Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has opened up about her religious beliefs and acknowledged that she has a "God-shaped vacuum" in her heart that she could take to the grave. She also voiced opposition to euthanasia and marijuana use.
Rowling discussed her shifting political beliefs in an X post published Friday in response to a question from an X user asking her what beliefs she has changed. Towards the end of the post, the 60-year-old author also discussed her religious beliefs over the years.
"I've struggled with religious faith since my mid-teens," she wrote. "I appear to have a God-shaped vacuum inside me, but I never seem quite able to make up my mind what to do about it."
"I could probably list at least twenty more things I've changed my mind about," she concluded. "I don't currently have a single belief that couldn't be altered by clear, concrete evidence and in all but one case, I know what that evidence would have to be."
Rowling identified the "God conundrum" as the "exception," explaining how "I don't know what I'd have to see to make me come down firmly on either side."
"I suppose that's the meaning of faith, believing without seeing proof," she said. "That's why I'll probably go to my grave with that particular personal matter unresolved."
Although Rowling's book series has been controversial in Christian circles, the U.K.-based magazine Premier Christianity reports that Rowling was brought up as an Anglican and is a member of the Church of Scotland.
The author has been outspoken in recent years and has drawn much public backlash for her opposition to policies opening up women-only sex-segregated spaces to trans-identified males. Rowling addressed her conversion on the issue she has become the most passionate about.
"In my early twenties I believed the difference between the sexes was entirely due to socialisation," she stated, stressing that she no longer believes that after reading studies.
Rowling indicated that she has also changed her views on "unilateral nuclear disarmament" and the claim that "cannabis was essentially harmless."
While she did not elaborate on why she now opposes unilateral nuclear disarmament, she said she watched cannabis "wreak havoc" on the mental health of someone close to her.
"I used to believe in assisted dying," she added. "I no longer do, largely because I'm married to a doctor [Neil Murray] who opened my eyes to the coercion of sick or vulnerable people."
Critics have long argued that "right to die" policies that enable terminally ill patients to opt for assisted suicide open up the possibility of family members and others abusing and coercing their loved ones into pursuing assisted suicide. Such policies, they say, could make terminally ill patients "feel they were a burden to friends and family."
Rowling has become one of the most vocal opponents of transgender ideology, which seeks to eliminate distinctions between the sexes and insists that trans-identified males should be treated exactly the same as women and vice versa.
In 2020, she reacted to an op-ed published with the phrase "people who menstruate" in the headline by sarcastically remarking, "I'm sure there used to be a word for these people" and used nonexistent words like "wumben," "wimpund" and "woomud" as she condemned the article's avoidance of the word "women."
In another social media post published in 2020, Rowling defended the concept of biological sex: "If sex isn't real, there's no same-sex attraction. If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn't hate to speak the truth."
