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30
Oct

Jenna Elfman Would Like You to Know Something

By Holly Won't 34 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Activists, Scientology, Television Stars and The Religious

Generic blonde actress Jenna Elfman is probably better known for her associations with Scientology than for, say, her role on Dharma & Greg. She’s known to go overboard about her love for all things Xenu like the time she freaked out at a guy wearing a tee-shirt suggesting Tom Cruise is gay.

Well she wants you to know that if you doubt the divine authority of a science-fiction writer with delusions of grandeur who started his own religion as a business opportunity, you can go to Scientology hell:

“If someone starts talking to me negatively about something they’ve never actually studied that actual text of, I don’t really admire them very much because it shows they don’t have much integrity, so I just kind of ignore them,” Elfman told AAP in Sydney.

That’s quite a high standard. It’s just like how she was an expert on human health when she proclaimed “AIDS is a state of mind, not a disease.” That, by the way, was to explain why she refused to sign an autograph as part of a fundraising drive for pediatric AIDS patient care.

Take THAT, sick kids! You just didn’t know enough about thetans to be worth the ink!

30
Jun

Will Smith Is Suddenly a Whole Lot Less Scientologist

By Holly Won't 13 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Movie Stars and Scientology

will_smith_hancock.jpgThe reviews are coming in for superhero popcorn flick Hancock, and it’s not looking pretty.

Which would make it the first Will Smith vehicle opening for the Fourth of July weekend to not make everyone involved a zillion dollars.

Hmm. So what’s changed?

Could it be that Will has been tainted by his alleged association with Scientology? War of the Worlds wasn’t exactly a smash hit, and it came out right after Tom Cruise’s infamous couch jumping. And we all remember Battlefield: Earth (or more precisely, we remember hearing how bad it was from the dozen people who saw it).

So despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, Will has maintained that he is not a Scientologist. The latest denial (conveniently timed, no?) comes from that school he donated to in May, which now swears that they are secular.

I have to say, it’s a start. Let’s all hope Hancock bombs and Will’s soul — and not his thetans — will be saved.

12
Jun

You Don’t Mess with the Xenu

By Simon Scowl 26 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Movie Stars and Scientology

Tom Cruise sure is protective of his late father. He’s lashing out at TV psychiatrist Drew Pinksy, AKA Dr. Drew, who has this to say in next month’s Playboy (courtesy of Page Six):

“A lot of people in the public eye who behave strangely have mental illness we can learn from, and much of it is based on childhood trauma, without a doubt. Take a guy like Tom Cruise. Why would somebody be drawn into a cultish kind of environment like Scientology? To me, that’s a function of a very deep emptiness and suggests serious neglect in childhood — maybe some abuse, but mostly neglect.”

To which Cruise’s attack dog attorney Bert Fields replied:

“This unqualified television performer who is obviously just looking for notoriety is so grotesquely unprofessional as to pretend to diagnose Tom and others without ever meeting them. He seems to be spewing the absurdity that all Scientologists are mentally ill. The last time we heard garbage like this was from Joseph Goebbels.”

Yeah, Dr. Drew is a Nazi! Or maybe he just reads Parade Magazine. Back in 2006, Cruise told them the following about his dad:

“[He] was a bully and a coward… the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life — how he’d lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang!

“For me, it was like, ‘There’s something wrong with this guy. Don’t trust him. Be careful around him.’ There’s that anxiety.”

Sounds to me like Cruise was saying he suffered a very deep emptiness and serious neglect during childhood. Maybe even some abuse. Achtung, Bertie!

Of course, a cynic would say that Cruise isn’t worried about people defaming his dad, but he’s just lashing out, as usual, at anybody who questions Scientology. But that couldn’t be it. How dumb would it be to alienate the public again, just when people are starting to forget how creepy and cynically underhanded the cult is? Tom Cruise is smarter than to give his detractors even more ammunition. Right?

