Ian Somerhalder

The Religion and Political Views of Ian Somerhalder

Summary

Religion

Somerhalder was raised a strict Catholic, but it's unclear what his current level of devotion is.

Political Views

Somerhalder is a liberal Democrat whose political life revolves around environmental issues.

Wiki

Ian Somerhalder was born and raised in Convington, Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans.

Somerhalder was raised a Catholic, he attended Catholic school, and describes his mother and her influence on his childhood as "very spiritual."[1]

Other than that, he gives very little indication of being spiritual himself, or that much in to Catholicism. In fact, one might wonder given that he has made his fortune as perhaps the most anti-Catholic of all of the Halloween costumes–a vampire.

Beyond that, Ian takes a rather natural science/empirical view of the ontological "what is it to be human" question, saying:

We're made up of energy, so who's to say you can't transmit through electrical means?[2]

To me, that view seems to conflict with the Judeo-Christian conception of humans as souls with a physical shell. So, I guess, he's not hardcore Catholic or anything, at least to the point of ignoring scientific principles, even if they are a bit ridiculously sci-fi.

Religious/political transference

Check out Michael Crichton's take on environmentalism. He says it's a religion. If he's right, Somerhalder is certainly a devout follower. His biggest concern is the environment. He says things like:

What we're doing to the planet is inexcusable.[3]

Somerhalder seems to base all of his political decisions around environmental issues, and despite explicitly saying he's not the kind of actor that wants to push his political agenda,[4] he'll tweet things like this:

Just read a scary report: Romney was ahead of Obama by 2%. Whatever u believe, trust me this is extremely bad news for our environment & country.[5]

In fact, Somerhalder's twitter feed is a constant barrage of environmental platitudes and "green living" suggestions, much to the chagrin of some of his followers. Plus, he's on President Obama's team of celebrity green energy advisers.[6] I'm sure that's just about the most powerful think-tank in all of Washington.

Actually, that's kind of scary.

It almost goes without saying, then, that Somerhalder is a Democrat and a giant Obama supporter. He's been successfully snared by the Obama propaganda machine. The president had him starstruck at a meeting[7] and ever since, Somerhalder's been doing free campaign work, all in the name of the environment.[8]

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