Christian Comedian Addresses Haters: ‘I Forgive You, I Love You, I’m Praying For You’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Comedian Shayne Smith is responding to negative comments about his recent conversion to Christianity with love and prayer.
“What a crazy week for my Instagram,” Smith said in a recent Instagram video. “A lot of angry people. A lot of really vile things were said to me…some threats, some craziness. It’s been a week — because I talked about my religion, and that makes people insane.”
A few days before, Smith had shared a video speaking about his faith and politics.
“There is no political party aligned with the Will of God,” he wrote in the caption. “So we render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s and we keep it moving.”
Many people in the comments took issue with Smith’s assertion that there is no political party that perfectly aligns with the will of God.
“So, I have two things to say before I’m done with this week of Instagram,” the comedian said in his most recent video. “The first thing is, a lot of people were really kind to me, or listened to me, or said good things to me, or talked to me about their conversion or how I’ve helped them come back to God or consider God or just open their minds about religion — if you’ve sent me a message about…coming back to the church or emboldening your faith, I want you to know I probably read it and I have it in a folder and I go back and I reread them and they mean the world to me….from the bottom of my heart, that means so much to me.”
Smith added, “The second thing I wanted to say is, if you are mad at me, or you hate me, or you threatened me…I want you to know that I forgive you for anything you said to me, that I love you and that I’m praying for you, that I wish the best for you and I hope that you’re happy and that your life is fulfilling and that things work out.”
The comedian previously detailed his faith journey in a January YouTube video, telling viewers, “Moving forward in my life, I plan on prioritizing my faith and my family above everything, including comedy and my career.”
READ MORE: COMEDIAN DETAILS HOW FAITH TRANSFORMED HIS LIFE: ‘TRULY FULFILLED’
Smith also spoke about his conversion to Catholicism and how it relates to his work as a comedian in an interview with Fox News.
“I think having a sense of humor…it all correlates to suffering. And Catholics are very aware of suffering. They’re not afraid to suffer,” he explained, joking, “In fact, often they invite it sometimes too much, and then we get the concept of Catholic guilt, which shouldn’t be a thing. We’re the only religion with a built-in guilt relief system.”
Smith added, “But yeah, I think it really correlates to suffering. I think that Catholics are so tuned in to suffering and are very aware that their suffering matters and means something, and they’re not afraid of it. They sort of confront it head on. And I think that that is an essential part to having a good sense of humor.”
READ MORE: HOW CHRISTIAN COMEDIAN JEFF ALLEN FOUND CHRIST AFTER READING ECCLESIASTES
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