Who is Roy Masters?

Kelly Hollowell's article discussing an email which explained to her "the actual mechanism behind intelligent design [-- t]hat is the mechanism by which God created the universe, our world and all biological life within it" and the evidence of this mechanism through physics -- reminded me of Roy Masters and his book "Finding God in Physics." I wouldn't be surprised if Hollowell's anonymous emailer was a follower of Masters. The reviews on Amazon indicate that Masters's book is not serious science any more than Intelligent Design in biology is serious science.

On another note, Roy Masters is quite an interesting character apart from all this. I've listened to and been amused by his radio show many times. His teachings are a mixture of Judeo-Christian fundamentalism, Eastern-New Age philosophy, Freudian psychology with the fundamentalist element coming out dominant. He sounds, at times, like a Protestant fundamentalist. But they regard him as a heretic and a cult leader. For instance, he denies the Trinity and teaches reliance on a New-Agey meditation exercise which Masters dubs "Judeo-Christian" meditation as essential for salvation.

Although he is fairly articulate, moderately well-read and a good "conversationalist" who enjoys to dialogue, he eschews the principles of logical debate, and instead relies on (what I would term, but he wouldn't) a "sub-Nietzchean assertiveness." "I'm right and you're wrong and know you are wrong, period." He's also full of himself and claims that anyone debating him will lose to his "will to power" (again, a term that he wouldn't use) and feel like they've just been hit by "a ton of bricks." He also can be quite rude and insulting to his followers and callers.

He attempts to attract religious fundamentalists as followers. And I've heard a number of them call him claiming to be "born-again" and "saved" only to have Masters reply "no you are not." He claims that one must have overcome his or her emotional problems in order to be saved and that it has taken him 50 or so years to "save his wife." He would reply to his callers, "you wouldn't be calling me with your problems if you were saved." Masters also claims that he doesn't sin (as I have heard him). Compare that with what he says here.

The absurd "I am without sin" quote attributed to me, and repeated endlessly by the media, to the best of my knowledge originally came from US magazine. As you can imagine, trying to describe the process of being "born again" to the average reporter is truly a dangerous prospect, especially if one's reputation will depend on that reporter's understanding of Christian mystery. I was so outraged by the seemingly intentional betrayal in that story that I sued US magazine. My case was so strong that the famous trial lawyer Melvin Belli took it on contingency. US eventually paid me in an, out-of-court settlement. But the damage that one article did to the Foundation of Human Understanding has been incalculable, because many Christians have believed it, and some have quoted it to others, who, however well-intentioned, spread this untruth to still others. Of course, only Jesus is without sin. To say otherwise is to deny the whole purpose of His coming into a sinful world in need of redemption. Thus, the Bible states that anyone who says he's without sin is a liar.

What Masters doesn't say here is that, while he may have sinned early on in life while he was still finding his way, he believes that he has achieved a point in his life where he doesn't sin anymore, hence his claiming that he doesn't sin, not that he is without sin.

Masters, in his hubris, claims to be a martial arts expert who, in his younger years, and still now in his 70s wouldn't hesitate to give someone a "knuckle-sandwich."

His son David had an extremely messy divorce from his wife that involved allegations of physical abuse from both Roy and David. In particular Roy got into a physical fight with his two granddaughters! It began when he accused them of being demon-possessed. He does claim, in his defense, that he was acting in self-defense. He said something along the lines of (forgive me I don't have a primary source from which to quote -- this is from memory), "when your grandchild is coming at you, you can't just stay there like a wimp and do nothing." So he slapped them down.

Masters has an interest in conservative media. His group owns the Talk Radio Network. Early on, he tried to break big with a "conservative journal," New Dimensions magazine, but when that started to hit it big, the religious right successfully quashed it, claiming that "The Washington Times, Insight (Unification Church), World Monitor (Christian Science), are not the only quality conservative publications owned by the cults." Some fundamentalists in the media don't regard him as dangerous; he is friendly with at least one of them, WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah, whom he knew from when both lived near one another in Oregon.

So are there any prominent figures who are followers of Masters? Yes. Michael Savage, who is part of Masters's Talk Radio Network. The "Reverend" Jesse Lee Peterson may be a follower of Masters, or if not he is one of his "Christian" allies. WorldNetDaily's Bob Just is a follower.

Most interestingly, Matt Drudge is a follower (Masters brags about this here and claims John Wayne to have been a follower as well.) It was even rumored that Drudge turned to Roy Masters and his meditation exercise in an attempt to become "ex-gay."