Rousing sermon

London, Jan. 21: A respected German historian has compared a speech by actor Tom Cruise to the Church of Scientology with a call to war by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Guido Knopp, an expert on World War II history, told a German newspaper: “Tom Cruise’s manner calls to mind Goebbels.” The historian was commenting on a video recording of a rousing sermon Cruise, 45, delivered to fellow Scientology members four years ago.

The star is seen asking fellow members of the church: “Should we clean this place up?” The crowd responds with rapturous cheers. Knopp said it was bound to remind Germans of Goebbels’s notorious call for “total war” issued in Berlin on February 18, 1943.

“It is possible that the way in which Cruise speaks is common in many empowerment circles in the US,” he said.

“But the scene in which Cruise asks if the Scientologists should clean up the world and they all respond 'yes' will remind any German of Goebbels’s infamous Sports Palace speech.”