Scientology Mocks Tom Cruise, Reads his Diary

[Sabby]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/7201701/tom-cruises-confessionals-mocked-by-scientologists/

For once, I'm laughing with Scientology and not at them. Such an immature display by high ranking religious officials, yet I'm giggling at the absurdity of it.

Scientology leaders reportedly held drinking sessions, where Tom Cruise was mocked and secret videos of his private confessionals were viewed.

A former high-level member of the controversial religion, Marty Rathbun, claims church guru David Miscavige ordered Cruise to be secretly recorded while undergoing private counselling sessions.

"I audited a number of intensives of confessionals on Tom Cruise from July through November 2001," Mr Rathbun writes in his personal blog.

"By order of Miscavige many of those sessions were secretly recorded by a well-concealed video camera and voice recorder system built into the VIP auditing room at Celebrity Center International."

The transcripts of such sessions were then read aloud to a party of senior Scientologists, while they indulged in alcohol and laughed at the actor’s admissions.

"While sipping scotch whiskey at the end of the night, Miscavige would read Tom’s overts and withholds from my reports to others, joking about the content of Tom’s confessions," Mr Rathburn claims.
The nature of Tom Cruise's alleged confessions were not disclosed and his representatives are yet to comment on the allegations.

[Trieste]

Oh my god, that is absolutely, gut-wrenchingly horrible. What an awful, humiliating breach of trust. -_- I may not much like Tommy boy, but nobody deserves that.

[Wolfy]

Hmm...I wonder how people would have taken this if Christianity had been the offender? o-o

[Xenophile]

As much as I love to laugh at the Church of Scientology and Tom Cruise, I couldn't laugh at this. I can't imagine what he admitted or confessed in those sessions, but it recording whatever he said without his knowledge and consent is anathema to me.

I had no respect to the Church of Scientology, but knowing about this has only fuelled my active contempt towards it.

I really hope that Tom changes his mind about Scientology. It could only be better for him to disassociate himself from that cult.

[Xenophile]

Hmm...I wonder how people would have taken this if Christianity had been the offender? o-o

If a group of priests in a meeting would have laughed at taped confessions?

It'd probably have caused more ruckus.

[Wolfy]

Isn't it illegal to record someone without their written consent?

[Wolfy]

If a group of priests in a meeting would have laughed at taped confessions?

It'd probably have caused more ruckus.

Nah...

the Pope would have covered it up!

*Rimshot*


But seriously, you're probably right.

[Xenophile]

Isn't it illegal to record someone without their written consent?

I'm positively sure that's right when it comes to medical and legal practices. But I'm not sure what Scientology confessions counts like. At most, it could be seen with the same severity as say, a shrink taping a confession without consent. At the very least, it could be compared to regular illegal recording of a private person.

Either way, I'm pretty sure what happened is illegal.

[Wolfy]

I'm positively sure that's right when it comes to medical and legal practices. But I'm not sure what Scientology confessions counts like. At most, it could be seen with the same severity as say, a shrink taping a confession without consent. At the very least, it could be compared to regular illegal recording of a private person.

Either way, I'm pretty sure what happened is illegal.

And yet they probably made him sign a waver allowing them to record him and do whatever they want with the recordings. O_o

Scientology is as much as business as it is a religion, and I'll bet that they have a lot of loopholes covered. O_o

[Xenophile]

And yet they probably made him sign a waver allowing them to record him and do whatever they want with the recordings. O_o

Scientology is as much as business as it is a religion, and I'll bet that they have a lot of loopholes covered. O_o

No doubt. The Church of Scientology has an incredibly powerful mass of lawyers.

[Muninn]

Wow... I already hated L. Ron Hubbard and his horrible atrocity to make money he calls Scientology but this just takes the cake.

Sadly, Tom Cruise is probably so brainwashed he'll think he deserved it or that this is some sort of test of his faith or... something equally as ridiculous.

Furthermore, as Xenophile says, I highly doubt they'll be any way for any sort of lawyer to touch the Co$, especially considering that Tom's lawyers are likely in the Co$ as well. Gah.

[Xenophile]

Co$

I gotta remember to use that acronym in the future.

[Beguile's Mistress]

In the Roma Catholic Church one of the basic premises of confession or the Act of Reconciliation is confidentiality.  A priest can not be compelled to divulge what is said to him in the confessional.  I don't believe legal action can be taken against the priest but the Church will sanction him if he violates the seal of the confessional.

Does Scientology promise the same type of seal between the individuals involved?

[Xenophile]

In the Roma Catholic Church one of the basic premises of confession or the Act of Reconciliation is confidentiality.  A priest can not be compelled to divulge what is said to him in the confessional.  I don't believe legal action can be taken against the priest but the Church will sanction him if he violates the seal of the confessional.

