When Politics and Scientologists Collide
July 10th 2008 23:53
Those who know me know I have a fascination with Tom Cruise.
I watch “Top Gun” every week before I go out to the pub. “A Few Good Men” is the greatest legal drama of all time. “Mission: Impossible” still keeps me on the edge of my seat and “Jerry Maguire” is about the most emotional movie I watch on a regular basis. But there’s one thing that clashes with my Cruise-obsession: Scientology.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against people practicing whichever religion they want. Hell, worship Seame Street if you want. The Cookie Monster inspires reverential treatment, even I can see that. For the most part Scientologists don’t bother me, so they can choose to do whatever the hell they want. But Cruise isn’t your run-of-the-mill Scientologist. Tom Cruise is the human embodiment of what Scientology stands for, and will take every opportunity he can to espouse their ideals. And not just espouse them: he takes on that challenge with vigour and a lot of wild-eyed enthusiasm. Tom Cruise puts his acting skills to good use, standing behind a pulpit in a crowded room and playing the part of religious zealot.
From his stance, Cruise has opened himself up to criticism on all fronts. People ridicule him for his beliefs, for his behaviour. And his movies suffer, because who wants to go see a film with Tom Cruise the laughing stock Scientologist in it? Or, more to the point, who would want to be seen coming out of a movie like that?
Then there is the question of how government’s deal with Scientology. Many across the world see it as a cult and as such have outlawed its practice within their borders. Germany even banned Cruise from filming scenes for a new movie at military sites in the country based explicitly on the reason that he is an ardent follower of an outlawed “cult”. Even in Australia, Scientology has been historically banned from being practiced between the early 1960’s and the early 1980’s on the basis of being “bad science”. Scientology practices are often credited with the murder of two people by a member of their family who refused psychiatric treatment based on her Scientology beliefs.
Today the South Australian Premier Mike Rann defended the right for his Education Minister Dr Jane Lomax-Smith to call Scientologists “bastards”. Now on Lomax-Smith’s part, that is a big call. Generalising about any religion/race is never a good thing for someone in public office to do. But I think I know why she thought she could get away with it. Politics is about balancing what is the right thing to do with what you can do to make sure you don’t get voted out next chance the people get. But the Scientology community in this country is positively tiny. According to the last census there are 2507 Scientologists in the country. That’s factoring in all the people who put it down as a joke, like those who class their religion every year as “Jedi”. So insulting Scientologists? Little electoral backlash, and plus you get to call people bastards without losing your job! Win-win for frustrated parliamentarians.
How should people deal with the growing Scientologist community, world wide? Honestly, I don’t know. All reports by former Scientologists call it a cult of brainwashing and mental torture. But on the other hand, some join Scientology and find themselves turning their lives around for the better. All we can do is wait and see, and not burn any bridges.
Stop calling them bastards would be a good start.
I watch “Top Gun” every week before I go out to the pub. “A Few Good Men” is the greatest legal drama of all time. “Mission: Impossible” still keeps me on the edge of my seat and “Jerry Maguire” is about the most emotional movie I watch on a regular basis. But there’s one thing that clashes with my Cruise-obsession: Scientology.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against people practicing whichever religion they want. Hell, worship Seame Street if you want. The Cookie Monster inspires reverential treatment, even I can see that. For the most part Scientologists don’t bother me, so they can choose to do whatever the hell they want. But Cruise isn’t your run-of-the-mill Scientologist. Tom Cruise is the human embodiment of what Scientology stands for, and will take every opportunity he can to espouse their ideals. And not just espouse them: he takes on that challenge with vigour and a lot of wild-eyed enthusiasm. Tom Cruise puts his acting skills to good use, standing behind a pulpit in a crowded room and playing the part of religious zealot.
From his stance, Cruise has opened himself up to criticism on all fronts. People ridicule him for his beliefs, for his behaviour. And his movies suffer, because who wants to go see a film with Tom Cruise the laughing stock Scientologist in it? Or, more to the point, who would want to be seen coming out of a movie like that?
Then there is the question of how government’s deal with Scientology. Many across the world see it as a cult and as such have outlawed its practice within their borders. Germany even banned Cruise from filming scenes for a new movie at military sites in the country based explicitly on the reason that he is an ardent follower of an outlawed “cult”. Even in Australia, Scientology has been historically banned from being practiced between the early 1960’s and the early 1980’s on the basis of being “bad science”. Scientology practices are often credited with the murder of two people by a member of their family who refused psychiatric treatment based on her Scientology beliefs.
Today the South Australian Premier Mike Rann defended the right for his Education Minister Dr Jane Lomax-Smith to call Scientologists “bastards”. Now on Lomax-Smith’s part, that is a big call. Generalising about any religion/race is never a good thing for someone in public office to do. But I think I know why she thought she could get away with it. Politics is about balancing what is the right thing to do with what you can do to make sure you don’t get voted out next chance the people get. But the Scientology community in this country is positively tiny. According to the last census there are 2507 Scientologists in the country. That’s factoring in all the people who put it down as a joke, like those who class their religion every year as “Jedi”. So insulting Scientologists? Little electoral backlash, and plus you get to call people bastards without losing your job! Win-win for frustrated parliamentarians.
How should people deal with the growing Scientologist community, world wide? Honestly, I don’t know. All reports by former Scientologists call it a cult of brainwashing and mental torture. But on the other hand, some join Scientology and find themselves turning their lives around for the better. All we can do is wait and see, and not burn any bridges.
Stop calling them bastards would be a good start.
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