Thanks largely to Tom Cruise, the official website of the Scientology religion is getting up to 375,000 visitors a day.

Cruise has courted controversy repeatedly by appearing on TV shows and publicizing Scientology, which teaches that psychiatry and drugs, even medicinal, are dangerous.

Ever since he declared his love for "Batman Begins" actress Katie Holmes on the Oprah Winfrey Show in a very uncharacteristic display of excitement, visits to the church's official website have shot up 263 percent.

Google has also listed Scientology as the 10th fastest gaining query for the week of June 27.

Cruise is a follower of the Church Of Scientology that was founded by L. Ron Hubbard and has even been labelled as a cult by some critics.

The publicity seems to have helped increase book sales of Scientology.

According to a representative for the publishing company Barnes & Noble, "Sales of Dianetics (Scientology) in the last month have more than doubled. It took off in 1985 and has been a huge best-seller for about five years," she said.

"It's a title we stock in all our stores at all times and we anticipate a strong year."

The church claims to have five million members all over the world but critics say the actual figure is closer to 80,000.