Does Scientology promise the same type of seal between the individuals involved?

Well, even if the Church won't take any legal action, but the offended person might choose to take legal action against the priest in question himself. Recording someone without consent is, as far as I know, illegal.

[Lilias]

What BM means is that a priest cannot be forced with legal means to divulge what has been confessed to him, not even under oath in court. Once he declares that certain information was given to him during confession, that's it. There's no contempt of the court issue or withholding evidence charges.

[Xenophile]

What BM means is that a priest cannot be forced with legal means to divulge what has been confessed to him, not even under oath in court. Once he declares that certain information was given to him during confession, that's it. There's no contempt of the court issue or withholding evidence charges.

I'm sorry, I might just be having a brainfart, but I don't see what this has to do with the discussion.

[Lilias]

I'm sorry, I might just be having a brainfart, but I don't see what this has to do with the discussion.

Isn't the discussion over the confidentiality of confession?

[Paradox]

I'm sorry, I might just be having a brainfart, but I don't see what this has to do with the discussion.

It's a direct correlation between members of the upper echelon of the Church of Scientology divulging supposedly-confidential information and members of the Roman Catholic Church doing the same; besides, it's not the like discussion had a rigid focus to begin with. The discussion goes where people want/need it to.

As for me, I'm with pretty much everyone else here-- I may dislike both Tom Cruise and Scientology, but this was a blatant and unforgivable violation of his privacy. I really don't understand why they would even admit to this in the first place; after all, I'm sure they realize just how poorly they're already portrayed in the media and how badly they're viewed by most people. Releasing this kind of information is only going to make that worse. The person who released it was a "former" member, so maybe she had an axe to grind.

[Oniya]

There are a couple of things I can drop info on here.

Regarding recordings in general:  This varies from state to state.  Some states are one-party states (only one of the participants in a conversation has to know they are being recorded).  Some states are two-party states (both parties must know) - this is why when you call tech support, you get that message about 'this call may be recorded for quality monitoring or training purposes'.  Federal wiretapping is another matter entirely.

Regarding confidentiality:  Priests, therapists, and doctors are ethically bound not to reveal things that are told to them.  This is because that confidentiality is crucial to the effectiveness of their practice.  Even if a murderer confesses to his priest, the priest cannot disclose this - although he can/should counsel the person to turn himself in. 

This makes the recording and broadcasting of a confession to be doubly problematic.  It might violate the laws regarding surreptitious taping, and it definitely violates the ethics of a religious order.

[Will]

In that case, it can only be hoped that the state in question is two-party, as I seriously doubt the organization will feel compelled to take any action on its own for breaches of its "ethics."  Although, that implies there were some there to breach, and I have doubts about that too.  This was the leadership doing this, after all.  Seriously heinous.

[Hemingway]

I sincerely doubt that. As someone already pointed out, the Church of Scientology has a legion of clever lawyers.

[Beguile's Mistress]

I sincerely doubt that. As someone already pointed out, the Church of Scientology has a legion of clever lawyers.

Tom Cruise may not have legal recourse in this instance.  That needs to be decided by the courts and I'm sure the first argument will be whether or not he had an expectation of privacy. 

I think to the Co$ will start a spin campaign sooner rather than later to stop or deflect any bad press.

[Brandon]

Interestingly, while Priests and other professionals can not be forced to divulge confidential information from a confession, session, or what have you. To my knowledge there is nothing stopping a third party from recording something beyond the "cant record them laws". A few years back in Oregon there was a case where the police arrested a man for murder and hadn't gone to trial yet. While he was being held for trial he confessed to a priest that he was guilty of the crime and (Unknown to the priest or suspect) the police had recorded that confession along with others and intended to use it in court against the man.

I'm not sure what came about with that case but I know it caused a huge uproar with a lot of different churches in the area I was living in at the time.

As far as Scientology goes, they likely made him sign something giving up his rights. They tend to cover all bases pretty well but if they didn't he does have some means of recourse. Although if he goes through with any legal recourse they'll likely deny him something in the future that he needs. That's purely speculation though

[Sabby]

Tom Cruise suing the Co$ would just be a feeding frenzy for the media... and given how closely in bed with them he is, I doubt either party would want their dispute as anything other then behind closed doors.

Seriously, he spends a few years showing the world he's crazy in love with Xenu, and then goes sicking his lawyers on them? That'd destroy whats left of his career :/

[Wolfy]

Tom Cruise suing the Co$ would just be a feeding frenzy for the media... and given how closely in bed with them he is, I doubt either party would want their dispute as anything other then behind closed doors.

Seriously, he spends a few years showing the world he's crazy in love with Xenu, and then goes sicking his lawyers on them? That'd destroy whats left of his career :/

He has a career left?

Sabby, a few slivers does not a career make.