{"id":2613,"date":"2009-02-18T12:20:22","date_gmt":"2009-02-18T12:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2009\/02\/stephen-baldwin-tried-to-conve.html"},"modified":"2009-02-18T12:20:22","modified_gmt":"2009-02-18T12:20:22","slug":"stephen-baldwin-tried-to-conve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2009\/02\/stephen-baldwin-tried-to-conve.html","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Baldwin Tried to Convert My Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"StephenBaldwinpicforic.jpg\"<\/span>What would you do if a celebrity tried to convert you? Well, I suppose with all the pop culture\/spirituality overlap in my life and work, it was bound to happen: Stephen Baldwin tried to convert my friend over the weekend.
\nBenyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year: A Rabbi’s Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith<\/a>, was in the green room at FOX preparing for a segment, and began schmoozing <\/a> with famously outspoken evangelical Christian actor Stephen Baldwin, the “self-proclaimed Jesus Freak of Hollywood.”<\/p>\n

As we were chatting about faith, the fact came up that I had visited 52 different Bible Belt churches and not once had someone tried to convert me. Stephen’s pupils went from their default half-mast glazed-over look to the wide-eyed look of a Baldwin on the prowl. Apparently, I had woken the beast.
\n“How much time do I have before my segment?” he asked his publicist.
\n“About an hour,” she called back from across the room.<\/p>\n


\n“An hour,” Baldwin said, “should be enough time to convert you, Ben.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For the rest of this funny anecdote, check out Benyamin’s post on The Daily Beast<\/a>.
\n\"Stephen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What would you do if a celebrity tried to convert you? Well, I suppose with all the pop culture\/spirituality overlap in my life and work, it was bound to happen: Stephen Baldwin tried to convert my friend over the weekend. 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