Alex Gibney Quotes

Growing up, my religious identity was primarily one of confusion. Nothing was pushed on me; nothing was overtly offered.

I would say I'm - in the show, I'm a cultural Catholic, which is what I was.

I went to a Catholic University and there's something about being a Catholic-American. You know, St. Patrick's Day is, I'm Irish-Catholic. There's alcoholism in my family. It's like I've got to be Catholic, right?

It's a beautiful religion and I wish I understood it more. No, I don't want to understand it all. It's beautiful because it's always a mystery. Sometimes I say I don't believe in God and Jesus and Mary. I'm a bad Catholic because I miss mass once in a while and I grumble when, at confession, I get a heavy penance for something I couldn't help doing. But good or bad, I am a Catholic and I'll never be anything else. Of course, I didn't ask to be born Catholic, no more than I asked to be born American. But I'm glad it turned out that I'm both these things.

I grew up Mormon. I wasn't really Mormon, my parents were.

Most Muslims do not 'choose' Islam in the way that they choose to become doctors or lawyers, nor even in the way that they choose to become fans of Coldplay or Radiohead. Most Muslims, like people of any faith, are born into their religion.

My upbringing was completely liberal from the start. In fact, I didn't even have a Muslim identity.

Religions cannot change you. If you are angry, you will become an angry Muslim or Hindu. If you are righteous, you will become a righteous Christian or Jew.

I wouldn't call myself religious. I'm spiritual. Everybody's a bit more so as you get older. I'm a cultural Catholic; it's inescapable, but I think I have to believe.

I may be a good Catholic, a bad Catholic or a so-so Catholic, but that's who I am.

If we get you in the early years of your life and we fill your head with all of the Catholic stories, then it's very hard for you to stop being Catholic. Catholics are Catholics because they like being Catholic.

You subtract Christianity from Huston Smith, and there is no Huston Smith left.

I am - and have always been - a Methodist.

I'm not a practice religion freak. I didn't grow up in a religious family, but I have a faith.

I'm a good Catholic boy.

I'm not a beatnik. I'm a Catholic.

Spiritually, I'm Jewish.

I grew up in church. I don't know anything different.

Without God, for me, I'm not the best version of myself.

Jewishness is a very big part of my identity. I am a proud Jew, I would say, who doesn't practice very actively.

In high school, I came to realize I had a second-hand faith, derived from my parents and family background. I had no actual reasons for believing it.

No child really chooses his religion; it is just the luck of the draw which blanket of beliefs you are wrapped in.

I may be Jewish, but my religion is hip-hop.

People believe in God because they've been conditioned to believe in God.

It is well said, in every sense, that a man's religion is the chief fact with regard to him.