Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been making headlines and raising eyebrows over his latest comments surrounding religion. Rodgers opened up about his Christian background and leaving the faith on Danica Patrick’s podcast.
The quarterback explained that while he was once heavily involved in Christianity, particularly a ministry called Young Life, he started to have doubts about the fundamentals of his faith as he grew older. And the idea of church felt more ritualistic than it felt like a house to cultivate a relationship with Jesus.
“Most people that I knew, church was just… you just had to go,” he recalled.
He also felt that the Bible was not to be taken literally. “The Bible opens with a poem,” he said in a 2017 ESPN Magazine profile. “It’s a beautiful piece of work, but it was never meant to be interpreted as I think some churches do.”
One of the Super Bowl XLV champion’s biggest questions involved the idea of eternal punishment in hell. “I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell,” says Rodgers in the 5-minute clip with Patrick. That particular quote has made its rounds on social media, most notably after making the front page of Reddit and being shared by The Caring Atheist’s Twitter account.
American Quarterback & Superbowl winner Aaron Rodgers has left Christianity.
“I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell”.Fact: All religions who have a “hell” have it of course to scare people to follow the religion.
— The Caring Atheist (@Caring_Atheist) January 21, 2020
