People enjoy joking about Scientology. Next to laughing about Paris Hilton‘s herpes medication, the religion is one of the most revisited topics in comedy routines today. And for the most part, that’s fine — chuckles for everyone are allowed. But one person we all should be aware of before cracking up about the L. Ron Hubbard-founded Church is Kelly Preston, who recently told Health magazine that the religion helped her cope with the death of the 16 year-old son she had with John Travolta, Jett, who passed away after suffering a seizure in January of 2009. On what pushed her through the unthinkably tough time, Preston explained “To be honest, [it was] the Scientology Center. I don’t know if I would have made it without it.” It appears as though the religion also encouraged her to push forward with her life, because then she explained how she found out she was pregnant two years after Jett’s death: “We [had been trying] for quite a few years. When I found out I was pregnant, I was floored. I’d snuck out of bed and then came back and woke Johnny up in bed. We both started crying. It was wonderful.” So even though we can’t erase the Scientology episode of South Park from the world’s records, we should really start focusing more on how incredible it is when people overcome a tremendous tragedy, instead of obsessing over how crazy or strange the beliefs that helped them keep going are.
