Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told Danica Patrick on her podcast, Pretty Intense, that he has questioned the existence of God.
“I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell,” he says in the clip about growing up. He was speaking to Danica Patrick about a range of topics. Patrick is Rodgers’ girlfriend.
Rodgers says he was involved in the Christian ministry Young Life and grew up attending a nondenominational church with his parents.
In 2017, Rodgers talked about his friendship with Rob Bell in an ESPN the Magazine story. Bell is a preacher and author who wrote a book that questioned the traditional teachings of hell.
“Listing all the ways in which Rob has positively impacted my life would take up too much space; so I’ll simply say that he has inspired me to live life with a deeper level of appreciation and to love people with a greater awareness of our connectivity,” Rodgers said in an endorsement of Bell’s book, How to Be Here.
On the Bible, Rodgers said: “The Bible opens with a poem. It’s a beautiful piece of work, but it was never meant to be interpreted as I think some churches do.”
Also in the interview, Rodgers said he started to question evangelism and salvation.
He said in the interview he doesn’t identify with any affiliation and does not call himself a Christian.
“I think in people’s lives who grew up in some sort of organized religion, there really comes a time when you start to question things more,” he says. “It happens for some at an early age; others, you know, maybe a little older. That happened to me six or seven years ago.”
Watch his full interview with Patrick here.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Harry How/Staff
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
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