Ringo was born, like the rest of The Beatles, in Liverpool, England. Starr is a great drummer, a decent actor, and a charismatic person in general. But, in almost every aspect, including his religious and political views, he is the most boring of The Beatles.

Starr was raised in an Anglican/Evangelical household. During his 8 years with The Beatles, Starr seemed to go with the flow, joining the band in India and studying under Hindu yogi Maharishi Maresh, but he (and John Lennon) weren’t as into it as the other two, particularly George Harrison. Ringo was actually the first Beatle to leave the Maharishi sessions and rejected the yogi’s Transcendental Meditation.1

When The Beatles were talking about being atheists/agnostics, Ringo followed along:
Paul McCartney: In America, they’re fanatical about God. I know somebody over there who said he was an atheist. The papers nearly refused to print it because it was such shocking news that somebody could actually be an atheist … yeah … and admit it.

Ringo Starr: He speaks for all of us.2
But on Starr’s 70th birthday, he reported that he had “found God,” and admitted to mistakes in his life regarding drug and alcohol use. He said:
I feel the older I get, the more I’m learning to handle life. Being on this quest for a long time, it’s all about finding yourself. For me, God is in my life. I don’t hide from that. I think the search has been on since the 1960s. I stepped off the path there for many years and found my way back onto it, thank God.3
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“The religion of Ringo Starr,” < http://hollowverse.com/ringo-starr/ >.

1. Ringo Starr attended an Evangelical church in Liverpool. Christiantelegraph. < http://www.christiantelegraph.com/issue8593.html >

2. Beatles Interview: Playboy, February 1965 (Page 2). Beatles Interview Database. < http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/dbbtspb.int2.html >

3. Ringo Starr Thanks God He Finally Found Religion. Aceshowbiz. < http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/w0000872.html >

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Following the news that former Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr, has announced that at the age of nearly 70, he had “turned to God,” comes the revelation that, as a child, he attended an Evangelical Anglican church in Liverpool, reports Dan Wooding, founder of ASSIST Ministries.

Ringo was reported to have said, during an interview at a recent event at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, that he had “found God” after taking a long and winding road to this change in his life.

Ben Todd, writing in Britain’s Daily Mail ( www.dailymail.co.uk ), said that Liverpool-born Starr admitted he lost his way when he was younger, both as a Beatle experimenting with marijuana and LSD and afterwards when he suffered alcohol and cocaine problems in the late 1970s.

“But the musician, who has since become teetotal and quit his 60-a-day cigarette habit, says that religion now plays an important role in his life,” said Todd.

Todd reported that Starr, who turns 70 later this year, said: “I feel the older I get, the more I’m learning to handle life. Being on this quest for a long time, it’s all about finding yourself.

“For me, God is in my life. I don’t hide from that. I think the search has been on since the 1960s.

“I stepped off the path there for many years and found my way back onto it, thank God.”

Now British writer, Steve Turner, author of The Gospel According to the Beatles, has told me that, at the time of writing his book, “Ringo had an album with a track called ‘Oh My Lord’ on it which was very gospelly sounding and didn’t refer to Krishna.”

Turner went on to say, “He’s certainly changed from the old days when he didn’t care about religion at all – not even much for TM (Transcendental Meditation). If you remember, he was first out of the meditation camp.

“As a child he [Ringo] attended an Anglican church near his home which had an evangelical tradition, but only because they had nice toys at Sunday school and you got paid to sing in the choir!

“Of course I hope that he has had a true conversion but I always fear that it’s just another love-peace-togetherness and a-higher-power kind of thing. I think I sent him a copy of my book when it was published but I might now send it again.”

Ringo Starr is due to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this Monday (February 8, 2010) and his many Christian fans trust that his new life with God continues and grows into a deep, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

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“Ringo Starr attended an Evangelical church in Liverpool,” Christian Telegraph, February 9, 2010; < http://www.christiantelegraph.com/issue8593.html >.