Tom's Converting the Kids, Too

NY Post/July 10, 2005
By Richard Johnson with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson

It's official - Tom Cruise is raising his and Nicole Kidman's children as Scientologists.

According to the May issue of Source, a magazine endorsed by the Church of Scientology, Cruise's 12-year-old daughter, Isabella, has completed the "Basic Study Manual," an introductory level course in the sci-fi-based religion that's been embraced by a swarm of Hollywood celebrities.

Isabella and her 10-year-old brother, Connor, live with Cruise in Beverly Hills, where they're being home-schooled by his Scientologist sisters Cass and Marian, according to Cultnews.com.

If Isabella and Connor follow their famous father into the L. Ron Hubbard-invented ideology, it will be a victory for Cruise over his ex-wife. When Kidman and Cruise's marriage fizzled in 2001, many close to the couple blamed Scientology.

The thorny issue of whose faith their children would adopt was cited as a major factor in the split. Kidman is a devout Catholic, while "War of the Worlds" star Cruise has been one of Scientology's most outspoken proponents.

But their divorce settlement reportedly stipulates that both parents would make joint decisions about their children's education and religious upbringing.

Cultnews.com also speculates that Scientologists may eventually turn the children against Kidman.

According to the Web site, Scientologists hook up children to their goofy "e-meter" devices, which are used to "interrogate" them. The site claims that the kids are urged to denounce "non-believers" in their own families who are branded as "suppressive persons" if they object to the child's conversion to Scientology.

Kidman, who has remained steadfastly mum throughout Cruise's ongoing public meltdown and his relationship with fiancee Katie Holmes, could be branded a "suppressive person" and shunned by her own daughter for speaking out against her ex-husband's crusading ways, the site claims.

Reps for Cruise and Kidman were unavailable for comment.