Steven Spielberg, Bill Clinton and Tom Cruise
Scientology has a lengthy history of working with the Clintons, having funded election campaigns of both Bill and Hillary. Several Scientology Hollywood players funded Hillary Clinton’s campaign with over $70,000. Tom Cruise presented Al Gore with $5000. John Travolta, along with other Scientology members, arranged a gala to raise funds for the Democrats. The entry fee? $25,000.
Yet, Scientology and wealthy Hollywood players don’t give money away for free without something in return. So right after Bill Clinton was elected in 1993, Scientology gained a tax-exempt status, registering as a religion, something the IRS had refused them for decades.
The New York Times reported on March 9, 1997: “The full story of the turnabout by the IRS has remained hidden behind taxpayer privacy laws for nearly four years. But an examination by The New York Times found that the exemption followed a series of unusual internal IRS actions that came after an extraordinary campaign orchestrated by Scientology against the agency and people who work there.”
Cruise lobbied Clinton at every opportunity. He met him for dinner at the Hollywood homes of director Steven Spielberg and producer David Geffen. He called him numerous times at his Foundation office in Harlem, New York, to work out the most effective strategy to overturn a 1967 IRS ruling that Scientology was not a charity and was not eligible for tax breaks.
In February 12, 1998, The New York Post released the following article:
TRAVOLTA ADMITS BILL USED SECTS APPEAL TO WOO HIM
“John Travolta says President Clinton offered to help him with a pet project – getting Scientology accepted as a religion in Germany – just as he was about to play a character based on the president.
Travolta was manipulated as part of Clinton’s campaign to soften his fictional alter-ego’s image in the upcoming movie “Primary Colors,” George magazine charges in its March issue.
The movie is based on Joe Klein’s best-selling novel about a lying, womanizing Southern governor – modeled on Clinton – who is running for president. George says the final product, set for release next month, is far more sympathetic to “Clinton” than is the book.
“You have to be dead not see that the film favors Clinton,” admitted Travolta, who gained 20 pounds and streaked his hair gray to look presidential in the film.
“The script was always kind to him. We’re talking about kind to a character, but indirectly we’re talking about kind to the president.
“More than anything, it promotes what a decent person he is.”
Travolta told writer Josh Young that just before “Primary Colors” went before the cameras last April, the actor was in Washington to promote Scientology – a controversial belief Travolta and scores of other
Hollywood types embrace.
“The next day, I met with Clinton,” Travolta told George.
“He told me: “Your program sounds great. More than that, I’d really love to help you with your issue over in Germany with Scientology.'”
Clinton was referring to Germany’s refusal to register Scientology as a religion because the government considers it a radical cult that cheats members out of their life savings – an allegation that Scientologists vehemently deny.
“I was waiting for the seduction that I had heard so much about. I thought, “Well, how could he ever seduce me?'” Travolta recalled. “And after we talked, I thought, “Bingo!’ He did it. Scientology is the one issue that really matters to me.”
For Travolta, Clinton reportedly went to the extraordinary length of assigning National Security Adviser Sandy Berger to be the Administration’s Scientology point man.
Berger briefed Travolta in the same manner he would a senior senator, George reports.
A White House official said last night, “it is perfectly normal and logical” for Berger to get involved in the Scientology issue because “it is in the general area of human rights concerns and this is something we have raised with the German government.”
In November, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel – and urged him to stop being intolerant toward Scientologists.
Clinton not only managed to charm Travolta – but director Mike Nichols and co-star Billy Bob Thornton were equally awed by him, George reports.
Nichols – who with his wife, ABC’s Diane Sawyer, were on the president’s A-list for summer barbecues on Martha’s Vineyard – said through “Primary Colors” he’s trying to make moviegoers understand the nature of infidelity.
“A passion for people is expressed sexually too,” he says.
Thornton, the Arkansas author and star of the hit “Sling Blade,” took the role of Richard Jennons – modeled on Clinton adviser James Carville – only after the president OK’d it.
“It’s a great role, and somebody’s gonna do it, so it might as well be Billy Bob,” Clinton told his friend, producer Harry Thomason, George reports – and Thomason passed the word to Thornton.”
Copyright (c) 1998, N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
David Miscavige, the leader of Scientology, met with the Commissioner of the IRS to initiate an objective tax-exemption procedure in 1991. For the next two years the IRS conducted an in-depth investigation of Scientology. After Bill Clinton became the US President in 1993, in October of 1993, the IRS gave Scientology tax-exempt status as a recognized church in the United States.
On the basis of the IRS ruling, the State Department formally criticized Germany for discriminating against Scientologists. The German government classifies Scientology as a business, not a tax-exempt religion. This mirrors the very same position maintained for 25 years by the U.S. government, until Bill Clinton came on the scene.
The Daily Caller, reported on June 21, 2015, that Hillary and, to some extent, Bill Clinton, had some ties with the Scientology. The Daily Caller’s report details how Greg Mitchell, the head of a lobbying firm called The Mitchell Firm and also a Scientologist, lobbied the Hillary Clinton State Department to enlist its support for encouraging religious freedom in foreign countries, such as Germany.
Actor Tom Cruise, along with former President Bill Clinton, urged British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to overturn a ruling refusing Scientology’s charity status in Britain. President Clinton went so far as to suggest that Tom approach Cherie Blair for help, since she was a lawyer and could understand more clearly why Scientology should be classified and allowed to register as a religion.
Former Scientology “second in command”, Marty Rathbun, appeared on German TV and described sitting in a room at the Scientology base in Clearwater, Florida in 2003, along with Tom Cruise, to call former President Clinton many times. Rathbun, who was the Inspector General of the Religious Technology Centre until 2004, stated that he would personally perform audits on Cruise.
Rathbun further stated that Tom Cruise and former President Clinton where involved in raising funds for the Clinton Foundation charity and spoke many times on how best to lobby the British Prime Minister and his wife so that they could use their influence to change Scientology’s charity tax status in Britain. Rathbun later went on to participate in a two hour deposition regarding the inner workings of Scientology.
The United States Constitution grants citizens both freedom of religion and separation of church and state. America has a long history of using churches to funnel lobbying money under tax exempt status. As a result, the lines between Freedom of Religion and Separation of Church and State have been grossly blurred.
In the 1950’s, the US government added ‘In God We Trust” on monies and federal organizations as well as entered it into their Pledge of Allegiance, violating their own Constitution. Yet, in a country which was primarily Christian at the time, the citizens did not rally cry against that violation. Now, almost 70 years later, the country has a great dilemma on its hands as the truth about its political criminal dealings become uncovered.
As America has become one of the most diverse countries in the world in regards to religion, it allows for the lobbying of religions for politicians, allows for religion to override child neglect and murder, as in the cases in Idaho, where parents prefer to pray for their children, as opposed to seeking medical care for them. The question remains if Americans will begin to stand up and exercise their right to demand that their Constitution be properly upheld.
Karen Donovan, freelance writer
Karen Donovan 
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