the greatest thing ever created. OMG, gag me with a spoon!

Glad to hear Lisa Marie Presley has stood up to the Co$. There's a lot online about that when you search. She's been working with Ron Miscavige, David's father, as he wrote a book titled "Ruthless".

Interesting.... close friends of ours lived in the Belleair Shore area, Clearwater, FL, on Gulf Blvd, on a private beach. About 4 houses up was a house owned by John Travolta. Whenever we walked we passed that house, it was always closed up. My friend felt Travolta had the house simply for church use like entertaining, etc---he was seen there just a few times along with others so my friend was probably right. Down the opposite way was a home owned by the Presley girl---neighbors figured her house was used by her the same way as Travolta's but my friend & her neighbors never noticed anything going on there. Who knows. Our friends sold their home in 2015, lived there 11 yrs. Surely the Presley girl sold hers since debunking the Co$. Seems you never hear anything anymore about Travolta even mentioning the church, wonder about his place there since was only for church use at the time.

YES, agree about Katie Holmes father. And they 'executed' The Tom Cruise Divorce' as they should have under what was/is a threat... the Co$. Was done without warning. Bada-boom, bada-bing... DONE! Tom never knew what hit him nor the church. FUNNY you certainly don't hear much anymore about Cruise & the church since Holmes divorced him AND the HBO Going Clear docu aired. He really looked foolish in the documentary, just enamored with himself of his own presence.

Apparently, Presley sold it to Kirstie Alley. Lots of information in this DM article, which supports your experience.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...oom-pay-100-000-learn-super-human-powers.html

 

[msboo]

Apparently, Presley sold it to Kirstie Alley. Lots of information in this DM article, which supports your experience.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...oom-pay-100-000-learn-super-human-powers.html

While Presley may have owned the home pictured in that article, it's not where our friends lived. They were all on Gulf Blvd in a private beach area in Belleaire Shore which is in Clearwater. The home pictured may have been owned by Presley but doesn't even look like anything in that area, not even on the inter coastal water way---weird but typical reporting with wrong info.

 

[msboo]

Apparently, Presley sold it to Kirstie Alley. Lots of information in this DM article, which supports your experience.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...oom-pay-100-000-learn-super-human-powers.html

ALSO... the Travolta home in the article is their family home in Ocala, which it does state the location. The Travolta house on the beach (Gulf Blvd in Belleaire Shore) was typical of those close by & always had the hurricane shutters closed. People did see him there a couple of times getting out of a limo. It was rumored that Cruise also had a house in the area but he was never seen there at all. We always thought the Cruise rumor was just that although he came there to the church events and they put in up in royal style from what the Going Clear document showed.

 

[msboo]

Apparently, Presley sold it to Kirstie Alley. Lots of information in this DM article, which supports your experience.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...oom-pay-100-000-learn-super-human-powers.html

Hey SurfieTX,

I read that entire article. Mike Rinder, former board member who left in 2007, stated how the downtown area where the church dominates so much real estate is like "Zombie Land". That's exactly what my husband's friend said. During one of our visits they went for breakfast & after he took my husband down town to see what it was like. My husband described it the same.... said those obvious church members he saw on the street looked & walked around like "Zombies". Sad & scary!