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Raquel Welch: The bombshell who became a quiet, sincere Presbyterian church lady

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Raquel Welch: The bombshell who became a quiet, sincere Presbyterian church lady

The statuesque film legend didn't call attention to herself as she shared a pew with other conservative Presbyterians in their small church not far from Hollywood.

She was articulate when discussing theology and church matters and, from time to time, would offer advice on finances. She had learned a lot in the movie business.

Raquel Welch wasn't trying to hide, during the later decades of her life when she faithfully attended Calvary Presbyterian Church in Glendale, California. She was simply looking for people she could trust.

"She was careful. … She wasn't going to one of those 2,000-member churches where everyone would look at her. That wasn't her style," said the Rev. Christopher Neiswonger, who grew up in that congregation and attended nearby Fuller Theological Seminary. He now leads Graceview Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Southhaven, Mississippi.

"She also wasn't trying to stick her thumb in the eye of a Hollywood culture that she knew would denigrate this kind of faith commitment. … She was Raquel Welch, but she just wanted to be part of our church family."

Welch died on Feb. 15 at the age of 82, inspiring waves of tributes focusing on her iconic beauty in "Fantastic Voyage," "100 Rifles," "The Three Musketeers" and dozens of other movies and television programs. The legendary poster from "One Million Years B.C." framed her as a bombshell babe image for the ages.

In a Facebook tribute shared with other believers, Neiswonger called Welch a "wonderful lady and a fine Christian" whose "faith grew more powerful and practical with age. It's often true that the most important things become the most important to us as we've matured personally."

At the end of her 2010 memoir, "Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage," Welch described the hard questions she asked after the death of her mother, a faithful Presbyterian, and a sister's struggle with cancer. After decades away from church, Welch offered an "awkward inept prayer" to the "God of my childhood and, lo and behold, he was still there."


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Thinking about God and Hollywood: Raquel Welch became a faithful Presbyterian?

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Thinking about God and Hollywood: Raquel Welch became a faithful Presbyterian?

I have to admit that it never would have entered my mind to think there were religion “ghosts” in the life, career and death of Raquel Welch, who would have to be on anyone’s list of the iconic bombshell beauties in Hollywood history.

Then I started getting some emails.

Who knew that Welch evolved into a churchgoing and, by all reports, quite modest and mature Presbyterian church lady. In particular, people pointed me toward The Aquila Report, a blog for “conservative, orthodox evangelicals in the Reformed and Presbyterian family of churches.” The headline: “A Tribute to Raquel Welch’s Life and Testimony — She was a wonderful lady and a fine Christian.” Here is a sample of that feature:

As with many, her faith grew more serious and practical with age. It’s often true that the most important things become the most important to us as we’ve matured personally. That’s just to say that spiritual and personal maturity are often coincident age and life experience.

Second, she fully embraced the Reformed and Presbyterian faith as described in the Westminster standards. She would never burden others that they must because she did — but that she did isn’t really a question. She was of the old, rugged faith. She never felt the need to pressure anyone in regard to matters of faith but she also didn’t have a great deal of patience for cute or pop cultural theological moods. This was part of her strength.

Third, she was just another lady of the church. She didn’t put on airs or expect special attention (although she could hardly avoid even with the best of intentions being the most glamorous person in the room). And she often advised churches and ministries on practical and business matters because she was brilliant in those things. You didn’t think she survived and thrived 60+ years in the public eye by just being a pretty face?

There was one more point that I found interesting, because it linked to material I had encountered through the years about some “conservative” superstars.

It helps to know that my favorite actor of all time is the late Jimmy Stewart and I’ve read quite a bit about his life. I was set up to interview him, years ago, at the Presbyterian church he attended, but he came down with the flu and had to cancel.

Anyway, the Aquila Report piece noted that Welch’s faith journey was linked to her friendships with “other conservative Presbyterians Jimmy Stewart, Ron Reagan and Chuck Heston.” Interesting.


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Jill Biden's reborn Christian faith: Washington Post dug for some key details (AP didn't)

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Jill Biden's reborn Christian faith: Washington Post dug for some key details (AP didn't)

Since I grew up Southern Baptist, I have heard many, many people give “testimonies” about how they embraced faith and were “born again.” Now that I am Eastern Orthodox, I have heard many people tell similar stories about how they came to embrace ancient Christian doctrines and beauty of sacramental worship.

Most of the time these stories include some details about history of the person’s faith or lack thereof. One part of telling the point to which a believer has travelled is to share some background information about where the journey started.

I would certainly think that this would be true when the person who is “testifying” is America’s current First Lady. Thus, I had a few expectations when I started reading the Associated Press report that ran with this headline: “Jill Biden says SC ‘prayer partner’ helped change her life.”

The hook for this story was the surprise visit that President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden made to West Columbia, S.C., to honor the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Charles B. Jackson becoming the pastor of Brookland Baptist Church. The focus of the story, however, was on Jill Biden’s “prayer partner” relationship with the pastor’s wife, Robin. Here is the crucial passage in this AP report:

The first lady doesn’t usually speak publicly about her faith but said Sunday that “it’s always been an important part of who I am.” She recalled being a teenager who “fell in love with the peace of the quiet wooden pew,” the “joy of the choir” and the “deep wisdom of the Gospels.”

She said prayer helps her “connect to the people that I love and to the world around me.”

“But in 2015, my faith was shaken,” the first lady said, her voice breaking as she described watching “my brave, strong, funny, bright young son fight brain cancer.”

“Still, I never gave up hope,” she said. “Despite what the doctor said, I believed that my son would make it. In the final days, I made one last, desperate prayer and it went unanswered.”


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Big question linked to Easter: Does Christianity believe in 'the immortality of the soul'?

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Big question linked to Easter: Does Christianity believe in 'the immortality of the soul'?

THE QUESTION:

Does Christianity believe in the “immortality of the soul”?

THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER:

No.

Not exactly. And before anyone has a heart attack reading that, The Guy hastens to explain that Christianity has always vigorously affirmed the Easter message that earthly death is followed by everlasting life. But the oft-used phrase about a mere “immortality of the soul,” which stems from ancient Greek philosophy, could suggest bodily life is problematic and mistakenly suppose that our soul exists through all eternity as only a disembodied spirit.

Instead, Christianity teaches that just as Jesus arose bodily from the grave, so the promise of everlasting life involves a person’s eventual resurrection that unites the soul with the body in a newly glorified state. As with the central belief that Jesus was God incarnate in full human and bodily reality, this Christian affirmation about the afterlife proclaims that, as in Judaism, our bodies are God’s good creation and fundamental to each person’s human identity.

This understanding of New Testament teaching was defined orthodoxy as early as A.D. 180 in Against Heresies by Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons, an authority and saint for Catholic and Orthodox Christians:

“… It is manifest that the souls of his disciples also, upon whose account the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into the invisible place allotted to them by God, and there remain until the resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and rising in their entirety, that is bodily, just as the Lord arose” (from book 5, chapter 31).

A precise Protestant formulation appears in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Presbyterian credo from 1647 (here “men” refers to both genders):


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