Denzel Washington Defies Hollywood- Speaks Out Against Obama Agenda

Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington recently defied liberal Hollywood by speaking out about his strong Christian faith.

Obama has consistently shown that he has a strong anti-Christian agenda, so Washingtonâ€™s brave words have enraged Obama-lovers everywhere.

â€œI read from the Bible every day, and I read my Daily Word,â€ he told a reporter, adding that it was not difficult for him to grow up as the son of a preacher.

â€œHe wasnâ€™t a taskmaster, but there were certain things you couldnâ€™t do,â€ Washington said. â€œHe had his own church, and it was a long Sunday, because you had to be there all day.â€

â€œEveryone I grew up with didnâ€™t have a father,â€ he continued. â€œI had a father. My father was a decent man. He was a very spiritual man and a gentleman.â€

Though today he is a strong Christian, in his teens he became rebellious after attending church started to feel like â€œa job.â€ That all changed in his 20s, when he had a personal encounter with God in the same church he still attends to this day.

â€œThe minister was preaching, â€˜Just let it go,â€™â€ Washington recalled. â€œI said, â€˜Iâ€™m going to go with it.â€™ And I had this tremendous physical and spiritual experience.â€

â€œIt did frighten me,â€ he said. â€œI was slobbering, crying, sweating. My cheeks blew up. I was purging. It was too intense.â€

â€œIt almost drove me away. I called my mother, and she said I was being filled with the Holy Spirit,â€ he recounted. â€œI was like, â€˜Does that mean I can never have wine again?â€™â€

Ever since that day, Washington has been a proud Christian, even going so far as to consider becoming a preacher.

â€œA part of me still says, â€˜Maybe, Denzel, youâ€™re supposed to preach. Maybe youâ€™re still compromising,'â€ he said during a 1999 interview.

In the end, Washington decided to stick to playing preachers in the movies. He did, however, offer some creative advice for staying close to God every day.

â€œPut your slippers way under your bed so when you get up in the morning, you have to get on your knees to find them. And while youâ€™re down there, start your day with prayer. Ask for wisdom. Ask for understanding,â€ he said. â€œDonâ€™t aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference.â€

This is not just talk. Years ago, my boy and I waited in very cold weather outside the make-up trailers where Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks were filming a movie a block from our house. We were the only people around and we waited over an hour. Finally they came out when we were half frozen. Hanks was a snotty pain in the butt. But Denzel greeted us (my blue-eyed blond child was nearest the trailer) very kindly and signed an autograph for my son. Then some middle-school-age black kids raced up, unaccompanied by parents at 9:00 pm on a school night, saying "DenZEL! DenZEL!" He put an arm around them and talked with them briefly, then as they started to run off to tell their friends, he called after them, "Stay in school, now, hear?" It was very touching.

I believed at the time and still believe he should have won the Oscar for that film, Philadelphia, instead of Hanks. Denzel's performance was greatly more difficult and nuanced. Hanks was bathetic and of course, the Academy rewarded the portrayal of a gay guy with AIDS in a shamelessly patronizing role, up to and including his tear-drenched acceptance speech, instead of Denzel's role as his straight attorney struggling with all the issues of supporting an AIDS patient in an employment lawsuit when the entire idea of it challenged his character on every level. The script portrayed the Hanks character as completly accepted and supported by his lover (Antonio Banderas -- really?) and his straight family, including a scene where his character with full-blown AIDS held his relative's newborn baby at a big family party. Seriously?

But what do I know? I had watched a dear friend die of AIDS just the year previous, and saw the family and friends struggling with fear of exposure to the disease plus moral confusion and challenge; even the medical professionals displayed reluctance and fearfulness around the patient.

FreeRepublic has helpers Key....

I do not want to spend my time trying to delete all of the punctuation marks to clean up the text. FR should have something to eliminate this problem.

Denzel Washington was born and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, near New York City.

Washington is the son of a Pentecostal preacher and a gospel singer. He grew up in an extremely religious household. He said: My father was a Pentecostal minister for 50 years. We would say prayers for everything and end with, “Amen, God is love” The fundamental message is in the Bible, which I’ve read three times from front to back. If you don’t practice love, you’re missing the point. I believe in love thy neighbor.

1. When Denzel’s parents divorced when he was 14, Denzel admits to rejecting his religion briefly.

2. He also says that the power of his religious feelings overwhelmed him at one point and he backed away: I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I’ve been filled with the Holy Spirit. I know it’s real. I was in the room. My cheeks blew up, I cried like a baby, and it scared me to death. It kind of scared me off [of religion]. I backed up and went the other direction.

3. Now, Denzel is one of Hollywood’s most devout Christians. His faith has influenced the roles he’s played and the fact that he’s been married to the same woman since 1983, a lifetime by Hollywood standards.

4. Washington currently attends the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles and even donated $2.5 million to help them build a new facility.

5. He says he has considered becoming a preacher but that he can try to “send a good message” with his film work.

6. Politics: Washington hasn’t spoken too much about his political views. Given his religiosity, one might assume he’s rather conservative regarding social issues, but that’s just conjecture. Washington was a staunch Obama supporter during the 2008 presidential campaign.

7. Washington gave $30,800 to the Obama campaign that year and defended the president after 2010’s mid-term elections ushered in a Republican Congress, saying: I don’t think it’s just directed at Obama, I think people are frustrated. You’ve got to blame somebody, and he’s the boss he’s got the big target on his head. I think there’s a desire for checks and balances, so now there’s a Republican party in Congress, and a Democratic party in the Senate, and a Democratic president, I think it now forces them all to work together.

9. And in a strange move, not common among Hollywood stars, Washington officially endorsed a Democratic mayoral candidate in his hometown of Mount Vernon, New York.

10. He’s a staunch Democrat, but with perspective and class. During the Bush war years, Denzel wouldn’t put down the president, but rather stated his concern for the troops coming home from battle. He said: Are they getting the support and love they need from us? And maybe that story’s being told, but I sure haven’t seen it that much in the news. Yeah, they’re pointing fingers about who was right and whose wrong and who started what and where were the weapons of mass destruction. But these kids are coming home.

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