The German Protestant Church has attacked Tom Cruise, pictured, over his Scientology beliefs, likening the actor to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

The German Protestant Church has attacked Tom Cruise, pictured, over his Scientology beliefs, likening the actor to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Cruise is playing world war two hero Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg - who led an unsuccessful plot to assassinate Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler - in the new film, Rubicon, formerly titled Valkyrie.

But efforts to shoot the movie on military sites have been thwarted by Germany's defence ministry, allegedly because the German government views Cruise's Scientology beliefs as a "money-making cult" instead of a legitimate church.

The German Protestant Church has further ignited the feud by comparing the actor to one of Hitler's closest allies, renowned for his outspoken nature.

Thomas Gandow, the Church's chief spokesman on religious cults, dismissed Cruise's controversial religion as a "totalitarian organisation" with the Top Gun star equivalent to "the Goebbels of Scientology". - Wenn