Emily Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up there as well as traveling widely during her upbringing to, among other places, Italy, Canada, France, Yugoslavia, England, and South Africa.
Deschanel's heritage is French and Irish.[1] So it is no surprise she was raised a Catholic.[2] But she has made it clear that, despite a positive childhood experience with the Catholic Church, her beliefs and those of the church have parted ways:
I had a wonderful experience being Catholic. I am not a practicing Catholic or any religion right now… I am more of a spiritual person, if anything, and I am of the belief that we don't know, and I'm not going to pretend that I do.[3]
"We don't know." That's the classic marker of an agnostic. But the nature of knowledge isn't what really turned Deschenel off of Catholicism. It's their stance on social issues–particularly homosexuality:
…a lot of the reason [I'm no longer Catholic] is the stance on being gay in a lot of the churches. I don't agree with that, and I don't think that is the core of what the church originally started for anyway.[4]
But we might be mixing issues here, maybe it's time to get into…
Socio-sexual politics
Deschanel is unapologetically and unequivocally liberal. If it's not veganism,[5] supporting PETA[6] and encouraging Prop 37 (a proposition legislating greater regulation on food labeling) on Twitter,[7] it's gay rights. She said:
I have always had the opinion that everyone deserves to marry and [have] the same rights, no matter what your sexual orientation.[8]
And the only politician she's ever given any money to is Barack Obama during his initial bid for president in 2008–a total of $2,800.[9] However, there's no word regarding her position on Obama in 2012, which is interesting. Maybe she lost her faith in "hope" and "change." Let us know in the comments if I'm wrong.
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