# Tom.... Tom. Tom. Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom.... Tom. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 29, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403 "2005-06-29T18:27:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/81 "2005-07-01T02:30:22Z")
Sweet. More people need to spread the word about their bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/82 "2005-07-01T02:49:01Z")
Anyone know what Scientologists believe about the origins of their faith? I was just trying to find this, but I apparently have no google-fu. To sane people, Scientology was made up by L. Ron Hubbard. To Scientologists…did Hubbard have some kind of vision? Did he have recurring dreams about Xenu? I don’t see how this could make sense to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/83 "2005-07-01T03:50:00Z")
[Questions Tom Cruise should be asked:](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_06/006617.php) > [@](#): > > Mr. Cruise, do you believe that 75 million years ago an evil galactic ruler named Xenu deposited trillions of paralyzed alien bodies on earth and then destroyed them with H-bombs? > Mr Cruise, do you believe that the souls of these creatures, known as “thetans,” inhabit the bodies of present day humans? > Mr. Cruise, do you believe that “clearing” our bodies of these thetans is the key to mental stability? Is that the reason Scientologists believe that psychiatry and antidepressive drugs are damaging and unnecessary? Cutting to the chase… ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/84 "2005-07-01T04:20:07Z")
To act as Devil’s Advocate here, can anyone PROVE that Dianetics and Scientology are untrue? Sure it sounds whacky, but nobody actually KNOWS what the real truth of anything metaphysical is, do we? That’s why we have faiths, not knowledges. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/85 "2005-07-01T04:38:15Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > To act as Devil’s Advocate here, can anyone PROVE that Dianetics and Scientology are untrue? Sure it sounds whacky, but nobody actually KNOWS what the real truth of anything metaphysical is, do we? That’s why we have faiths, not knowledges. Isn’t it their job to prove their wild hypotheses? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, so the burden is on them to prove their claims. I want to see scientific proof of these thetas, this Xenu, this auditing. They can’t just say, “It’s true and we take it on faith,” and then criticize psychiatry as a pseudoscience, which actually can offer empirical data to support its theses. Also, if there were nuclear explositions on Earth 75 million years ago in volcanos with alien corpses in them, would not trace be left? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/86 "2005-07-01T06:00:33Z")
The belief/religion/philosophy of Scientology sounds so full of bullshit just looking at the name itself. “Scientology” - gee that doesn’t sound the least bit contrived does it? :rolleyes: And if there any bartenders out there, forgive me but the “study” of preparing alcoholic drinks “mixology” sounds very contrived too. However, “mixologists” don’t go around the talk show circuit insisting on the truth about “mixology” and rejecting pseudo-sciences like biology, chemistry, geology and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/87 "2005-07-01T06:02:29Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > To act as Devil’s Advocate here, can anyone PROVE that Dianetics and Scientology are untrue? Sure it sounds whacky, but nobody actually KNOWS what the real truth of anything metaphysical is, do we? That’s why we have faiths, not knowledges. It could all be as true as the day you were born, but a $cientologist still has to take hundreds of courses, pay thousands if not tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars (rich people pay more), and spend years steeped in cult culture to be told any of it. As I said in another thread, at least in Christianity, you can be dirt poor and still know about the creation story and all about Jesus, including the virgin birth. Some people might think that’s all a bunch of bullcrap (like me) but other people choose to embrace the stories and live their lives having faith that they’re true. Beginner $cientologist aren’t given that chance, and that’s because $cientology knows it’s all full of shit and people would leave (as several have) if it were made public knowledge. That’s why I’m so mad at these lame-ass interviewers. Them keeping quiet when they have the perfect chance to ask about Xenu is a wasted opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/88 "2005-07-01T12:23:19Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > It’s hard to get a decent haircut in a closet. \*hehehehehe \* 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/89 "2005-07-01T12:40:52Z")
I’d say the _Today Show_ and Matt Lauer got their revenge this morning. Matt read the Op-Ed piece by Brooke Shields that appears in today’s NY Times, in which she blasts Tom Cruise for his stance on psychiatry and drugs. Then in the segment “Vh1’s-The best week ever”, Katie and crew sliced and diced Tommy boy again. At one point Katie asked if Tom Cruise was “the conductor of the crazy train”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403/90 "2005-07-01T16:59:05Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > That’s why I’m so mad at these lame-ass interviewers. Them keeping quiet when they have the perfect chance to ask about Xenu is a wasted opportunity. I was wondering about this too, so I did a search. It seems when asked about Xenu, spokespeople say that it’s taken out of context and the unprepared mind cannot understand it. They also point out (as I did earlier in this thread) that other religions’ mythologies can seem equally absurd if you don’t understand them. In a Toledo Blade [article](http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050626/NEWS10/506260348), a spokeswoman said, “It is completely inaccurate to say that this [Xenu story] is a major church philosophy.” Until you reach OT III (whatever that is), you wouldn’t hear this part of the religion, so most Scientologists don’t know about it anyway, probably because, as **Revtim** said, they have to really soften you up before they feed you this huge whopper. I mean, what else are they going to say? I imagine Cruise would respond similarly to the spokeswoman. He’d say, “You haven’t studied Xenu-- I have.” And then he’d say your name over and over again until you felt like kicking his capped teeth in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom-tom/310403.md?page=4)