05
Jun

Katie Holmes Can ‘Sniff Out Phonies,’ Director Says

By Holly Won't 10 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Movie Stars and Scientology

tomkatie.jpg According to Broadway producer Eric Falkenstein, Katie Holmes’s bullcrap radar is a finely tuned instrument.

Falkenstein is the big cheese behind the upcoming All My Sons production, starring Katie, in New York.

“Katie’s not a celebrity type,” Falkenstein says. “She’s done brilliant work in films like Pieces of April and The Ice Storm.

“Ann starts out as a simple, sweet, average Midwesterner, and by the finale gets up the gumption to stand and confront what’s wrong,” he adds.

He calls Holmes “a natural sweetheart who can sniff out phonies … Katie basically has that exact moral fiber [of her character in the play].”

Are we talking about the same Katie Holmes? The one who auditioned for the part of Mrs. Tom Cruise three years ago (a bit of a profile-increasing move, no?) and was swiftly indoctrinated into her husband’s religion cult of Scientology — some of the most public phonies around — which seems to have turned her into a hollow shell of a woman.

One can only hope that, like her character, in the end she wizens up and confronts the travesty of what’s happened to her life.

19
May

Will Smith Gives Big Bucks to Scientology School

By Holly Won't 6 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Movie Stars and Scientology

will_smith_happyness.jpgIn a move that will surely have Will Smith’s Baptist grandma spinning in her grave, the action star has given nearly $900,000 to a private school that promotes Scientology studies.

According to the New Village Academy, one curriculum follows this method:

Study Technology - An educational model developed by L.R. Hubbard, study technology focuses on three principles. First is the use of “mass” (manipulatives and hands-on experiences) to foster understanding – children need to see and feel what they are learning about. Second is the attention to the “gradient,” which ensures sure students master one level before moving on to the next. Third is the “misunderstood word,” in which students master word definitions and are taught not to read past words they don’t know the meanings of in order to understand completely what they are reading and learning. NVA uses study technology as an umbrella methodology woven through the subjects.

And Defamer reports that at least six faculty members are deeply entrenched in the cult.

Kids who attend the $12,500-a-year school should be prepared to shell out a lot more than that over their lifetimes if they want to become proper Scientologists.

30
Apr

Scientology Buys Its Own YouTube Channel

By Holly Won't 13 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Scientology

Scientology was pretty pissed off about all those leaked Tom Cruise videos, followed by the awesome Anonymous onslaught.

So now they’ve gone and bought themselves a fancy channel on YouTube.

However, as Gawker dissects, what they’re doing is not really in the spirit of YouTube. Or, well, America.

First of all, we can’t embed the videos on Deceiver.com because the church has paid to disallow other sites to disseminate the propaganda. So we can’t discuss it.

Secondly, they’ve disabled commenting. So we can’t discuss it.

Let’s piss them off and discuss it anyway. Do y’all think this is a move in the “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” direction, or just another way to target impressionable youths who will see ads for the church cult while they’re browsing Playboy videos on YouTube?

15
Apr

Hey! It’s That Guy! (Who Used to Be a Scientologist)

By Simon Scowl 7 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Scientology and Television Stars

Here at Deceiver we bash celebrities who say one thing and do another, but every once in a while they get it right and should be recognized for it. Such is the case with character actor Jason Beghe, who’s appeared on Numb3rs, Criminal Minds, Veronica Mars, JAG, and dozens of other TV shows and movies over the last 20 years.

He’s hardly a household name, but he’s the biggest celebrity so far who’s stood up and spoken out against Scientology. According to Roger Friedman:

In 2005, Beghe appeared in promotional spots for the Church of Scientology. But now, Beghe has escaped the church after taking courses since 1994. He’s made a video that’s up on YouTube.

This is what he has to say: “Scientology is destructive and a rip-off.”

He also says: “It’s very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional health and evolution. I think it stunts your evolution. If Scientology is real, then something’s f—ed up… It ain’t deliverin’ what it’s promised. It sure has not.”

