Now this is the kind of celebrity endorsement Scientology desperately needs
Tom Cruise’s appearance at this weekend’s IAS gala was obviously a big thrill for his fellow Scientologists, and it no doubt helped convince them that leader David Miscavige has the church headed in the right direction.
Jenna Elfman also pitched in, emceeing the Sunday night charity concert, but so far we haven’t seen evidence of other big Scientology celebs showing up to help out the cause.
Ever since founder L. Ron Hubbard announced “Project Celebrity” in 1955, Scientology has counted on its celebrities to help burnish its image with the public and counter all of the negative stuff dished out by the merchants of chaos (which is what Scientologists call us ink-stained wretches in the press).
And now, what’s this? Our thanks to the Irish reader who forwarded us this rather unusual sighting: It’s a ringing endorsement of Scientology’s Dublin Community Center by Terry McMahon, a pretty well known writer, actor, and director in Ireland, whose credits include a small part in Batman Begins (2005). And he is, as far as we know, not actually a Scientologist himself.
McMahon recorded himself wishing the Community Center a happy fifth birthday, and made it sound like Scientology had singlehandedly saved the Irish people and their culture from succumbing during the pandemic.
Heartfelt kudos from a non-Scientology celebrity? Now that’s a rare animal. And McMahon’s very skilled with his words. No wonder the Dublin org is beside itself with this tribute, and featured it on its Facebook page as a result.
How do you sum up a building?
When we were all running scared, during lockdown, and we were allowing our fear to determine not just our future but our immediate present, and we allowed culture to be decimated, and we allowed our spirit or our soul or our community to be weaponized against us, intentionally or otherwise, one sacred space not just remained open, but facilitated alchemy, magic, art, culture, and most importantly, community.
That Scientology Community Center in Firhouse became a truly sacred space. And it gave flight to artists, musicians, and did what most other institutions didn't do. It protected its community. It nurtured its community. It gave sustenance to its community. And that is the greatest character reveal that we can possibly aspire to, is a character revealed under pressure, when the worst pressure that we can possibly imagine visited our nation and our culture and our communities. That sacred place protected all of them. It's a hell of a legacy.
Five years old. May it be the first five years of two or three or four or five hundred years. Happy birthday.
Wow. Who knew Scientology was so key to Ireland’s survival? We’d love to hear from some of our other Irish readers about their reaction to this.
And how remarkable is it to hear praise of Scientology from a non-Scientology celebrity? In this country, celebs tend to avoid the subject, or if they say something, it can be pretty negative.
We can’t help thinking, for example, of the way actor Seth Rogen described Scientology in Yearbook, his 2021 collection of short stories about life in Hollywood.
For those of you who don't know, Scientology is a religion/cult/pyramid scheme invented by coke-addled/moron/science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Basically, Scientologists believe that seventy-five million years ago, there was a “Galactic Confederacy” that was ruled by an evil alien named Xenu. Xenu brought billions of his alien friends to earth, put them in a volcano, and exploded them with a hydrogen bomb. The spirits of the aliens, known as Thetans, adhered to the spirits of humans on earth, and the journey of becoming a high-ranking Scientologist is one of shedding your Thetans and becoming “clear” of them. Then you get superpowers and shit. Overall, it's not much crazier than any other religion, but the fact that it was literally made by a guy who wrote terrible science-fiction books that essentially have the same plot probably docks it a few points. Also, they don't believe in treating mental illness or depression with drugs.
Isn’t it hard to believe that Seth Rogen and Terry McMahon are talking about the same outfit? What a conundrum.
Danny Masterson files his notice of appeal
On Friday, Danny Masterson’s defense attorney Philip Cohen filed a notice of appeal with California’s Second Appellate District, beginning what will likely be a yearslong process.
Masterson was convicted on May 31 of two counts of forcible rape and was sentenced on September 7 to 30 years to life in prison by Judge Charlaine Olmedo.
His appeals will likely focus on decisions that Judge Olmedo made during his trial about, for example, how much testimony to allow about Scientology. A lengthy brief spelling out those arguments will be coming later.
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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
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Maybe they’ve created a new type of utr scientologist? I will be a scientologist, but you can’t say I am, I will do pr for you as though I was a wog. Or maybe he’s just trying his hand at comedic fiction? Either way, he hets a resounding meh from me.
Terry sounds like he was love bombed within an inch of his life. Very common for new people when they first come in contact with Scientology. He might have done the purification rundown and never considered himself a member of the church. He might get some pushback from his Irish friends.
We will see.