This news comes as an immense relief, for when Trent Reznor hired Justin Meldal-Johnsen as Nine Inch Nails’ touring bassist, I naturally freaked out. The dude is a Scientologist, after all, and if you’re at all familiar with my rants on Scientology , well, that pretty much says it all. So, when Digg founder Kevin Rose interviewed Trent Reznor on DiggDialog, I was quite pleased to see this question pop up:
10. Last year, [art director] Rob Sheridan photographed people en mass protesting the “church” of Scientology. You current bassist, JMJ [Justin Medal-Johnsen], is a Scientologist. I’m curious if there has been any tension between the two over Rob’s coverage of the Scientology protest?
Reznor’s answer was pretty much what I expected, that is, both frank and diplomatic:
Ahh. Well, um, not that I know of, and I’ll use this a platform to say when we were looking for a bass player, Justin’s name popped up, and he was interested. I’ve always heard he was a great bass player and a nice guy, and after a small amount of research, Scientology gets associated with him. In my own experience, I had ever really met or been around anybody that was a Scientologist. I’m not a Scientologist. I’m also not religious in any way. We auditioned him, and he seemed like a cool guy and a nice guy, and he’s a great bass player, and we decided to move ahead.
Shortly thereafter, being in the band, we had a very frank talk. We were at some point in the initial stages, he and I sat down and just had a frank talk about respect, and do I feel that it’s a problem that he’s a Scientologist? I don’t have a problem with that, but most of what I know about it is what I’ve heard through biased media that portrays things as, you know, crazy stories. But yet I meet a guy who’s completely together and nice and not brainwashed and a smart and likeable, well, he’s become a good friend, and he said, “All I’m looking for is a respectful situation to work, and I said, “So am I. You know, I’m trying to help provide that. I’m a recovering addict. Do you have a problem with that? No? Alright.” There hasn’t been any type of issue with that, and it’s just a matter of common sense and tolerance.
I mean, if you wanna get into it, if you put Christianity on one hand and Scientology on the other, what’s created more problems in the world? Not an argument that I think a Christian would wanna get into. All of that is irrelevant. In the band, for the first time, really, I feel like we’re all friends and respect each other, and the crew and everybody likes each other and, finally, adults going out there and trying to change the world.
Like I said, I pretty much expected this answer from Rez. However, I’d like to point out that Christianity has been around for thousands of years, while Scientology has been around for a mere fifty years. So, any comparison between the deeds committed in the name of both religions is, well, largely a deceptive argument. Damn, that’s the first time that I’ve ever declared a thought by Trent Reznor to be even slightly inaccurate. Still, I am relieved to receive confirmation that Rez won’t be signing on to the cult of doom.
Go Watch The Whole Interview: Trent Reznor on DiggDialog
2 comments
Well it’s not so much incorrect as spurious. On the face of it he’s correct, but it doesn’t matter because, like you said, Scientology isn’t that old. Christianity has killed more people than Charles Manson also, but I don’t think anybody would consider making him Pope.
This sort of line has been trotted out by undercover Scientologists in the past, such as Will Smith and Pink. It’s this sort of diplomacy that keeps cults going. If I met someone who I thought was a nice person but then I found out that they were a rapist, or they owned a sweatshop then I wouldn’t have anything else to do with them, and noone who has definite values against anything would.