Michael Buckner/Getty ImagesDanny Masterson tells it like it is.
The former That '70s Show star opened up for the first time ever about his "religious philosophy" and life as a second-generation Scientologist during a very candid, lengthy and expletive-filled interview with Paper magazine at the Sundance Film Festival.
And considering the topic and their location, it was inevitable to begin the discussion with Masteron's thoughts on the already-controversial Scientology documentary, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, which was about to premiere at the festival when the interview took place.
"I heard about that documentary; the documentary where they interviewed eight people who hate Scientology. Should be pretty interesting. 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," he exclaimed.
He adds that the Lawrence Wright book which inspired the doc wasn't even published in Canada or the UK because their libel laws are much stricter than ours. "There's basically like 200 lies in the book and so therefore he couldn't even publish that book."
Masterson also touched on fellow Hollywood star Paul Haggis' famous decision to leave the church on account of gay marriage, "Paul was just mad that, as a religion, we're not going to come out and say that we are for or against anything, which is a political matter. You'll [hear] over and over where people ask somebody in the church to give their opinions and it's like, 'We have no opinion in the world of politics. We are a religion.'"
When talking about his life as a Scientologist, the celeb admitted it's hard to explain for those who have not read founder L. Ron Hubbard's book Dianetics, but said that the controversial religion is basically helping one find a solution to their problem in a logical way.
That sparked another conversation about Scientology being pitted against psychiatry. "You will not find a Scientologist who does not f--king hate psychiatrists. Because their solution for mental and spiritual problems is drugs. So let's talk about putting 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. 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."
And after discussing his religion in-depth, Masterson concludes with one very simple message to all of the critics.
"I haven't had a conversation like this about my philosophy—I don't think ever. But I love doing it and have no problem doing it. 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. So if that's weird, then, well, you can go f--k yourself."
A shortened version of the interview will appear in Paper magazine's upcoming "Do You Believe" issue, hitting newsstands on Monday.