Idol Chatter

Scientology vs. Kabbalah: A Spiritual Battle for Celebrity Souls

Friday March 31, 2006

As if it isn't enough to be badgered by paparazzi and crazed fans, now David and Victoria Beckham, Britain's celebrity royals, are reportedly being fought over by Tom Cruise and Madonna. Does Tom want the soccer phenom to star in his next movie? Nope. Does Madonna want the former Spice Girl to do a duet? Nope. According to MSNBC.com's The Scoop, Madge and Tom are waging a battle to win the super couple over to Kabbalah and Scientology, respectively.

Pictures of Posh with Cruise's fiance, Katie Holmes, have been splashed all over the celebrity gossip magazines for the past few months. But it seems that Jewish mysticism is winning out: Those same tabloids are now carrying pictures with Mrs. Beckham sporting the red string bracelet popular among Kabbalah enthusiasts.

"Perhaps Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie have the edge," Rick Ross of Cultnews.com tells Scoop, "since Ritchie after all is a Brit and his wife keeps a house in the English countryside."

Perhaps Madonna and Cruise should just get together and form a religion called Sciencabbalism. Maybe then they'd finally land America's celebrity royal, Oprah--who according to reports, has so far been able to resist the efforts of both the couch jumper and the Material Girl.
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Comments
David
April 3, 2006 3:54 PM

What the article does not do is make the distinction between 'real kabbalah' and the 'Kabbalah Center' version of this ancient teaching. I make this point only to distance the authentic teachings of this rich tradition from the mass market version the Bergs are selling to the world, which is the brand all the celebs are going after.

I spend a couple years invovled with the Kabbalah Center and found that there is this strong 'give us your money' mentality combined with the need to cotrol the actions of it's members. At one point it was suggested that maybe I should quit my job and devote my energies towards helping the Center more.

it's funny to see how the Kabbalah Center and Scientology are being group together more and more. In many ways the two are more a like than they may want to give credit to.

So in future reporting on this subject, may I suggest that the writers try to make the distinction between the Kabbalah Center and real Kabbalistic teachings.>

johnny
April 3, 2006 5:51 PM

i understand that this is a satirical article, but david's comments bring overall ignorance about kabbalah into sharp relief. madonna, of course, is entitled to believe what she wants to believe - and even to evangelize, but the crass commercialization of jewish mysticism is a cheapening of spirituality. people have become very comfortable with calling madonna's kabbalah "kabbalah." ... scientology is a young religion, clearly cultish. any comparison of this to the thousands-years-long rabbinical struggle to reconcile good and evil, intuit the origins and fate of the universe, and live with selfless grace represented in the kabbalah is offensive and absurd.>

johnny
April 3, 2006 5:53 PM

that first sentence was ambiguous. understand i am agreeing with david's sentiments.>

liz
April 3, 2006 7:00 PM

I would like to see them more concerned over the non-celeb, non-rich.>

Anonymous
November 20, 2006 9:28 AM

What if all religions stand together to form 1 central union to fight the real source.>

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