Imagine Dragons frontman sat down with People and opened up about his religious life.
The Imagine Dragons rocker grew up in what he describes as a ‘very conservative’ Mormon family. But over the last few years, he’s come to terms with his decision to step away from his religious beliefs.
In this week’s issue of the magazine, the rocker explained how it harmed the gay youth:
“There’s obviously parts of the Mormon religion that I feel pretty strongly are harmful, especially to our gay youth. At times I feel pretty isolated from my family, but I also love them and am close to them and see them, and there’s no animosity there. I’m on a different path. I have to love myself enough to follow my truth.”
He added:
“[I] saw a lot of the harm that came from it for me personally, but it also seemed to work incredibly well for my family, and they’re all healthy, happy individuals. As I’ve gotten older, I’m not angry about it anymore. If something works for someone, that’s really wonderful and rare, and I don’t want to mess with it.”
Having Influence Matters
Reynolds and his friends couldn’t openly explore their sexual orientations since they grew up in Mormon households.
Looking back on his journey with religion, Reynolds talked about the privilege of having influence around him in an earlier interview. He said:
“Growing up with friends like that and then getting to a position where I had a voice and have been given a lot of power and privilege… I met Tyler Glenn [Neon Trees frontman], who I became really close with, who also grew up Mormon and didn’t come out until later in his life after serving the Mormon mission.”
Just as he strives to celebrate love at his festival LoveLoud, Reynolds aims to do the same in his own home:
“In my home, I really try to instill upon my kids that in this house we celebrate love, period. Whoever you might love, period. It’s not ‘we accept it, we tolerate,’ it’s ‘we celebrate it.’ And I think that distinction can be the difference between life and death.”
LoveLoud festival was founded in 2017 by Reynolds and aims to raise awareness of the suicide rates related to LGBTQ+ and be the voice of those who can’t express themselves.