Scientology Spokesman Gives Non-Answers on CNN

Watch the full CNN interview here.

CNN’s John Roberts this morning, trying to get a typically squirrelly Scientology spokesman, Tommy Davis, to answer some basic questions about L. Ron Hubbard’s outfit…

Roberts: “There are some people, and one of them is a correspondent for the Village Voice, who says the basic tenet of the Church of Scientology is to rid the body of space-alien parasites, to clear oneself.”

Davis: “Well, John, does that sound silly to you? I mean it’s unrecognizable to me.”

The shout-out from CNN makes us feel warm and fuzzy (even if he’s talking about the ed-in-chief and not a “correspondent”), and we’ll also point out that the space-alien nature of Hubbard’s wacky upper-level “OT” materials isn’t something that just a few of us “say” is the case. It’s been documented again and again over decades of court cases against Scientology. And every high-level Scientologist who “blows” (leaves) has the same exact story to tell. We’ve talked to dozens of them over the years. This is actually one of the better-documented facts about Scientology, that it charges outrageous amounts — up to $1,000 an hour — to have space-alien souls removed from high-level members.

It’s also a grand tradition, among Scientology spokespeople, to act bewildered when they’re facing a camera and they’re asked about Xenu and space-alien thetans. Tommy Davis is just doing what other mouthpieces have said in the past. We seem to remember practically the same routine on an MTV program years ago — “Xenu? Never heard of him.”

But Davis gives the game away when Roberts asks him to give a basic description of what Scientologists do believe, and Davis can’t do it. Maybe because this doesn’t play well on national TV:

Superhuman powers! The ability to leave your body! To shape space and time with your mind! To be impervious to disease and live forever! And all for only a mere $100,000 in cash, several years of your life, separation from your family and friends, and complete dedication to a dead pulp-fiction writer who dreamed up a religion starring disembodied alien souls being carried through the galaxy on spacecraft shaped like DC-3s! Join today!