Lady Gaga NOT a Scientology recruit: Tom Cruise kiss is just a kiss

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Lady Gaga posted a photo of her kissing Tom Cruise on the cheek yesterday, prompting some of her Instagram followers to jump to wild conclusions about her being involved with the Church of Scientology – what are people saying? Is Lady Gaga religious?

Scientology rumours circulate after Lady Gaga posts snap of her and Tom Cruise

Lady Gaga’s upload has so far picked up just over a million likes on Instagram. Several comments have thousands of likes of their own.

But the picture has caused something of an adverse reaction among critics of the Church of Scientology, with which Cruise has been affiliated for over three decades. 

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Note, however, that in recent years several outlets have reported that the Top Gun actor has been “distancing himself” from the church.

After Lady Gaga’s Instagram post featuring Tom Cruise, some of her followers have deemed it necessary to warn her against associating with him, because of his history with Scientology. 

Scientology speculation rife over Instagram pic

Lady Gaga is no doubt well aware of Tom Cruise’s relationship with the Church of Scientology.

Nevertheless, some of the church’s critics – who are also critical of Cruise for his association with it – have jumped at the opportunity to advise Gaga to watch “a few of the many documentaries there are about Scientology”, or to not “show support” for Cruise.

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For her part, Lady Gaga was using the photo to thank her friend Tom Cruise for “coming to the show last night”. “I love you”, she said, “my friend.”

Is Lady Gaga religious?

Some of those airing their thoughts about her and Tom Cruise’s friendship do Lady Gaga a disservice. 

She was raised Catholic and, according to Belief Net, still believes in God, “but she openly rejects institutionalised religion”.

The Independent described her as a “practising Catholic” in 2016, and as The Christian Post noted around the same time, she’s no stranger to using “Christian imagery in her music videos and performances”.

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But, the Washington Post wrote in February 2017, her faith “confounds a popular narrative of religion in America”. It is “provocative”, the newspaper argued; Christian Today has called her spirituality “confused”.

What’s clear is that she has her wits about her enough to know about Tom Cruise’s history with Scientology. Lady Gaga has spent many years as a working artist dealing with religion and faith in an original and reflective way. 

To assume that she is somehow uneducated when it comes to the Church of Scientology is short-sighted. To advise her to cut a friend out of her life because of his beliefs is intrusive.

Bruno Cooke

Bruno is a novelist, amateur screenwriter and journalist with interests in digital media, storytelling, film and politics. He’s lived in France, China, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, but returned to the UK for a degree (and because of the pandemic) in 2020. His articles have appeared in Groundviews, Forge Press and The Friday Poem, and most are readable on Medium or onurbicycle.com.