Scientology
John Travolta Dismisses "Going Clear," Insists Scientology Is All Sunshine and Puppies
Unless pressed to do so in an interview that will instantly and entertainingly go from cordial to hostile, Tom Cruise is never going to talk about Going Clear. Despite being the smiling face of the Church of Scientology and someone who's portrayed as complicit in some of that ...read more
Will Going Clear Sink Tom Cruise?
(Photo: Getty Images) From a public relations perspective, Alex Gibney's HBO documentary Going Clear was devastating to the Church of Scientology. It was a 50 megaton airburst detonated overtop of Scientology's big blue HQ on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. In the age of social ...read more
Here's How Scientology Is Trying (and Failing) To Control the Damage Done by Going Clear
If you watched Going Clear last night on HBO, you know how powerful it was. The Alex Gibney documentary, based on the book by Lawrence Wright, not only exposed the inner workings of Scientology but thoroughly eviscerated the "church" started years ago by L. Ron Hubbard to ...read more
Scientology Is Now Trying To Bully Film Critics Over "Going Clear"
A movie review isn't a news item. If you're a film critic and you write a review for a documentary, it isn't your responsibility to do your own research and assess whether the information contained in that documentary is, in your view, factually correct or incorrect. It isn't ...read more
Scientology Is Helpless Against HBO's New Documentary, Even If It Doesn't Think So
Scientology is absolutely ridiculous. Let's just be blunt about that right out of the gate. The silliness of the sci-fi cosmology that acts as the core of its belief system is matched only by the absurd and dangerous lengths the "church" will go to to keep the details of that ...read more
Nobody Expects Scientologist Kirstie Alley To Win a Twitter Fight with Eric Idle
Eric Idle is a comedy legend. Kirstie Alley is a dumbshit Scientologist who couldn't even play a completely emotionless character without screwing it up. Need we say more? A couple of days ago Idle posted a warning on Twitter to anyone who was thinking about visiting an ...read more
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THE MORNING BANTER: Scientology, The Simpsons, The Universe, and Led Zeppelin
It's Thursday. Remember when Friends used to be on Thursday nights? I miss those crazy New Yorkers just trying to get by. Anyways, here's what's going on in the interweb: 1. UK Supreme Court Rules Scientology Is a Religion The UK Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Church ...read more
The Friday Morning Banter: Scientology, The Newsroom, and the Heroic Ed Snowden
This morning's roundup of the stories you may as well be reading rather than doing actual work. 1. Cult Status Last year my girlfriend and I were sitting outside a little place on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood grabbing brunch when a guy who we assumed just happened to be ...read more
Escaped Scientology Member Speaks Out on Tom Cruise, David Miscavige
(David Miscavige. Image source: Unknown) There's a fascinating interview with escaped Scientology member John Brousseau in the Village Voice on his experience in the Church of Scientology. Brousseau was close with Scientology's head, David Miscavige (they were brother-in-laws) ...read more
Is Mormonism a Cult?
Andrew Sullivan compares cults and religions and finds a lot of common ground - with one major difference: The doctrines of Mormonism strike me as no more strange than those of most other mainstream religions, but more obviously odd simply because they are so recent. I cannot ...read more
The Daily Banter Mail Bag! Chez too Drunk to Answer Questions, Chris Rock's Tweet, Scientology and More!!
Welcome to this week's edition of The Daily Banter mailbag!! Today, Bob, Ben and a rather drunk Chez discuss the difference between Obama and Romney on foreign policy, Chris Rock's controversial July 4th tweet and Tom Cruise's sexuality! The questions: Hey guys, how do you ...read more