Comedian Defends His Faith on Palm Sunday

Comedian and actor Jay Mohr found himself defending religion on Twitter on Sunday from atheist trolls — not a role you would typically see an entertainment professional engaged in these days.

The star of movies such as “Go” and “Jerry Maguire” has long been open about his Catholicism. He’s had priests on his popular “Mohr Stories” podcast before and has openly discussed his late-in-life conversion.

On Sunday, Mohr, 46, took that openness to a new level and used his comic wit to hit back at those who criticize his religion and faith in general.

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The account, Atheist Quote Bot posted a quote from comedian and podcaster David C. Smalley: “We want people to want the truth. We don’t want people to be scared into believing. That’s the difference. #atheism.”

Mohr responded with, “I wasn’t scared into believing. No one told me to believe. I embraced my faith on my own heartfelt and educated volition. So…”

From there the floodgates were opened — and Mohr took the verbal abuse many openly religious types take today, only he fought back and refused to give in.

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Mohr later tweeted, “If you weren’t an atheist, what on Earth would you ever talk about?”

It’s a hard time for any entertainment professional to buck the typical Hollywood political party line. Espousing the benefits of religion invites trolls and possible industry backlash.

The number of comedians who bash religion in a given day is too large to keep track of — top comics like Penn Jillette and Louis CK even make atheism the centerpieces of many of their acts.

So it’s thoroughly refreshing to see someone like Mohr choose not to toe the accepted cultural line and to publicly spend his energy on a defense of his religion. Being openly Catholic may not be a common occurrence in Hollywood, but it gives others hope to see the few who do openly believe stand their ground.