Despite employing teachers who are members of the Church of Scientology and using teaching methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, administrators at Will Smith's new private school insist that it isn't a Scientology school.

Both Mr. Smith and Jada Pinckett Smith say they do not belong to the church and the New Village School's director, Jacqueline Olivier, told The Los Angeles Times' Carla Rivera that while some of its staff members are Scientologists, the school has no religious affiliation. Members of its staff are also Muslim, Christian, and Jewish.

"We are a secular school and just like all nonreligious independent schools, faculty and staff do not promote their own religions at school or pass on the beliefs of their particular faith to children," she said.  read more »

The L.A. Times’ Web Scout blog posted a story last night about a group of Web types protesting the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles and dozens of other cities around the world—including the church’s Manhattan location on West 46th Street (see video above!).

This mysterious group goes by the name Anonymous and has called for a war on Scientology, the uniform for which, at least from this video, appears to be a Guy Fawkes mask like the one the protagonist in the Wachowski Brothers’ V for Vendetta wore.

When Web Scout asked the Church of Scientology about the protests, the organization released a statement: “’Anonymous' is a group of cyber-terrorists who hide their identities behind masks and computer anonymity,” that statement read in part. “[It] is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry."

Judge for yourself: On Jan. 21, the group posted an eerie video with a computer-generated voice on YouTube that laid down the gauntlet when it said: “Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed.”  read more »

Today brings some added conspiracy surrounding the all-too-infamous Tom Cruise Scientology video. A recent item published on OnlineAthens.com, the Athens Banner-Herald’s official Web site, claims that after local satirist and TV producer Waco O’Guin posted his own spoof of the Cruise clip, his Web site was hacked.  read more »

CBS’ Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson was not allowed to air the Tom Cruise video that has been on the tips of innumerable tongues this week. So, he went and made his own version. As impossible as it sounds, Mr. Ferguson's version, complete with lots of strange acronyms, double-chin laughs and a karate chop or two, might be better than the original.  read more »

Hallelujah! We’re not sure how long it’ll stick, but the Tom Cruise Scientology advertisement we reported on earlier has been restored to the Web. In it, the Lions for Lambs star wants to know: Do you have what it takes?

“If you’re on board, you’re on board like the rest of us,” Mr. Cruise assures his viewers in the clip. “Now is the time! Being a Scientologist, people turn to you. So you better know it, and if you don’t, go and learn it!” Oh, yeah, and “being a Scientologist, you see things the way they are in all their glory and complexity.” In short, Mr. Cruise’s reality—alien beings and all—is way more realer than yours.  read more »

Rumors suggesting that Will Smith is a Scientologist have been swirling and growing as he is seen in public more and more with Tom Cruise, a well-known member of the organization. There was even an item about it on Page Six today. But now, the likelihood that the I Am Legend star is in fact an L. Ron Hubbard disciple seems a bit greater. It turns out the Will Smith Foundation, which gives away hundreds of thousands of dollars to various causes, donated $20,000 to the Church of Scientology’s home-schooling program, called the Hollywood Education and Literacy Program. Recently on Access Hollywood, Mr. Smith reiterated what he told Men’s Vogue, saying, “I was introduced [to] it by Tom and I’m a student of world religion.”

The Church of Scientology has purchased more property on 125th Street, and one of the buyers is listed in city records as Richard Fear. We kid you not.

The L. Ron Hubbard-founded religion recently closed on 230 and 232 125th Street for $10.2 million, according to city records. The latter address was formerly the site of the St. Samuel Church of God.  read more »

Yesterday, I caught up with Councilman Hiram Monserrate, who has come under fire for supporting a Sept. 11 first-responder detoxification program associated with the Church of Scientology.

Scientology's most famous booster, Tom Cruise, held a fund-raiser last night for the program.

Monserrate, a former cop, told me he spoke with Sept. 11 rescue workers who have benefited from the program, and said that critics are motivated by their own agendas.

"The bottom line is the program provided a better quality of life for hundreds of rescue workers that have taken the program," he said. "I myself personally have spoken to dozens of them who've had serious ailments, problems with upper respiratory infections, breathing problems."

He added, "I think it's unfortunate that some of the pundits, some of the pro scientists, some of the industries, who have their own reasons for having their own opinions clearly -- right, the pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession in particular -- question an alternative means of providing health care.

"This is the same type of thing they said about chiropractors twenty years ago. The same arguments that they're using here."

I asked Monserrate, who introduced a Council proclamation to declare last Thursday L. Ron Hubbard day, in honor of the science fiction author who created Scientology, if he would ever consider becoming a Scientologist.

"No," he said. "Councilman Hiram Monserrate is Christian, who was raised as Evangelical Christian. That's my faith. That's not on the table. This has zero to do with Scientology. The program has zero to do with Scientology. They don't espouse it. They don't promote it."