Rupert Murdoch slams `creepy and weird cult` Scientology

London: In the wake of the recent Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise divorce, Rupert Murdoch has taken to his Twitter account to slam Scientology, which he described as “very weird cult.” The media mogul shared his view on the religion with his 263,000 followers on the social network website.

“Scientology back in news. Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in hierarchy (sic),” the Mirror quoted him as tweeting. “Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people,” he wrote. Murdoch’s News Corporation Empire includes a Hollywood film studio, 20th Century Fox, which has distributed several of Cruise’s films. Anticipating a robust response to his claims from the Church of Scientology, Murdoch said that they might even threaten him. “Since Scientology tweet hundreds of attacks. Expect they will increase and get worse and maybe threatening. Still stick to my story,” he said. Asked by one user of the social network if he was a Christian, Murdoch replied: “I try to be.” On being invited to comment on Mormonism, he said: “Mormonism a mystery to me, but Mormons certainly not evil”. Cruise is the highest-profile follower of Scientology, the controversial religion, which was founded by the late sci-fi author L Ron Hubbard in the 1950s. Followers are “audited” using a device called an e-meter, which the church claims can measure a person’s state of mind. Holmes filed for divorce last week after five years of marriage. According to reports in the US, the 33-year-old is asking for sole custody of the couple’s six-year-old daughter, Suri, because it is believed that she does not want the child to be raised as a Scientologist. ANI