Celebrities and Scientology

General Questions
#1

First: I know that there is a lot of enimity for Scientology on these boards. Please don’t push this into the Pit.

Questions:

  1. It seems that celebrities are “over represented” in CoS. Is this true or is Scientology just more noticeable that way? In a city in Europe recently I saw a “Celebrity Cafe” attached to a Scientology recruitment center. This may have been in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, or any other number of German cities. My memory for specific details sucks. Sorry.
  2. If the first part is true, why? Is there some sort of active recruitment office in every major studio?

Disclaimer: Scientology’s headquarters are not far from my home and office, so you see them herding through the streets a lot. They seem a bit odd but mostly harmless. I am sure that there are stories to counter this, but as far as it being a “religion”, I don’t find it any more odd than most mainstream religious beliefs.

#2

Well, I sincerely doubt that either actors in general are Scientologists or Scientologists in general are actors. However, the CoS has always tried to get the rich and famous on board. One big reason the CoS would want them is that, well, they’re rich and famous. They have the money to pay for the Church’s services, and they have the clout to get the Church into the news.

As to why actors would join the Church? From what I’ve observed (and I’m no expert, so this really is speculation) many, many actors are at least somewhat insecure and uncertain of their place in the world. They’re normal people who have cameras on them every single moment. That can make a guy unstable. Scientology’s big draw is teaching their patrons how to completely control their emotions. They never have to feel sad or jealous or insecure if they don’t want to. And mastery of the self, of course, is a mighty fine thing to strive for. Not to mention the fact that being able to turn on the waterworks or become jubilant on command would be pretty valuable to an actor…

Movie stars are just as credulous as anyone else.

#3

I think this has more to do with it than anything else. If a credulous person hangs out with a bunch of methodists, likely, they’ll want to become a methodist. People want to be included in the group.

#4

yes, theres a whole school of methodist actors :slight_smile:

#5

My wife is a former cult member (not Scientology). It was quite the feather-in-your-cap to recruit a celebrity or high-profile member. Their membership was used as proof of the legitimacy of the cult when recruiting ordinary people, too.

#6

Nicely played scm1001.

#7

Too bad you didn’t include a link:

“There’s a whole school of methodist actors.”