SCIENTOLOGY TV: STARRING TOM CRUISE

SCIENTOLOGY ......A view of the Church Of Scientology sign in LA.

THE CHURCH Of Scientology, the religion whose followers include actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, plans to start a religious broadcasting centre to promote its teachings over TV, radio and the Internet.

The centre, located near the church's West Coast headquarters in Hollywood, would occupy the nearly five-acre studio property the church bought last year from an LA public TV station for US$42 million. The station would elevate the public profile of a religion that has mostly relied on pamphlets and books by its founder, L Ron Hubbard, to proselytise for new members.

"The church plans to establish a central media hub for our growing world network of churches and to move into the production of religious television and radio broadcasting," said Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for Church Of Scientology International. There's no timetable for when operations would begin.

"Hollywood is a major hub for creative talent and some of them are Scientologists," said Rick Ross, whose non-profit Rick A Ross Institute in New Jersey maintains an online archive of data on cults and controversial movements. "They'd have a lot of talented folks who could produce shows and stars like Tom Cruise who would appear on them."

Elayne Rapping, a pop-culture expert and professor of American studies at the University of Buffalo, said she's not surprised by the church's move. "Having their own TV is a good idea since they can spin things their way," she said. "They are after good PR which they can control to offset the bad publicity surrounding them in other media."

Famous Scientologists like Kirstie Alley, Elisabeth Moss, Lisa Marie Presley and Giovanni Ribisi don't go to this church. No, they go to a special Celebrity Centre that caters to their special needs.

Famous Scientologists like Kirstie Alley, Elisabeth Moss, Lisa Marie Presley and Giovanni Ribisi don't go to this church. No, they go to a special Celebrity Centre that caters to their special needs.

Former members of the 60-year-old church accuse it of being a cult and have alleged that it abuses members and separates parents from children, among other things. The church denies such accusations. The celebrity of controversial members like Cruise and Travolta is a double-edged sword for the church, Rapping said.

Tom is one of the world's biggest movie stars, but his divorce from Katie Holmes has fuelled speculation that the couple disagreed on raising their six-year-old daughter Suri as a Scientologist and sparked a flurry of news coverage about the church. John was recently sued for libel by an LA man who wrote a book about their alleged gay encounters.

The Hollywood studio would complement the church's existing production facility, Golden Era Productions, which produces DVDs and "other audiovisual materials that comprise a large part of the Church's religious and educational materials," Pouw said.

The church took physical control of the broadcast centre, located on Sunset Boulevard near Hollywood, in April when KCET employees moved TV station operations to a rented facility. (Reuters)