Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk described himself as a “cultural Christian” in a recent interview with psychologist Jordan Peterson.
“While I’m not a particularly religious person, I do believe that the teachings of Jesus are good and wise, and that there’s tremendous wisdom in turning the other cheek,” Musk said. “This notion of forgiveness is important. I think it’s essential, because if you don’t forgive, I forget who said it, but ‘an eye for an eye makes everyone blind.’ So I’m a big believer in the principles of Christianity.”
“So in what sense then are you not religious?” Peterson asked. “So Richard Dawkins just came out and announced he’s a cultural Christian.”
“Right,” Musk replied. “I would say I’m probably a cultural Christian. I was brought up Anglican, and I was baptized.”
It is not the first time the tech innovator has talked about faith. In a 2022 interview with the Babylon Bee, he also shared his thoughts on Jesus.
“Babylon Bee is a Christian organization and we’re a ministry. …To make this church, we’re wondering if you could do us a quick solid and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior? … Personal Lord and Savior. It’s a quick prayer,” said the Bee’s Creative Director Ethan Nicolle.
Musk seems briefly stunned but then stated, “I agree with the principles that Jesus advocated. There’s some great wisdom in the teachings of Jesus, and I agree with those teachings.”
He elaborated, “Forgiveness is important and treating people as you would wish to be treated. ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself.'”
“But hey, if Jesus is saving people, I mean, I won’t stand in His way,” Musk added. “Sure, I’ll be saved. Why not?”
“I think he just said yes,” Nicolle asserted.
Musk, who has been an outspoken advocate for encouraging people to have more children, added that religion plays a vital part in a country’s beliefs on having kids. “There’s an argument that when a culture loses its religion, it starts to become anti-natalist and declines in numbers and potentially disappear,” he said.
Musk also revealed why he has more regularly slammed “the woke mind virus,” especially in regard to gender procedures on children.
“I was essentially tricked into signing documents for one of my older boys, Xavier,” he said. “This was really before I had any understanding of what was going on, and we had COVID going on, so there was a lot of confusion. And I was told Xavier might commit suicide. I lost my son, essentially. They call it ‘deadnaming’ for a reason. The reason they call it ‘deadnaming’ is because your son is dead, so my son, Xavier, is dead, killed by the woke mind virus. So I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that. And we’re making some progress.”
Musk went on to talk about faith and culture.
“There’s an argument that when a culture loses its religion that it starts to become anti-natalist and decline in numbers and potentially disappear,” Musk said.
Peterson then brought up famed atheist Richard Dawkins who also recently described himself as a “cultural Christian” saying it was the best hope for civilization.
“I do think that we are culturally a Christian country,” Dawkins said of the United Kingdom, “and I call myself a cultural Christian.”
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice