The women whom Russell Brand raped and sexually assaulted have for weeks endured the ordeal of a heavily publicised trial. Throughout, Brand held online prayer meetings with followers. Does he feel Christian sympathy for those women?
Only Brand, in the deepest recesses of his conscience, can know.
The answer would be the best indicator of whether the disgraced comic, actor and born-again Christian has worn his newfound faith as a cloak in an effort to deflect and distract from the seriousness of the allegations against him. Or whether his conversion is a profound and sincere one – a spiritual crutch he may need in the coming years.
Whatever the truth, Brand’s case demonstrates how Christianity has become a frontier in the culture wars along which battle lines are now drawn on all kinds of ethical, political and even legal issues.
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I didn’t realize he had. But it’s completely performative. It’s like black people in public life when they’re caught or accused of doing something illegal they’ll fall back to their relationship with the church where other blacks and guilt ridden white people will immediately believe that, no matter the evidence against them, they’re being unfairly targeted because of their skin color. Or Donald Trump holding a Bible and pretending he’s religious. What a sad sham.