Beck at Forest Hills Stadium
photo by Ellen Qbertplaya

Beck says, "I'm not a Scientologist."

The Church of Scientology has many famous (and infamous) members, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, and Juliette Lewis among them. Beck has long been considered a member as well; he admitted to it in a June 2005 interview with the Irish Sunday Tribune:

“Yeah, I’m a Scientologist, ” Beck resumes once she has left. “My father has been a Scientologist for about 35 years, so I grew up in and around it and stuff.”

An October 2017 article in The Guardian also brings up his church membership:

He’s a Scientologist, something I’ve been forbidden to ask about. (When Beck has spoken about his religion in the past, he’s described it as “something personal”, inherited from his father.)

However, as Stereogum points out, the topic came up in a new The Sydney Morning Herald profile (were they allowed to ask about it?), where Beck says he actually isn’t a Scientologist:

I think there’s a misconception that I am a Scientologist. I’m not a Scientologist. I don’t have any connection or affiliation with it. My father has been a Scientologist for a long time, but I’ve pretty much just focused on my music and my work for most of my life, and tended to do my own thing … I think it’s just something people ran with.

Beck’s new album, Hyperspace, came out today.