Holy Hollywood

by Molly

Think Tom Cruise and Madonna have cornered the market on celebrity religion? Think again. A whole slew of A-listers are coming out of the woodwork to proclaim their faith as they sign on to narrate a 70-hour, full-dramatized audio version of the Bible with an all African American cast.

With Robi Reed, who helped cast Antwone Fisher and Malcolm X, at the helm, and stars like Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett and Cuba Gooding Jr., “Inspired By…The Bible Experience” is sure to be a crossover hit.

But what’s interesting isn’t so much that Jackson agreed to be God or Bassett agreed to be Esther (who wouldn’t?), but that the actors all have signed on to the project – for piddly pay – because of their personal religious beliefs.

Note: Illustration by Jody Hewgill

And this isn’t the I’m-a-crazy-Scientologist or look-at-how-spiritual-my-red-bracelet-makes-me-look type of Hollywood religion we’re used to, or even the I-use-my-Christianity-to-justify-my-bigotry version so popular in politics.

No, this is straight-up Christianity, including its oft-forgotten but intrinsic tenet of personal devotion and altruism.

“We paid them the equivalent of dinner for four at Mr. Chow’s,” said Reed, in this week’s West (the new name of the Los Angeles Times magazine). “It’s really a labor of love.”

Indeed, the article claims that every celebrity signed on to the project considers him or herself a Christian, and participation in the project a spiritual act.

Perhaps most interestingly of all is the way these celebrities, who we’re so used to hearing thank their agents and costars at awards shows, consider their faith the center of their careers and their successes.

Says Angela Bassett: "It's all a quest. We're all searching for fulfillment and for purpose. We can't find that without God. We'll find something . . . Is it yoga? Is it promotion and prestige? Is it fame? Is it shopping? Is it being highly favored by men and by peers? Something is at the center of our lives, and for me it's God."

In between bites of broccoli and a boiled egg, Bassett says: "I really believe that what I do as an actress is my God-given talent. This is my calling . . . not my career. And I appreciate it. To lend my voice and my talent to 'The Bible Experience' is just a way of saying, 'Thank you.' "

Now I’m no Christian in the traditional sense (if by “traditional” you mean “believing Jesus Christ is the messiah”), nor even a conventionally religious person. But I do believe in a greater power or force that drives our existence, and that the more we connect to that power, the more we become who we’re supposed to be. Being authentic is our job on the planet, and when we do our job, we’re rewarded with happiness and success.

This is something I didn’t discover until my 20s, but the revelation was profound. Once I started connecting to a personal sense of spirituality, my depression and doubt melted away. My life unfurled easily and clearly before me. I found direction, joy, passion and success.

To know that some of our culture’s greatest artists believe the same is gratifying and validating – whether they call that power “God” or “Universe” or “Pink Fuzzy Dice Hanging From My Mirror." To have known it even sooner in my life would’ve been even better.

And so I hope that as this project receives more publicity, as it inevitably will, the message communicated is about faith and personal piety and not, as I fear, about the supremacy of Christianity above all other religions. Because the more the true message gets out, the more Denzel Washingtons and Angela Bassetts we’ll have in the world. And that is something I can believe in.