Nick Cave has shared his thoughts on Russell Brand‘s new book about his conversion to Christianity.
Brand said in 2024 that he was getting baptised in 2024 “to leave the past behind” and the ceremony took place in May of that year, with Bear Grylls – who is also a devout Christian – present.
Notably, his conversion took place after he was accused of multiple counts of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013 in a joint investigation between Channel 4, The Times and Sunday Times the year prior.
He is currently awaiting trial on counts of rape and sexual assault, having been charged in April 2025 against four women, while further charges against two women were brought in December. Brand has denied all claims and pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Brand then wrote the book How To Become A Christian In Seven Days, which details, per its blurb, “his apostasy from ‘demonic Hollywood’ and radical conversion to Christianity against a backdrop of false allegations, his son’s heart surgery, and truly jaw-dropping spiritual warfare.”
During the promotional campaign for the book, Brand went viral for taking almost two minutes during an interview with Piers Morgan to find a passage in the Bible which he had been looking at in court. Brand later claimed that the “pressure of the circumstances” meant that he struggled to find it on Morgan’s show.
Prior to that, he had also admitted on The Megyn Kelly Show to sleeping with a 16-year-old when he was 30, acknowledging it as “exploitative”.
This is, hands down, the most uncomfortable two minutes I’ve watched in a long time. Russell Brand is asked to identify a Bible verse relevant to his, um, legal battles and spends a few minutes clumsily thumbing through Scripture and arrives at nothing. pic.twitter.com/KS0ZQTg6t2
— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) April 25, 2026
Now, Cave – who has spoken of his long-held interest in Christianity and religion in general – has shared his thoughts on the book.
In response to a fan named Barry from London asking his opinion on it via his website Red Hand Files, Cave wrote: “Good for atheism.”
Cave has previously responded to fan questions on matters such as prayer. in 2020, he wrote: “The act of prayer is by no means exclusive to religious practise because prayer is not dependent on the existence of a subject. You need not pray to anyone. It is just as valuable to pray into your disbelief, as it is to pray into your belief, for prayer is not an encounter with an external agent, rather it is an encounter with oneself.
“There is as much chance of our prayers being answered by a God that exists as a God that doesn’t. I do not mean this facetiously, for prayers are very often answered. A prayer provides us with a moment in time where we can contemplate the things that are important to us, and this watchful application of our attention can manifest these essential needs.”
He added: “The act of prayer asks of us something and by doing so delivers much in return — it asks us to present ourselves to the unknown as we are, devoid of pretence and affectation, and to contemplate exactly what it is we love or cherish. Through this conversation with our inner self we confront the nature of our own existence.”
In 2022, he mused upon freedom of speech in the context of religion, writing: “Jesus roamed the land expressing what were, at the time, considered dangerous and heretical ideas. He was literally the embodiment of the terrifying idea. He was followed around by a nervous coterie of muttering scribes and Pharisees whose purpose was to catch him out – expose not just His dangerous ideas, but to lay bare and persecute his uniqueness. They, of course, succeeded and Christ was cancelled upon the Cross.
“These impossible, dangerous ideas – to love your enemy, to love the poor, to forgive others – were terrifying and unconscionable and forbidden in His day, but became, in time, the better ideas that underpin the society in which many of us are lucky enough to live today.
“It is worth remembering that. I think we must be careful around our assumptions of what ideas we think are right and what ideas we think are wrong, and what we do with those ideas, because it is the terrifying idea – the shocking, offending, unique idea – that may just save the world.”
Cave has also elaborated upon the issues he takes with both religion and atheism, writing in 2019: “Living in a state of enquiry, neutrality and uncertainty, beyond dogma and grand conviction, is good for the business of songwriting, and for my life in general. This is the reason I tend to become uncomfortable around all ideologies that brand themselves as ‘the truth’ or ‘the way’.
“This not only includes most religions, but also atheism, radical bi-partisan politics or any system of thought, including ‘woke’ culture, that finds its energy in self-righteous belief and the suppression of contrary systems of thought.”
Cave wrote his own book exploring similar subjects, titled Faith, Hope & Carnage, which was published in 2023.
Speaking to NME that year, Cave considered whether culture and music would benefit more from a spiritual state of mind, or whether good art can come from nihilism.
“I don’t know what comes from nihilism. I don’t think art can come from nihilism at all. As soon as you start making art, you stop being a nihilist, I guess,” he said. “You’re doing something, and art is in its essence good – it’s morally good. It doesn’t matter where it’s coming from, if you’re putting this particular force out into the world then it is for its betterment. That’s why I don’t particularly care where my art comes from. It doesn’t bother me if someone wears a For Britain badge [Morrissey] or is an anti-semite or whatever and they’re making extraordinary music.
“One some level I don’t care. It’s not that I agree with their politics, which I don’t, I just think that what they’re putting into the world [with music] is essentially good so it should be encouraged. I just think the world is in a fucked up place and we need to rehabilitate the world in some way. Music is at least one good thing we can do. It worries me when music is shut down. ‘Shut that down! Take that one away’! Just because the people who are making it are fucked up individuals. It’s a really interesting thing, this. At the same time I don’t separate the artist from the art. I don’t think you can do that, but I think that the art is all that stuff moulded together.”
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds announced the huge support line-up for their huge big homecoming gig at Brighton’s Preston Park on Friday July 31, as part of the band’s 2026 UK and European headline tour.
Opening for the Bad Seeds will be The Flaming Lips, English Teacher, Cate Le Bon, and Warmduscher. You can find any remaining tickets here.
