Erika Christensen calls critics of Scientology ‘irrelevant’

Erika Christensen has dubbed critics of the Church Of Scientology “irrelevant”.
In an interview with her Parenthood co-star and on-screen brother Dax Shepard for an episode of his podcast, Armchair Expert, Erika, opened up on her lifelong association with the religious organisation founded by L Ron Hubbard, which counts Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its celebrity stuffed ranks.
The organisation was the subject of explosive 2015 HBO documentary Going Clear, in which filmmaker Alex Gibney revealed abuses and strange practices within the controversial church.
According to People, when Shepard inquired about the criticism the church has faced, Erika answered: “I don’t think it comes from critical thinking.”
“Honestly it doesn’t have anything to do with … anything that I’ve ever learned about the group or organisation as a group or organisation,” the pregnant actress answered when asked why she won’t watch the documentary. “To be specific about (Going Clear), if somebody has read a book, read Dianetics or some Scientology book, and wants to philosophically tell me what they disagree with, cool. That is a totally different thing… But specifically with that documentary, the documentary was based on a book, the book was not even published in certain English-speaking countries because the libel laws are stricter than they are here.”
The actress was referring to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright’s book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief, which provided the source material.
At the time the Church of Scientology called the book “blatantly bigoted” and insisted it is “filled with inaccuracies and misstatements of fact”.
“There’s so much that is actually — talking about sources… They have proved themselves to be irrelevant. That’s what I look at mostly is the source and I get to evaluate the source and go, ‘Oh, okay, that person has been convicted of perjury previously.’ So no, there’s no relevance in what they’re saying,” concluded the actress, whose response echoed an official statement from the church published on website The Daily Beast in 2013.