What Katie Holmes is Saving Suri From: Scientology's Interrogation of Children

[xchrom]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/06/katie_holmes_scientology_sec_checking_suri_tom_cruise.php



There seemed to be more public derision than sorrow yesterday greeting the news that Katie Holmes had filed divorce papers in New York while her husband Tom Cruise was in Iceland filming a movie.
There was consensus among the tabloids that this split is over Katie's concerns about the couple's child, Suri, and Tom's religion, Scientology. She's seeking sole custody, which suggests this could be a long, tough fight between the celebrity duo.

If Katie is attempting to pull Suri out of Tom's strange world before the girl gets any older, we asked several of our ex-Scientologist sources to explain what, at 6 years old, Suri was about to get into.

We talked with them about the oddities of Scientology schooling, and about the religion's form of counseling -- called auditing -- which can begin as young as Suri's age. But what may have convinced Katie to run was the frightening prospect that faces all Scientology kids beginning at 6 years old: a form of interrogation known as "sec checking."

[madrchsod]

1. i knew she was going to dump him

pictures do`t lie...the little catholic girl could`t take the even weirder cult of scientology

.the defection of those people is very interesting...not all is well in the church of l ron hubbard

[glowing]

2. It's a cult... Another "religion" that tells people what to do and when to do it...

No spirituality; all business. When a member joins, they are supposed to give up all their $ to the church, and while someone like Tom Cruise, who is a celebrity and is a "market tool", doesn't lose their entire fortunes to the the Scientology Religion, other members do. Plus, it is very indoctrinating and manipulating... Once in, its very tough to get out, unless you have family on the outside who keep at you and eventually pull you out... I would suspect that Katie's parents wouldn't like their grandchild being raised in the church. They probably weren't so keen on her marrying an old man anyway either (I remember Dawson Creek days and she was 1 yr older than me I think... so that would make her 33 or 34)... Tom was much older than she was when they married. I believe it was a business deal.... that's how it seemed to me.

[Tunkamerica]

4. All of his wives were 33 when they split from him. Just a coincidence pointed out by a

sleazy article on yahoo yesterday.

[NoMoreWarNow]

6. thanks--- that's a big number in conspiracy too

Fremasonry, etc-- it's also used a lot in politics and by the elites-- it's a power number.

[Tunkamerica]

3. The scariest thing about Scientology and kids is that they consider children

to just be miniature adults, just the same souls in tinier bodies. Opens the door for a lot of sick stuff.

[LiberalEsto]

8. Not to defend Scientology, but

in fairness, the Russian Orthodox Church believed that children must confess their sins starting at age 3, according to my late mother, who was raised Russian Orthodox.

She thought this was ridiculous, remarking that kids that young don't have "sins" other than perhaps potty accidents, which are not sins anyway. I have no idea whether this is still true, but it was true in the 1920s in Estonia. One of her grandfathers was an RO priest - they are allowed to marry.

As for Scientologists, I think they are totally warped and I don't blame anyone from trying to save their child from the cult's influence.

[Tunkamerica]

19. Yeah, that doesn't even begin to parallel scientology.

They actually believe that children have the reincarnated souls of prev. scientologists. That's why sending them away at 6 years old to work forever is cool. No expose has come out yet on sexual impropriety in the "church" but I expect it.

[hlthe2b]

5. Read the linked article: Heavens, the questions they use to interrogate chilldren as young as 6...

That has to be destructive and damaging...knowing they can't refuse to answer. This is very close to child abuse, IMO.

[NoMoreWarNow]

7. holy crap-- that's freaking insane!

[patricia92243]

9. If these are the questions they ask children, I would hate to think what they ask adults.

Questions like "do you cry too much?" Who determines what is too much. The whole thing is scary and upsetting to think people let this be done to their children.


Katie is wise to protect her child. I understand her Dad is a divorce attorney, so I'm sure he is guiding her on the correct things to do - such as establishing residency in NY.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. I hope she prevails.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. I refuse to view Scientology as any more or less ridiculous, odd, cultish, etc

than the rest of the pack of irrational belief systems warping people's lives on a daily basis. You want harm from cults? 43% of Americans believe in creationism. That ain't scientology 's fault, they've got a completely different whackadoodle creation myth.

[2ndAmForComputers]

14. I don't. Of everything, there are degrees.

Admitting Scientology is worse than cult X doesn't mean cult X is just swell.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. How is the harm Scientology is doing greater than the harm fundaloons are doing?

I've read many of the horror story accounts about Scientology, and it just looks like another whackadoodle religion to me, scamming its marks for loot, cramming appalling nonsense into the brains of its followers etc. They stay out of the political realm, so that's actually a plus. Sure there are sub cults within the mainstream cults that are less awful, I'll agree to that, but there certainly are sub cults within the mainstream cults that are just as bad if not worse.

[2ndAmForComputers]

17. It's subjective.

I just think that thing A is worse than thing B. I understand people who think that thing B is worse than thing A, or that they are equally bad.

[Dorian Gray]

18. Each independent church is different

but the scientologists have been accused of blackmail and murder when people have tried to leave their organization. Is that worse than child rape? Of course not. But it appears to be a systemic abuse that is approved from the top down.

There are a lot of issues that probably could be addressed within Scientology. Sure, I think it's weird, but I also get that people have real criticisms of my Catholicism, as well, as do I. So, it's not a matter of whether it's better or worse. It's just that the problems do exist and now that this divorce is impending, speculation about scientology will also increase.

Plus, it's sort of a fascinating read!

[cbayer]

12. She might have wanted to look into this before she married him and got pregnant.

[Starry Messenger]

13. I'm so glad she dumped him.

I hope she finds some cute thing who worships the ground she walks on to make up being used as a dying cult's mascot. Take Suri and run Katie!

[Stuart G]

16. sec check questions..."

is even a special security check for children from ages 6 to 12, who are asked questions like:

What has somebody told you not to tell?
Have you ever decided you didn't like some member of your family?
Have you ever pretended to be sick?
Have you ever bullied a smaller child?
Have you ever been mean to an animal, bird or fish?
Have you ever broken something belonging to someone else?
Have you ever done anything you were very much ashamed of?
Have you ever failed to finish your schoolwork on time?
Have you ever lied to a teacher?
Have you ever done anything to someone else's body that you shouldn't have?
Have you ever felt ashamed of your parents?
Have you ever lied to escape blame?
Have you ever told stories about someone behind their back?