Brian Cox and Other Stars Angry After Their Voices Repurposed for Fox Religious Project

Best known for his role in Succession, actor Brian Cox is a Hollywood staple with an impressive career roster.

In 2025, he worked on a historical audiobook project that opened up a can of worms after it turned out his voice and the voice of several other stars would be used on a Fox News project about religion.

The ensuing hubbub raised an interesting question: What is Brian Cox's religion? He has opened up about the topic in the past, giving insight into his thoughts on the matter.

Here's what we know about Brian's thoughts on religion and the way a simple voice project turned into a source of frustration.

In October 2024, Brian sat down with The Starting Line Podcast, and he got pretty candid about his views on religion. After host Rich Leigh asked Brian's thoughts on whether religion holds humanity back from advancement, the star weighed in, pulling no punches.

He explained, “Religion does hold us back because it's belief systems which are outside ourselves. They're not dealing with who we are. We’re dealing with, ‘Oh if God says this and God does that,’ and you go, ‘Well what is God?’ We’ve created that idea of God, and we’ve created it as a control issue, and it’s also a patriarchal issue" (excerpts via USA Today).

He then criticized the way religion has added to the problems of gender inequality, explaining, "We have to honor (women), and we have to give them their place and we’re resistant to that because it’s Adam and Eve. I mean, the propaganda goes right way back."

He then mused, "The Bible is one of the worst books ever, for me, from my point of view. Because it starts with the idea that out of Adam's rib, this woman was created, and (people will) believe it cause they’re stupid enough.”

Brian acknowledged that some find comfort in religion, but clarified, "They need it, but they don’t need to be told lies. They need some kind of truth, and that is not the truth. … It’s a mythology.”

In case that doesn't paint a clear enough picture, it's clear that Brian isn't on board with religion as a whole and is particularly offended by the idea of The Bible.

Which is why it was likely particularly galling for him to discover that his voice, along with the voice of several co-stars, was going to be used by a Fox News project called The Life of Jesus Podcast.

Brian, Kristen Bell, John Rhys Davis, Sean Aston, Malcolm McDowell, Neal McDonough, and several other major stars had previously recorded an audiobook on the life of Jesus called The Truth & Life Dramatized Audio Bible: New Testament, which was originally released by Ignatius Press in 2010.

But, Deadline reports, Fox News has picked it up and plans to use the voice actors' work for their own project.

It's safe to say that the actors involved had no idea that their voices would be repurposed 15 years later, and by Fox no less. It's unclear exactly how the stars feel about their surprise role in the propaganda-heavy Fox project, but with Brian's comments about religion to go off, he probably isn't happy about it.