Is Will Smith A Scientologist? Is He Funding A New Scientology School?

Will Smith 's soon-to-open private school is not a Scientology facility, as some reports have suggested, the academy's director said.

Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have founded the New Village Academy, scheduled to open in September.

The school will use instructional methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard called study technology. And a few teachers belong to the church.

But the couple says they are not Scientologists, and the academy's director insists the facility has no religious affiliation.

"We are a secular school, and just like all nonreligious independent schools, faculty and staff do not promote their own religions at school or pass on the beliefs of their particular faith to children," New Village Academy director Jacqueline Olivier told the Los Angeles Times.

Oliver said some of the school's staffers are Scientologists, Muslim, Christian or Jewish. In addition to reading and math, the school offers classes on yoga, robotics and etiquette.

But some distressing news is starting to surface around Hollywood about Smith and his association with Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology.

Last year it was reported that Cruise had been tasked with getting Smith and his wife into the religion. Now there are reports that claim Will was talking up the unorthodox religion to anyone who would listen on the set of his new movie, Hancock, opening July 4th. (See Review And Trailer)

"He gave out Scientology pamphlets at the end of the shoot," says biographer Andrew Morton, who published an unauthorized biography on Scientology's number one man Tom Cruise last year.

"It's also been said that he and Jada are home schooling their children in Scientology methods," Morton insists.

In a new interview with USA Today, Will Smith defended his pal Tom Cruise. Smith mentioned that all the criticism Tom received because of his Scientology faith was:

"Painful for me to see. I've met very few people committed to goodness the way Tom is. We disagree on a lot of things. But even with different faiths and different beliefs, at the end of the day, goodness is goodness."

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