Cruise, Scientology and Nobel Peace Prize

MSNBC/December 14, 2004
By Jeanette Walls

Scientology foes are furious that Tom Cruise was plugging the controversial religion at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. The "Collateral" star and Oprah Winfrey hosted the event in Norway on Saturday, which featured such performers as Cyndi Lauper, Patti Labelle and Diana Krall.

"One of the things that we believe in [as Scientologists] is peace, freedom," Cruise said when promoting the concert, which will be broadcast in the U.S. on Dec. 23. "I'm just proud to be here, and very proud to be a Scientologist here and to be part of this."

"Mr. Cruise's comments are laughable - Scientology is hardly the epitome of peace and freedom," Scientology critic Rick Ross, who runs Cultnews.net, told The Scoop. "It's sad to see Tom Cruise suffering so badly without Pat Kingsley [Cruise's former publicist replaced by his Scientologist sister] by his side. She would have warned him, 'Don't talk so much about Scientology or people won't remember you for anything else.' Given Scientology's sordid history of bad press and lawsuits, they're hardly an example that any thinking celebrity would link to the Nobel Peace Prize."