Skip to main content.
Religion News Blog is a non-profit service providing academics, religion professionals and other researchers with religion & cult news
ReligionNewsBlog

Religion news articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues

Navigation:
A Random Image


Related

More news articles & news archive on Scientology


Translate



Advertisements *

What is a cult: Cult Definition
Simple steps to financial health and a good credit score


Elsewhere

What is deprogramming?


Scientology:

Tom Cruise’s Quackpot Fe$t To Hit New York City

New York Post, USA
Apr. 6, 2007
David Seifman
www.nypost.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 17900 • Posted: Friday April 6, 2007  

  • Google Bookmarks
  • Google Reader
  • Gmail
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Blogger Post
  • Evernote
  • Facebook
  • Share/Bookmark
Click here... More articles on this topic: Scientology

Scientology superstar Tom Cruise is coming here to promote his controversial “detox” project to 9/11 workers, and will host a mega-fund-raising gala for it.

Tickets for the April 19 fund-raiser, which will star Cruise and benefit the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, run as high as $100,000 for a table for eight.

The downtown Manhattan clinic offers free Scientology-inspired treatments to firefighters, cops and other rescue workers exposed to high levels of toxins at Ground Zero.

The program – which had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funds – hasn’t been endorsed by the Fire or Police departments and has been described by some experts as nothing more than medical mumbo-jumbo.

Scientology: Ambulance Chasing and Quackery

Ambulance chasing is one of several Scientology recruitment tools — as well as a way to prevent people from getting necessary help. Instead, the space aliens cult lures people into its medical quackery programs.

“Scientology is evil; its techniques are evil; its practice is a serious threat to the community, medically, morally, and socially; and its adherents are sadly deluded and often mentally ill… (Scientology is) the world’s largest organization of unqualified persons engaged in the practice of dangerous techniques which masquerade as mental therapy.”
- Justice Anderson, Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, quoted atWhat judges have to say about Scientology

But others have embraced the regimen, which includes high doses of niacin to release fatty acids into the bloodstream, ingesting cold-pressed oil and sweating off “toxins” in a sauna set at 140 to 180 degrees for 21/2 to five hours a day, with frequent showers.

The host committee for the fund-raiser at the Altman Building, on 18th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, lists Patrick Bahnken, president of the Uniformed EMTs and Paramedics union as the honorary chair and Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, as a co-chair.

City Councilman Hiram Monseratte (D-Queens) is listed on the host committee.

Mullins said he signed up out of a sense of desperation.

“I’ll do anything to help my members,” he said. “I’ve got to try to do something because no one else is doing it.”

Mullins said he heard about the detox procedure from a member of his union and was impressed when he visited the clinic at 139 Fulton St. a couple of months ago.

He said he spoke to four or five firefighters and one cop suffering ailments that included breathing problems, sleepless nights and skin rashes.

“What came out of it, they were feeling much better and not utilizing their medications as much as before,” Mullins said.

But some experts questioned the program’s effectiveness and warned it posed serious potential hazards.

“This is just hocus-pocus,” Dr. Bob Hoffman of the New York City Poison Control Center told The Post in 2004. “For some people, sitting in a hot environment can be very dangerous.”

A few years ago, program advocates posted a letter of support from Sen. Charles Schumer on the Internet.

But the senator’s aides said yesterday that after doing some research they’ve backed off.

“We don’t support the program,” said Risa Heller, Schumer’s spokeswoman.

The clinic follows the teachings of the late L. Ron Hubbard, a science-fiction writer who founded Scientology.

Cruise, perhaps Scientology’s best-known adherent, helped open the clinic with his personal wealth and considerable drawing power.

Experts question studies produced by advocates that claim the program works.

Among the results claimed in one study were higher IQs.

  • Google Bookmarks
  • Google Reader
  • Gmail
  • Yahoo Mail
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Blogger Post
  • Evernote
  • Facebook
  • Share/Bookmark


What You Can Do From Here

Read More Articles On These Topics
more cult news articlemore religion news Categories: Scientology
more religion news aboutmore Religion News Blog articles about
Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Follow Religion News Blog on Twitter


Read Another Article
Find Related Information
cult research search enginecountercult information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults
Find Related Books


Most Popular Today


Share This Article

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:





Counter Cult Search

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.


Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.


Apologetics Search

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.


Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

About Religion News Blog
Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, alternative religions and related issues. RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.

Home
Latest Headlines
RSS news feed [?]
Headlines by Email
News Trackers
Free content for your site
About RNB
Privacy Policy
Contact RNB
Link to RNB
Advertise on RNB
Apologetics Index
Cult FAQ
Apologetics Search Engine
CounterCult Search Engine