A recent Telegraph article showed how Katie was coaxed through her first big interview by a Scientology minder: "Katie Holmes, whose whirlwind engagement to Tom Cruise has produced one of Hollywood's more improbable unions, has taken on a new role - that of a lovestruck automaton.

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"In her first big interview since her betrothal to Cruise, the actress responded to every question with gushing platitudes as her Scientologist "minder" looked on approvingly."

In an interview with Der Spiegel, a vehement Tom Cruise said that the reason he had a Scientology tent pitched on the 'War of the Worlds' set was that he was "only trying to help people".

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard would be pleased - or is pleased (if you're a Scientologist and believe that Hubbard is busy sitting somewhere floaty on the outside of time).

The sci-fi author, philosopher and founder of the Church of Scientology (in 1950, his book 'Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health' was published; it has since sold over 20 million copies worldwide and is regarded as the foundation for the religion) was always intent on recruiting celebs.

In 1955, he inaugurated Project Celebrity, run by a special branch of the church, to minister Scientology to top Hollywood players: to guide their careers, monitor and control all their relationships (Katie, are you listening?) pamper to their whims and generally ensure that this brilliant "communication line" to the masses was fully utilised as part of his loopy plan of world domination.

But wait a minute. How could our darling Maverick be a sucker for such a bizarre philosophy?

David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology Center and the bona fide head of the movement today, has catapulted Scientology into the celebrity realm, recuiting an impressive star-studded cast of converts that include Tom (and now Katie Holmes), John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Priscilla Presley, Sonny Bono and others who invariably "promote" the religion to the masses.

And right now Scientology is enjoying a lot of time in the limelight – thanks be to Tom and Katie.

Scientology is a mixture of science fiction, religion and philosophy that is deeply rooted in Freudian thinking. According to Wikipedia.org, Scientology, originally established as a secular philosophy in 1952 by Hubbard, was only characterised by him in 1953 as an "applied religious philosophy".

The Church of Scientology's Project Celebrity is executed in the form of Celebrity Centres, country-club like houses that offer expensive counselling and career guidance to the chosen stars — the headquarters, The Celebrity Center International, has its conspicuous address in Franklin Avenue, overlooking the Hollywood Highway.

The actions of a convert are directed towards reaching various levels of spiritual enlightenment, or "clearing". A convert can progress beyond "clear", to becoming an OT, or Operating Thetan ("thetan" in Hubbard philosophy means "soul"). Scientologists believe that an OT is able to leave their body and mind.

According to author Peter Forde, who was once a member of the Church of Scientology's elite Sea Organisation: "OT3 is a secret, senior level within Scientology that can only be done after many other courses, by which time the client is well prepared, well behaved and ready to, if not believe, at least work with anything Hubbard says as being truth, ignoring all evidence to the contrary."

John Travolta is an OT3. So is Priscilla Presley.

You think this is bizarre? Wait for it: According to Scientology doctrine, "OT3 mainly concerns a supposed Incident II happening 75 Million years ago, when Xenu an officer in charge of the 76 local planets of the 'Galactic Confederation', solved overpopulation by mass exterminations, mostly by shootings."

"The souls of those killed were collected together, transported to volcanoes on earth, H-bombed at the volcanoes, collected up again using electronic ribbons and transported to Hawaii or Las Palmas. They were there subjected to 36 days of hypnotic 'implants' using films and simple apparatus, which in their already shocked state was supposedly very effective and kept them clustered together and trapped on earth as demons."

Scientologists say that each person has a number of these traumatised souls stuck on their bodies — Hubbard (the genius!) referred to them as "fleas". OT3 processing involves hypnosis — the subject is supposed to communicate with these souls and, in line with Dianetics theory, relieve their trauma by recalling the said Incident II.

Religious figures like Christ and Buddha, according to Scientologists, existed well above the level of "clear". So, according to Scientology, has John Travolta — there are pictures of him undergoing his routine OT3 processing on the internet, as are there of Priscilla Presley.

OT3s are, therefore, demi-gods.

It's no wonder that Scientology appeals to celebrities, many of whom have a penchant to view themselves as the said demi-gods. It is these celebrities, who have easily accessible "emotional buttons" (translate: big egos), and are vulnerable to "admiration bombing" (Scientology-speak for flooding them with attention and admiration) that are easy targets.

Take the jazz musician Chick Corea: a former head of the Celebrity Center, the late Yvonne Jentzsch would say: "I can get him to do anything for me, just give me the phone".

It's all a little funny: celebrity megastars being controlled like puppets who jump and smile in reaction to every emotional trigger calculated by their ever-present, omnipresent "counsellors".

But it's no laughing matter when you consider that the cost of reaching OT3 levels is around $350,000. When Hubbard said he was going to invent a religion that would make him rich, he wasn't joking.

» Scientology's reported abuses
» Scientology in the movies

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