A video clip of Tom Cruise gushing about the church of Scientology is making the rounds on the Internet.

The video was made in 2004.

On it, Cruise praises Scientology's virtues and speaks in great detail about the religion. He discusses his faith while the soundtrack to his "Mission: Impossible" films plays in the background.

In the video, Cruise said, "There is nothing better than ... going out there and fighting the fight and, suddenly you see, things are better."

A 24-second clip of the video is posted on celebrity gossip site TMZ.com showing Cruise discussing the areas in which Scientologists excel.

"We are the authorities of getting people off drugs," Cruise said in the clip. "We are the authorities on the mind."

Cruise also talked about what a Scientologist's duty is if he or she happens upon an accident.

"Being a Scientologist, driving past an accident, it's not like anyone else," Cruise said. "As you drive past, you know you have to do something about it because you know you're the only one that can really help."

TMZ said that the video was posted Monday on YouTube.com but quickly removed.

Another brief clip of the Cruise video was posted on TMZ on Thursday showing Cruise at what appears to be a Scientology awards ceremony, which concludes with the actor saluting a huge portrait onstage of whom he refers to as "LRH" -- Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

The leak of the clip comes at same time celebrity biographer Andrew Morton's "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography," hits bookshelves. In the book, Morton claims, among other things, that Cruise is second in command in the church.

And while Morton claimed in an interview with NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that the tome was a "fair, evenhanded treatment," the church responded with a 15-page statement calling it "a bigoted, defamatory assault replete with lies" and denying the second in command claim.