This post is part of the Points Summer Book Club discussion of Lawrence Wright’s “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief.”
When Tom Cruise is an active and outspoken member of your church, your church is going to make headlines. There’s no way around it.
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard may not have predicted Tom Cruise, per se, but he certainly anticipated the Tom Cruise effect. As Wright writes in “Going Clear”:
When the Church of Scientology was officially founded in Los Angeles, in February 1954, by several of Hubbard’s devoted followers, there was already a history of religious celebrities and celebrity religions. The cultivation of famous people — or people who aspired to be famous — was a feature of Hubbard’s grand design. He foresaw that the best way of promoting Scientology as a ladder to enlightenment was to court celebrities.
Since then, Americans’ fascination with fame has only grown — and if celebrities can help sell shampoo or cars, why not religion?
Only, religion isn’t shampoo or cars. The stakes for being a celebrity spokesperson for a religion are much, much higher. The risks in attaching one’s career to a new-to-the-scene religion like Scientology would seem great, too.
That leads to today’s topic of the day:
We know why Scientology is so drawn to celebrities,
but why are celebrities so drawn to Scientology?
(And how does that affect the religion?)
Let’s take the conversation into the comments.
***
Separately, I also wanted to remind everyone that author Lawrence Wright will be in town to help us wrap up our discussion of “Going Clear” this Sunday. I hope you can join us for a Q&A and book signing — but you must RSVP:
What: Forum and book signing with Lawrence Wright
When: 2-4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Davidson Auditorium, Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson
RSVP: The event is free, but seating is limited. Register at www.dallasnews.com/psbc
More info: Call 214-977-8152, or email rwatkins@dallasnews.com
Wright will also be at next weekend’s Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference in Grapevine. For details on attending those events, click here.
And if you’d like to join in a book club discussion in person, consider joining a discussion this week at a Dallas Public library branch:
