What Is Elon Musk’s Religion? An Atheist, Irreligious or Believer

Elon Musk does not subscribe to any religion. The entrepreneur, investor, and business magnate, who ranks as the wealthiest person in the world, is either agnostic or an atheist but is not a believer. His only faith appears to be in science and the systematic understanding of the universe and it works.

The founder, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX is best described as an irreligious man. Given that almost all the religions of the world suggest that every good thing comes from a supernatural being, many have come to wonder what religion he practices. The billionaire, however, has no interest whatsoever in religion. While he is not hostile to religion or against people having religious beliefs, several instances have shown that he just does not care about religion.

Elon Musk Does Not Worship God or Any Other Supernatural Being

Religious people are known to perform various acts directed towards honoring a deity; this varies across the religions of the world, from Judaism to Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and others. The people who practice these religions may not agree on the right way to honor and worship God, but they have a common belief – that there is a supernatural entity who created the universe and presides over the affairs of men.

Elon clearly does not believe in that as he once specified in an interview that he does not worship anything. As the act of worship is more about a recognition of a God, his response is a clear indication that the billionaire does not believe in the existence of any supernatural being which all of the aforementioned religions regard as divine and sacred.

The Billionaire Does Not Pray Even When He Is In Danger

For religious people, prayer is the way they communicate with their God. They believe it is an avenue through which they get to venerate and build a close relationship with the deity they worship. Most times, it is also an act of intercession or supplication, a call on the supernatural being to intervene in a situation or grant a request.

While some religious people don’t pray as often as required by their religion, they surely do when they run into trouble and can’t seem to help themselves out of it. It is almost a default behavior of people to pray when they are in need or in trouble.

The only people that don’t have any business praying are those that do not believe in the existence of deities and Elon Musk belongs to this group. In the same interview cited above which the billionaire had with Rainn Wilson, an American actor known for playing Dwight Schrute on the popular NBC sitcom, The Office, Elon related that he does not pray even when his life is under any kind of threat.

“I didn’t even pray when I almost died of malaria,” said the SpaceX founder.

He Once Practiced Transcendental Meditation (TM)

The Boring Company founder admitted in a February 2017 tweet that he had practiced Transcendental Meditation a couple of times. Given that religious people of various backgrounds have always embraced meditation as a gateway to unravel their faith and gain a deeper understanding of their deity, it is not hard to see why one may conclude that Elon’s admission of meditation is proof that he’s religious to some extent.

The Transcendental Meditation technique is regarded to be religious in nature in various quarters, even though the organization (Transcendental Meditation movement) that oversees its programs has insisted it is a non-religious technique for self-development, dealing with stress, relaxation, and things of that sort.

Because of its perceived religious nature, a federal ruling prohibited the teaching of Transcendental Meditation in public schools. The ruling was appealed but upheld by the United States Court of Appeals.

So, the religious nature of TM is still open for debate but if everyone ever gets to agree that it is religious, it only means that Elon Musk has had a brush with religion. That does not change anything about his irreligious nature, does it? Also, Elon’s tweet is more of an admission that he only experimented with TM. While the billionaire reportedly admitted that TM does “slow the mind”, he also specified that he wasn’t drawn to it.

The Tesla Founder Believed in God as a Child But Now Believes in Science and Technology

Elon Musk had a rough childhood; among other things, he came from a broken home and lived with an abusive father he described as evil. In a 2020 interview when he was awarded the Axel Springer Award, the entrepreneur disclosed that he believed in God as a child. Adding that he attended an Anglican Sunday School and a Jewish School, the billionaire said he read religious books and still agrees with religious principles like forgiveness and the love commandment.

While it is hard to tell why he stopped believing in God, Elon has made it clear that he now believes in science and technology. When he stated that he does not pray nor worship any being, the SpaceX CEO avowed that he had devoted himself to the advancement of humanity through technology.

The several times he has been questioned about God and the universe, Musk has refused to acknowledge the existence of a supernatural being. In one instance, he expressed that there’s some explanation for the universe which people call God.

In another instance, he expressed a similar sentiment, asserting that there’s some sort of “master intelligence” involved in the way the universe is programmed. But for him, that does not mean there is a God. Elon believes one can explain the way things are with the fundamental laws of physics.

Chinedu Ndubueze
Chinedu Ndubueze
Chinedu holds a B.SC in Mass Communications with several years of writing and editing experience. He is an advocate of closed-back headphones, horror movies, and dark humor; He believes that Peter Griffin and Stan Smith should be real people. Outside of having to write, edit, and work on other forms of content, Chinedu may keep up with the EPL or listen to everything Eminem and Jon Bellion.

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