Scientologist Elisabeth Moss believes that people have the wrong idea about this controversial religion.
“It’s not really a closed religion,” “Handmaid’s Tale” actress said in an interview with the New Yorker published on Friday. “It is a place that is very open to receiving someone who wants to learn more about it. I think that’s what’s probably the most misunderstood.”
Moss, who grew up in the church, said he cannot control how the public perceives Scientology and can only share his own experience.
“Obviously, people can hold whatever they want in their mind, and I can’t control that. If it’s not that, it’s something else,” said Moss, 39.
Scientology has been accused of practices such as mind control, making family members cut ties with apostates, also known as disengagement, and assigning troublesome members to forced labor. However, the church calls the accusations “false and mischaracterized,” according to the website.
When asked what “The Handmaid’s Tale” views might think of his involvement with the church, he repeatedly said, “I would just encourage people to find out for themselves.”
He added: “I have certainly been guilty of reading an article or seeing something and taking it as gospel… And obviously something like religious freedom and resistance against a theocracy is very important to me.”
Moss also shared how her attraction to playing roles dealing with trauma coincides with her religion.
“Well, I think it’s more about those traumatic incidents, or those moments of pain, whether emotional or physical, that keep you from being who you are now,” he said.
Moss also explained that growing up, Scientology taught him how to communicate better.
“Communication is something that I obviously use a lot, not only in my work but also in my interpersonal relationships,” he said. “That’s probably one of the #1 basic things that I grew up learning and grew up using and using every day: the power to be able to listen to someone, to make someone feel heard, to not put them down for what they say. you think or believe, even if you think it’s wrong.”
He also addressed rumors that he walked out of the room at an awards ceremony in 2017 where Leah Remini, a church dropout, won for her anti-Scientology docuseries.
“I went to the bathroom,” Moss said, adding, “I wish it was more exciting than that.”
Remini claimed in particular that the Church has forbidden Moss to speak to her, but Moss claims that the “King Of Queens” actress has never approached her.
“I have never received any request to speak to her. So there hasn’t been an opportunity for her to say that. I don’t know her very well, so it’s not like we’re friends,” Moss said.
Other celebrities who practice Scientology include John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Kirstie Alley.
Reference-pagesix.com