Yesterday, we reported that the New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was opening up about the infamous falling out that he’s had with his family. He did so in his new Netflix docuseries Aaron Rodgers: Enigma.
Now, it’s been revealed that in this same docuseries, Rodgers admits that his own questioning of Christianity damaged the relationship that he once had with his family.
Rodgers Questions Christianity
“I got into Rob Bell’s work with his NOOMA videos after 2011 and kind of culminating in 2014, and he was kind of retelling the stories of the Bible that I grew up on in a new and interesting way,” began Rodgers, 41. He added that he “made sure he went” to a lecture Bell hosted in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“He loved everybody and he didn’t judge people,” Rodgers recalled. “The culture I grew up in is black and white. Black and white is you’re either this or you’re that. There’s no grey area. He was a big help for me to totally unravel the religion of my youth.”
This lecture ended up changing Rodgers’ life. Immediately afterwards, he “started looking into other ways of thinking and spirituality.” Rodgers also began “reading a lot of different types of books, philosophy books, self-help book.” This helped him find “the courage to speak my feelings better.”
Related: Aaron Rodgers Opens Up About His Falling Out With His Family
Rodgers’ Family Estrangement
Sadly, this seems to have played a major role in Rodgers’ subsequent estrangement from his family.
“I started to stand up to institutions of my youth,” Rodgers explained. “And that was everything from organized religion, my parents, dogma, ideology, and that definitely changed the dynamics of my family, because I was just questioning all of it.”
Rodgers has previously said that he grew up attending church with his family every Sunday. Over the past few years, however, he’s made it clear that he’s questioned his faith throughout his life. Back in 2020, Rodgers gave an interview in which he slammed organized religion. He went so far as to say that it can be used as a “crutch.” Rodgers also said that it “can be something that people have to have to make themselves feel better,” specifically “about themselves.”
“I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell,” he said at the time. “What type of loving, sensitive, omnipresent, omnipotent being wants to condemn his beautiful creation to a fiery hell at the end of all this?”
Related: Aaron Rodgers Suggests Jets Suffering From ‘Some Sort Of Curse’
Rodgers’ Family ‘Dismayed’ By His Comments
This didn’t sit well with Rodgers’ family, who he was already estranged from at this time. One insider told People Magazine that Rodgers’ parents and brothers were “dismayed” by his anti-religious comments.
“To them, his comments are basically a slap in the face to the fundamentals of who they are,” this source claimed. “It’s basically him turning his back on everything they have taught him.”
Despite this, in his Netflix docuseries, Rodgers claims to be open to reconciling with his family.
“People ask me, like, is there hope for a reconciliation? I say, ‘Yeah, of course, of course,'” Rodgers said in the docuseries. “I don’t want them to fail, to struggle, to have any strife or issues…I don’t wish any ill-will on them at all. It’s more like this: We’re just different steps on the timeline of our own journeys.”
Regardless of Rodgers’ take on religion, whether you agree with it or not, it would still be nice to see him reconcile with his family. Here’s hoping that happens at some point in the future!
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