Posted on 11/01/2005 6:56:22 AM PST by laney
Ever since the Church of Scientology's sprawling UK headquarters were located just three miles up the road, the sedate town of East Grinstead in Sussex has grown accustomed to life on the edge of a parallel universe. But nothing could have quite prepared it for the events of the past three days.
First came reported sightings of Tom Cruise and his pregnant fiance'e, Katie Holmes, being chauffeured to Saint Hill Manor, the remote Georgian house which the Scientology founder, L Ron Hubbard, bought as his world base 45 years ago. Then John Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, arrived at the same location in their private jet.
Bulky security staff prevented ordinary mortals sneaking into the three-day annual gala thrown by the "sinos", as the church's members are known locally, but those inside the cordon on Saturday night watched Cruise win a standing ovation for donating £2m to the International Association of Scientologists since joining it 15 years ago.
Local people had started to feel the economic effects of Scientology's big gala long before the celebrities pitched up. A crowd of 6,900 from as far afield as Ukraine and India had paid to be at Friday night's event at the hall, with a further 3,000 on both Saturday and Sunday. That constituted a tourism boom for hoteliers, and coach firms did nicely, too, since railway engineering meant that delegates had to be bused to the venue.
Of course, Scientologists are used to shelling out, since handing over cash is a key part of the Hubbard doctrine. On Saturday, it earned Cruise the Diamond Meritorious Award, which followed the platinum equivalent awarded last year when his contribution topped $2.5m ( £1.4m). He remains the biggest donor to Scientology. Other members of the cult have been less content about paying up, complaining that they have been milked of thousands of pounds.
The Church of Scientology's latest celebration of its most famous devotee demonstrates his value in building awareness. Cruise recently raised a few eyebrows in Hollywood by insisting on a Scientology tent on the set of Steven Spielberg's War of The Worlds, but he is largely responsible for a boost in traffic on the cult's website to 375,000 hits daily.
It is unclear if Travolta's wife and Cruise's fiance'e had the chance to talk. If so, it is reasonable to assume that Ms Preston would have pressed home the cult's central doctrine about childbirth - that mothers should not express pain while in labour for fear of traumatising the baby....
Was Eddie Murphy there?? "Keepitogetha...keepitogetha...keepitogetha!!!"
Do these people wear the magical underpants? Or is it just those Mormons?
I get so confused.............
In the Birthing Room:
Tom: What's that grimace on your face woman?
Katy: Gri..(grunt)..mace?..(grunt)..on..(puff,puff)..my.. (grunt)...face?
Tom: Yes Woman! Answer me! Are you experiencing the sin of pain?
Katy: (Grunt..Grunt..Puff)..not..pain..(grunt)..its..just...(puff, grunt, puff)abject fearof pain
Tom: Uh, boys..we need to look up "fear" what does L. Ron have to say...Hey! Who took down the tent?
What idiots.
Were Greta Van Susteren and her husband there?
They must be in line for the Diamond Meritorius Award.
LOL.
Greta is a Scientologist???I thought it was Lisa Presley and all the other lost rich celebrities...
No that's what the underpants gnomes steal. Which BTW I believe exist moreso than some alien in a volcano. Seems Cruise and Travolta could spend some money on a search for this ancient volcano to let the alien out. That is the point of the cult isn't it?
source...the movement for consumption-based taxation has been hijacked by a group of extremists whose principal interest is abolishing the Internal Revenue Service.21 They believe that if virtually all federal taxes are abolished and replaced with a retail sales tax like those in the states, then the states can simply collect the federal government's revenue for it, thereby allowing for abolition of the IRS...
21 The Church of Scientology originated this legislation as part of a campaign against the IRS because it refused for many years to allow gifts to the church to be deducted as legitimate charitable contributions, on the grounds that it was not a true church. The IRS eventually relented. See Davis (1997) and Starobin (1995) for discussions of the Church of Scientology's role in the sales tax campaign.
Davis, Bob. 1997. "CATS Out of the Bag." World, 12:9 (May 31/June 7).
Starobin, Paul. 1995. "No Returns." National Journal (March 18): 666-671.
Writing science fiction for about a penny a word is no way to make a living. If you really want to make a million, the quickest way is to start your own religion.
~ L. Ron Hubbard
Scientology - Religion of the Rich and Famous
I see that Maynard James Keenan was not invited....
Other members of the cult have been less content about paying up, complaining that they have been milked of thousands of pounds.A sucker says what?
Magic is in no way associated with true religion. Your attempts to cast doubt as to the veracity of either religion does not make you appear more enlightened.
The existance of numerous Christian denominations alone, should lead one to an honest search and doctrinal comparison, to find out for oneself what denomination offers the Gospel as preached by the one individual who claimed salvation was through him alone.
These comments are not to be considered an accelerant in an arson scenario.
Basically, Xenu is not as bad as some people (Thetans) make him out to be. Some of those people who got trapped in the volcano when the hydrogen bombs went off had it comin, they had bad attitudes, let me tell ya.
Xenu has gotten a bad rap. OK, I will go ahead and say it, Xenu is my homeboy. Xenu and I are tight, and try as they might, all these "clears" are going to get theirs.
Teegeeack. Xenu. Thetans. Travolta. Cruise.
Just mormons.
I think they sell those at Victoria's Secret.
yeah, but where can I get the magical underpants?
As an LDS who do you say is the One Way to salvation?
I think they sell those at Victoria's Secret.
Excellent point!
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