Was James Bond religious?

James Bond: It was the job we were chosen for.
Alec Trevelyan: Of course you'd say that, James Bond, her majesty's loyal terrier, defender of the so-called faith.
Golden Eye 1995

Does James Bond have faith in anything but himself?

Ian Fleming gave Bond a Scottish father Andrew Bond, which for this blogger indicates 007 was a protestant of some description. Fleming himself was brought up in the non-conformist tradition and 
from time to time worried about the moral effect Bond was having. As this letter to a vicar who had preached against the books indicates.

“ In a letter to the Rev. Leslie Paxton, of the Great George Street Congregational Church, Liverpool, he revealed a side of himself few of his friends can have suspected:
I see from the public prints that the Sunday before last you preached a sermon against the leading in my books, James Bond, and, presumably by association, against myself.
Now, having had a Scottish nonconformist upbringing and considering myself at least some kind of a sub-species of a Christian, I am naturally very upset if it is thought that I am seriously doing harm to the world with my James Bond thrillers.
Would you be so very kind and let me have a copy, if you have one, of your sermon, so I may see the burden of your criticisms and perhaps find means of mending my ways if I feel that your arguments have real weight behind them.
I can, of course, myself see what you mean about my books, but it occurs to me that you may have put forward profounder arguments than those that are already known to me.” (From John Pearson's Life of Ian Fleming).

The apparent lack of moral framework in the novels caused some reviewers to label them "anti-Christian" but Kingsley Amis put it well when he rebutted those accusations.

“I should have thought that a fairly orthodox moral system, vague perhaps but none the less recognizable through accumulation, pervades all Bond’s adventures. Some things are regarded as good: loyalty, fortitude, a sense of responsibility, a readiness to regard one’s safety, even one’s life, as less important than the major interests of one’s organization and one’s country. Other things are regarded as bad: tyranny, readiness to inflict pain on the weak or helpless, the unscrupulous pursuit of money or power. These distinctions aren’t excitingly novel, but they are important, and as humanist and/or Christian as the average reader would want. They constitute quite enough in the way of an ethical frame of reference, assuming anybody needs or looks for or ought to have one in adventure fiction at all.” (From The James Bond Dossier 1965)

In an interesting turn modern day Christians use the secret agent as an evangelism tool. Former Bond girl turned Vicar Shannon Ledbetter may well draw on her time as Bond's love interest to talk about the love of God in her sermons or use these Bible study notes "What does the Bible say about James Bond 007, threats and thrills, guns and girls". 

Was James Bond religious? Never say never again.

Joanna Sugden

Comments

[Brett]

If Bond was religious, he certainly didn't make much of it.

[Rick Beekman]

Somehow I cannot fathom James Bond as "Religious"

I watched all the ones with Sean and Roger. His Personna was always a suave debonair super-smart Spy and Ladies Man.

The only woman in his movies that was "straight" was Ms. moneypenny.

James Religious?

I could just see him introducing himself to The Archbishop..""My name is Bond...James Bond..Master Spy..And President And CEO of "Chicks are Us"....

[Russ]

Sounds like a vicar who was shaken, but not stirred ...

[Maureen]

There's a critical theory from several years ago, which argued that each of the first seven James Bond books is meant to demonstrate the evils of one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

In this view Bond himself is not religious, but he's living inside a universe meant to make moral points by showing immorality. Sorta like Reynard the Fox and Grim the Wolf.

[Edward]

Fleming appears to have shown little interest in religion, and there are almost no references to god in the Bond books save for figures of speech. In the opening passage of Goldfinger, Bond reflects on the death of a Mexican that he killed in the line of duty, remarking on the way that life exits a body to leave an empty envelope. This could be taken to mean a soul, although Fleming then references 'primitive', rather than christian beliefs of death. Fleming didn't seem to hold any particular views of the afterlife himself; he mentions in a letter to his wife, Ann, that he'd only settle once he was dead in the ground. Interestingly, Ann was a Christian, and she ends a number of her letters 'God bless you', In contrast, Ian doesn't seem to have used such words. If anything, Fleming - and Bond - was a cultural christian (tradition, hymns, etc.), but the evidence for a full-blown god-fearing one is lacking.

[Peter Richardson]

Bond was religious.He religiously pursued, and was devoted to, doing "good" according to his god, Government. But it is all pure fiction and solely devoted to entertaining, though that too seems to be a religion to some.
Whatever one is devoted to is one's religion, for that is what one follows, in my opinion.

[Paul]

People do realize that James Bond is a fictional character, right? It seems kind of pointless trying to decide the beliefs of a fictional character in a mythical god.

As useful as counting the number of angels on the head of a pin.

