Brad Pitt has had an on-and-off relationship with religion throughout his life.
Born into Christianity, Brad started to explore other possibilities to his personal meaning and the greater picture of the world as he grew older.
“I cling to religion,” he told GQ in 2019, just after the release of his sci-fi mystery film Ad Astra. “I grew up with Christianity. Always questioned it, but it worked at times. And then when I got on my own, I completely left it and I called myself agnostic. Tried a few spiritual things but didn’t feel right.”
“Then I called myself an atheist for a while, just kind of being rebellious,” he continued. “I wasn’t really. But I kinda labeled myself that for a while. It felt punk rock enough. And then I found myself coming back around to just belief in—I hate to use the word spirituality, but just a belief in that we’re all connected.”
The Fight Club star first started fumbling with his faith in high school, where he said he had “crises of faith”.
“I’d go to Christian revivals and be moved by the Holy Spirit, and I’d go to rock concerts and feel the same fervor,” he explained to Parade in 2006. “Then I’d be told, ‘That’s the Devil’s music! Don’t partake in that!’ I wanted to experience things religion said not to experience.”
But it wasn’t totally a “loss of faith” for the Hollywood star, rather, he gained a fresh perspective on independence and wanted to explore himself in that respect.
He, in turn, used what he learned and most valued from being raised a Southern Baptist to define his own faith on his own terms.
“Religion works. I know there’s comfort there, a crash pad,” he reflected. “It’s something to explain the world and tell you there is something bigger than you, and it is going to be all right in the end. What’s important to me is that I’ve defined my beliefs and lived according to them and not betrayed them.”
Regardless of what God he decides to claim, he utilizes the practices and codes of value he learned from religion to live a life he’s both proud of and serious about.
“One of those is my belief in family,” he concluded. “I still have faith in that.”
And when it comes to spiritual connection, whether it’s between people or a God, he’s “very optimistic” about that possibility.
Sources:
https://www.gq.com/story/brad-pitt-cover-profile-october-2019
https://people.com/celebrity/brad-pitt-opens-up-about-his-faith/
