Supplemental Post #5 - KC Chow

With the new launch of the Scientology Network over spring break, there’s been speculation on whether or not celebrities who are known Scientologists would show up on the channel, demonstrating their support through appearing on their programming, etc. My question is: should they?

It’s strange to me about the following. Though Scientology has a negative connotation with the public, celebrities who align themselves with this religion don’t suffer career-wise or personally because of this affiliation. Just look at Tom Cruise or Elizabeth Moss. Moss has even won applause for her portrayal of a woman who rebels against totalitarianism, a character that is in direct opposition of the real-life Moss who involves herself with a religion that is known for being controlling.

This treatment is such a stark contrast to other celebrities who are out about other religions. For example, just recently, Chris Pratt received extreme backlash for tweeting that he was praying for director/comedian Kevin Smith to recover from a heart attack and encouraging others to pray for his recovery as well. Some even voted to boycott his movies. Though Pratt is an extremely likeable star, because mainly of this Christian rhetoric, Pratt was completely lambasted by users to the point that Pratt’s Marvel family member James Gunn had to publicly defend him to diffuse the hate storm.

With this case, it's made it really hard for me to decipher the rules of the public concerning celebrity and religion. How does a celebrity's religious affiliation matter? And which religious affiliations trigger people?