Robert Redford was born in Santa Monica, California and raised in Van Nuys, California.
It is unclear if religion was present much during his childhood, but considering his Irish/Scottish/English heritage,[1] it's reasonable to assume some sort of Christian background. However, as a youth, Redford was involved in street gangs, petty theft and general hooliganism,[2] so it seems unlikely he was devoted to any formal religious/moral framework.
As an adult, Redford is wary of religion. He said:
I don't believe in organized religion, because I don't believe people should be organized in how they think, in what they believe.[3]
But he does seem to, at some point in his life, have taken up a spiritual quest. Redford has said he has "explored every religion, some very deeply" but that there's "there's not one philosophy that can satisfy [him]."[4] And when it comes to the great cosmological questions, like "What happens after we die," Redford is skeptical:
Is there an afterlife? As far as I know, this is it. It's all we've got. You take your opportunities and you go for it.[5]
I'd say this puts Redford in the agnostic category, perhaps bordering on atheist. He did, however, marry a Mormon woman[6] and lives and works in Utah (the seat of Mormonism), which has played into his political views–which we'll get into later.
How about now?
Redford is a highly political person–an activist even–whose primary focus is environmentalism. He sits on the board of directors of the National Resources Defense Council[7] and has won numerous awards for his environmental activity.[8] As early as the 70s, Redford was pushing for legislation like the Clean Air Act and the Energy Conservation and Production Act,[9] and he continues to protest projects that threaten the environment such as the Keystone XL Pipeline[10] and coal plants in southern Utah.[11]
This does not necessarily translate to alignment with the Democrats. While a little more than half of Redford's nearly $50,000 in campaign contributions has gone to Democrats, he has supported Republicans as well.[12] And in 2011, Redford penned a piece for the Huffington Post in which he slammed the Obama administration for not sticking to its word regarding environmental issues. He wrote:
One reason I supported President Obama is because he said we must protect clean air, water and lands. But what good is it to say the right thing unless you act on it?[13]
But, Redford dislikes what he sees as the Republican Party's connection to religion and has complained about George W. Bush claiming to receive guidance from God while in office[14] as well as Mitt Romney using slick rhetoric he learned as a Mormon missionary to sway votes in his favor.[15]
Also, Redford is also known to be an admirer of famous anarchist Edward Abbey.[16] So, ultimately, he's difficult to pin down. Redford seems to be the type of political mind that realizes solutions can't be found in one ideology vs. another–though his critiques of America's foreign policy,[17] Republicans and his commitment to environmentalism generally puts him in the liberal category.
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