Beloved astrophysicist, movie fact-checker, motorist and general mind-blower Neil deGrasse Tyson was recently asked his opinion on Scientology by a Daily Beast reporter, because, well, he's a scientist.
OK, asking a scientist his feelings about Scientology is about as relevant as asking a veterinarian about Pentecostal snake handlers in that they're only superficially related, but hey, we won't lie, we were still interested in what he had to say, especially after watching HBO's Going Clear (which Tyson didn't see, by the way).
From the interview:
I’m curious what your take on Scientology is, because the intergalactic story of Xenu does encroach on your territory a bit.
"So, you have people who are certain that a man in a robe transforms a cracker into the literal body of Jesus saying that what goes on in Scientology is crazy? Let’s realize this: What matters is not who says who’s crazy, what matters is we live in a free country. You can believe whatever you want, otherwise it’s not a free country—it’s something else. If we start controlling what people think and why they think it, we have case studies where that became the norm. I don’t care what the tenets are of Scientology. They don’t distract me. I don’t judge them, and I don’t criticize them."
Tyson goes on to point out that there are ideas and rituals in Judaism and Mormonism that are "as space-exotic" as some of those in Scientology, but that those religions seem to be accepted because they've been around longer.
"But religions, if you analyze them, who is to say that one religion is rational and another isn’t? It looks like the older those thoughts have been around, the likelier it is to be declared a religion. If you’ve been around 1,000 years you’re a religion, and if you’ve been around 100 years, you’re a cult."
Overall though, Tyson seemed to feel the strongest about the need to maintain separation of church and state in America.
"The line I’m drawing is that there are religions and belief systems, and objective truths. And if we’re going to govern a country, we need to base that governance on objective truths—not your personal belief system."
There's a lot more in this interview and it's cool to see what Tyson had to say about some issues outside of his usual expertise. It's definitely worth a read if you have time for the whole thing.
