Is Dan Reynolds Still Mormon? New Details On The Imagine Dragons Singer And His Crisis Of Faith
Faith isn't easy.
Instagram When you're the lead singer of a famous rock band, your life is a little bit different than most other people's lives. Sure, you eat, you sleep, you go to work, but dig even a little bit deeper and the differences run rampant. It can be close to impossible for famous singers to have a private life, and when they do everything they say and do is under tremendous scrunity. That was certainly the case for Imagine Dragons lead singer, Dan Reynolds. Raised in a conservative Mormon household, grappling with his own faith wasn't something Dan had the good fortune to do privately. Now people are wondering, is he really still a Mormon? Here's what we found out with just a little digging...Is Dan Reynolds still Mormon?
1. Raised Religious
The leader singer of Imagine Dragons, Dan Reynolds, is every inch the rockstar. He puts everything he has into his music both in n the studio and performing in front of a massive crowd. But some of his biggest fans don't know that Dan, 31, for all his rock and roll attitude didn't come out of the womb ready to break all the rules. He was actually raised in a very conserative Mormon household.
Nowadays, his relationship with the church of his childhood has changed, and while he doesn't agree with everything the Mormon faith preaches, he recognizes the importance culturally it has had in his life. “I think people need more room to just be unique but also be a part of a culture if it feels good for them, but also have their own beliefs within it. I just hate generalizing," said Dan.
2. Unique Mormon
Though the family he grew up with in Las Vegas took their religion very seriously, Dan has now picked a different path for himself, though he is wary of speaking in absolutes when it comes to something as personal as faith. When he asked, he's likely to say that he identifies as being more of a spiritual person, not so much as a person who is religious. That said, he still uses the word "Mormon" to define himself.
“I’m a very unique Mormon,” Reynolds said in an interview with People. “I hate that people have to be pigeonholed. Some days I don’t believe in anything — some days I’m probably more atheist than your atheist friend. And some days I want to pray to God.” If he doesn't sound like your average Mormon, that's because in almost every single way, Dan isn't one. And don't we all know someone from other religions —Catholic, Jewish, Baptist, etc that ascribe to the same ethos as adults?
3. Don't Judge
Something that has always mattered to Dan is that regardless of what he or anyone else may believe, is that those beliefs are personal. While you might think you have a complete understanding of a religion just from reading the Wikipedia page, the reality is often much more complex. This is something that Dan has spoken up at length about in the past.
It's a subject that Dan is deeply aware of, and when he gives careful thought. “A lot of times, people are raised in something that they had no say in. There are many people who are raised in extremely religious homes that had no say in the matter: That’s just their culture that they were born into, so to judge people based off that is a very dangerous thing," Dan recently said in a new interview.
4. Crisis of Faith
When most people go through their first crisis of faith, they have a certain luxury that people in the spotlight just don't have: anonymity to deal with their own thoughts and feelings. When a celebrity who is often in the public eye who is known for practicing a certain religion, it can make being a faithful or spiritual person that much more frustrating. “Faith has always been a really difficult thing for me. I’ve always been kind of a skeptical human being,” he says. “I was quite rebellious in my teenage years and had a hard time believing in something that I could not see," he added, speaking to the struggles that most faithful people have when it comes to their own faith.
5. LGBTQ Love
Dan may still be technically Mormon, but he doesn't agree with how the church treats members of the LGBTQ community. “I have family and friends I grew up with who are LGBTQ and Mormon or religious. I watched their constant struggle. They were told to change something about them that is unchangeable," he said. He also credits his wife and his friends for helping him to open up his mind about the struggles of people within the LGBTQ community. In fact, ever since learning more as an ally, Dan has been making a difference of his own through his LoveLoud music festival which exists to raise awareness about the suicide rate among the youth LGBTQ community. Believe it or not, even last year he raised more than a million dollars that he donated to the Trevor Project, GLAAD, and other support groups.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime.