Recruiting Scientologist celebrities and getting them to endorse Scientology to the public at large has always been very important to the Church of Scientology. Scientology has had a written program governing celebrity recruitment since at least 1955, when L. Ron Hubbard created "Project Celebrity", offering rewards to Scientologists who recruited targeted celebrities. Early interested parties included former silent-screen star Gloria Swanson and jazz pianistDave Brubeck. A Scientology policy letter of 1976 states that "rehabilitation of celebrities who are just beyond or just approaching their prime" enables the "rapid dissemination" of Scientology.
Coordinated effort
The Church of Scientology operates special Celebrity Centres. Scientology policy governs the Celebrity Centres, stating that "one of the major purposes of the Celebrity Centre and its staff is to expand the number of celebrities in Scientology." Another order describes Celebrity Centre's Public Clearing Division and its goal, "broad public into Scientology from celebrity dissemination"; this division has departments for planning celebrity events and routing the general public onto Scientology services as a result of celebrity involvement. As founder L. Ron Hubbard put it:
Celebrities are very Special people and have a very distinct line of dissemination. They have comm lines that others do not have and many medias to get their dissemination through Hubbard believed celebrities to be such a core part of Scientology that he decided to promote Scientology through them. He used each of their uniquenesses in order to draw others like them into the his Church of Scientology. His main goal in doing this was to make the Church of Scientology an appealing place for all people. He wanted to lure many in with the lifestyles of these celebrities so that ordinary people would want to become more like these celebrities. In doing this, the common male or female would choose to become a member of Scientology which would resemble the life of the celebrity he or she admired. Hubbard also wanted to recruit celebrities in order to see his plan unfold. Without celebrities, it is not known how far Scientology might have reached out during its beginning phases. Scientology's success or failure in a way depended on these celebrities appealing to the crowd.
Hugh B. Urban, professor of religious studies in the Department of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University said about Scientology's appeal to celebrities in an interview for Beliefnet.com: Journalistic and media sources claim that Scientology is “The Church of the Stars” or a “star-studded sect,” although there are likely more Hollywood celebrities in other religious traditions. One reason for this is the church’s Celebrity Centres, which is unique to the religion. Most members in these facilities are not celebrities, however, a lot of members are part of the entertainment industry.
Notable Scientologist celebrities
The Church of Scientology has a long history of seeking out artists, musicians, writers and actors, and states that Scientology can help them in their lives and careers. Celebrity Scientologists include:
