Editing Patti Smith (section)

==Beliefs==
=== Religion ===
Smith was raised a [[Jehovah's Witness]] and had a strong religious upbringing and a [[Bible|Biblical]] education. She says she left [[organized religion]] as a teenager because she found it too confining. This experience inspired her lyrics, "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine", which appear on her cover version of "[[Gloria (Them song)|Gloria]]" by [[Them (band)|Them]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spinner.aol.com/rockhall/patti-smith-2007-inductee/interview |title=Exclusive Interview with Patti Smith|author=Robertson, Jessica |year=2007|work=[[Spinner (website)|Spinner]]|publisher=[[AOL]]|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070516062624/http://spinner.aol.com/rockhall/patti-smith-2007-inductee/interview|archive-date=May 16, 2007 |url-status= dead |access-date= February 4, 2008}}</ref> She has described having an avid interest in [[Tibetan Buddhism]] around the age of 11 or 12, saying "I fell in love with [[Tibet]] because their essential mission was to keep a continual stream of prayer," but that as an adult she sees clear parallels between different forms of religion and has concluded that [[Dogma|religious dogmas]] are "…man-made laws that you can either decide to abide by or not."<ref name= "Moore" />

In 2014, she was invited  by [[Pope Francis]] to play at Vatican Christmas concert.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/pope-francis-invites-patti-smith-play-vatican-christmas-concert-9860643.html "Pope Francis invites Patti Smith to play at Vatican Christmas concert"], Denham, Jess, ''The Independent'', November 14, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2021.</ref> "It's a Christmas concert for the people, and it's being televised. I like Pope Francis and I'm happy to sing for him. Anyone who would confine me to a line from 20 years ago is a fool! I had a strong religious upbringing, and the first word on my first LP is Jesus. I did a lot of thinking. I'm not against Jesus, but I was 20 and I wanted to make my own mistakes and I didn't want anyone dying for me. I stand behind that 20-year-old girl, but I have evolved. I'll sing to my enemy! I don't like being pinned down and I'll do what the fuck I want, especially at my age...oh, I hope there's no small children here!" she said.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/nov/18/patti-smith-christmas-concert-vatican |title=Patti Smith on singing at the Vatican: 'Anyone who would confine me to an old line is a fool' |last= Goldman|first= Vivien|author-link=Vivien Goldman|newspaper=The Guardian |date= November 18, 2014|access-date= July 24, 2021}}</ref>

In 2021, she performed at the Vatican again, telling ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' that she studied [[Francis of Assisi]] when [[Pope Benedict XVI]] was still the pope. Smith called Francis of Assisi "truly the environmentalist saint" and said that despite not being a Catholic, she had hoped for a pope named Francis.<ref>[https://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/8/people_have_the_power_patti_smith "'People Have the Power': Patti Smith on Pope Francis and Her Performances at the Vatican"], ''Democracy Now!'', October 8, 2015. Retrieved July 24, 2021.</ref>

===Feminism===
According to biographer Nick Johnstone, Smith has often been "revered" as a "feminist icon",<ref>{{cite book|title=Patti Smith: A Biography|last=Johnstone|first=Nick|chapter=Introduction|publisher=Omnibus Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0857127785}}</ref> including by ''[[The Guardian]]'' journalist [[Simon Hattenstone]] in a 2013 profile on the musician.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hattenstone|first=Simon|date=May 25, 2013|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/may/25/patti-smith-interview-punk-poet|title=Patti Smith: punk poet queen|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref>

In 2014, Smith offered her opinion on the sexualization of [[women in music]]. "[[Pop music]] has always been about the mainstream and what appeals to the public. I don't feel it's my place to judge." Smith historically and presently declines to embrace [[feminism]], saying, "I have a son and a daughter, people always talk to me about feminism and [[women's rights]], but I have a son too—I believe in [[human rights]]."<ref>{{cite news|first=Ella |last=Alexander|title=Patti Smith, self-confessed Rihanna fan, on the sexualisation of women in music: 'No one should allow themselves to be exploited'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/patti-smith-self-confessed-rihanna-fan-on-the-sexualisation-of-women-in-music-no-one-should-allow-9233468.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/patti-smith-self-confessed-rihanna-fan-on-the-sexualisation-of-women-in-music-no-one-should-allow-9233468.html |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|access-date=June 1, 2017|date=April 2, 2014}}</ref>

In 2015, writer Anwen Crawford observed that Smith's "attitude to genius seems pre-feminist, if not [[anti-feminist]]; there is no democratizing, deconstructing impulse in her work. True artists, for Smith, are remote, solitary figures of excellence, wholly dedicated to their art."<ref>{{cite magazine|first1=Anwen|last1=Crawford|title=The Theology of Patti Smith|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-theology-of-patti-smith|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=June 1, 2017|date=October 6, 2015|archive-date=April 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425215543/http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-theology-of-patti-smith|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Politics ===
Smith supported [[Ralph Nader]]'s campaigns for the presidency in 2000, 2004, and 2008.

On the front cover of Nader's 2025 book, ''Civic Self-Respect'', she is quoted: "With the deepest concern for the fate of our country and future generations, Ralph Nader presents an indispensable guide to understanding our rights, our responsibilities and the rules of law. In ''Civic Self-Respect'' we are given tools to develop our civic personality, turn knowledge into action and prove that the people have the power." —Patti Smith