# Separation of Church And Screen, or what stars let their faith dictate their roles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697 "2017-05-15T23:15:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/21 "2017-05-16T13:58:36Z")
Bob Dylan had a brief “born again Christian” phase and I believe he recorded at least one album of Christian music while disavowing his earlier “secular” songs. It didn’t last. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/22 "2017-05-16T14:38:25Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You mean Steven Hill? > > The one in the OP? 😛 You’re probably confused 😉 because Hill’s character in _Mission Impossible_, the series, was [Dan Briggs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mission:_Impossible_characters#Dan_Briggs). Phelps took over as head of the IMF for reasons unexplained on-air. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/23 "2017-05-16T14:57:12Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Well, it’s a little out of the scope of your question, but the great first baseman Hank Greenberg once famously refused to play games on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur of 1934, when the Tigers were in the middle of a hot pennant race. Some Detroit fans complained - according to Wikipedia, one said “Rosh Hashanah comes every year, but the Tigers haven’t won the pennant since 1909” - but a lot of folks approved of his principles. Another sports-related example is the athletes portrayed in the 1981 film _[Chariots of Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_Fire)_. I think the movie is perhaps best remembered today for the theme music by Vangelis, but it’s about two real-life British runners at the 1924 Olympics. One was Christian and wouldn’t compete on Sundays and the other was Jewish and wouldn’t compete on the Jewish Sabbath. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/24 "2017-05-16T15:08:33Z")
[Ed Correa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Correa) was a major league baseball player who, as a Seventh Day Adventist, wouldn’t play on Friday nights or Saturdays. The team was able to work around it. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/25 "2017-05-16T16:22:32Z")
I found [this brief article](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/22/lisa-whelchel-rachel-friends_n_4639176.html) (warning: autoplay video) about how Lisa Whelchel (Blair from “Facts of Life”) “walked away from the role Of Rachel on ‘Friends’”; but it appears that this doesn’t meet the OP’s requirement of “has lost **booked (as opposed to speculative future)** work as a result of religious belief running into secular constraints.” ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/26 "2017-05-16T16:56:12Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I found [this brief article](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/22/lisa-whelchel-rachel-friends_n_4639176.html) (warning: autoplay video) about how Lisa Whelchel (Blair from “Facts of Life”) “walked away from the role Of Rachel on ‘Friends’”; but it appears that this doesn’t meet the OP’s requirement of “has lost **booked (as opposed to speculative future)** work as a result of religious belief running into secular constraints.” Actually, there was an episode very late in the run of the “Facts of Life” series in which one of the girls loses their virginity. (Keep in mind this was when the ‘girls’ were graduated from college and working adults, not during the prep school years when they were teenagers.) Originally it was supposed to be Blair, but Welchel steadfastly refused. The storyline was rewritten so that Natalie (who had a fairly steady b.f. at the time) was the one. Welchel still refused to be part of the episode because she was adamantly against the idea of sex before marriage. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/27 "2017-05-16T18:43:09Z")
> [@Daddypants](#): > > How about musical artists? Didn’t Prince stop performing some of his older, steamier (dirty) songs when he got more into being a Jehovah’s Witness? Not sure about Prince himself, but his [guitarist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dez_Dickerson) quit the band for religious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/28 "2017-05-16T19:33:34Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Another sports-related example is the athletes portrayed in the 1981 film _[Chariots of Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_Fire)_. I think the movie is perhaps best remembered today for the theme music by Vangelis, but it’s about two real-life British runners at the 1924 Olympics. One was Christian and wouldn’t compete on Sundays and the other was Jewish and wouldn’t compete on the Jewish Sabbath. I don’t think Harold Abrahams had a problem with competing on Saturdays, but Eric Liddle wouldn’t run on Sundays. StG ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/29 "2017-05-16T23:28:15Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > No, the OP specified “stars”. 😛 Two members of Megadeth, specifically the two Davids, have become professing Christians in recent years. They still play all their old classic songs, profanity included if it had it, but they will not tour with openly satanic bands. They have encountered these on the festival circuit, where they may be two of many artists on the bill, and are OK with that. David Ellefson has, in recent years, enrolled in a Lutheran seminary. > **[David Ellefson | Christianity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ellefson#Christianity)** > > Ellefson, like his ex-bandmate Dave Mustaine, is a committed Christian. "Well, I was actually brought up in a Christian household, so I have, you know, a pretty broad knowledge of it; \[I had\] strayed from it for quite a while, \[but\] now that I have children, I actually do go to church, so I've kinda sorta returned to it, you know?" Ellefson further discussed his Christianity in a 2010 interview on The Full Armor of God Broadcast explaining "I've found that when you just suit up and show up an In ... ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/30 "2017-05-17T14:50:49Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > What’s Travolta’s role in “Battlefield Earth” count as? > > Or, for more behind-the-scenes stuff, writer [Jeffrey Scott](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0561026/), who has inserted scientology references and themes into at least of his works—such as the animated “Muppet Babies” and “Starchaser: The Legend of Orin.” I’d like more information on the Scientologist themes in Muppet Babies, please! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/31 "2017-05-17T15:04:17Z")
> [@Daddypants](#): > > How about musical artists? Didn’t Prince stop performing some of his older, steamier (dirty) songs when he got more into being a Jehovah’s Witness? Similarly, Little Richard found religion while touring Australia in '57 and switched to playing gospel. He switched back during a tour of Europe five years later. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/32 "2017-05-17T15:53:55Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > The obvious answer is that shit head [Kirk Cameron](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Kirk_Cameron) > [@kayaker](#): > > No, the OP specified “stars”. [The nonsense\* started when he was on “Growing Pains”](http://www.cracked.com/article/135_6-beloved-tv-shows-that-traumatized-cast-members-life/), where he was billed third AFAIK. - > [@Cracked](#): > > Behind The Scenes… > > Teen heartthrob Kirk Cameron learns to love Jesus and finds sin in all of his costars. > > Kirk Cameron’s born again Christianity caused more troubles on-set than a scientist at a Scientologist convention. In the later seasons of _Growing Pains_, Cameron was a holy terror, tut-tutting costars for “immoral” behavior and demanding puritanical script revisions. > > Although Cameron’s definition of immoral was laughable, it was his be-mulleted mug on the cover of _Tiger Beat_, so ABC put up with the sanctimonious little shit. > > Under Cameron’s thrall, _Growing Pains_ made Mayberry look like Sodom and Gomorrah. For instance, Cameron called for rewrites when his character, Mike Seaver, laid in bed with a woman, even though Seaver was just acting in a play. Things grew so insane on-set that Cameron once called the president of ABC and accused the network of shilling pornography. > > All this pales in comparison to the number Cameron did on costar Julie McCullough’s career. McCullough played Mike Seaver’s girlfriend, Julie Costello. She had also once appeared nude in _Playboy_. > > Cameron forced ABC to fire McCullough and her sweater puppets–after all, nothing offends the Lord more than a nice pair of pert yams. Once McCullough got the pink slip, the writers scrambled to rejigger the upcoming Mike-Julie wedding episode. Ultimately, Mike Seaver was stood up at the altar, a fitting metaphor for how Cameron had alienated almost everyone he’d worked with. It’s hard to stay pissed at Cameron. After all, his career’s been in the gutter for a while, and nowadays he spends his time proving God’s existence using bananas and disproving evolution using Photoshop. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/33 "2017-05-17T15:55:56Z")
I don’t know if her faith dictated the role, or she just lucked into it, but Mayim Bialik plays Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler without showing any cleavage or (for the most part) legs. She’s successful in show business while adhering to her faith of modern orthodox Judaism (I hope I got that right). ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/34 "2017-05-18T01:52:06Z")
According to the hosts of the (excellent) podcast “Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor of All Time, Period,” Denzel turns down roles - or asks them to be rewritten - if they conflict with his Christian faith. _Training Day_ is a notable example: Washington wanted the bad guy to meet his deserved end on-screen. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/35 "2017-05-18T02:02:58Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Not sure if she ever lost any work over it but one of my life’s great disappointments is that Didi Conn refused to do anything nude due to religious reasons. Amen. ☹ > [@teela\_brown](#): > > I don’t know if her faith dictated the role, or she just lucked into it, but Mayim Bialik plays Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler without showing any cleavage or (for the most part) legs. She’s successful in show business while adhering to her faith of modern orthodox Judaism (I hope I got that right). Luck? Faith? It totally makes her part work. Me in '75: That’s the first time she called me by my name. _swoon_ Future Wife ('76): Too bad you’re not Jewish. Me: I’d convert. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697/36 "2017-05-18T02:11:31Z")
And, acting as my inner casting director for a sitcom, there is little to direct me away from NOT pairing an orthodox Jew with the most goyische guy on TV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-screen-or-what-stars-let-their-faith-dictate-their-roles/786697.md?page=1)