Danny Masterson Talks About Life In Scientology—Tells Naysayers To 'Go F**K' Themselves
Feb. 11 2015, Published 7:51 p.m. ET
Danny Masterson, a second-generation Scientologist, is opening up about his belief in what he calls a "philosophy" of the mind.
"I didn't really notice anything different in terms of my upbringing till I was in junior high school," Masterson, 38, said of his upbringing in New York during a recent interview with Paper. "I was able to just be friends with my parents. A lot of people have that in their life, but I noticed that all my friends who were Scientologists, kids I had grown up with, we all sort of had the same thing: easy communication. It wasn't this whole 'us versus them' thing."
The 38-year-old actor noted that with Scientology "there's no belief system or anyone who's worshipped" so it's "sort of like college of the mind."
"Everything in Scientology is just based on logic," he noted. "I mean, the word Scientology means the study of knowledge. So there's nothing else to it."
While Masterson began his Scientology coursework at around 8 years old, it was reading L. Ron Hubbard's book Dianetics at about 15 that changed everything.
"I was like, 'Oh, this is f**king awesome,'" he said. "It just blew my mind. I was like, that's the reason why I have the thoughts that I have and don't want them, or why I behave in a certain way when something happens and I don't know why."
What he does know is that he especially dislikes psychiatrists because "their solution for mental and spiritual problems is drugs," which he considers "a Band-Aid on something that's just going to get worse and worse and worse."
"Scientology handles those things, those mental problems that people have. It gets rid of them. It gets rid of them by that person doing it for themselves," he said. "That's the solution to depression, not f**kin' Prozac and whatever other pill that makes the kid then walk into a goddamn school and kill other kids."
The controversial new documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is another touchy subject.
"I heard about that documentary; the documentary where they interviewed eight people who hate Scientology," he blasted. "I wonder if Sundance would allow a documentary of, like, eight people who hate Judaism. But you know, my religion's fair game, I guess, 'cause it's new."
And don't get Masterson started on the book Going Clear.
"I only heard about the book recently…How true it is, I guess that's up to the reader. If you're going to write something and you don't ask the people who actually do it, then what's the f**king point? We could all interview the KKK about what's cool about being white, but we don't. I don't know; it just seems retarded to me."
Still, the That '70s Show star insisted that believing in Scientology has not been a problem.
"I've never been given a hard time my entire life about my belief system or my philosophy in life," he insisted. "Literally never once in 38 years. If people start like asking questions in a way where I feel like they have an ulterior motive, I'm just like, "Dude, just go buy a f**king book and read it and decide for your f**king self what it means. I don't have time to have this conversation with you."
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And if you still find Masterson's way of thinking odd?
"I work, I have a family and I'm a spiritual being who likes to understand why things happen in the world and want to learn more so that I can have them not affect me adversely," he said. "So if that's weird, then, well, you can go f**k yourself.
