Sinos on the Loose

So the Scientologists had their big annual gala last weekend in Sussex, England. Travolta, Cruise, and Holmes attended, as did about 10,000 other "Sinos" from around the planet. (This planet, I mean. I don't know about the other ones.) The event was apparently a big financial boon for Sussex, where the "church" has its headquarters and where the gala was held. And it was a big boon for the church, which recognized its biggest donor, Tom Cruise, with a special award. He's given the church millions of dollars, so perhaps his proselytizing should be understood less as a believer representin' for his religion and more as an investor plumping his stock. Anyhow, some commentators wonder if Mrs. John Travolta and the soon-to-be-Mrs. Tom Cruise got to chat:

If so, it is reasonable to assume that Ms Preston would have pressed home the cult's central doctrine about childbirth - that mothers should not express pain while in labour for fear of traumatising the baby.

Pardon me, but what the fuck? Does the GOP know about this? If so, are they raising money for a special commission to reconcile Scientology with Loony Fundamentalist Christianity? There are clearly so many affinities - atavistic attitudes towards women, heavy reliance on seedy fundraising tactics, strange mythologies of war and conquest...