Mark Zuckerberg says he's become 'more religious' after becoming a father in rare public discussion about faith: 'The last few years have been really humbling for me'

• Mark Zuckerberg has grown "more religious" over the past few years.
• The Facebook CEO said the birth of his daughters and the challenges his company have faced have influenced his faith.
• The 35-year-old tech exec made the rare public comments about religion at a conference in Utah.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he's grown more religious over the last few years as a result of fatherhood and the "challenges we've been through as a company."

In an on-stage interview at a conference in Utah on Friday, the 35-year-old technology executive made rare public comments about his Jewish faith.

Asked about who his mentors are Zuckerberg segued into a discussion about religion. "I've become more religious," he said: "The last few years have been really humbling for me."

He went on: "I think there's a comfort in knowing and having confidence that there are things bigger than you ... it's why I have so much faith in democracy overall, it's why I care so much about giving people a voice."

Zuckerberg attributed his evolution to two factors: The issues his company has faced over the last few years, and the birth of his two daughters, now aged four and two. 

He added: "You have to believe in things that are bigger than yourself."

Zuckerberg subsequently jokingly clarified that "I did not mean to say that God is a mentor."

The billionaire chief executive grew up in Dobbs Ferry, New York in a Jewish household. He only rarely talks about his faith, and in a reply to a Facebook post in 2016 said that after a period of questioning in his life, he no longer considered himself an atheist. " I was raised Jewish and then I went through a period where I questioned things, but now I believe religion is very important," he wrote.

His wife Priscilla Chan is Buddhist, he wrote in a Facebook post in 2015.

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