There are many celebrities that pique people’s interests, and religion is one of the top things that people wonder about. Often how people carry themselves and the things they work with and promote reflect hints of what their religious beliefs might be. It is, however, not necessary or something that occurs for everyone. Elon Musk is one such public figure, who’s religious background people often wonder about. So much so that ‘Elon Musk religion’ is a common search engine query.
To confirm doubts, Musk does not believe in any particular religious entity, as he has conveyed several times in interviews and talks. He has never used specific terms to identify himself, which is why people who have heard him talk about science and technology don’t necessarily gauge the fact that he is a non-believer.
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Musk is what can be categorized as either atheist or agnostic in terms of religion. These two are pretty common ways people who are not religiously inclined view it. If however, you have the opportunity to ask him if he considers himself a non-believer, his answer would revolve around how belief does not necessarily have to be in a religious entity.
Atheist vs Agnostic Belief
These two types of views regarding religion and God are not too far apart from each other but they are not the same either. People who are agnostic believe that whether there is a God or a divine power that makes and controls the entire universe is something that is not only unknown but also cannot be known by us human beings. This does not mean they believe there is a God, we just don’t have sufficient proof to show it. Rather it proposes that we don’t have the proof of God, or the proof that there is no God.
On the other hand, atheists believe that there is no God, or divine power or entity that made us, or has power over the entire universe. Their only belief is in the knowledge and data science provides to prove theories that scientists bring forth to us.
Bringing ‘Elon Musk religion’ back here to state that, saying he belongs somewhere in both of these categories or in a combination of them would not be far from the truth. His own quotes and statements in matters where he was asked about religion prove this easily.
Contradicting Statements
“I do devote myself to the advancement of humanity, by using technology,” Musk can be seen answering Rainn Wilson, actor and author who is famous for portraying Dwight Schrute in the famous TV series ‘The Office’. Wilson had asked Musk what he worshiped, eliciting that response from him. He also confirmed his non-believer view by stating that he has never prayed once, “I didn’t even pray when I almost died of malaria.”
Despite all of his own statements regarding his view of religion, Musk is a rather controversial figure, and often can be seen in hot waters for his stances. Contradicting all of his statements on his non-believer stance, once at a Falcon Lunch Musk announced, asking “any entities that are listening” to “please, bless this launch.” If considered from the lens of faith, this goes beyond anything said about the man’s beliefs above and in his own statement.
However, there is no way of telling whether this above announcement was made mockingly and sarcastically or insincerely but to appease believers who were present. Against whether it was said because Musk has a feather of belief that there is someone looking after us after all.
At the same time, he continues to say things to impose his non-believer stance such as this quote, “Do I think that there’s some sort of master intelligence architecting all of this stuff? I think probably not, because then you have to say: “Where does the master intelligence come from?”… I think, really, you can explain this with the fundamental laws of physics… complex phenomenon from simple elements.” All this to conclude that the contradictory statements regarding ‘Elon Musk religion’ by himself can act as a function of more complicated and less straightforward nature of how religion and belief systems have now turned out to be. Despite what Musk believes or does not believe in, this gives us more nuance on the matter of faith. Maybe it is okay for people to think in grey areas and discover things at their own pace, no matter which side they are going towards, whether they are a multi-billion dollar company owner or not.