From Contactmusic: "Stephen Baldwin takes his faith so seriously, he'd watch his own daughter die in the name of religion. The actor reinvented himself as a born-again Christian following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, and his wife Kennya and their kids Alaia and Hailey are equally as devoted. During a candid chat on U.K. reality show Celebrity Big Brother, Baldwin revealed the lengths he would go to to stay true to his belief in God. He explained, "I'm gonna sound fanatical right now but what my faith requires is if I were sitting here, and my wife and two kids were sitting there, and we were on a public bus and somebody came in with a machine gun and pointed it at my daughter and said to my daughter, 'Say Jesus doesn't exist' - if she turned to me and said, 'What do I do?', I'd say, 'What have I taught you to do?' "She'd say, 'Jesus absolutely exists', and I'd see her in heaven."
If I believed in any kind of higher power, I would soooo want to do my worshipping with Mel Gibson in his very special church. Just knowing that he was sitting in the next pew figuring out how to screw his wife over in the divorce settlement would make me feel infused with all kinds of holy spirits. However, gaining entrance to The Holy Family Chapel is not as easy as just walking up, knocking on the door and claiming spiritual need:
"If you want to pray with Mel Gibson, you're going to have to answer to a higher power first. No, not The Man upstairs - Mel's security team! RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that Mel is changing the way things work at his Holy Family Chapel and making worshipers fill out a one-page application to get their names on his Invitation and Security list. According to the sign up sheet, the "application must be accepted by security in order to gain admittance" to the Agoura Hills church. The application notes that the church's services are "not open for negotiation by guests/attendees" and that entrance to the church can be revoked at any time for any reason. Holy control freak - what exactly is going on here? The newly required sign up sheet doesn't list a reason for the policy change, but Mel has previously expressed displeasure with things said in church making its way into the public domain. Some church attendees have taken a dim view of Mel divorcing his wife Robyn and now having a baby out of wedlock with Oksana Grigorieva." They're just jealous heretics, unworthy of God's special Mel-endorsed love. They clearly need to take themselves over to the Lutherans or Scientologists or Ms Arpe's Special Chapel of Leave All Your Money And Worries Here.
Nothing like an exciting religious skirmish to get your week started. From radaronline: "Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Jenna Elfman can count one less Hollywood A-Lister as a fellow Scientologist. In a shock heard-round-the-Scientology world, Paul Haggis has very publicly quit the organization. Among the acclaimed Haggis' many credits: he wrote Million Dollar Baby and Flags of Our Fathers for Clint Eastwood; and he produced/directed and wrote Crash for which he won an Oscar. He has an all-around stellar reputation in Hollywood as one of the good guys who made good. It was his conscience that made him quit the religion he's been part of for 35 years, Haggis said in a letter to Tommy Davis. Davis, the son of actress Anne Archer, is the face of Scientology, appearing on numerous TV interviews every year. Roger Friedman, in his Hollywood Reporter column, Showbiz 411, broke the story Sunday, and published a copy of Haggis' letter to Davis. Haggis first became disenchanted with Scientology last year when it backed Prop 8, the ban on gay marriage in California."
Here's Haggis' letter to Davis:
Tommy,
As you know, for ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego. Their public sponsorship of Proposition 8, a hate-filled legislation that succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California – rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state – shames us.
I called and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of the church, to condemn their actions. I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated.
In that first conversation, back at the end of October of last year, you told me you were horrified, that you would get to the bottom of it and “heads would roll.” You promised action. Ten months passed. No action was forthcoming. The best you offered was a weak and carefully worded press release, which praised the church’s human rights record and took no responsibility. Even that, you decided not to publish.
The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.
I joined the Church of Scientology thirty-five years ago. During my twenties and early thirties I studied and received a great deal of counseling. While I have not been an active member for many years, I found much of what I learned to be very helpful, and I still apply it in my daily life. I have never pretended to be the best Scientologist, but I openly and vigorously defended the church whenever it was criticized, as I railed against the kind of intolerance that I believed was directed against it. I had my disagreements, but I dealt with them internally. I saw the organization – with all its warts, growing pains and problems – as an underdog. And I have always had a thing for underdogs.
But I reached a point several weeks ago where I no longer knew what to think. You had allowed our name to be allied with the worst elements of the Christian Right. In order to contain a potential “PR flap” you allowed our sponsorship of Proposition 8 to stand. Despite all the church’s words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry and intolerance, homophobia and fear.
The fact that the Mormon Church drew all the fire, that no one noticed, doesn’t matter. I noticed. And I felt sick. I wondered how the church could, in good conscience, through the action of a few and then the inaction of its leadership, support a bill that strips a group of its civil rights.
This was my state of mind when I was online doing research and chanced upon an interview clip with you on CNN. The interview lasted maybe ten minutes – it was just you and the newscaster. And in it I saw you deny the church’s policy of disconnection. You said straight-out there was no such policy, that it did not exist.
I was shocked. We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification – I didn’t have to look any further than my own home. You might recall that my wife was ordered to disconnect from her parents because of something absolutely trivial they supposedly did twenty-five years ago when they resigned from the church. This is a lovely retired couple, never said a negative word about Scientology to me or anyone else I know – hardly raving maniacs or enemies of the church. In fact it was they who introduced my wife to Scientology.
Although it caused her terrible personal pain, my wife broke off all contact with them. I refused to do so. I’ve never been good at following orders, especially when I find them morally reprehensible.
For a year and a half, despite her protestations, my wife did not speak to her parents and they had limited access to their grandchild. It was a terrible time. That’s not ancient history, Tommy. It was a year ago. And you could laugh at the question as if it was a joke? You could publicly state that it doesn’t exist?
To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about? The great majority of Scientologists I know are good people who are genuinely interested in improving conditions on this planet and helping others. I have to believe that if they knew what I now know, they too would be horrified. But I know how easy it was for me to defend our organization and dismiss our critics, without ever truly looking at what was being said; I did it for thirty-five years. And so, after writing this letter, I am fully aware that some of my friends may choose to no longer associate with me, or in some cases work with me. I will always take their calls, as I always took yours. However, I have finally come to the conclusion that I can no longer be a part of this group. Frankly, I had to look no further than your refusal to denounce the church’s
anti-gay stance, and the indefensible actions, and inactions, of those who condone this behavior within the organization. I am only ashamed that I waited this many months to act. I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology.
Sincerely,
Paul Haggis
AP FILE PHOTO
Malene’s interests and hobbies include Schadenfreude, sci-fi and fantasy (good and bad alike), hilarious hair pieces, age-inappropriate celebrity crushes, messed-up starlets, waiting for the next Star Trek movie, hating Björk, creative profanity, disobedient robots, fake celebrity relationships, post-apocalyptic dread, singing super-villains, baseball, David Beckham (but only when he keeps his mouth shut), vampires and knitting tiny sweaters for her seven cats. That’s not true. Maybe.
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