Cruise pitch too good to be true

MSNBC/September 21, 2004
By Jeannette Walls

While Kabbalah-obsessed Madonna was traipsing around the Western Wall, Tom Cruise was busy spreading his religion in Spain.

The "Collateral" star opened a Scientology center in Madrid over the weekend at a ceremony attended by an estimated 1,000 people. Some are wondering if the turnout was so high because fliers were distributed beforehand inviting people to "a party which will be attended by Tom Cruise," according to a journalist for Agence France Presse.

The new center raised some eyebrows among critics of the controversial religion because Scientology has had such a troubled history in Spain - where government prosecutors tried for more than a decade to charge the church with illegally bilking people out of their money. The church was acquitted in 2002.

"Perhaps by promising the Spanish people a party with Mr. Cruise, Scientology thought they might net a few members," Rick Ross of Cultnews.Com tells the Scoop. "Though I doubt it. Scientology doesn't have the best reputation in Spain."