Fandom&faith: Match The Celeb To Their Professed Spriritual Path
This week, The Other Journal posted Part One of a two-part interview Jeff Overstreet and I gave together about celebrity, fandom and faith. It was a look at the culture of celebrity and the intersection with voyeurism, identity and faith. So you think you know a little something about celebrities and their professed religious traditions or spiritual paths? Give it a go. Prizes from the SWAG BAG go to the best scores, in order of submission.
- 1.Shana Tova!Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, was celebrated this week.Which of the following celebrities is Jewish?
- A.
Woody Allen
- B.
Norman Jewison
- C.
Jenna Elfman
- D.
Goldie Hawn
- E.
Whoopi Goldberg
- 2.Islam has also been making headlines this week, with the ongoing controversy over a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York City, and with the wackadoodle pastor in Gainesville, Florida who caused an international incident when he announced plans to burn 200 copies of the Qur'an, the Islamic holy book, on the anniversary of 9/11 this year. Nutter. So...Which of the following artists and actors is a Muslim?
- A.
Mos Def
- B.
Cat Stevens
- C.
Tyler Perry
- D.
Richard Thompson
- E.
Matisyahu
- 3.Know your converts! QUESTION NUMERO UNO.In increasing numbers, Americans are switching from the religious tradition of their childhood to a different tradition altogether. Some of them even make more than one or two switches in their lifetime. Famed director, writer, actor and all-around funnyman Mel Brooks is a convert. Did he convert from:
- A.
Eastern Orthodox Christianity to Anglicanism?
- B.
Anglicanism to Judaism?
- C.
Catholicism to Judaism?
- D.
Judaism to Catholicism?
- E.
Judaism to Unitarian Universalism?
- 4.Know your converts! QUESTION NUMERO DOSLegendary singer-songwriter and, perhaps, the coolest Canadian alive, Leonard Cohen is a convert. Did he convert from:
- A.
Judaism to Evangelical Christianity?
- B.
Judaism to Russian Orthodoxy?
- C.
Judaism to Hare Krishna/Hinduism?
- D.
Russian Orthodoxy to Judaism?
- E.
Judaism to Buddhism?
- 5.Know your converts! QUESTION NUMERO TRES.Sweet little Katie Holmes from Dawson's Creek is all growed up. Sadie Sadie Married Lady and the mother of the precociously adorable Suri Cruise. Katie is also a convert.Did she convert from:
- A.
Lutheranism to Scientology?
- B.
Southern Baptist to Scientologist?
- C.
Unitarian to Scientologist?
- D.
Roman Catholicism to Scientology?
- E.
Dutch Reformed to Scientology?
- 6.Jesus Clout: Part 1 of 2Which of the following 10 celebrities (in two parts) DID NOT it onto Beliefnet.com's 12 Most Powerful Christians in Hollywood list? (Hey, no cheating! Put that mouse down and step away from the Google.)
- A.
Angela Bassett
- B.
Denzel Washington
- C.
Mel Gibson
- D.
Kristin Chenoweth
- E.
Stephen Baldwin
- 7.Jesus Clout: Part 2 of 2Which of the following celebrities did NOT make it onto Beliefnet.com's 12 Most Powerful Christians in Hollywood list?
- A.
Miley Cyrus
- B.
Kirk Cameron
- C.
Martin Sheen
- D.
Patricia Heaton
- E.
Tyler Perry
- 8.Jesus Freaks and Jesus FairweathersWhich of the following celebrities (of one flavor or another) have now, or at some point in their past, identified themselves publicly as "born-again" Christians?
- A.
Bob Dylan
- B.
David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz
- C.
Jane Fonda
- D.
Gary Busey
- E.
George Foreman
- 9.Uma Thurman's father used to be a Tibetan Buddhist monk?
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- 10.Annie Lennox was once married to a devout Zoroastrian?
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- 11.Madonna Ciccone was raised as a Roman Catholic (hence her first name.) About a decade ago, she began studying the Jewish mystical tradition called Kabbalah. She is quite devout, attending regular Shabbat services at the Kabbalah center. A few years back, she took, privately, the Hebrew name Ruth as a sign of her new faith.
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- 12.Julia Roberts recently converted to Hinduism.
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- 13.Bono of U2 was raised in a "mixed" marriage in Dublin, Ireland.His mother was Catholic and his father was Protestant.
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- 14.Writer/director/actor Harold Ramis - who will be reprising his role as Egon Spengler in the forthcoming Ghostbusters 3 movie - was raised Jewish home and even attended Yeshiva for a time. But he embraced Buddhist philosophy as an adult now refers to himself as "Buddh-ish."
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- 15.Lama Surya Das, the author and celebrated Tibetan Buddhist lama, was born Jeffrey Keillor in the suburbs of Minneapolis.
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- 16.Jack Black and Michael Cera co-starred in Harold Ramis' film "Year One," which retold, with equal parts theological savvy and fart jokes, several stories from Hebrew scriptures, including Cain and Abel, Abraham and Isaac, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Both Black and Cera are Jewish.
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- 17.Actress Isla Fisher recently converted to Judaism in order to marry her fiance _________________________, with whom she has a young daughter, Olive.
- 18.Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwight K. Schrute on NBC's "The Office," is a practicing ___________.
- 19.Both the author Anne Rice and actor/writer/singer/performer/iconoclast Sandra Bernhard practice the faith in which they were raised. Rice is Roman Catholic and Bernhard is Jewish.
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
- 20.President Barack Obama is a Muslim.
- A.
Yes
- B.
No
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