Chris O’Dowd, the adorable and also unexpectedly spunky star of Bridesmaids and The Sapphires has recently revealed some very strong views about religion.
He dubbed religion “unacceptable” and said that over time it would be thought of as being “like racism”.
He also said that someone would have to be “crazy” to believe in God, and that religious groups are like a “weird cult”.
(Expert tip: Obviously imagine all of these comments said in his adorable/sexy Irish accent – it just makes the whole thing even better.)
In an interview with GQ magazine, O’Dowd revealed that while he respected other people’s religious beliefs when he was younger, he has become less tolerant over time.
“For most of my life, I’ve been, ‘Hey, I’m not into it, but I respect your right to believe whatever you want’. But as time goes on, weirdly, I’m growing less liberal. I’m more like, ‘No, religion is ruining the world, you need to stop!’” O’Dowd said.
“There’s going to be a turning point where it’s going to be like racism,” O’Dowd said. “You know, ‘You’re not allowed to say that weird s**t! It’s mad! And you’re making everybody crazy!’”
The actor continued, “And you know, now America can’t have a president that doesn’t say he believes in God. So we’re f**ked! Like, they f**ked everything! You wanna go and live in your weird cult and talk about a man who lives in a cloud, you do that, but don’t. I mean, you really think that Barack Obama believes in God? No way!””
GQ did not approach either God or Barack Obama for a comment. Or, for that matter, God.
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Top Comments
I'm pretty late to this party, because I was not familiar with O'Dowd at all until I saw "Bridesmaids" (a movie he was in) for the first time in 2015, when it came on TV. I found O'Dowd's comments in GQ about people of faith unnecessarily offensive and very disappointing.
I really enjoyed that movie (Bridesmaids) and his role in it, and was assuming he must be as nice in real life as the character from the movie, but I was wrong.
A few years ago, O'Dowd was promoting another movie he was in called "Calvary," which features a priest as a main character, where he was saying (in the interview) how great he thought the Catholic Church was.
Then, in August of 2017, while promoting his cable TV show "Get Shorty," O'Dowd proclaimed that he is not "anti religion."
And yet, so far as I am aware, O'Dowd has never repudiated, or apologized for, these incredibly obnoxious anti-religion comments he made in 2014 to GQ magazine.
I wrote more about it here: The Inconsistency of Actor Chris O’Dowd Regarding Religion – His 2017 Comments
O'Dowd really lost me with this awful attitude. On his Twitter account, O'Dowd also fairly consistently insults and bashes anyone who does not share his political views, another reason I am not a fan or supporter. I now no longer have any interest in his career (in a positive way).
It's very sad that someone who I was expecting to be a nice guy in real life -as what I saw on screen- is, in reality, kind of a rude or mean -spirited jackass, and he is not the least bit apologetic about who he upsets.
Let's keep it simple: we have had the 'new atheism' throwing their binary thinking in the mainstream for over a decade now. I am atheist myself, but I don't think being a good atheist requires being an asshole. Chris O’Dowd is an idiot as he's trying to call the shots here. A man in his 'informed' position should have known that even in 2002/2003 the 'new atheism' was already running behind the reality: conflict-based solution rhetoric was already widely being treated as a thing of the past, not something we wanted to support in the 21st century anymore. Read your philosophers. Choose the best atheists if you prefer - read Thomas Nagel to begin with, perhaps. But atheists like us should always know these days that the Dawkins-era is one full of controversy and not eligible for further expansion. We don't want to run backward.
Atheists have to keep THEIR atheism (my atheism, too) out of OUR (read: humankind's) science. If we don't do this, then we can't ask Christians to keep their religion out of our science and our politics, for instance. Atheists can't have it both ways. We have to be more honest than this. To my Christian, Islamic and other religious friends: don't buy this shit. And don't think all atheists are like this please. I know too well how many believers don't take their religion all-literally. I may be godless but I know what a metaphor is, and I know old stories and myths are meant to convey some meaning. I also know the way you belief is not necessarily an 'exclusivist' belief, you don't necessarily think only those who believe in god can love their neighbors etc. So please, take Chris O’Dowd with a grain of salt. I would even say: take it with a bucket of salt.
@jcmmanuel:disqus . Thank you. I'm not an atheist, but I appreciate your level-headed response. I think I quoted parts of your comments in a blog post I made about O'Dowd.
The thing that bothers me about O'Dowd's religious views is not that he's an atheist, but that he feels it's acceptable to be a jerk about his atheism (ie, insulting people of faith).
Anyway, I wrote another post about him here, if you are interested (he's now claiming he's not "anti religion," but he's never apologized for his anti-religion rant of 2014): The Inconsistency of Actor Chris O’Dowd Regarding Religion – His 2017 Comments