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‘I’m taking the plunge’: Russell Brand announces his baptism in Christ, gets warm welcome

April 29, 2024 | | Print Article

Comedian and actor Russell Brand shared in a video early Friday that he is getting baptized as a Christian.

“This Sunday, I’m taking the plunge. I’m getting baptized,” he declared.

“I’m very curious as to what you who have been baptized, feel about it, what your expectations are of the event prior, and what it’s actually like,” Brand said. “What’s been explained to me is it’s an opportunity to die and be reborn, an opportunity to leave the past behind and be reborn in Christ’s name like it says in Galatians that you can live as an enlightened and awakened person. Sometimes I think of non-Christian perspectives on it, like [Roman emperor]  Marcus Aurelius saying you are already dead now live the rest of your life properly or the Buddhist saying put down the corpse. All of these things seem so inviting and beautiful.”

Brand also spoke of the return to God being a viable solution to the world seemingly crumbling around us.

“I know a lot of people are so cynical about the increasing interest in Christianity and the return to God, but to me, it’s obvious,” he explained. “As meaning deteriorates in the modern world, as our value systems and institutions crumble, all of us become increasingly aware that there is this eerily familiar awakening and beckoning figure that we’ve all known all of our lives, within us and around us. And to me, it’s very exciting.”

Brand, who was hit last year with a number of sexual assault allegations from more than a decade ago, has reportedly been exploring Christianity for some time now, according to Fox News. He told an audience after a formal investigation was launched that he had begun reading the Bible and Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis.

The comedian closed out the video by saying he was “thinking about doing it in the River Thames.” After noting that high levels of E.Coli have been detected in the river he joked, “I may be leaving behind the sins, but I might be picking up some pretty serious viruses.”

In January, Brand shared a video explaining why he had begun wearing a crucifix, saying that Christ was “inevitably” becoming “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 recognize that you need, I need, a personal relationship with God,” he said at the time.

Conservative commentator Candace Owens, who recently announced she had converted to Catholicism, responded in a post, “This is amazing. God is at work. Difficult to put into words the spiritual urge I felt last year — an overwhelming understanding that it was and forever has been a holy battle of eternal Good vs. evil.”

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on the social media platform X:

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