That's what WorldNetDaily.com and the Washington Times are saying. The web site and the newspaper, both of which have close ties to evangelical circles, have reported that Jane Fonda has become a born-again Christian--and that her new religiosity was the prime cause of her recent split from CNN founder Ted Turner, her husband of eight years.
Turner was honored as Humanist of the Year in 1990 and once called Christianity a "religion for losers." He's also publicly ridiculed the Ten Commandments and told Polish jokes about Pope John Paul II--all of which he later apologized for.
The Times quoted an unnamed "longtime critic" as ranking the reported conversion of Fonda as being "right up there with Saul of Tarsus."
Joseph Farah, the editor and CEO of WorldNet Daily, said he first heard rumblings of Fonda's change of heart two years ago. He quoted Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, as saying Fonda "has accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior" and that that's the reason she and Turner have parted ways. The couple announced Jan. 4 that they had "mutually decided to spend some time apart."
However, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was more circumspect in its reporting of the story. Fonda's hometown paper said that while the 62-year-old actress and fitness maven had taken an "increasingly" spiritual turn, it stopped short of calling her a Christian.
Instead, the newspaper said Fonda's Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention had led to her involvement with the Rev. Gerald Durley, pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church and the former president of Concerned Black Clergy. Durley told the Journal-Constitution that Fonda had come to the church "a couple of times," primarily in connection with GCAPP activities. He also said he did not think she regularly attends Bible study at the church.
But he did say he was "extremely impressed with the genuineness and sincerity" of Fonda's "search for spirituality and wholeness."
Neither Fonda nor Turner were themselves commenting.
