Editing Meryl Streep (section)

=== Beliefs === 
When asked if religion plays a part in her life in 2009, Streep replied: "I follow no doctrine. I don't belong to a church or a temple or a synagogue or an [[ashram]]."<ref>"Movies, Marriage, and Turning Sixty'. ''[[The Independent]]''. January 24, 2009.</ref> In an interview in December 2008, she alluded to her lack of religious belief when she said: <blockquote>So, I've always been really, deeply interested because I think I can understand the solace that's available in the whole construct of religion. But I really don't believe in the power of prayer, or things would have been avoided that have happened, that are awful. So, it's a horrible position as an intelligent, emotional, yearning human being to sit outside of the available comfort there. But I just can't go there.<ref name="The Telegraph 356396" /></blockquote>

When asked where she draws consolation in the face of aging and death, Streep responded: <blockquote>Consolation? I'm not sure I have it. I have a belief, I guess, in the power of the aggregate human attempt – the best of ourselves. In love and hope and optimism – you know, the magic things that seem inexplicable. Why we are the way we are. I do have a sense of trying to make things better. Where does that come from?<ref name="The Telegraph 356396">{{cite news|last=Brown|first=Mick|title=Meryl Streep: mother superior|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3563965/Meryl-Streep-mother-superior.html|work=The Week|access-date=December 4, 2008|location=London|date=December 4, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210074454/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3563965/Meryl-Streep-mother-superior.html|archive-date=December 10, 2008}}</ref></blockquote>