Here’s the video (NSFW language):

YouTube Preview Image

“Let me meet a motherf***ing Clear! I’m Clear, right? I’m declared Clear as a f***ing bell. …From my own experience and from what I’ve seen, I think the further you go up The Bridge, the worse you get.”

Apparently this is just a brief excerpt of a longer interview to come about his experiences with the cult. Good for him. Scientology has not been kind to people who’ve spoken out against it (just ask Paulette Cooper), so it’s not an exaggeration to say Beghe is a brave man. Let’s just hope this inspires some of the other disgruntled Scientologists in Hollywood who’ve been afraid to speak up.

(Headline submitted with apologies to the late, sometimes-great Fametracker)

08
Apr

Tom Cruise to Be Godfather to J.Lo.’s Twins

By Holly Won't 5 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Movie Stars, Scientology and The Religious

jlo_twins.jpgJennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony have decided to annoint Tom Cruise as the godfather of their newborn twins, Max and Emme, despite the fact that the twice-divorced, Scientology-preaching Cruise is definitely not Catholic.

Maybe they mean the horse-head-under-the-sheets definition of Godfather?

Scientology in fact is extremely anti-Catholic. One early follower of L. Ron Hubbard once revealed:

Hubbard ironically dismissed Catholicism as a “very successful operation to control the spirit, minds, and bodies of those who fell under its thrall before they attained an age where they could reason and discriminate and choose for themselves.”

And it’s also relevant that both Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes were raised Catholic, only to have Cruise attempt (once successfully, once not) to convert recruit his wives to Scientology. Lopez and Anthony are still practicing Catholics, so they may want to reconsider. Does this seem like a bad idea to anyone else?

18
Mar

Quick Will Smith/Scientology Followup

By Simon Scowl 1 Comment Digg! Digg this
Categories: Scientology

Radar Magazine has put the April cover story on Co$ we told you about online. It turns out that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett are only mentioned in one sentence (which was enough to elicit a strong denial from Smith). The rest of the story is about Scientology’s current battle with the group calling itself Anonymous, which has been responsible for various pranks and protests against the cult, as well as this instant Youtube classic:

YouTube Preview Image

The story also details how the “church” has bought up most of downtown Clearwater, FL and turned it into L. Ronopolis, and how, even before the ongoing Tom Cruise freakapalooza, some of Scientology’s inner circle were beginning to turn their backs on it. And no wonder. It’s kind of tough to convince people to pay thousands of dollars to learn stuff they can get from one episode of South Park. There’ll always be suckers out there, but the more people who know about this cult’s thug tactics and insane rhetoric, the better.

17
Mar

Will Smith Scientology Watch Continues

By Simon Scowl 6 Comments Digg! Digg this
Categories: Movie Stars and Scientology

According to The Scoop, next month’s Radar Magazine cover story is all about how Will Smith and Jada Pinkett are becoming the new faces of Scientology:

In the piece, the magazine said, “The Church has also set its sights on African Americans, opening up a center in Harlem in 2003 and making a strong play for Hollywood supercouple Will Smith and Jada Pinkett.”

It would appear to be working: Not only are Smith and Tom Cruise joined at the hip, but Smith handed out cards for “free” Scientology “personality tests” as a wrap gift to the crew of his new movie Hancock, and he’s been babbling about Scientology in the press for over a year now. He even wielded one of Scientology’s favorite weapons, the lawsuit, against the World Entertainment News Network for misquoting him on the impact of the “religion.” (Smith told a Scottish newspaper that Hitler was just misguided, and implied Der Fuehrer could have been turned around with some help from Scientology, and those silly geese tried to make it sound like Smith was a big Hitler fan. Which he’s not. He’s an L. Ron fan!)

Remember, Will:

“I was raised in a Baptist household and my grandmother would get up out of her casket (if I became a Scientologist).”

[CRRRRRRRRREEEEEAK]

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