Johnny's Gonzo Pendant & His Faith

In this photo, viewers can see a silver pendant gleaming brightly against Johnny's black shirt.

Some people have assumed this is a cross, and they take it he is a Christian.

But this jewel isn't a cross. It's something he wears in honor of his late friend, Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalist. Here's a larger photo of that pendant:

It's a dagger, topped with a double-thumbed fist that is clutching a red jewel; the red jewel represents a peyote button. The word "gonzo," situated just below the fist, makes it look like a cross. I think Johnny also has this image tattooed somewhere on his body but I'm not too sure.

If Johnny was a devout Christian, he'd wear a cross, and he'd wear it where it could clearly be seen. He'd also speak of God or Jesus Christ every so often, but he doesn't. I have my doubts that any evangelical, believing Christian would have played on that Babybird song, "Jesus Stag Night Club," which Johnny did, and which is one of his choices that I myself didn't really care for, but it's not up to me to run his career for him!

In 2011, Larry King asked him directly if he had faith, and Depp replied:

I have faith in my kids. Yeah, I have faith in my kids. And I have, I have faith, you know, as long as you keep moving forward, just keep walking forward things will be alright, I suppose, you know. Faith in terms of religion, I don’t; religion is not my specialty.

If he was a devout, believing Christian he would not have responded to Larry King in this way; Christians (particularly evangelical ones) are more than happy to share the Word of God with anyone who 'has ears to hear.' Johnny has never done this.

He has made some other, very interesting statements about God, such as:

Question: "Do you believe in God?"
JD: "I believe in something. If it's called God, I don't know."

Question: "Do you believe in God, in destiny?"
JD: "Yes, I believe in destiny. There has to be to a reason for all this, a driving force, even if we can't fully understand it. That I'm here, that I've been blessed with the work I've done, with the girl I have, the children I have. I don't know if I would call it God. My image of God has evolved, by the way: from the wise old man with a white beard on a fluffy cloud from my childhood years he has changed into a cosmic omnipresence, from the air to the trees, and all possible human and animal creatures. I surely don't go to church. Organized religion doesn't appeal to me. Probably because of my childhood: my uncle was a preacher and he was constantly talking about hell and damnation. Not my scene."

Question: "It would seem that Americans strongly believe in God. Co-actress Christina Ricci believes in God. Well, do you believe in God?"
JD: "I want to believe in God. I mean I think I am a believer."

So he has questions. A lot of people do. Given Johnny's native American heritage, I would not be surprised if he felt a certain affinity towards native animist spirituality, but it remains to be seen if he does or not. So far as I know, outside of his adoption into the Comanche tribe/family (I'm not quite sure of the details of this), he's never participated in native ceremonies like sweat lodges or dances or pow-wows or whatever.

So I just thought I'd put that out there. Wherever he is in his spiritual walk, it is where he needs to be right now.