Is Tom Cruise Really Leaving Scientology?
It’s not news that Tom Cruise has been a huge supporter of the psycho-cult Scientology since the 1980s, which is why many people were shocked recently when rumors were circulating that he was leaving the church in order to have a relationship with his 9-year-old daughter, Suri Cruise. If Cruise had left the cult, there would be huge consequences for him. The church of Scientology does not take members leaving lightly. Although the creed of the cult boasts the right of man to choose his own religion, if a member of the cult leaves, they are ostracized and hounded by the church.
Leah Remini, who left the cult in 2013, has been speaking out recently about how the cult treats its former members. Remini says that, after being a part of the cult for her entire life, she decided to leave for her daughter. Now, she is boldly speaking out about how the cult has hurt her. She said in several interviews that she realizes now that everything the cult told her was a lie. After an interview with Buzzfeed about the “organization,” as she calls it, Scientology released a statement about Remini stating that she is “self-absorbed” and “was on the verge of being expelled due to her ethical lapses.” Two years later, she is still dealing with the fallout. After leaving the cult, Remini was labeled a “suppressive person.” This label basically means that any of her friends and family who are still members of Scientology are no longer allowed to have any contact with her. Leah stated in an interview recently that she saw her god-daughter in a coffee shop after she had left the cult and was saddened when she realized she couldn’t even go say hello to the young girl.
With all the consequences, the world was shocked to hear news that Tom Cruise might leave the cult that he has supported publicly in order to spend time with his daughter, who, along with mother Katie Holmes, is not a member of the organization. It would have made for a great story for young Suri, as Cruise would have had to sacrifice so much for her. However, recent reports show that Cruise is in fact not leaving the cult. Actually, he’s doing just the opposite of that. Scientology, with the help of Cruise, is starting their own television network and movie studio. His investment in this network will in no way lessen Cruise’s ties to the religion, but will actually strengthen them. The television network has been self-dubbed, “Scientology’s CNN” while the movie studio is being built in the center of Hollywood.
The studio is five acres and will be located right off of Sunset Boulevard. The church known for their secrecy bought the land back in 2011, but the news of their plans has just recently surfaced. The $50 million studio will include two sound stages, seven video-editing bays, a broadcast building, and 150,000 square feet of production facilities. The “church’s” facebook page is filled with the photos of the designs for the new movie studio. The Church of Scientology states that their new media will help them to “reach almost everyone on the planet.” They also state that it is “the next emphatic advance in [their] global dissemination crusade and the future of Scientology dissemination planetwide.”
The cult, which is known to solicit and launder the money from all of their members, is now worth billions of dollars. There’s no doubt that this new movie studio and television station is just another way for them to indoctrinate people and steal their money with false promises.
Perhaps more saddening than the news of the studio, however, is the news that Suri Cruise will not be reunited with her father. Tom Cruise decided to put his cult before his relationship with his daughter. Maybe someday Tom Cruise will be able to make the same decision that Leah Remini did and put his family before Scientology.
This article originally appeared on movieguide.org. Want to know what God’s doing in Hollywood?