Robert Leleux on Lawrence Wright

As Wright is quick to point out, theology doesn’t have to make sense; there are aspects of any religion that can’t survive logical scrutiny. But even by that tolerant standard, Scientology is apt to strain credulity.

[…]

Wright—Austin resident and staff writer for The New Yorker—displays touching generosity with the absurdities of faith, and carefully balances that reserve with a desire to expose Scientology’s culture of exploitation.

So says Observer contributor Robert Leleux in his new review of Wright’s Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. READ THE WHOLE REVIEW HERE.

Meanwhile, The New York Times has weighed in on Wright’s book with a Scientology takedown masquerading as a book review.

And the Washington Post warns: “’Judge not that ye not be judged,’ Jesus said, but the case Wright builds calls for a jury…” READ THE WASHPO REVIEW HERE.

For a longer though no more dispassionate view, CHECK OUT THE UK GUARDIAN’S REVIEW, in which veteran critic David Thompson writes:

[Wright’s] book is admirably judicious and thoroughly researched (within the limits of secrecy or paranoia imposed by the church), but I often had the feeling that Wright himself was uncertain whether this was fit material for a sober book of non-fiction, or would he collapse in fits of helpless laughter and tears at the stuff he was obliged to report?