September 30, 2024 - 9:00pm

Russell Brand, the British comedian once known for his Hollywood films and New Age spirituality, has embarked on a full-fledged journey toward traditional Christianity. This transformation recently reached its zenith when Brand joined forces with Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson to lead 25,000 people in reciting the Lord’s Prayer, a spectacle that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

Brand’s pivot to Christianity began in late 2023, coinciding with a series of sexual assault allegations that threatened to derail his career (Brand maintains these encounters were consensual). In a video posted to his social media accounts, the podcaster explained his newfound faith as a product of personal growth and a need for a “personal relationship with God.” Although he hasn’t yet announced his conversion to Catholicism, he has begun sporting a crucifix, telling his followers that the figure of Christ was becoming “inevitably” more important to him.

“I suppose it takes a certain amount of adulthood, and it might be different for all of us — for me, it seems that it’s taken quite a lot — to recognise that you need — I need — a personal relationship with God,” Brand mused in one of his characteristically rambling monologues.

This spiritual transformation isn’t just a case of a celebrity finding religion. It’s a wholesale adoption of a new worldview, one that emphasises personal responsibility, scepticism of secular institutions, and a return to traditional moral values. The comedian, who has long trafficked in anti-establishment rhetoric, has found in traditional Christianity a ready-made structure for his contrarian views, now beginning to be peppered with religious imagery and references to a higher power.

But Brand isn’t alone in his Rightward religious drift. He’s part of a broader trend of high-profile figures embracing traditional Catholicism. Candace Owens, conservative commentator and former Daily Wire host, announced her conversion to Catholicism in 2023, following a split with her employer over her use of the phrase “Christ is king.” Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, has increasingly framed his political activism in explicitly Christian terms, regularly invoking religious rhetoric in defence of Right-wing values. The aforementioned Jordan Peterson, who shared the prayer stage with Brand, seems to be drawing closer to a full conversion experience himself. Even tech titan Elon Musk has made noises about being a “cultural Christian,” — whatever that may mean.

For Brand, this new faith provides a framework for his existing critiques of consumer capitalism and technocratic governance. His YouTube diatribes now come with a sprinkling of Christian imagery and allusions to divine order. It’s a potent cocktail, one that’s attracting a growing audience of disaffected young men searching for meaning in a chaotic world.

There are, however, questions about the authenticity of Brand’s religious conversion. Because, like much of his political commentary, it may be as much performance as it is substance. It’s Christianity as aesthetic, as brand identity as well as lived faith, from a man who knows how to sell himself. And he’s certainly doing that work on all fronts, promoting prayer and abstaining from meat during Lent while also promoting the Hallow prayer app, in which current vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance holds shares.

This isn’t to say that Brand’s conversion, or those of his fellow travellers like Vance — who converted to Catholicism in 2019 — isn’t sincere. People find God in all sorts of ways. Yet what is clear is that in today’s polarised media ecosystem, embracing traditional faith has become a powerful shorthand, quickly signalling one’s tribal affiliations and driving engagement.

Just as Bernie Sanders-supporting Leftists once boasted about their allegiance to the Democratic Socialists of America — and some wound up in high places, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — Right-wing figures wear their Christianity as both a badge of honour and a shield against criticism. Brand could very well end up a more influential Christian than he ever was a Left-libertarian comedian — he certainly has the Jesus-like hair and beard for it.


Oliver Bateman is a historian and journalist based in Pittsburgh. He blogs, vlogs, and podcasts at his Substack, Oliver Bateman Does the Work

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