Matthew McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas and grew up there and in Longview, Texas.
McConaughey was raised Methodist. His parents took his name from the Bible and apparently were pretty serious about it. On why he never shortened his name to "Matt," the actor said,
[My mother] said: 'Your name is Matthew, I named you after the Bible. It is not Matt, do not ever answer to Matt in your life.' It was like 'Yes mam', so that's one of the things when people go 'Matt', I say 'Matthew, please'.[1]
But McConaughey was married in 2012 to a Brazilian woman in a Catholic ceremony,[2] and it appears he and his family attend church.[3] So chances are that he has a much stronger connection these days to the faith of his wife than to that of his childhood.
Too Texas to be a Democrat; too hippy to be a Republican
There is much speculation that McConaughey is a Republican.[4] But the evidence for that ranges from absolutely none to sketchy at best. One site seemed to think that because he called himself "a proud, patriotic American," that meant he was conservative.[5] I'm gonna have to call bullshit there. And if they think he's conservative because he's from Texas, they're going to have to come up with something better than that to convince me.
But then again, some people think he couldn't possibly be a Republican because he's a hippy who doesn't like to bathe,[6] or because he smokes pot and likes to play the bongos naked.[7] Bullshit indicator lights up again.
When it comes down to it, we just don't know which side of the aisle McConaughey stands on, if he stands anywhere. He is thankful for his gay fans and is supportive of the gay community,[8] but he hasn't come out in support of gay marriage that I could find. He hasn't talked about abortion, gun control, immigration reform, or health care–all divisive issues on the American political landscape. He was spotted jogging with George Clooney before the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina[9] but we're really stretching here.
Before we become guilty of taking turning non-indicative tidbits into political affiliation, let's give it a rest, because we just don't know about McConaughey.
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