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The new Andrew Morton book about Tom Cruise has mostly gotten attention for its controversial claims about Cruise’s Scientologist beliefs. However, the book also sheds light on the beliefs of Cruise’s ex-wife, actress Nicole Kidman. The book alleges that when the Church of Scientology first courted the couple, they sensed that Kidman would be “a…

Unlike some of my colleagues here at Beliefnet, I am not a huge music person. I’ve got my favorite tunes and artists, but I don’t live and breathe music, there isn’t a soundtrack to my life constantly playing at home or in the office or in between. And yet, occasionally, I come face to face…

It’s become a truism that Americans don’t want to hear about the Iraq war, especially not in their entertainment. Last week Noah Feldman led off the New York Times Magazine with a piece bemoaning the lack of Iraq discussion among the presidential primary candidates, and as an aside repeated the CW about the conflict: “The…

While Christian publishing has profited greatly from the trend of major movie studios looking to capitalize on the Christian marketplace, the average evangelical movie buff can’t say the same. Instead, we are treated to low-budget, unchallenging fare such as Fox Faith’s recent DVD release “Saving Sarah Cain.” It’s a harmless, feel-good story of a career…

I can’t say that I watch the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency with any regular frequency, but when flipping by Oxygen, I will sometimes stop and watch the “world’s first supermodel” frantically trying to run her nascent business. In this weekend’s repeat of “Of Models and Morals,” new model Dominique, a Catholic gal who was totally…

Assisted living sounds like a rational, caring way to tend to our old folks while giving them their independence. I won’t hear the phrase the same way after watching “Andrew Jenks, Room 335,” a new documentary that debuted on HBO Tuesday night (click here for the remaining airings). Jenks, a 19-year-old from suburban Westchester County,…

A New York Times News Service piece on VeggieTales founder Phil Vischer tells the tale of how his zeal to build a world-beating Christian media company overwhelmed both his connection to God and his management skills. “I had made the work more important than my relationship with Him,” he says. “It’s a common evangelical mistake.”…

Mark Oppenheimer has spent the past year reporting on Scientology, and his articles for The New York Times Magazine, Slate, and elsewhere are some of the most informative and balanced that you’ll find anywhere. Mark has now turned his attention to Tom Cruise’s Scientology video, and in an article for Beliefnet he makes the case…

Andrew Morton, author of two biographies of Princess Di, is used to getting blowback from his subjects’ defenders. And he expected his new book on Tom Cruise to raise the considerable ire of both Scientology and Cruise himself. (His publisher, Pan-Macmillan, was so worried about legal repercussions that they won’t be releasing the book in…

Carmen Rasmusen finished in the Top 6 on the second season of “American Idol.” A devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, she and her values sometimes clashed with the expected behavior of a pop singer. Carmen talks to Beliefnet’s Lilit Marcus about her new memoir, Staying In Tune, and how…
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