Op-Ed: Here's to You, Tom Cruise

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The story piqued my interest, as I’ve had an off-again, on-again love affair in my head with Tom since I was thirteen. (The affair has been more off since he dumped Nicole.)

The book apparently alleges that Tom is the second-in-command for the Church of Scientology and that his religious beliefs influenced his choice in a wife, namely Katie Holmes. The celebrity reporter revealing these and other “shocking” claims said them with horror in her voice, as if Cruise had committed some type of crime. The last revelation reported the book’s most outrageous claim, that Suri, Tom and Katie’s daughter, is the product of a sperm donation from the church’s founder.

I don’t know who Morton’s editor or lawyer is, but they really should’ve thought about slander before allowing him to publish something so obviously untrue. The sperm donation story is so ridiculous, it reeks of modern-day folklore. The idea is about as likely as baking your internal organs after sun-tanning with a Crisco-smeared body.

After the clip ended, my husband and I looked at each other and laughed. At each of the claims, I wanted to say, “So what? Who cares?” The fact that his religion influenced his choice in a wife is something everybody does. We all choose our spouses and our friends based on our beliefs and values. If this is such a big deal, I suggest Andrew Morton should write an unauthorized biography based on half-truths about every average Joe in America. Also, the fact that Tom Cruise is ranked highly in his church is a compliment to him and his integrity, not a slap against his sanity.

Similar such attacks have been made against my own religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon church. Allegations range from the idea that Mormons aren’t Christians (which we are) to false stories about mysterious rituals performed in our temples. The attacks seem to come from those who fear us because we are different. Apparently, Scientologists are different too. They have become a religious target.

I suggest that instead of attacking those who are different from us, as has been done for thousands of years, we embrace tolerance and understanding, traits more suited to our progressive sensibilities. We’ve made strides in the crusade for women’s and African American rights. Why can’t we do the same for religions?

So, here’s to you, Tom Cruise. I wholeheartedly support the lawsuit against Andrew Morton and hope you win. Being religious doesn’t make you strange, it just scares the people who aren’t.