[Stu Maddison]

If Bond had been a god-fearing man, he would have refrained from killing, as according to doctrine this consigns him to hell. Instead, he kills with discretion and a regret admittedly not seen much in the films, 'for the greater good', while pondering his own always-imminent death: he is a self-defining humanist. The first novel, Casino Royale, has him questioning his motivation and The Nature of Evil in a chapter so called. His friend Mathis suggests that they have seen there are inhuman monsters to be fought in the world, and that he must find his own moral compass: "Surround yourself with human beings, James, but don't become human yourself – we would lose such a wonderful machine."

[David from Cambridge]

Don't you think James Bond would have been a Freemason?

[Margaret Frances Roach]

My comment is not on whether Bond was religious or not. I would say a humanitarian.
What I would like to know is why Daniel Craig was chosen to incarnate 007 and not the Austalian Julian McMahon? Not the accent as Mcmahon adopted an American one when initiating his career in the U.S.A. and can also do an English accent. He is also over 6 foot tall dark-haired, blue-eyed, a ladies' man and a gourmet. He can cook. And he is not a bad actor. He is also athletic and has done fight scenes. So can anyone explain why it was Daniel and not Julian?

[Nicholas Bailey]

I recall Bond mentioning an (apocryphal) quote from St. Augustine in Goldfinger: "Lord, give me chastity, but not yet."

[Jon]

Having read all of the James Bond novels, I do not think that James Bond is religious. However, I do believe that he has some faith in a higher power, as it is briefly alluded to a few times, but he does not put much thought into such things.

[Tom]

If Bond were a moral person he would oppose Christianity completely. If you actually take the time to read the bible like I have, it is wrought with immorality. Living a nonconformist life is about thinking critically which is exactly what religion and Christianity circumvent. If Bond were of faith, he would get an office job and make babies. Not delve in sex and violence.

[Chris Wood]

I suspect Bond is religious in a passing, lip service kind of way as a civil servant (which he is somewhere down the line), and some trace of that will be distantly in his consciousness as he tries to save the world etc.

After all, Bond tends to stand against giant wrongs, admittedly with blunt methods. As such, he clearly has some basic moral framework.

Naturally, if you kill for a living, allowing certain indulgences (promiscuity most notably) seems natural.

[Michael Wood]

Bond doesn't care for or have time for such trivialities as Religion. He is too busy saving the world to care if a God wants to or not.

[fred bohner]

Bond's religion is "for God and Country"

[Laura Johnston]

I'd like to know what earthly or heavenly difference it could possibly make in the enjoyment of reading or in the watching of James Bond, a character, we all obviously love and adore. He is after, fictional, although we would envision him to be real and perhaps wish with all our hearts that he were. Alas, he is not, so, being religious or not is and has nothing to do with his job for as he says "God and Country". He performs this job because he is loyal to a fault, and would never dream of letting either down.

[Jack]

I disagree with Tom wholeheartedly. True Christianity embraces critical thinking and encourages nonconformity. I don't think Bond was religious, but he certainly lived out the call of Jesus to stand up to injustice.

[Steve Grant]

If I may put the question somewhat more accurately - did one fictional character believe in another fictional character?

[James]

The Bond films glorify casual, meaningless sex. This view of sex directly opposes Christianity's definition of sex.

[David Fredericks]

No survey has ever tied religion to morality -- though the non-religious from Ben Franklin to Einstein invariably adhere to higher principles of true morality than the religious.

Wherever war, ignorance, poverty, incivility, bigotry, jingoism, and amorality flourish, you will always find the most religion.

So, maybe, there is correlation. But is there causation?

[james g]

Bond has to weigh up the needs of the many against the rights of the few. In this respect you could say he is irreligious as he doesn't believe in moral absolutes - "boredom was the only vice Bond utterly condemned." Also as far as I've read, he doesn't invoke God or a higher power of a religious nature, even when he thinks he is going to die.

[james g]

Bond has to weigh up the needs of the many against the rights of the few. In this respect you could say he is irreligious as he doesn't believe in moral absolutes - "boredom was the only vice Bond utterly condemned." Also as far as I've read, he doesn't invoke God or a higher power of a religious nature, even when he thinks he is going to die.

[Mark D]

Would Bond have been faithful to his wife had she survived? That scenario might have helped us understand Bond's moral principles. Fornication is one thing, but adultery is another. And as far as I know from the films, Bond never bedded a married woman.

[Elizabeth Bullen]

In Dr No, Bond reflects that 'warm' people, like his friend Quarrel (who has just been murdered) go to one place when they die, and 'cold' people like Dr No to another, though he is not sure sure where he, Bond, will end up, and would probably not mind as long as the people he cared about went to the good place.
In Goldfinger, Bond, thinking he has been killed, worries about the social awkwardness of Heaven: 'Would Tilly be on the same trip? Bond squirmed with embarrassment. How would he introduce her to the others, Vesper for instance?'