Brad Pitt: Christianity Doesn't Work for Me
Brad Pitt, star of the movie “The Tree of Life,” has been speaking out more about his resentment towards religion.
In a recent interview with Time magazine, Pitt was asked about his position on the Christian narrative of “The Tree of Life” and he explained that although he was struck by the spirituality of the film and the peace he can find through it, he is not fond of religion.
"I'd say that 'Tree of Life' is not a Christian so much as a spiritual film," he said. "I was surprised, watching it last night, how powerfully it struck me. What the film was saying to me is that there is an unexplained power; there is this force. And maybe peace can be found, but not by trying to explain it with the religion. Maybe there's peace to be found just in that acceptance of the unknown.”
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Brad Pitt briefly mentioned that he grew up in a Christian environment but that the religion is no longer for him.
"[A]s I became an adult - it doesn't work for me," he told the magazine.
Pitt didn’t go in depth about Christianity, saying, “I got my issues; I can't talk about it without getting a little bit hot. It's probably not best for me to talk about that.”
In an earlier interview with Extra, the famed actor who grew up as a Southern Baptist, made similar comments about his discontentment with religion.
“I got brought up being told things were God’s way, and when things didn’t work out it was called God’s plan,” he said. “I’ve got my issues with it. Don’t get me started. I found it very stifling.”
While he’d rather avoid talking about the topic because “so many wars are spawned by it,” Pitt told Time he feels “comfortable playing within the religious iconography, because I lived that.”
Pitt said he appreciates Terrence Malick’s embrace of Christianity and other religions without pulling out the “textbook definition of Christianity.” Malick is director of “The Tree of Life.”
“You're looking at a man who loves science, and has an interpretation and a feeling for God. In America, those two things usually don't coincide. And yet he sees the two as one: he sees God in science and science in God,” Pitt said.
The movie opened in select theaters May 27.
